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☆ Super-aged Japan now has 9 million vacant homes. And that’s a problem
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-07 | by ( Chris Lau | Mayumi Maruyama | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

“This is a symptom of Japan’s population decline,” said Jeffrey Hall, a lecturer at Kanda University of International Studies in Chiba. “It’s not really a problem of building too many houses” but “a problem of not having enough people,” he said. According to figures compiled by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, 14% of all residential properties in Japan are vacant. “When an earthquake or a tsunami occurs, there is a possibility that vacant houses will block evacuation routes as they break down and get destroyed,” he said. In other rural areas with a high concentration of vacant houses, akiya have stalled development, the professor said.

Persons: ”, Jeffrey Hall, “ It’s, don’t, Akio Kon, it’s, “ They’re, Buddhika Weerasinghe, Yuki Akiyama, Akiyama, ” Akiyama Organizations: CNN, Kanda University of International Studies, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, Kanda University, “, Bloomberg, Getty, Ministry, Internal Affairs, Communications, Tokyo City University, Homes Locations: Japan, New York City, Tokyo, Kyoto, Chiba, Kanda, Yato, Yokosuka City, Kanagawa prefecture, Tambasasayama, Noto, Ishikawa, Europe, West, “

☆ Oil prices dip as demand concerns outweigh Middle East supply fears
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-17 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Oil storage drums stacked in the Keihin industrial area of Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, on Monday, April 15, 2024. Oil prices eased in early trade on Wednesday as worries about global demand due to weak economic momentum in China and fading hopes for U.S. interest rate cuts in the near term outweighed supply fears on heightened tensions in the Middle East. Oil prices have softened so far this week as economic headwinds pressured investor sentiment, curbing gains from geopolitical tensions, with eyes on how Israel might respond to Iran's attack on Israeli territory over the weekend. "Demand concerns increased due to expectations that U.S. interest rate cuts are likely to be delayed and weaker-than-expected economic data from China," said Hiroyuki Kikukawa, president of NS Trading, a unit of Nissan Securities. "Since the market had been rising until last week on supply worries amid escalating tensions in the Middle East, the relatively restrained Iranian aggression has not provided the ground for buying up," he said.

Persons: Hiroyuki Kikukawa Organizations: Brent, NS, Nissan Securities Locations: Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, China, Israel

☆ Dogs don kimonos, receive blessings in place of children in aging Japan
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-14 | by ( Irene Wang | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/5] Pet owners pray with their pet dogs as they arrive for a Shichi-Go-San blessing, traditionally performed for young children to ask for health and happiness, at Zama Shrine in Zama, Kanagawa Prefecture, near Tokyo, Japan, November 14, 2023. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon Acquire Licensing RightsZAMA, Japan, Nov 14 (Reuters) - A traditional ceremony for children is catching on among pet owners in Japan, where dogs and cats are receiving ever more attention amid the nation's plummeting birth rates. Parents dress their girls and boys in kimonos and bring them to a Shinto holy place for the ceremony. On Tuesday, numerous pet owners led their charges up the steep steps to reach the Inuneko Jinja, or Dog-Cat Shrine, to pray and receive a blessing from a Shinto priest. "The number of children is decreasing each year, and as a result, more and more people are pouring their love into their dogs and cats," said Zama Shrine priest Yoshinori Hiraga.

Persons: Kim Kyung, Natsuki Aoki, Aoki, Shiba, Yoshinori Hiraga, Masayo Tashiro, Irene Wang, Rocky Swift, Raju Gopalakrishnan Organizations: REUTERS, Thomson Locations: Zama, Kanagawa Prefecture, Tokyo, Japan, Hiroshima, kimonos, Jinja, Pomeranian

☆ 'Fraught with uncertainty': IEA says oil markets to remain on tenterhooks as Israel-Hamas war persists
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-12 | by ( Sam Meredith | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

The International Energy Agency on Thursday said that oil markets are likely to remain on edge as the Israel-Hamas war persists, with investors closely monitoring the potential for output disruption in the Middle East. "The Middle East conflict is fraught with uncertainty and events are fast developing," the IEA said in its report. "Against a backdrop of tightly balanced oil markets anticipated by the IEA for some time, the international community will remain laser focused on risks to the region's oil flows," the energy agency added. Noting a "sharp escalation in geopolitical risk," the IEA said it would continue to closely monitor oil markets and "stands ready to act if necessary to ensure markets remain adequately supplied." Israel is not a major oil producer and no major oil infrastructure runs close to the Gaza Strip.

Organizations: International Energy Agency, IEA Locations: Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, Israel, Gaza

Now, a Japanese city is turning to the AI chatbot for something else: helping to run the government. Yokosuka City, in Japan’s central Kanagawa prefecture, announced this week that it will begin using ChatGPT to help with administrative tasks. In the face of these population problems, the city turned to ChatGPT to enhance efficiency and establish a better workflow within government operations, said the spokesperson. The scramble by rival tech companies to develop their own AI tools has also highlighted the ways AI can spit out racist, sexist and harmful content. At the bottom of the document, a single line read: “This release was drafted by ChatGPT and proofread by our staff.”

REUTERS/Nacho DoceTOKYO/SEOUL, March 31 (Reuters) - South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co Ltd (005930.KS) is considering setting up a chip test line in Japan, five people said, to bolster its advanced packaging business and forge closer ties with Japanese makers of semiconductor equipment and materials. It would be the first such test line in Japan for Samsung, the world's largest maker of memory chips. Companies are racing to develop advanced packaging techniques, which involve placing chips with different functions into a single package, to enhance overall capabilities and limit the added cost of more advanced chips. The test line would involve the so-called back-end process of chipmaking, according to the five people, which refers to a process in which semiconductors are cut and assembled into products. Samsung last year set up an advanced packaging team in South Korea.

Hong Kong/Tokyo CNN —Masatoshi Ito, the Japanese billionaire who turned 7-Eleven convenience stores into a global empire, has died aged 98, closing the chapter on one of Asia’s most storied retail entrepreneurs. A 7-Eleven convenience store in Japan's Kanagawa Prefecture, on January 9, 2023. So, how did 7-Eleven become synonymous with the Japanese convenience store culture as we know it today? He renamed the company Ito Yokado and started running the business like a US supermarket. Ito Yokado was renamed Seven & I Holdings in 2005, and Ito remained its honorary chairman until his death.

☆ Asia markets fall as Japan's inflation data reaches highest since 1981
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( Jihye Lee | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

People walk down a street in the Chinatown section of Yokohama, Kanagawa prefecture, south of Tokyo, on January 7, 2023. Markets in the Asia-Pacific were set to trade lower on Friday as investors digested Japan's core inflation print, which reached the fastest pace since December, 1981. The Nikkei futures contract in Chicago was at 26,360 while its counterpart in Osaka was at 26,320 against the Nikkei 225's last close at 26,405.23. The yield on the 10-year Japanese Government Bond rose to stand at 0.415%, slightly below the central bank's upper ceiling of its tolerance range. In Australia the S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.11% in its first hour of trade.

☆ Japanese biotech firm uses tiny worms in test for pancreatic cancer
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Rocky Swift | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

REUTERS/Kim Kyung-HoonTOKYO, Nov 30 (Reuters) - A Japanese biotech firm says it has developed the world's first early screening test for pancreatic cancer, using the powerful noses of tiny worms. Hirotsu Bio Science this month launched its N-NOSE plus Pancreas test, marketing directly to consumers in Japan and with aims to bring the test to the United States by 2023. In the latest version, the company tweaked the genetic code of the nematodes so that they would swim away from pancreatic cancer samples. Hirotsu Bio started with pancreatic cancer due to its difficulty in diagnosis and speed of progression. The pancreas test kit costs up to 70,000 yen ($505), comparatively expensive for a diagnostic test in Japan, which has a nationalised health care system and fixed prices for drugs and procedures.

☆ Adobe stock jumps on estimates for next year as strong dollar cuts into growth
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-18 | by ( Jordan Novet | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Shantanu Narayen, chairman and chief executive officer of Adobe Systems Inc., during a telecast of the SoftBank World event in Tokyo arranged in Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, on Thursday, Oct. 29, 2020. SoftBank World, the company's annual two-day event for customers and suppliers, ends Friday. The forecast excludes impact from its planned $20 billion acquisition of design software startup Figma, which is expected to close in 2023. Analysts polled by Refinitiv had expected adjusted earnings of $15.53 per share on $19.82 billion in revenue. WATCH: The design space overall has a lot of room to run, says Bessemer Venture Partners' Elliott Robinson

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