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May 03, 2024
 

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TRADE

The rupture of one of the world's busiest shipping routes has exposed the vulnerability of China's export-reliant economy to supply snarls and external demand shocks.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 22, 2024
Red Sea crisis pressures China's exporters as shipping delays mount
Further Red Sea disruptions would pile pressure on a struggling economy already contending with a property crisis and weak consumer demand.
A worker carries a tray containing steamed kamaboko at a factory in Ise, Mie Prefecture.
JAPAN / Society / Regional voices: Chubu
Jan 22, 2024
As costs rise, kamaboko producers struggle to stay afloat
Many have little choice but to raise the prices of their own products after having exhausted other measures.
Oil and gas tanks are seen at an oil warehouse at a port in Zhuhai, China, in October 2018.
BUSINESS
Jan 20, 2024
China defies sanctions to make Russia its biggest oil supplier in 2023
Russia shipped a record 107.02 million metric tons of crude oil to China last year, equivalent to 2.14 million barrels per day (bpd), the Chinese customs data showed.
A ship transits the Suez Canal toward the Red Sea on Jan. 10. Insurance costs for ships whose seafarers who do brave the waterway have shot up tenfold, including a large increase since the airstrikes.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 19, 2024
Airstrikes on Yemen bring new level of chaos to Red Sea shipping
After U.S. and U.K. airstrikes on Houthi targets in Yemen, Western navies caution ships to steer clear.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and Hong Kong's new chief executive, John Lee, take part in a swearing in ceremony to inaugurate the city's new government on July 1, 2022.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 17, 2024
Hong Kong‘s choice: National security or a global role?
Hong Kong tries to maintain its international status and economic role amid challenges posed by China's National Security Law and other political developments.
Houthi supporters rally to denounce air strikes launched by the U.S. and Britain, in Sanaa, Yemen on Jan. 12.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 17, 2024
U.S. strikes Houthi missiles as Greek vessel hit in Red Sea
Attacks by the Iran-allied militia on ships in the region since November have affected companies and alarmed major powers.
Li Qiang at the World Economic Forum on Tuesday
WORLD / Politics
Jan 17, 2024
In Davos, Chinese premier takes aim at trade 'barriers'
Li's remarks came as the World Economic Forum's 54th annual conference is preoccupied with a slew of global risks, including wars in Ukraine and Gaza.
A toy gun is assembled at an Aequs toy manufacturing facility in the city of Belgaum in India.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 16, 2024
Infrastructure hurdles hinder toy manufacturers' shift from China
That other countries struggle to match China for efficiency is limiting firms' efforts to shift to lower cost bases and raising the risk of higher toy prices in the future.
A container ship crosses the Gulf of Suez toward the Red Sea before entering the Suez Canal east of Cairo. Vessels have been pausing or diverting from the Red Sea amid the escalating conflict in the region.
WORLD
Jan 16, 2024
Yemen's Houthis threaten to hit U.S. ships as more tankers steer clear
The Iran-allied militant group said British and American vessels had become "legitimate targets" following last week's strikes on its sites by both countries.
Farmers dry coffee beans at the Thiririka farming cooperative in Kiambu County, Kenya, in November 2022.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 15, 2024
Is it time for a coffee cartel?
If farmers in the developing world are prevented from getting their fair share from coffee production they should take matters into their own hands.
Scallops from Hokkaido are served at an event in Sao Paulo on Sunday to promote Japanese seafood.
BUSINESS
Jan 15, 2024
Japan promotes fishery products at event in Brazil
The move is meant to cut reliance on the Chinese market after Beijing banned seafood imports from Japan last year.
The continued demand for and access to banned Nvidia chips underlines the lack of good alternatives for Chinese firms despite the nascent development of rival products from Huawei and others.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 15, 2024
China's military and government acquire Nvidia chips despite ban
The sales by largely unknown Chinese suppliers highlight the difficulties Washington faces.
U.S. President Joe Biden and his South Korean counterpart, Yoon Suk-yeol, visit a Samsung semiconductor factory in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, in May 2022.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 14, 2024
South Korea's economic strategy amid the U.S.-China rivalry
If the world is to avoid incurring increasingly high costs from fragmentation, the U.S. and China must learn how to coexist and engage in fair competition.
Foreign visitors learn how to make sushi in a cooking class in Tokyo's Asakusa district. Japan's services balance swung back into the black in November, thanks to increased spending by foreign visitors to the country.
BUSINESS
Jan 12, 2024
Japan logged record ¥1.93 trillion current account surplus in November
The current account surplus, one of the widest gauges of international trade, expanded 8.7% from a year earlier.
A Royal Air Force Typhoon aircraft takes off to join the U.S.-led coalition to conduct airstrikes against military targets in Yemen on Friday.
WORLD
Jan 12, 2024
U.S. and U.K. airstrikes pound Yemen as Mideast conflict spreads
Houthi rebels have carried out a growing number of attacks on what they deem to be Israel-linked shipping in the Red Sea.
The yen's exchange rate against the dollar on Wednesday. The yen declined from ¥103 against the dollar in 2020 to as little as ¥151 in late 2023.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 11, 2024
Is a weak yen good for Japan’s economy?
The yen's fast depreciation is boosting overseas investment and sectors like tourism, but could also trigger inflation. In response, the BOJ should raise interest rates.
The Yangshan Deepwater Port in Shanghai. China’s manufactured goods surplus relative to global gross domestic product is now around 2%, and an estimated 45% of China’s manufacturing output is being exported as the nation’s 1.4 billion people can’t buy enough goods such as electric vehicles, ships and household appliances to meet the increased supply.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 8, 2024
Xi Jinping’s solution for China’s economy risks triggering new trade war
Manufacturing focus sets up Beijing for renewed tensions with both developed countries and emerging economies pushing to reach the lower rungs of the industrialization.
Huawei caused a stir in the U.S. and China last August when it released a smartphone with a 7nm processor made by Shanghai-based SMIC.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 5, 2024
Huawei teardown shows 5nm laptop chip made in Taiwan, not China
The firm caused a stir last August when it released a smartphone with a processor that was only a few years behind the cutting edge.
Yemenis chant slogans and wave Palestinian flags during a march in solidarity with the people of Gaza, in Yemen's Houthi-controlled capital Sanaa on Dec.15, 2023. The Houthis have been firing on ships allegedly linked to Israel in the Red Sea in avowed solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 4, 2024
U.S., allies warn Houthis of 'consequences' of ship attacks
Warning comes as freight rates spike due to re-routing of vessels around Africa to avoid the Red Sea, where the Iran-backed militant group is active.
Cargo ships wait in the anchor zone to cross the Panama Canal from the Pacific entrance near Panama City, Panama, on Sept. 1, 2023. Ships have been waiting for days as the congestion to cross from both sides increase due to intense droughts in the country.
WORLD / Society
Jan 3, 2024
Saving the Panama Canal will take years and cost billions, if it’s even possible
Climate change-induced drought is limiting the number of ships on the waterway, which handles about 46% of containers moving from Northeast Asia to the U.S. East Coast.
Weak yen fattens tourist wallets in Japan
People visit the Ameya Yokocho market in Tokyo's Ueno district during the Golden Week holiday on Tuesday.
Number of vacant homes in Japan hits record high of 9 million
A vacant house in Tokyo is seen demolished in January 2020.
'So hot you can't breathe': Extreme heat hits the Philippines
A pedestrian cools himself with a folding hand fan as he waits for a ride along a road in Manila on Wednesday, as extreme heat hit the Philippines.
Kishida sets sights on energy and climate in South America trip
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will use a policy speech in Sao Paulo to set out his vision for ties between Japan and South America, almost 10 years after former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe advocated for stronger ties between the two in the same city.
Town to block view of Mount Fuji in response to overtourism
The town government of Fujikawaguchiko, Yamanashi Prefecture, decided to set up a 2.5-meter-high screen to prevent tourists from taking pictures of Mount Fuji looming behind a convenience store.
Kishida sets sights on energy and climate in South America trip
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will use a policy speech in Sao Paulo to set out his vision for ties between Japan and South America, almost 10 years after former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe advocated for stronger ties between the two in the same city.
Yellow sand allergy: A health issue made worse by climate change
A screenshot of the Meteorological Agency's satellite image of clouds and yellow sand (in pink) on Sunday.
Climate change, chalky grains and the risks for Japan’s rice farmers
A farmer plants seedlings in Satsumasendai, Kagoshima Prefecture. Japan’s self sufficiency rate for rice is nearly 100%, compared with 38% for food overall, on a calorie basis.
Japan wants you to spend more with ‘luxury tourism’
Performers play a traditional drum unique to Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, in the prefectural capital of Kanazawa on March 16 to mark the extension of the Hokuriku Shinkansen line to Tsuruga Station in Fukui Prefecture.
Theaster Gates’ ambitious ‘Afro-Mingei’ brings Black Chicago to Tokyo
Theaster Gates' “A Heavenly Chord” lines up church pews before seven speakers and a Hammond B3 organ, a type of electric organ prevalent in Black American churches.

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