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July 04, 2026
 

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AI

AI-generated video is now good enough to monetize, with China’s Kuaishou showing how focused, paid tools can scale globally while amplifying deepfake and copyright risks.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 20, 2026
Chinese AI videos used to look fake. Now they look like money.
In China, AI video is doing something else that once looked unlikely: making money.
Zhipu staff members help residents install and setup AutoClaw, a local version of the AI agent OpenClaw developed by Zhipu, at an office building in Beijing.
BUSINESS / Tech
Mar 20, 2026
As OpenClaw enthusiasm grips China, school kids and retirees alike raise ‘lobsters’
The hype over the open-source bot is the latest example of how a new technology could overhaul the world’s second-largest economy through unbridled consumer adoption.
A powerful artificial intelligence model that appeared ⁠anonymously on a developer platform last week was revealed to be from Chinese smartphone and electric vehicle giant Xiaomi, and not DeepSeek as initially thought.
BUSINESS / Tech
Mar 19, 2026
Mystery AI model suspected to be DeepSeek V4 is revealed to be from Xiaomi
The model, called Hunter Alpha, surfaced ​on an AI gateway platform on March 11 without any developer attribution and was later described as a “stealth model.”
The Tokyo Metropolitan Government is developing a "Generative AI Platform," which will allow government employees to create AI applications to assist with their work.
JAPAN
Mar 19, 2026
Tokyo government builds infrastructure to expand use of generative AI
Authorities in the capital aim to boost efficiency in public services and address growing concerns over labor shortages through AI.
NTT Global Data Centers is working on 34 projects to double its capacity to 4 gigawatts within as little as two years, CEO Doug Adams said, as it races to meet surging global demand driven by the AI boom.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 19, 2026
NTT Global Data Centers plans to double capacity in AI boom
The business’s revenue is expected to keep growing at more than 20% a year.
Japan’s long-term growth will depend on leveraging its well-educated workforce, expanding digital capacity, and strengthening advanced sectors like AI and power semiconductors, while strategically investing in productivity.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 18, 2026
From stimulus to structure: Japan’s next economic agenda
With a shrinking population and a rapidly aging society, the country is moving away from the demand-deficient conditions that characterized much of the post-bubble era.
Literary translation is one of humanity’s most crucial tasks — one that should never be left to the machines.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 18, 2026
Lost in AI translation: What’s at stake? Our humanity.
Literary translation is one of humanity’s most crucial tasks — one that should never be left to the machines.
Humanoid robots are making rapid progress, but their widespread deployment remains limited by safety, power and performance challenges.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 18, 2026
The era of humanoid robots is here: Governments must seize the moment
The reality is that most people overestimate what robots can do at this point in their development.
Governments and regulators around the world have launched probes into xAI, imposed bans and demanded safeguards in a growing push to curb illegal and offensive material.
BUSINESS / Tech
Mar 17, 2026
Tennessee minors sue Musk’s xAI, alleging Grok generated sexual images of them
Governments and regulators around the world have launched probes into xAI, imposed bans and demanded safeguards in a growing push to curb illegal and offensive material.
Jensen Huang, chief executive officer of Nvidia, speaks during a keynote address at the Nvidia GTC conference in San Jose, California, on Monday.
BUSINESS / Tech
Mar 17, 2026
Nvidia expects to make $1 trillion from AI chips through 2027
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang announced plans to push deeper into central processing units — Intel’s home turf.
Generative AI is advancing so rapidly and unpredictably that governing it will require urgent collaboration across disciplines rather than leaving decisions to technologists or economists alone.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 16, 2026
Those who most need to understand AI don’t get it
Too often, discussions about AI are overly specialized or siloed between technologists, economists and other disciplines
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to reporters aboard Air Force One on a flight to Washington on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 16, 2026
Trump accuses Iran of using AI to spread disinformation
“AI can be very dangerous, we have to be very careful with it,” Trump said to reporters.
An Iranian ma looks at his smartphone after his house was damaged by a strike in Tehran on Saturday.
BUSINESS / Tech
Mar 15, 2026
AI fakes about Iran-U.S. war swirl on X despite policy crackdown
The Middle East war has unleashed an avalanche of AI-generated visuals, leaving many social media users unable to distinguish fabrication from reality.
Houses are surrounded by floodwaters after Hurricane Florence hit in Duplin County, North Carolina, in September 2018.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Mar 14, 2026
AI ‘scientists’ help human ones answer urgent climate questions
Like millions of other people, climate scientists are finding a role for large language models in coding, communication and other parts of their workflow.
Microsoft is investing 5.4 billion South African rand ($330 million) to expand its cloud and AI capacity in the country by the end of next year, and it also has plans to build a geothermal-powered data center in Kenya.
BUSINESS / Tech
Mar 12, 2026
Microsoft’s Copilot AI goes head-to-head with China’s DeepSeek in Africa
The U.S. technology giant is making a push for more Africans to adopt its artificial-intelligence tools in the world’s youngest and fastest-growing population.
A drone used by JR East to inspect railway equipment during transportation disruptions
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 11, 2026
JR East to monitor Yamanote Line pantographs with AI
The railway operator also plans to use drones to inspect wires and other infrastructure, aiming to reduce the time required to resume operations by 30% after service disruptions.
Many Japanese companies — from Toto, a toilet manufacturer, to Fujikura — are quietly becoming key suppliers in the artificial intelligence supply chain but often fail to communicate their transformation effectively to investors and global audiences.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 11, 2026
From toilets to fiber optics, Japan’s unlikely AI players
Japanese firms often struggle to tell their success stories, particularly if they’re diversified or in niche industries.
The Gemini logo on a laptop computer arranged in New York on Dec. 9, 2023
BUSINESS / Tech
Mar 11, 2026
Google to provide Pentagon with AI agents for unclassified work
The new feature will allow civilian and military personnel at the Defense Department to build AI agents using natural language.
A person visits the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai on July 26, 2025.
BUSINESS / Tech
Mar 11, 2026
China pins hopes on society-wide AI push to add jobs, rejuvenate economy
Policymakers and company executives play down growing global fears that artificial intelligence could stunt employment.
AI developer Anthropic has filed a lawsuit to block the Pentagon from placing it on a national security blacklist.
BUSINESS / Tech
Mar 10, 2026
Anthropic sues to block Pentagon blacklisting over AI use restrictions
Anthropic said in its lawsuit that the supply-chain risk designation was unlawful and violated its free speech and due process rights.
‘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

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

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