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☆ Chinese postpartum confinement, called ‘zuo yue zi,’ is gaining Western appeal
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-07 | by ( Mayumi Maruyama | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

Hong Kong CNN —You cannot carry heavy things. Chan is a “pui yuet,” also called a confinement nanny, who lives with families after a baby is born. Richard, a content creator from Canada, traveled to Hong Kong to become a model and fell in love with her husband, Tom, there. During that time, the pui yuet makes dishes catering to the mother’s physical needs and helps her with milk production and other concerns. Few entities track the pricing of nannies in Hong Kong on a consistent basis because most negotiations are directly between clients and the nannies.

☆ Forget an MBA. This accountant has spent $250 to teach himself how to be a data analyst so he can get a $30,000 raise and buy a house.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( Ethan Dodd | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Jeremy Peer felt stuck at his $60,000 accounting salary but can't afford to go to business school. His SQL data analytics training was only $250, and he's working towards a free Microsoft certification. Now, he's taking online courses to land a higher-paying job in business analytics instead of shelling out tens of thousands of dollars on business school. He started listening to the Degree Free podcast and reading their newsletter and learned that Maruyama got hired after completing a Salesforce certification in just over a month. As an accountant for a Detroit-based distribution firm back in 2019, he saw firsthand the business need for analyzing large data sets.

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.”

☆ Big Japanese manufacturers remain gloomy as external demand ebbs - survey
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( Tetsushi Kajimoto | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

"The survey confirmed the economy is on track for a post-coronavirus recovery backed by service-sector firms, although manufacturers are affected by a slowdown in global demand," said Yoshimasa Maruyama, chief economist at SMBC Nikko Securities. The Reuters Tankan, which closely tracks the Bank of Japan's (BOA) quarterly key tankan survey, canvassed 493 big non-financial firms. The sentiment index for big manufacturers in the Reuters Tankan survey stood at minus 3, unchanged from the previous month and posting a fourth straight month of negative readings, according to the survey. The Reuters Tankan manufacturers index is expected to rebound to plus 7 over the next three months. The large service-sector firms' index edged up to plus 24 in April from plus 21 seen in the previous month, hitting the highest level since December.

☆ Japan's current account swings back to black on overseas investment
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-10 | by ( Tetsushi Kajimoto | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The current account surplus stood at 2.1972 trillion yen ($16.59 billion) in February, smaller than a 2.5357 trillion yen surplus forecast by a Reuters poll of 16 economists. That followed the prior month's 1.9893 trillion yen deficit, which was caused by effects of the Chinese New Year holidays in January. The income surplus stood at 3.4407 trillion yen, more than enough to offset the trade deficit of 604.1 billion yen, the data showed. As a result, current account surplus will expand gradually from now on," he said. Japan's position as an export powerhouse has also waned in recent years, in part because companies have moved production overseas, making overseas investment a pillar of the country's earning power.

Hong Kong CNN —Police in central Japan have arrested three people for taking part in pranks at a sushi conveyor belt restaurant. We will continue to do our best to … grow the conveyor belt sushi culture that is dear to Japan globally.”According to public broadcaster NHK, police arrested a 21-year-old and two teenagers on suspicion of obstructing the restaurant’s operations. Besides Kura Sushi, two other kaiten chains — Sushiro, owned by Food & Life Companies, and Hamazushi — previously told CNN they had suffered similar disruptions. In recent weeks, some Japanese social media users have even started to question whether conveyor belt sushi restaurants have a future in the country as consumers demand more attention to cleanliness. Kura Sushi said it would use AI-operated cameras to monitor customers to see if they’re misbehaving.

January's rise was the fastest since September 1981, when fuel costs spiked due to a Middle East oil crisis and hit Japan's import-reliant economy. Core consumer inflation has now exceeded the Bank of Japan's 2% target for nine straight months, mostly reflecting persistent rises in fuel and raw material costs, the data showed. "But there are questions as to whether the rise in inflation will be sustainable, as it is still driven largely by food and fuel costs," he said. At Ueda's debut policy meeting on April 28, the BOJ will release for the first time its inflation forecasts extending to fiscal 2025. Japan's economy averted recession in the fourth quarter of last year but rebounded much less than expected as business investment slumped.

☆ Japan logs record merchandise trade deficit in Jan as export growth slows
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( Tetsushi Kajimoto | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Summary Jan merchandise exports +3.5% yr/yr vs forecast +0.8%Imports +17.8% yr/yr vs forecast +18.4%Trade deficit at record Y3.49 trln vs forecast Y3.87 trillionCommodity inflation peaking but trade deficit to linger -analystTOKYO, Feb 16 (Reuters) - Growth in Japan's merchandise exports slowed sharply in January amid weakening Chinese demand for cars and chipmaking machinery, stoking concern about a global slowdown and creating the country's largest trade deficit on record. Trade figures issued on Thursday followed weaker-than-expected gross domestic product data, underscoring the challenge for the Bank of Japan in achieving growth led by private demand while stably sustaining inflation above 2%. The result was a 3.49 trillion yen ($26.07 billion) deficit in merchandise trade in January, the biggest in records going back to 1979, the data showed. Data issued on Monday showed Japan's economy, the world's third largest, had grown at an annualised rate of only 0.6 in the fourth quarter as business investment slumped. Japan reports trade in services separately, in its current account data.

☆ Japan current account surplus shrinks sharply as weak yen, trade deficits bite
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( Tetsushi Kajimoto | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Summary Dec current account surplus shrinks to 33.4 bln yen -MOFPrimary income surplus helps offset trade shortfallsFor 2022, current account surplus falls most on recordAnalyst sees current account bottoming out in 2023TOKYO, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Japan's current account surplus fell sharply in December after a record rise the prior month, finance ministry data showed on Wednesday, highlighting the impact of persistent trade deficits and a weak yen on the country's once-solid balance of payments. The current account surplus stood at 33.4 billion yen ($255.51 million) in December, down steeply from a surplus of 1.8 trillion yen the previous month that was driven by income gains from securities investments and hefty Japanese investments overseas. The latest figure marked a decline of 334 billion yen from a year earlier and undershot economists' median estimates for 98.4 billion yen surplus in a Reuters poll. There is some worry in financial markets that Japan's hefty public debt and a dwindling current account surplus could entrench weakness in the yen over the long run. For the whole of 2022, the current account surplus fell the most on record -- by 10.1 trillion yen from the previous year -- to reach 11.4 trillion yen.

☆ Japan current account surplus jumps, marks record for November
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( Tetsushi Kajimoto | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Summary Nov current account surplus at 1.8 trillion yenPrimary income surplus at 3.7 trillion yenTOKYO, Jan 12 (Reuters) - Japan's current account surplus logged a surprising surge to mark a record for November, as weakness in the yen drove income gains from portfolio investment and direct investment overseas to their highest level for the month. November's data marked the first year-on-year growth in the current account surplus since March 2022. The primary income surplus, which includes interest payments and dividends from investments overseas, hit 3.7 trillion yen. It was the largest amount for the month since comparable data became available in 1985, with the previous record being 2.4 trillion yen in November 2021. The trade deficit was 1.5 trillion yen, narrowing from the previous month's 1.9 trillion yen.

CNN —A cruise ship with hundreds of Covid-positive passengers docked in Sydney, Australia, after being hit by a wave of infections. The Majestic Princess cruise ship was about halfway through a 12-day voyage when an outbreak of cases was noticed, Carnival Australia president Marguerite Fitzgerald told reporters in a media briefing on Saturday. The Majestic Princess cruise ship has since departed Sydney on her next voyage to Melbourne and Tasmania. The Majestic Princess isn’t the first Carnival cruise to be hit by a Covid outbreak. At least three other ships within the company’s Princess fleet – the Ruby Princess, Diamond Princess, and Grand Princess – experienced outbreaks earlier in the pandemic.

London/Hong Kong CNN Business —Oleg Tinkov, the founder of a major Russian digital bank, has renounced his Russian citizenship in protest over the war in Ukraine. “I have taken the decision to exit my Russian citizenship,” Tinkov announced in a post on Instagram on Monday alongside a photo of a certificate confirming his decision, dated October 26. The post has since been taken down, but photos of it have been circulated on social media and reported by Russian state media. Tinkov, who founded Tinkoff Bank in 2006, earlier this year blasted Russia’s “insane war” in Ukraine. Nikolay Storonsky, the co-founder and CEO of Revolut, renounced his Russian citizenship earlier this year, the British company said Tuesday, confirming a report in The Telegraph.

☆ (foto) Record în Japonia. „Sakura” a înflorit la cea mai timpurie dată calendaristică din istorie
▼ + stars: | 2021-03-31 | by ( Onixmedia Srl | ) diez.md time to read: +3 min

Sezonul florilor de cireş din oraşul Kyoto a atins perioada sa de vârf în data de 26 martie, conform datelor colectate de Universitatea din Osaka. Oraşul Kyoto a beneficiat de o primăvară neobişnuit de caldă în acest an. Precedentul record fusese stabilit în anul 1409, când sezonul florilor de cireş a atins perioada de vârf în data de 27 martie. În acest an, sezonul florilor de cireş a început în Japonia în oraşul Hiroshima pe 11 martie, cu opt zile mai devreme decât precedentul record în domeniu, care fusese stabilit în 2004. Посмотреть эту публикацию в Instagram Публикация от 丸山悠美/Yumi Maruyama (@maruyumi)Посмотреть эту публикацию в Instagram Публикация от Yu (@yu6101_photo)Посмотреть эту публикацию в Instagram Публикация от JP_mood (@jp_mood_)

Persons: - lea, Yasuyuki, Instagram, Instagram Yu Organizations: Universitatea din, BBC, Universitatea Prefecturii Locations: Japonia, Kyoto, Universitatea din Osaka, Universitatea Prefecturii Osaka, Japoniei, Hiroshima

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