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July 02, 2026
 

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TECH

Katsuya Mizuguchi, the 49-year-old president of Linux Japan, is taken to Azabu Police Station in Tokyo's Minato Ward after being arrested Friday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 18, 2026
Tokyo IT firm chief arrested for allegedly abandoning body
The suspect, Katsuya Mizuguchi, 49, has denied the allegations against him.
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei. The White House said a meeting Friday with Amodei was "productive and constructive” as the U.S. seeks wider access to Anthropic’s powerful new Mythos artificial intelligence model.
BUSINESS / Tech
Apr 18, 2026
Anthropic and Trump officials meet to discuss Mythos access
The White House said opportunities for collaboration and for addressing the challenges from artificial intelligence were discussed.
Shoji Terayama, co-CEO of ACSL, at the company’s headquarters last month
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 17, 2026
Japanese drone maker notes tailwind as demand jumps and China frozen out of U.S.
Escalating geopolitical tensions might present opportunities for Japanese companies in a market long dominated by China’s DJI. 
Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Ryosei Akazawa holds a news conference after a Cabinet meeting at the Diet building on Friday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 17, 2026
Sony to receive up to ¥60 billion in state subsidies for image sensor plant
The state aid is intended to help ensure a stable supply of semiconductors, designated as a specified important item under the economic security promotion law.
The Justice Ministry setting up a study panel regarding the misuse of generative artificial intelligence comes amid a sharp rise in such cases and concerns legislation in Japan has not kept up with the rapid advancement of AI.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 17, 2026
Government to launch study panel for generative-AI misuse
With a meeting scheduled for late April, the group will examine civil liability for the unauthorized use of people’s likenesses and voices.
A boom in generative artificial intelligence has sent data center demand skyrocketing, with dozens of projects springing up across the United States.
WORLD / Society
Apr 17, 2026
New Jersey city spurns data center as defiance spreads
The success of grassroots resistance in New Brunswick has made activists nationwide curious about how the city managed to kill plans for the power-hungry facility.
An experiment by a small city in Aichi Prefecture suggests that smartphone restrictions targeting only children are less effective than those targeting the entire family, as children’s screen habits closely mirror their parents.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 17, 2026
The parent problem: When smartphone rules end at the school gate
Children who exceeded two hours of daily screen time tended to have parents with similarly high usage. The relationship held across age groups.
Human intelligence can become more valuable if AI is used to complement it, such as with Malaysia's rubber industry, where the government invested in research to make rubber producers more productive.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 16, 2026
Rubber’s history could be a window into AI’s future
To this day, for example, aircraft tires are mostly made from natural rubber because synthetics can’t handle the stress of landing a 747.
A shift is occurring in the translation industry both in Japan and across the globe, where using artificial intelligence in place of humans is increasingly becoming standard practice.
JAPAN / Society / FOCUS
Apr 16, 2026
As AI advances, translators forced to adapt to industry changes
Translators are having to grapple with lower pay and higher expectations, all while the future of the industry itself is in doubt.
The rise of artificial intelligence highlights how the resume, once meant to standardize hiring, has become easily fabricated, undermining its usefulness and underscoring the need for more effective ways to evaluate job candidates.
COMMENTARY
Apr 14, 2026
AI is hastening the resume’s demise. Good riddance.
The resume may have been created with good intentions but it has never performed the job it was supposed to do. It’s time to let it go.
Elon Musk attends the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in January. Musk’s Grokipedia exemplifies how privately controlled AI chatbots are placed to shape public opinion through opaque algorithms without transparency or oversight.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 14, 2026
Who’s whispering in your chatbot’s ear?
Chatbots do not simply curate existing information; they generate and frame it.
A BYD Atto 2 EV in the showroom in the Mayfair district of London
BUSINESS / Tech
Apr 13, 2026
China’s clean tech firms signal windfall from Gulf energy shock
Rising oil and natural gas prices, plus a renewed emphasis on energy security, are boosting demand for batteries and electric vehicles.
An Odd Systems first-person-view drone with a weighted dummy explosive attached awaits a test flight at an undisclosed location in Ukraine on Nov. 6, 2025.
WORLD
Apr 13, 2026
He made a gadget to amuse pets. Then he turned to killer drones.
The founders of Petcube have moved on to a new idea that reflects an across-the-board transformation of Ukraine’s civilian technology industry into a hub of military contracting.
Projects like the BuddhaBot aim to re-create dialogue once lost to time, raising questions about whether AI can extend the teachings of Buddha or merely simulate them.
LIFE / Lifestyle / Longform
Apr 13, 2026
Can AI replace a priest? Japan’s temples and shrines are testing the limits.
Japan’s temples experiment with artificial intelligence as questions of faith, presence and care grow more urgent.
A newly established AI company led by SoftBank, NEC, Sony Group and Honda Motor will apply for a government-backed AI development support program run by the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO).
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 12, 2026
SoftBank and others set up new firm to develop high-performance AI
Engineers from SoftBank and Tokyo-based AI developer Preferred Networks Inc. are expected to participate in the development.
Industry minister Ryosei Akazawa speaks during the opening of a Rapidus chip analysis factory in Chitose, Hokkaido, on Saturday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 11, 2026
Japan bets ¥632 billion to propel startup Rapidus into global AI chip race
The move ramps up financial support for a signature project widely regarded as a long shot.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Apr 11, 2026
Japan group eyes practical use of smart contact lens in 2030
The development of a smart contact lens began overseas around 2008, but a lens that measures intraocular pressure is the only product now available in Japan and abroad.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman speaks during the 2026 Infrastructure Summit of government officials, corporate executives and labor leaders, in Washington on March 11.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Apr 11, 2026
Man arrested for throwing Molotov cocktail at OpenAI CEO’s home
San Francisco police arrested a man on Friday for throwing a Molotov cocktail at the home of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. No one was injured.
A Tesla Model 3 is shown driving on the highway with FSD 14.2.2.3 self-driving supervised software in Irvine, California, in January.
BUSINESS / Tech
Apr 11, 2026
Tesla’s supervised self-driving software gets Dutch OK, first in Europe
The electric car maker hopes to see similar action from the rest of the European Union soon.
Go runs the most widely used taxi hailing app in Japan in terms of user numbers, according to a survey in 2024 by ICT Research and Consulting.
BUSINESS
Apr 9, 2026
Goldman-backed Go taxi app said to plan Japan IPO this year
Discussions on the IPO are ongoing and details such as the target valuation and timing are subject to change.
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.
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
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.
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.
‘My dream is broken’: Japan visa rules push out foreign residents
A man orders from a kebab shop in the Okubo district in Tokyo.
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

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