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July 04, 2026
 

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TECH

OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman in San Francisco in June
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 16, 2025
Despite soaring valuation, uncertainty clouds the outlook for OpenAI
“Big Short” investor Michael Burry has likened OpenAI to Netscape, which ruled the browser market in the 1990s only to lose to Microsoft’s Internet Explorer.
Under a new law, Google and Apple will have to allow third parties to run independent app stores and offer their own payment options.
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 15, 2025
What will change with Japan’s first attempt at regulating Big Tech?
While a previous law urged platforms to improve business practices and regularly report their endeavors, the new bill may alter the rules of the game.
Fujifilm is among the Japanese firms that are considering investing in in Rapidus, which aims to mass-produce next-generation semiconductors.
BUSINESS
Dec 13, 2025
Kyocera and Fujifilm among firms eyeing investments in Rapidus
The new funding is expected to put the chipmaker on track to achieving its goal of securing about ¥130 billion in additional private-sector investments.
Orix is among those in the next round of bidding for Macquarie Capital’s majority stake in a Dutch hyperscale data center.
BUSINESS
Dec 13, 2025
Macquarie’s Dutch data center stake attracts Igneo and Orix
Infrastructure has emerged as a key theme for investors seeking to profit from the AI boom, setting off an arms race among the world’s largest alternative asset managers.
SoftBank Group CEO Masayoshi Son speaks during an event in Tokyo on Dec. 1.
BUSINESS
Dec 13, 2025
SoftBank billionaire Son trims share pledges after AI rally
Son trimmed his committed shares by 19.4 million to around 154.2 million, according to a filing earlier this month.
Bears have killed a record 13 people in Japan this year and injured more than 200 others.
JAPAN / Society
Dec 12, 2025
GPS watch of hiker killed in Hokkaido bear attack shows last movements
Bears have killed a record 13 people in Japan this year and injured more than 200 others.
Cardinal Stephen Chow, the bishop of Hong Kong, speaks during Mass in Hong Kong in November 2023. During the opening Mass a three-day event to draft guidelines for the clergy’s use of artificial intelligence in the region Asia, he described AI as a "gift from God."
ASIA PACIFIC
Dec 12, 2025
Calling AI ‘a gift from God,’ Catholic bishops draft usage guidelines for Asia
Catholic bishops and priests from across Asia drafted pastoral guidelines for AI usage among the churches in the region.
MUFG Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking and Mizuho Bank plan to provide loans totaling up to around ¥2 trillion to Rapidus, marking the first private-sector loan to the Japanese chipmaker.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 12, 2025
Three megabanks eye loans of up to ¥2 trillion to Rapidus
The injection of such funds is expected to boost the firm’s planned mass production of cutting-edge chips, which requires a large amount of money.
SoftBank Group Chairman Masayoshi Son speaks in Tokyo earlier this month. Sources have said the group is considering acquiring data-center operator Switch. The move would give it outright ownership of a large portfolio of the facilities at a time when demand for their computing power is growing rapidly.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 12, 2025
SoftBank may acquire Switch data-center group deal in AI infrastructure bid
The Japanese company has also been in advanced talks on a potential purchase of one of Switch’s main private equity backers, according to recent reports.
Chicago O'Hare International Airport on Nov. 26. Along with social media handles, the U.S. would require all travelers who must complete an Electronic System for Travel Authorization form to submit email addresses used over the last 10 years and names, birth dates, residences and the birthplaces of parents, siblings, children and spouses.
WORLD
Dec 12, 2025
U.S. travel group and foreign tourists leery of Trump plan to vet social media
The change, expected to take effect on Feb. 8, would require travelers to the U.S. from countries in the visa waiver program to submit social media data.
A child looks at his phone in Melbourne on Nov. 27 ahead of Australia's ban on children under 16 from using social media.
ASIA PACIFIC
Dec 11, 2025
Australian content creators feel sting of losing young fans to social media ban
Follower counts primarily on Instagram have dropped, creators said, while engagement patterns — likes, comments and views — have also changed.
Nvidia head Jensen Huang speaks in Washington in October. The CEO said earlier this year that when its Blackwell chip was released, nobody wanted the previous generation anymore.
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 11, 2025
AI’s $400 billion problem: Are chips getting old too fast?
With chipmakers releasing new, more powerful processors faster than before, estimates regarding how fast these chips become obsolete may be overly optimistic.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Communications Minister Anika Wells speak to the media during a visit to St. John Paul II College in Canberra, Australia, on Thursday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Dec 11, 2025
Australian leader defends social media ban as teens brag about staying online
The rollout of the ban was always going to be bumpy but would ultimately save lives, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says.
A woman and her relatives look at her home, which was damaged during a night of Russian missile and drone strikes, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Novi Petrivtsi, outside Kyiv, on Saturday.
WORLD
Dec 11, 2025
Intel and AMD accused of allowing chips in Russian missiles
The lawsuits, filed on behalf of dozens of Ukrainian civilians, accuse the companies of “willful ignorance” as third parties resold restricted chips to Russia.
Nissan Motor CEO Ivan Espinosa (left) Wayve Technologies CEO Alex Kendall shake hands at a signing ceremony for a collaboration agreement between the two companies in Tokyo on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 10, 2025
Nissan to deploy tech from AI self-driving startup Wayve
While fully driverless cars remain some way off, the two companies said that their tie-up would help develop systems in real-world conditions.
Haneda Airport's international departure lobby in April 2023. Under U.S. President Donald Trump, travelers and immigrants have been scrutinized more aggressively.
JAPAN / Society
Dec 10, 2025
U.S. may require tourists to disclose social media history to customs
The U.S. is planning to require all foreign tourists to disclose five years of their social media history under a new proposal for enhanced border security.
Keio University President Kohei Ito (left) and OpenAI Chief Strategy Officer Jason Kwon sign a memorandum of understanding on Tuesday in Tokyo.
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 10, 2025
Keio and OpenAI sign MOU on integration of AI into university
The maker of ChatGPT will work closely with the Japanese institution on a range of projects.
Young passengers use their smartphones in a train near Central Station in Sydney on Nov. 19.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Dec 10, 2025
Australia begins enforcing teen social media ban in world-first crackdown
Canberra says unprecedented measures are needed to protect children from “predatory algorithms” filling phone screens with bullying, sex and violence.
The Tokyo Stock Exchange in Tokyo's Chuo Ward. Unlike conventional keyword-based search tools, the AI service for searching through disclosure materials allows for prompts such as "companies whose dividend predictions rose at least 20%."
BUSINESS / Markets
Dec 10, 2025
Japan exchange launches AI-powered disclosure search service
With around 150,000 disclosure documents filed each year, the service is aimed at improving investor convenience by enhancing search functions.
Jensen Huang (center), chief executive officer of Nvidia, takes questions during the China International Supply Chain Expo in Beijing in July.
BUSINESS / Economy / FOCUS
Dec 10, 2025
Trump’s Nvidia deal reshapes China strategy and risks supercharging Xi’s AI push
The move raises questions about how far the U.S. president will go to steady ties with his Chinese counterpart.
‘My dream is broken’: Japan visa rules push out foreign residents
A man orders from a kebab shop in the Okubo district in Tokyo.
Japan triples departure tax in push to combat overtourism
Tourists in Yanaka Ginza, Tokyo, on Wednesday. Japan tripled its International Tourist Tax (departure tax) to ¥3,000 from ¥1,000 on Wednesday for all travelers leaving Japan, regardless of nationality.
Japanese-language education is at a turning point
The country is gradually transforming Japanese-language education from a volunteer-driven system into a professional, government-supported network to better serve its growing foreign population. 
More facilities in Japan placing sanitary bins in men’s restrooms
A sanitary bin with an awareness sticker placed in a men's restroom in the Nagasaki Municipal Government building
Japan plans to sharply raise fees for residence permits from October
Foreign tourists walk on the path leading to the Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto in May.
Six of the best: rikishi of note in each sumo division
Kazuma (right) faces off against future <i>yokozuna</i> Onosato during the All Japan Amateur Sumo Championships at the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo in December 2020.
Some startups see opportunity in an aging Japan
Yasmin Baba, CTO of Amilis, wins the Grand Prize at the Pitch2Tokyo Grand Final on Feb. 19.
Japan’s fertility system offers few safe paths for same-sex couples
A Tokyo Pride parade participant holds a sign that says "we want to be a married couple, not a couple."
Life inside Japan’s largest prison for women
Western-style rooms spanning the size of four tatami mats with hardwood floors, a toilet and soft mattresses on bed frames are designated for foreign nationals and those with health conditions at Tochigi Prison.
Inside Japan’s rigid adoption system, a British family finds a way
James Benstead, his wife, Jesse, and their three children. Their adopted son is in the rear stroller.

Podcast

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

Longform

The Terasaka Rice Terraces are seen with Mount Buko in the background.
What Yokoze can teach Japan about rural revival
By Alex K.T. Martin

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