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July 06, 2026
 

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AI

SoftBank chairman Masayoshi Son takes the stage with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman at an AI Conference in Tokyo in February 2025.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 8, 2026
OpenAI is so yesterday — even for SoftBank
Liquidity is as important as paper gains. There are already signs that capital markets are souring on Son’s biggest bet.
Mitsubishi UFJ is enhancing its services partly by leveraging expertise from technology giants.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 7, 2026
MUFG to form strategic partnership with Google
The two firms will develop a service to assist customers in online shopping and payments with the help of artificial intelligence.
Digital minister Hisashi Matsumoto answers questions at a Lower House plenary session in April.
JAPAN
May 6, 2026
Government to launch AI pilot program to boost efficiency and encourage tech’s adoption
Gennai, a generative artificial intelligence platform developed for internal use by civil servants, will be rolled out across 39 government agencies.
People walk past a large electronic screen showing the Samsung logo at a train station in Seoul on April 30.
BUSINESS / Tech
May 6, 2026
Samsung hits $1 trillion valuation, joining TSMC in elite club
Booming demand for chips used in artificial intelligence saw the world’s largest memory maker’s stock more than quadruple over the past year.
Greg Brockman, president of OpenAI, accompanied by his wife, Anna, walks outside a federal courthouse as the trial in Elon Musk's lawsuit over OpenAI's for-profit conversion continues, in Oakland, California, on Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Tech
May 6, 2026
Musk wanted $80 billion to colonize Mars, OpenAI president testifies at trial
OpenAI’s president said Elon Musk told him he deserved a majority stake in OpenAI and that he intended to ⁠use that stake to build a ​self-sustaining city on Mars.
Crypto platforms are offering trades tied to the most valuable private artificial intelligence companies on earth — such as Anthropic — that ordinary investors have almost no other way to access.
BUSINESS / Markets
May 5, 2026
AI’s hottest private companies have booming crypto shadow market
Once the domain of digital token speculation, crypto infrastructure is being redeployed to give traders a way to bet on the likes of Anthropic, OpenAI and SpaceX.
Formula One teams are relying on artificial intelligence more and more as the sport's ties to AI companies become stronger.
MORE SPORTS / Auto Racing
May 5, 2026
AI becoming part of the race for Formula One and its teams
AI can be enable teams to navigate new regulations and spending cap rules, now set at $215 million.
Tokyo, once ahead in tech before being overtaken by Silicon Valley, is now trying to reinvent itself as a global startup hub by leveraging its stability, AI potential and government-backed support for entrepreneurs.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 4, 2026
Silicon Valley made AI powerful. Tokyo wants to make it work
Japan is full of contradictions on AI. People here are the least fearful in the world of the technology, perhaps because a shrinking population and labor shortages.
A Maholo humanoid robot carries out a series of tasks at the Institute of Science Tokyo's Robotics Innovation Center, during the center's opening last month.
JAPAN / Science & Health / FOCUS
May 4, 2026
Japanese scientists push for AI use in medical research and diagnoses
The technology has the potential to free staff from time-consuming, repetitive lab work and reduce human error.
An Amazon Web Services data center in Ashburn, Virginia. Large artificial intelligence systems run on massive amounts of energy and are trained on nearly all the text humanity has created.
COMMENTARY / World
May 3, 2026
Sustainability has left the AI chat
For all the awe over artificial intelligence, one word rarely finds its way into coffee table conversations about the transformative technology: sustainability.
Under Mark Zuckerberg, Meta plans to use employee computer activity data to train AI systems while investing heavily in automation that could replace human workers.
COMMENTARY / World
May 3, 2026
Meta is making workers train their AI replacements
Meta plans to put tracking software on its employees’ computers to track their mouse movements, clicks and keystrokes.
The Nvidia logo and a Neura humanoid robot at the Dassault Systems SE booth at the Hannover Messe 2026 trade fair in Hannover, Germany, on April 20
BUSINESS
May 3, 2026
Nvidia’s push into physical AI sparks rally in Asian partners
Nvidia-induced demand is shaping stock performance across Asia’s technology supply chain.
The New York Stock Exchange in New York. The part of the ‌energy ‌landscape where the real issue lurks is the physical market, where actual barrels of crude and refined products change hands, rather than ​electronic futures.
BUSINESS / Markets / ANALYSIS
May 2, 2026
Investors are running out of time to brace for true oil shock
In thrall to an AI boom ⁠that has sent stocks to record highs and harboring hopes of a short-lived Iran war, investors have yet to prepare for a doubling of physical oil prices.
DeepSeek’s R1 breakthrough helped trigger a frenetic year in AI, but Alibaba’s move toward proprietary models is now raising concerns that China’s open-source shift may be slowing.
COMMENTARY / World
May 1, 2026
Why Beijing can’t quit ‘open’ AI
The shift away from open source may be driven by the need for companies to make money, but it’s unlikely to happen all at once.
AI models surpassed the highest score recorded for a human test taker in this year's University of Tokyo entrance exam, a new study shows.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Apr 30, 2026
ChatGPT trounces humans in entrance exams for top Japan university, study finds
The University of Tokyo’s category 3 science exam, often taken by those seeking admission to its medical school, is considered the most difficult exam to pass in Japan.
The Meta headquarters in Menlo Park, California, on Jan. 29, 2024. ​Beijing’s insistence that Meta unwind its deal with a Chinese A.I. start-up marks an escalation in the geopolitical fight over advanced tech.
BUSINESS / Tech
Apr 30, 2026
The split between China and Silicon Valley just got wider
A decade ago, Silicon Valley investors raced to back Chinese startups. Today, few do.
Seoul St. Mary’s Hospital​, where doctors see the toll of aging and dementia every day, in Seoul on April 15
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Apr 30, 2026
‘They said AI saved me’: How South Korea is checking on its older adults
An artificial intelligence-powered call service​ adopted by cities and counties across South Korea check​s on thousands of older adults living alone in isolation or poverty.
Components for Murata's Echorb Wonder Stone device. The company is the world’s leading supplier of multilayer ceramic capacitors, essential components for every device that uses electricity because they regulate power flow.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 30, 2026
Murata beats profit estimates as AI data-center demand strains production
The company says it is struggling to catch up with runaway demand for its multilayer ceramic capacitors, sought by U.S. hyperscalers for artificial intelligence data centers.
A Walker S2 humanoid robot demonstrates its skills at the UBTech Robotics headquarters in Shenzhen, China, on April 16.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 30, 2026
U.S. adopts China’s playbook on tech and security
U.S. thinking is only catching up with that of China, which has long considered technology essential to the country’s sovereignty and survival.
SoftBank Group CEO Masayoshi Son is driving a plan to establish a standalone artificial intelligence robotics and data center company in the United States.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 30, 2026
SoftBank to create and list AI firm Roze in U.S.
The investment firm aims to create and float such a vehicle as soon as this year, though the timing on that could slip to 2027, people familiar with the matter said.
‘My dream is broken’: Japan visa rules push out foreign residents
A man orders from a kebab shop in the Okubo district in Tokyo.
Thailand gets serious about chasing high-spending tourists
Chinese tourists at Wat Arun Ratchawararam Rathawaramahawihan in Bangkok
Murakami says his novels are ‘different’ from AI literature
Haruki Murakami's first book in three years hit shelves in Japan on Friday.
Japan’s princesses face life-altering legal revisions
Princess Aiko, the daughter of Emperor Naruhito, said in a 2022 news conference upon coming of age that she hopes to “spend a long time together” with her parents.
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.
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.
X Games returns to Chiba with new team format
Skateboarder Sora Shirai practices at Makuhari Messe in Chiba on Friday afternoon. X Games Chiba begins on Saturday.
NU Festival tests Takanawa Gateway City complex’s culture cred
Veteran improvisers Kazuo Imai and Atsuhiro Ito brought some unruly energy to NU Festival, a three-day multimedia event held at the Takanawa Gateway City complex.  
Japan’s princesses face life-altering legal revisions
Princess Aiko, the daughter of Emperor Naruhito, said in a 2022 news conference upon coming of age that she hopes to “spend a long time together” with her parents.
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.

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

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