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October 17, 2025
 

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TECH

Sora 2, a short-form video app made by OpenAI, enables users to create realistic AI videos with text prompts, but critics say that there are insufficient guardrails — from a lack of copyright consideration to families of public figures upset by the reanimation of their loved ones.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 16, 2025
Japan’s government asks OpenAI to seek permission amid Sora 2 copyright concerns
Sora 2 enables users to create realistic AI videos with text prompts, but critics say that there are insufficient guardrails.
Developers work inside the office of AI startup LimeChat in Bengaluru on Aug. 19.
BUSINESS / Tech
Oct 16, 2025
India's IT sector faces seismic shift as AI displaces call-center workers
The outcome of India's gamble carries weight far beyond its borders — a test case for whether embracing AI-driven disruption can elevate an economy or render it a cautionary tale.
Anthropic said its annual revenue run rate is approaching $7 billion this month, but declined to comment on future projections.
BUSINESS / Tech
Oct 16, 2025
Anthropic aims to nearly triple annualized revenue in 2026
The AI startup said its annual revenue run rate is approaching $7 billion this month, but declined to comment on future projections.
The market for ed tech, or educational technology, will grow some 1.4 times from fiscal 2021 to ¥362.5 billion in fiscal 2027, Nomura Research Institute estimates.
JAPAN
Oct 15, 2025
Japan taps education technology to help ease burden on teachers
The market for "ed tech" will grow some 1.4 times from fiscal 2021 to ¥362.5 billion in fiscal 2027, Nomura Research Institute estimates.
A worker inspects wafers at Nexperia Newport semiconductor plant in Newport, England. The European Union is considering new measures that would apply to companies seeking access to key digital and manufacturing markets like cars and batteries, requiring the firms to use a set amount of EU goods or labor, and to add value to the products on EU soil.
BUSINESS / Tech
Oct 15, 2025
EU considers forced tech transfers for Chinese investments
The measures would apply to companies seeking access to key digital and manufacturing markets like cars and batteries, according to people familiar with the plans.
Shenzhen International Airport. Chinese job seekers, worried about competition in tech fields, are upset about the new K visa, which allows foreign talent to work in China.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 15, 2025
China’s visa uproar is part of a DeepSeek illusion
Some of the resulting backlash on Chinese social media against the new K visa has been downright xenophobic and even racist.
Instagram has tightened content filtering for teen accounts to be in tune with the U.S.' PG-13 rating standard used for films.
BUSINESS
Oct 14, 2025
Instagram accounts for teens to be in tune with U.S. PG-13 rating standard
The move comes as Meta and other social media platforms face pressure to show they aren't putting profit and engagement over the well-being of users, especially children.
CEATEC 2025, a cutting-edge international digital technology exhibition, opened at Makuhari Messe convention center in Chiba on Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Tech
Oct 14, 2025
CEATEC digital tech show kicks off near Tokyo
Companies featuring products and services that utilize artificial intelligence account for more than half of the 810 participants from Japan and abroad.
People walk past a large electronic screen showing the Samsung logo at a train station in Seoul on Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Tech
Oct 14, 2025
Samsung rides global AI boom to its biggest profit since 2022
South Korea’s largest company reported an operating profit of 12.1 trillion won in the September quarter, according to a preliminary earnings report.
Europe must break its dependency on U.S. tech monopolies by investing in decentralized, open-protocol social media platforms that empower users, foster innovation and protect democratic discourse.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 13, 2025
Europe can build its own social media
Europe’s systemic dependency on Big Tech’s social-media platforms threatens the continent’s digital sovereignty.
U.S. gross domestic product grew in the second quarter at the fastest pace in nearly two years.
BUSINESS / Economy
Oct 13, 2025
World economy faces triple risk of tariffs, AI bubble and soaring debt
Such concerns will dominate the annual meetings of the IMF and World Bank in Washington this week.
A Qantas Boeing 737-800 plane prepares to land next to a Qantas Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft preparing to take off at Sydney International Airport in September last year. The Australian airline said Sunday that data from 5.7 million customers stolen in a major cyberattack in July had been leaked online.
BUSINESS / Tech
Oct 12, 2025
Australian airline Qantas says millions of customers' data leaked online
Most of the data leaked was names, email addresses and frequent flyer details, the firm said.
Saury catches from August to the end of September this year totaled about 28,500 tons — a 2.4-fold increase from the same period last year.
JAPAN
Oct 12, 2025
Japan group to launch AI service for saury size predictions
Since 2020, AI has helped predict likely saury fishing spots based on seawater temperature changes and past fishing records.
A worker waters the site of a rare earth metals mine in Nancheng county, in China's Jiangxi province, in January 2011.
BUSINESS / Economy / FOCUS
Oct 11, 2025
The world’s chip supply chain is bracing for fallout from China’s rare-earth curbs
The restrictions represent the first major attempt by Beijing to exercise long-arm jurisdiction over foreign companies to target the semiconductor industry.
Officials from the Tokyo District Public Prosecutor's Office's special investigation squad conduct a search of Alt's headquarters in Tokyo's Minato Ward on Thursday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Oct 10, 2025
Former executives of AI developer Alt arrested for window-dressing
The Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission searched locations related to the company in April over the alleged window-dressing
Japan's top financial leaders are working to ease fears that AI will cost jobs, emphasizing its role in boosting efficiency and transforming work.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 10, 2025
Japan’s top bank CEOs push for AI, soothing worry over human work
In Japan, where the financial sector employs hundreds of thousands of people, the conversation over AI and its impact on work is picking up pace.
An ABB robot at the Sony U.K. Technology Centre in Pencoed, Wales
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 8, 2025
SoftBank to buy ABB’s robotics arm in $5.4 billion deal
The Japanese investment firm agreed to take over a business with more than 7,000 employees, which supplies industrial arms and robots.
Resonac President and CEO Hidehito Takahashi (front row, third from left) in Tokyo on Sept. 3 along with officials from companies participating in a joint framework to develop chipmaking equipment
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 8, 2025
Japanese chemical firms seeking partnerships over next-gen chips
Companies are taking measures with others, such as setting up a joint framework, to speed up the development of related materials
Kipp Deveer, CEO of alternative asset management giant Ares Capital, has stressed the importance of being selective and measured when choosing data center investments.
BUSINESS / Economy
Oct 8, 2025
Data center boom at risk of overbuilding, says asset management giant Ares
Investments have poured into data center projects as a way to cash in on booming demand for processing power unleashed by the advent of artificial intelligence.
The "Text With Jesus" chatbot app displayed on an iPhone on Oct. 2.
WORLD / Society
Oct 8, 2025
Virtual Jesus? People of faith divided as AI enters religion
Religious chatbots and other faith-based digital tools are growing in number, offering counsel, comfort and spiritual guidance.
Coalition talks could bring Takaichi closer to being PM
Nippon Ishin no Kai leader and Osaka Gov. Hirofumi Yoshimura meets with Liberal Democratic Party President Sanae Takaichi in Tokyo on Wednesday.
Trump declares U.S.-China trade war as Bessent floats long truce
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent speaks during a press conference in Washington on Wednesday.
Asia can learn from Europe’s immigration mistakes
Refugees and migrants, mostly from Syria and Afghanistan, crowd a platform at a train station in Budapest in September 2015. Hungary's focus on pro-natalist policies and minimal immigration has led to a significant improvement in its fertility rate compared to Japan.
Singapore thrived in a U.S.-led world. Now what?
The aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt moors at Changi Naval Base in Singapore in April 2018.
Sumo is about to hit London and the West with a force previously unseen
Preparations advance on Monday for the Grand Sumo Tournament at the Royal Albert Hall in London.
Sumo is about to hit London and the West with a force previously unseen
Preparations advance on Monday for the Grand Sumo Tournament at the Royal Albert Hall in London.
Number of scenarios now on the table for who might be Japan’s next prime minister
Newly-elected leader of Japan's Liberal Democratic Party Sanae Takaichi (right) celebrates with Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba after winning the LDP leadership election in Tokyo on October 4.
Pace eyes great strides for Japan’s art market
Pace Japan Vice President Kyoko Hattori, the de facto head of the nation’s business, believes a larger, more lucrative art market will allow Japan to be more attractive for collectors.
A frenetic diplomatic schedule looms for Japan’s next leader — whomever that may be
As horse-trading and speculation surge over who will be elected the next prime minister in parliament — the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's Sanae Takaichi or a possible candidate put forward by a unified opposition — Japan’s next leader will be confronted with a quick succession of key diplomatic events.
Ghost of Yotei’s bloodstained fun sidesteps Ainu identity
Ghost of Yotei, the follow-up to 2020's smash hit Ghost of Tsushima, is a violent, vengeful and engaging romp through 17th-century Hokkaido that fails to stick the landing on its most sensitive cultural material.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Rock group The Yellow Monkey played K-Arena Yokohama in June as part of a nationwide tour. Concerts are increasingly popular in the age of social media as users value in-person experiences.
Inside Japan’s arena boom: Sports, sound and city-building
By Patrick St. Michel

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

We are pleased to announce the winners of the 6th annual Sustainable Japan Award.
We are pleased to announce the winners of the 6th annual Sustainable Japan Award.

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