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July 07, 2026
 

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AI

A billboard organized by the corporate accountability group Eko passes through Westminster urging Britain's prime minister to stand up to Elon Musk and ban X and Grok in London on Jan. 14.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 27, 2026
Too many kids already know someone who’s been deepfaked
The increasing availability of AI nudification tools has fueled skyrocketing reports of AI-generated child sexual abuse material.
Masayoshi Son, chairman and chief executive officer of SoftBank Group, speaks during the Future Investment Initiative (FII) Institute Priority Asia conference in Tokyo in December.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 26, 2026
SoftBank hits the brakes on talks to buy data center firm Switch
The two sides remain in active discussions about a partial investment or a partnership.
Fiction writing, commercial photography, radio, music and — most ominously — journalism face a reckoning with artificial intelligence. 
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 26, 2026
The takeover of all media by artificial intelligence is coming
Not only is AI already upending the filmmaking industry, but Hollywood is just one example of how the technology will cause enormous social and economic pain.
A screen displays share prices inside the Kabuto One building in Tokyo, Japan.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jan 26, 2026
Fidelity fund beating 96% of peers likes Japan’s AI-linked firms
Surging share prices of memory chipmakers have opened the way for less pricey stocks of smaller firms like Fujibo who have businesses that are essential for AI.
A viral check-in app that alerts contacts if users fail to confirm they are alive has exposed rising loneliness, demographic anxiety and unmet eldercare needs, showing the next breakout tech hit may come from confronting social isolation.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 25, 2026
Forget DeepSeek, dying alone is China’s latest tech obsession
The interface is almost aggressively plain. Users, largely people living alone, tap to confirm they are still alive.
Shanghai-based AI startup MiniMax's CEO Yan Junjie (right) and Co-founder and COO Yun Yeyi attend the firm's listing ceremony at the Hong Kong stock exchange on Jan. 9.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 23, 2026
Dazzling Chinese AI debuts mask growing pains
Investor confidence in Chinese AI startups is high, but obstacles to success range from U.S. export controls to the puzzle of how to become profitable.
The recent rollout of an editing feature on Grok, developed by Elon Musk's startup xAI and integrated into X, allowed users to alter online images of real people with simple text prompts such as "put her in a bikini" or "remove her clothes."
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 23, 2026
Musk’s Grok created 3 million sexualized images within days, research says
They include 23,000 that appear to depict children, the Center for Countering Digital Hate says.
Toto shares surged as much as 11% Thursday, its steepest rise since February 2021.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jan 22, 2026
Toilet maker Toto’s shares get unlikely boost from AI rush
Known for its heated toilet seats, Toto has for decades been part of the semiconductor and display supply chain via its advanced ceramic parts and films.
The DEEPX booth at the 2025 Korea Tech Festival in Seoul on Dec. 4
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 22, 2026
South Korea launches landmark laws to regulate artificial intelligence
Seoul hopes its new AI Basic Act will position the country as a leader ‍in the field, taking effect in South Korea sooner than a comparable ‍effort in Europe.
A Mos Food Services employee places an order via a microphone at an artificial intelligence drive-thru facility, which was unveiled to members of the media in Yoshikawa City, Saitama Prefecture, on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 21, 2026
Mos Food unveils AI system for drive-thru orders
In the hamburger industry, the use of mobile and touchscreen ordering systems is spreading, but the adoption of AI has been slow.
Cartoonist Mitsuru Yaku (center) and other executives of Freelance League of Japan announces their survey to reporters in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Society
Jan 21, 2026
One in 10 Japanese creatives see income fall due to generative AI
Survey respondents cited being asked to accept shorter deadlines and lower fees, or losing commissions altogether.
Jensen Huang, chief executive officer of Nvidia, speaks at the 2026 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Jan. 6.
BUSINESS
Jan 21, 2026
Nvidia’s Huang plans to visit China as he works to reopen market
The U.S. is loosening export restrictions on AI processors, but on the Chinese side, government officials are deciding how many of the chips to let in.
OpenAI and others firms are launching AI tools in health care, but their success may depend on transparency about reliability and accuracy, an issue that has already caused Google to fail in the sector.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 20, 2026
ChatGPT’s AI health care push has a fatal flaw
Health advice is where generative artificial intelligence has some of its most exciting potential.
Visitors try out Naver Cloud’s AI at South Korea’s Independent AI Foundation Model competition in Seoul, on Dec. 30. Naver Cloud was later eliminated from the competition.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 20, 2026
South Korea kicks off ‘AI Squid Game’ in bid to compete with U.S. and China
The event, designed to identify the leaders in the country’s bid to become an AI powerhouse, is ruthless, like the Netflix show.
Japan's content industry — which includes anime, manga and video games — is a major export the country. Such exports were valued at ¥6 trillion ($38 billion) in 2024.
BUSINESS / Tech / FOCUS
Jan 19, 2026
AI-driven pirated manga is booming. Can AI also help curb it?
While artificial intelligence is driving the spread of pirated manga online, Japanese government officials are hoping AI can also help rein it in.
A Micron Technology DDR5 DRAM memory module
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 19, 2026
Micron says AI-driven memory crunch is ‘unprecedented’
The Nvidia supplier said the shortage has accelerated and reiterated that the crunch would last beyond 2026 due to the surge in demand.
The Nasdaq MarketSite during Aktis Oncology's initial public offering (IPO) in New York on Jan. 9.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 19, 2026
‘No reasons to own’: Software stocks sink on fear of new AI tool
The new year was supposed to bring opportunities for beaten-down software stocks. Instead, the group is off to its worst start in years.
Mickey Mikitani, chief executive officer of Rakuten Group, speaks at the company's AI Optimism business conference in Yokohama in July. Japan’s optimism about artificial intelligence, driven by collaboration, supportive policies and regulatory openness contrasts with global pessimism.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 19, 2026
Will Japan become the world’s next leader in AI?
Japan believes AI will help the country overcome acute labor shortages, improve people’s daily lives and recover global tech leadership.
Elon Musk is seeking between $79 billion and $134 billion in damages over his claims that OpenAI defrauded him by abandoning its nonprofit roots and partnering with Microsoft.
BUSINESS
Jan 18, 2026
Musk seeks up to $134 billion damages from OpenAI and Microsoft
Musk left OpenAI’s board in 2018, launched his own artificial intelligence company in 2023 and began legal proceedings in 2024.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with oil and gas executives and senior U.S. officials in the East Room of the White House in Washington on Friday.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 18, 2026
Trump is pushing gas to power AI boom, but building plants could take years
Building the kind of power plants that the Trump administration prefers has become extremely difficult.
Japan might be giving the currency market the silent treatment
Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama has issued verbal warnings recently using the same language and the same tone, saying authorities “will take appropriate action at any time, as necessary.”
Murakami says his novels are ‘different’ from AI literature
Haruki Murakami's first book in three years hit shelves in Japan on Friday.
Suspected Asian fraud ring exec served fresh warrant in Japan
The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department and Osaka Prefectural Police have issued arrest warrants for three people, including a suspected fraud network leader, over alleged immigration and residency violations.
Japan needs caregivers. Young Indians are answering the call.
Young people in India's northeast are increasingly studying Japanese in hopes of building new lives and careers in Japan.
Tokyo hospital baby hatch accepts 20 newborns in first year
Hitoshi Kato (left), head of San-ikukai Hospital in Tokyo's Sumida Ward, speaks during a news conference at the Tokyo Metropolitan Government building on Thursday.
Japan needs caregivers. Young Indians are answering the call.
Young people in India's northeast are increasingly studying Japanese in hopes of building new lives and careers in Japan.
Japan bets on character IP to drive global growth
Born on social media platforms in 2022, Opanchu Usagi has become a major hit, especially among Generation Z.
Filmmaker explores history of discrimination against foreign nationals in Japan
Takashi Nishihara, the director of "Now and Then," in Tokyo on Wednesday. The director has spent 10 years traversing politically charged terrain while exploring youth-driven grassroots political movements that scrutinize the status quo.
Japanese nail salons are tourists’ new obsession
Tourists in Japan have always been interested in quintessentially Japanese approaches to modern culture, and, increasingly, visits to nail salons have become the new hot thing.
Okinawa’s prized seaweed under threat as oceans warm
Local harvesters gather <i>mozuku</i> during low tide at Hyakuna Beach in the city of Nanjo, Okinawa Prefecture. As the planet warms, rising ocean temperatures are placing increasing pressure on the seaweed industry.

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

Digital marketer Netyear zeros in on generative AI
Digital marketer Netyear zeros in on generative AI

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