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July 07, 2026
 

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AI

The tension between OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei is the driving force in today’s biggest technological revolution.
BUSINESS / Companies / FOCUS
Jun 11, 2026
Anthropic v. OpenAI: Behind the bitter battle for the future of AI
The companies are racing to market, viewing a first listing as a way to frame how investors will value the companies and establish their CEO as the leading voice of AI.
The Shanghai skyline. As AI spreads across workplaces, China is also having to contend with chronic weakness in the jobs market.
BUSINESS
Jun 11, 2026
AI sparks alarm in China with call to protect worker rights
The Workers’ Daily urged government agencies to mount an active response as new threats emerge to the rights of employees.
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei speaks during the World Economic Forum's annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, in January.
BUSINESS
Jun 11, 2026
Japan financial firms to join NEC-Anthropic AI collaboration
The partnership aims to improve the quality of financial services for customers using AI and to strengthen measures against cyberattacks.
TDK sees Fabric8Labs' 3D-printing technology as an efficient way to process pure copper into cold plates connecting to semiconductors inside data center servers.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 11, 2026
TDK buys U.S. 3D-printing startup to amp up AI ecosystem bet
The Tokyo-based supplier of iPhone batteries is optimistic about Fabric8Labs’ 3D-printing technology for data center server applications.
Bang Chun-ja, a 78-year-old South Korean woman living alone, holding Hyodol, an artificial intelligence-powered healthcare doll designed for the elderly, during an interview at her home in Yongin in April.
ASIA PACIFIC / Science & Health
Jun 11, 2026
In aging South Korea, AI dolls are caring for the elderly
Authorities are providing AI care devices to seniors living alone, including in districts of Seoul and in Yongin, south of the capital.
A group of high school students arrested over allegedly trying to extort money from a boy in western Tokyo may have used ChatGPT to decide how much to demand, police said.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jun 11, 2026
Teenagers in Tokyo allegedly used ChatGPT to decide extortion amount in assault case
Five teenagers were arrested in January over the alleged assault and attempted extortion of ¥150,000 from a high school student in the city of Hachioji.
Anthropic is balancing a safety-focused image while rapidly advancing autonomous AI like Mythos, a powerful system some worry could be dangerous.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 11, 2026
Anthropic’s latest AIs are making some customers uneasy
Anthropic staff have access to the technology and say it is more human than its forerunners.
Several countries have been considering ​tightening rules around AI use as well as social media use for children.
WORLD
Jun 11, 2026
Canada moves to ban social media for children under 16 and regulate AI chatbots
Companies could face penalties of 3% ​of global revenue or up to C$10 million ($7.2 million), whichever is more, for failing to comply.
A medical student poses questions to a surgical support software tool that uses artificial intelligence.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jun 10, 2026
Japan rushing to develop AI tools to aid surgeons
One surgery support software tool analyzes images of organs and blood vessels using generative AI and creates step-by-step procedures and points requiring caution.
SoftBank Group's efforts to secure at least $6 billion through a margin loan backed by its OpenAI stake have stalled after the company lowered its fundraising target.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 10, 2026
SoftBank’s attempt to get $6 billion OpenAI margin loan stalls
The development comes just weeks after the Japanese conglomerate cut its initial target from $10 billion.
A stock index board in the Lujiazui financial district of Shanghai. The oil shock and the AI boom have revived inflationary pressures among factories in the world’s second-biggest economy.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jun 10, 2026
China’s inflation split widens as AI and war stir up factory prices
Years of weak demand and excessive supply have contributed to bruising competition among Chinese industrial firms that’s keeping a lid on consumer prices.
Gantry cranes stand near stacked shipping containers at Yangshan Port outside Shanghai on May 7.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jun 9, 2026
China rides AI wave as exports surge past forecast
A surge in global AI investment has helped the world’s top manufacturer offset the export hit many had expected from the Middle East turmoil.
Former Yomiuri Giants manager Shinnosuke Abe was referred to prosecutors on suspicion of assaulting his eldest daughter, though it is believed the police attached a recommendation for leniency.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jun 9, 2026
Former Giants manager Abe referred to prosecutors over alleged assault
The Metropolitan Police Department is believed to have attached a recommendation for leniency to the papers they sent to prosecutors.
Fujikura CEO Naoki Okada says the company is fielding orders from almost all U.S. hyperscalers for fiber-optic cables.
BUSINESS
Jun 9, 2026
Fujikura is raising prices on data center cables to beat outlook
The company, whose disappointing forecast triggered a selloff of Japanese tech stocks last month, is fielding orders from almost all U.S. hyperscalers for fiber-optic cables.
Visitors attend Google's I/O 2026 developer conference in Mountain View, California, on May 19. The event primarily focused on the next generation of artificial intelligence and developer tools.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 9, 2026
Google’s AI shift is causing a collective freak-out
The new dark art of search engine optimization is known as GEO (generative is now the first word) and it paradoxically has a more human flavor than the era of backlinks.
OpenAI, founded in San Francisco in 2015 as a nonprofit research lab, burst into the mainstream with the launch of ChatGPT in November 2022. It has since restructured as a for-profit corporation.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 9, 2026
OpenAI makes move to go public one week after rival Anthropic
The company says it has “not decided on timing yet” for any potential debut.
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung
ASIA PACIFIC
Jun 8, 2026
South Korea names first female prime minister in decades to lead AI push
Lee Jae Myung hopes the former Naver CEO will help better use the nation’s tech expertise for future growth and ensure its benefits spread more widely through the economy.
Moonshot AI, the Beijing-based developer behind the Kimi chatbot, is emerging as one of the best-funded Chinese artificial intelligence research labs.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jun 8, 2026
China’s Moonshot AI seeks $30 billion value in new funding talks
This is the third round of financing in six months for the Beijing-based company, which is emerging as one of the best-funded Chinese AI research labs.
A trading room at Hana Bank in Seoul in April
BUSINESS / Markets
Jun 8, 2026
South Korea’s AI impact sparks pressure across government bond market
The nation’s government bonds have lost 7.5% this year in local-currency terms, the worst performance among 44 markets.
A robotic arm manipulates SK Hynix wafers at a summit in Seoul on Nov. 3. SK Group Chairman Chey Tae Won projected strong demand for artificial intelligence and downplayed concerns about a spending bubble.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 7, 2026
A trillion-dollar question for memory chipmakers
We are only in the second year of the AI boom, making it too early to know if it will outlast past cycles.
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 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.
‘Defense,’ not ‘warfare,’ stressed as pacifist Japan beefs up capabilities
Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi attends an annual training session near Mount Fuji at Higashifuji Training Field in Gotemba, Shizuoka Prefecture, on June 7.

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
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