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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

☆ NATO helicopters are shooting down and eliminating enemy drones in a rarer kind of Red Sea battle
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-08 | by ( Jake Epstein | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Houthi attack drones have mostly been intercepted by US and allied warships in the Red Sea. Air-to-air combat has been much less common, but last month, a French helicopter shot down a drone. One recent interception, however, was credited to a French helicopter crew, which blasted a Houthi attack drone out of the sky in air-to-air combat. AdvertisementPilots are 'well-trained'And the US hasn't been the only naval force to destroy Houthi threats in the Red Sea with embarked helicopters. A Germany Navy Sea Lynx helicopter flies over the corvette Oldenburg in the Baltic Sea on June 05, 2023 near Rostock, Germany.

Persons: —, FRANCOIS NASCIMBENI, Brynn Tannehill, Hawk, Tannehill, Damon Coulter, Dwight D, Eisenhower, Sean Gallup, You've, you've Organizations: US, Red Sea, Service, Helicopters, Getty Images, US Navy, Navy, UH, US Army Black, US Navy Sikorsky, Helicopter Maritime, Naval Air Facility, Getty, aircraft, Command, Germany Navy Sea Lynx, German Bundeswehr Joint Forces Operations Command, BI, Lynx Locations: Red, French, France, Sissonne, AFP, Getty Images France, Iran, Yemen, Kanagawa, American, Hessen, Baltic, Rostock, Germany

☆ Rakuten Group's losses, debt burden and financing efforts
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-29 | by ( Anton Bridge | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Here are some details about its deeply troubled mobile business, the group's operating losses, debt burden and its efforts to shore up its finances. It had 351 billion yen ($2.4 billion) in annual sales last year and accounts for 18% of Rakuten's overall revenue. Rakuten Group currently has total debt of more than 1.5 trillion yen, of which 800 billion yen is due to be redeemed by the end of 2025. Nov 2022 - sells 19.99% of Rakuten Securities to Mizuho Securities for 80 billion yen. Nov 2023 - sells a further 29% of Rakuten Securities to Mizuho Securities for 87 billion yen.

Persons: Miho Uranaka, Rakuten, Hiroshi, Mickey, Mikitani, Anton Bridge, Edwina Gibbs Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, Rakuten, Reuters Graphics Reuters, Reuters Graphics, Japan Post Holdings, HK, Walmart, Rakuten Securities, Mizuho Securities, Rakuten Bank, Thomson Locations: Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan, Japanese

☆ 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

☆ Rakuten to invest $363 million in better frequency cell base
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

The logo of Rakuten is pictured in Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan, Aug 2, 2023. REUTERS/Miho Uranaka/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsTOKYO, Oct 23 (Reuters) - Japan's Rakuten Group (4755.T) on Monday said it would invest 54.4 billion yen ($362.81 million) to construct cellular base stations, just after the government announced it had assigned the company's carrier better frequency for connection. The announcement could boost the company's mobile phone business that has struggled to take market share from cash-rich incumbents known for high-quality networks. Rakuten said it plans to open 10,661 base stations for the "platinum band" frequency and expects its cell phone business to turn profitable in 2026. The company is sticking to a plan to reduce capital expenditure by about 300 billion yen between 2023 and 2025, a spokesperson said.

Persons: Miho Uranaka, Rakuten, Satoshi Sugiyama, Barbara Lewis Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, Thomson Locations: Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan

☆ '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

☆ A Tiananmen Square Musical Worries About China’s Glare
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-21 | by ( Christopher Kuo | More About Christopher Kuo | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

“Even the word ‘Tiananmen’ would generate fear in the Chinese government and that fear would generate a very repressive action,” he said. Within China, people who publicly discuss what happened at Tiananmen can face jail time or see their children prohibited from attending universities. In May, the activist Chen Siming was arrested by the Chinese authorities over a social media post paying tribute to Tiananmen, according to Human Rights Watch. The cast of “Tiananmen” is entirely Asian American and Pacific Islander, but those who are not ethnically Chinese have less concern about their involvement. Kanagawa and Oka, who are both Japanese American, said they felt comfortable speaking about the show because neither has family ties to China.

Persons: Xiao, ”, Chen Siming, Piser, Rose Organizations: Human Rights Watch, Pacific Locations: China, American, Kanagawa, Oka

☆ SpaceX, NASA launch four astronauts from four countries
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-26 | by ( Jackie Wattles | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

The crew is riding aboard the SpaceX Crew Dragon Endurance capsule on the mission, dubbed Crew-7. “Space travel is difficult, but you make it look easy,” Moghbeli dispatched to SpaceX mission control from the Crew Dragon capsule after launch. The Crew-7 astronauts will spend about five days taking over operations from the SpaceX Crew-6 astronauts, who have been on the space station since March. The Crew-7 astronauts represent the most internationally diverse SpaceX crew to date. After reaching the space station, the Crew-7 astronauts will bid farewell to the SpaceX Crew-6 astronauts, who will return home aboard their spacecraft, the Crew Dragon Endeavour, in the coming days.

Persons: NASA’s, NASA’s Jasmin Moghbeli, Andreas Mogensen, Satoshi Furukawa, Konstantin Borisov, Roscosmos, ” Moghbeli, We’re, ”, Furukawa, Borisov, —, “, Moghbeli, Baldwin, I’ve, Russia’s, I’m, Boeing’s, ” Mogensen, ” Furukawa, Loral O’Hara, Oleg Kononenko, Nikolai Organizations: CNN —, SpaceX, NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, European Space Agency, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, JAXA, NASA, ESA, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Naval Postgraduate School, Marine Corps, Soyuz, Copenhagen International School, Imperial College London, University of Texas, Surrey Space Centre, University of Tokyo, Russian Soyuz Locations: Florida, Danish, Russian, Bad Nauheim, Germany, Frankfurt —, New York, Long, Monterey , California, United States, Russia, Ukraine, Copenhagen, United Kingdom, Austin, Surrey, Kanagawa, Japan, Tokyo

☆ Rakuten shares jump as mobile losses narrow
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-14 | by ( Anton Bridge | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Miho UranakaTOKYO, Aug 14 (Reuters) - Rakuten Group (4755.T) shares surged on Monday morning after the e-commerce giant reported narrowing losses at its cash bleeding mobile unit last week alongside assurances that it can cover its debt burden for the next financial year. Rakuten has taken to publicly listing its more successful units to generate cash, listing its internet banking business - Rakuten Bank (5838.T) - in April and applying to list its securities business in July. Last week, Rakuten also announced plans to consolidate its payments and points businesses and fold them into Rakuten Card, its credit card and loans unit. Rakuten also committed to taking on no additional gross debt, instead using equity-related financing to reduce its debt burden. The group has a total of 1.9 trillion yen ($13.11 billion) in debt, with 406 billion yen due in 2024 and a further 430 billion yen in 2025, according to Refinitiv data.

Persons: Miho Uranaka, Jefferies, Rakuten, Anton Bridge, Jacqueline Wong Organizations: REUTERS, Rakuten, Rakuten Bank, Thomson Locations: Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan, Miho Uranaka TOKYO

☆ How Hokusai’s Art Crashed Over the Modern World
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-22 | by ( Jason Farago | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

One of the most influential figures in European modern culture never set foot in Europe. But a few years after his death in 1849, when the “black ships” of Commodore Matthew Perry sailed into what’s now Tokyo Bay, Japan’s markets were forcibly opened, and Hokusai’s woodblocks started to flutter over the ocean. In France, in Britain, and soon in America, a whole new kind of art would emerge: born in Tokyo, spanning the whole world. Beautiful and bloated by turns (but well worth the trip), it makes ample use of the MFA’s unparalleled collection of Japanese art. Here you will see more than 100 of Hokusai’s prints, paintings and manga — literally “whimsical sketches” of bathers and courtesans and birds and beasts, which Hokusai published in 15 best-selling volumes.

Persons: Katsushika, Matthew Perry, Hokusai’s woodblocks, Hokusai Organizations: Mount Fuji, Museum of Fine Arts, Mount, Fuji Locations: Europe, Edo Japan, what’s, Tokyo, France, Britain, America, Boston, American

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.

☆ 2022 in gender equality: Share of female Fortune 500 CEOs hits all-time high, but other progress stalls
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-20 | by ( Morgan Smith | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Women continue to face a significant wage gap that has hardly budged over the last 15 years, with women of color bearing the brunt of the disparity. The year "2022 really is a mixed bag when it comes to gender equality," says Melissa Boteach, the vice president for income security and child care/early learning at the National Women's Law Center. Aside from that victory, there has been little progress in closing the gender wage gap over the past decade. This year, the wage gap narrowed by one penny. The wage gap Black women face narrowed by about four cents in one year, while Latinas' wage gap didn't budge at all.

☆ 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.

☆ Exploring Nature in Japanese Prints
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-19 | by ( Susan Delson | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

Last year a print of “Under the Wave off Kanagawa,” the near-ubiquitous image by Katsushika Hokusai better known as “The Great Wave,” sold at auction for $1.6 million, a record for the artist. In the 1830s, when it was made, a woodblock print in Edo—now Tokyo—cost roughly the same as a bowl of noodles. Produced in large quantities for a popular market, these affordable images brought the country’s landmarks and natural wonders to audiences eager to experience them through artists’ eyes. “Human / Nature: 150 Years of Japanese Landscape Prints,” a new exhibition opening on Dec. 3 at the Portland Art Museum in Oregon, presents some 70 of these works, from 19th-century classics like “The Great Wave” to late-20th-century prints by artists in Japan and the Pacific Northwest. “Human imagination has been shaped by nature and the landscape,” says exhibition curator Helen Swift.

☆ 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

☆ The Hidden Image Descriptions Making the Internet Accessible
▼ + stars: | 2022-02-18 | by ( Meg Miller | Ilaria Parogni | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +15 min

surfacing The Hidden Image Descriptions Making the Internet AccessibleThree different alt text examples over a blank box. Alt text examples from Wirecutter, The New York Times’s product recommendation service; Alt Text Chrome Extension; and Microsoft Word. Fleet, the tech educator, who is blind, posts on Twitter about alt text and agrees that these efforts are making a difference. Alt Text Reminder, another Twitter bot, notifies followers when they have tweeted an image without alt text. Folkens of CloudSight said that his company is careful not to use racial identifiers in the alt text it generates.

☆ O tulpină nouă a coronavirusului, depistată pe aeroportul din Tokyo
▼ + stars: | 2021-01-10 | by ( Publika.Md - Aici Sunt Știrile | ) www.publika.md time to read: +2 min

Patru persoane care au venit în Japonia din Brazilia au fost confirmate cu o nouă variantă a coronavirusului, a anunţat duminică Ministerul Sănătăţii de la Tokyo, potrivit DPA, transmite digi24.ro. O femeie de 30 de ani a acuzat durere în gât şi dureri de cap, iar un adolescent a prezentat febră. Al patrulea pasager, o adolescentă, nu a prezentat simptome, a indicat ministerul. Ministerul a raportat, de asemenea, că a detectat trei noi cazuri de persoane confirmate cu tulpină de coronavirus descoperită în Marea Britanie, considerată mai contagioasă. Măsura a intrat în vigoare în cele patru prefecturi vineri, zi în care Japonia a înregistrat 7.711 infecţii noi, inclusiv 2.392 de cazuri în Tokyo - cea mai mare creştere a numărului de cazuri zilnice pentru a patra zi consecutiv.

Persons: Suga Organizations: News, Ministerul Locations: Japonia, Brazilia, Tokyo, Amazonas, Britanie, Africa de Sud, prefecturile, Chiba, Kanagawa, Saitama

☆ O tulpină nouă a coronavirusului, depistată pe aeroportul din Tokyo: De unde veneau pasagerii-purtători
▼ + stars: | 2021-01-10 | by ( ) www.jurnal.md time to read: +1 min

Institutul a precizat că în prezent nu există dovezi că noua tulpină ar fi mai contagioasă. O femeie de 30 de ani a acuzat durere în gât şi dureri de cap, iar un adolescent a prezentat febră. Al patrulea pasager, o adolescentă, nu a prezentat simptome, a indicat ministerul. Ministerul a raportat, de asemenea, că a detectat trei noi cazuri de persoane confirmate cu tulpină de coronavirus descoperită în Marea Britanie, considerată mai contagioasă. Măsura a intrat în vigoare în cele patru prefecturi vineri, zi în care Japonia a înregistrat 7.711 infecţii noi, inclusiv 2.392 de cazuri în Tokyo - cea mai mare creştere a numărului de cazuri zilnice pentru a patra zi consecutiv.

Persons: Suga Organizations: News, Ministerul Locations: Britanie, Africa de Sud, Japonia, Tokyo, prefecturile, Chiba, Kanagawa, Saitama

O femeie de 30 de ani a acuzat durere în gât şi dureri de cap, iar un adolescent de sex masculin a prezentat febră. O adolescentă nu a prezentat simptome, a indicat ministerul. Ministerul a raportat, de asemenea, că a detectat trei noi cazuri de persoane confirmate cu tulpină de coronavirus descoperită în Marea Britanie, considerată mai contagioasă. La sfârşitul lunii decembrie, Japonia a suspendat temporar intrarea pe teritoriul său a cetăţenilor străini până la sfârşitul lunii ianuarie, după detectarea noilor variante identificate în Marea Britanie şi Africa de Sud. Măsura a intrat în vigoare în cele patru prefecturi vineri, zi în care Japonia a înregistrat 7.711 infecţii noi, inclusiv 2.392 de cazuri în Tokyo - cea mai mare creştere a numărului de cazuri zilnice pentru a patra zi consecutiv.

Persons: Suga Organizations: News, Ministerul Locations: Amazonas, Brazilia, Tokyo, Britanie, Africa de Sud, Japonia, prefecturile, Chiba, Kanagawa, Saitama

Persons: Suga Organizations: News, Ministerul Locations: Amazonas, Brazilia, Tokyo, Britanie, Africa de Sud, Japonia, prefecturile, Chiba, Kanagawa, Saitama

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