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July 10, 2026
 

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AI

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.
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.
Despite reports and rumors about its imminent release, DeepSeek's next-generation "V4" model is nowhere in sight.
BUSINESS / Tech
Apr 9, 2026
Waiting for DeepSeek: new model to test China’s AI ambitions
The long-awaited V4 model has yet to appear, stoking speculation over China’s AI progress and whether Huawei chips can power a true Nvidia alternative.
SoftBank Group is currently exploring raising as much as $40 billion in the loan market, mostly to help finance its investment in U.S. tech giant OpenAI.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 9, 2026
SoftBank unit plans debut euro bond as group makes big AI push
SoftBank Group’s aggressive push into AI has drawn some scrutiny from ratings firms.
Gwanghwamun Square, the venue of BTS’ comeback concert, in Seoul on March 21. Seoul-based startup Galaxy is trying to disrupt K-pop’s traditional idol system — a model built on years of recruiting, training and managing human performers.
BUSINESS / Tech
Apr 8, 2026
AI K-Pop startup Galaxy aims for IPO in Seoul and New York
The goal of the company, which is preparing for what could be the first overseas listing by a K-pop agency, is to create content without the constraint of human performers.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi at the Prime Minister's Office ahead of a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday. The government has submitted a bill to the Lower House to introduce fines for serious violations of the personal information protection law.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 8, 2026
Japan to fine repeat violators of personal info law
The government hopes the move will have a deterrent effect by making clear to businesses that violations could incur economic penalties.
Participants line up to install OpenClaw, an open-source AI agent, outside the Baidu offices in Beijing on March 17.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 8, 2026
There’s method to China’s OpenClaw madness
It arrived at exactly the right moment for China’s AI sector. After months of brutal price wars, it gave model builders a reason to charge more for tokens.
The Deepseek chatbot interface is displayed on a smartphone in Shanghai in January. The practice of artificial intelligence distillation first drew significant scrutiny in 2025 after DeepSeek released its R1 reasoning model. The release prompted Microsoft and OpenAI to investigate whether the Chinese startup had improperly exfiltrated large amounts of data from the U.S. firms' models to create R1.
BUSINESS / Tech
Apr 7, 2026
OpenAI, Anthropic and Google cooperate to fend off Chinese bids to clone models
The U.S. firms are concerned some users are creating imitation versions of their products that could undercut them on price and siphon away customers.
The path toward sustainable AI lies in combining quantum computing with energy-efficient application design.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 6, 2026
Quantum computing could fix AI’s sustainability problem
Training Grok-4 alone reportedly required 310 gigawatt-hours of electricity — enough to power a town of 4,000.
The rise of personality-driven leadership in business and politics, exemplified by Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and Donald Trump, is undermining organizational stability and increasing systemic risk.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 6, 2026
America’s big personalities are shrinking its greatness
A new generation wearied of managerialism, partly because memories of the bad old days faded and partly because managerialism, like all regimes, became self-indulgent.
Subhabrata Debnath, co-founder of NeuralGarage, an AI startup, shows a demonstration of AI-generated dubbing on his computer at the company's office in Bengaluru last August.
ASIA PACIFIC / FOCUS
Apr 4, 2026
AI is rewiring the world’s most prolific film industry
India produces the most movies of any country, but shifting audience habits are squeezing production budgets and studios are responding by tapping AI.
Shunichi Koshimura, director of Tohoku University's International Research Institute of Disaster Science, speaks during a news conference in Sendai on Thursday.
JAPAN
Apr 3, 2026
Tohoku University and SoftBank to develop disaster prevention AI tech
The joint project aims to use generative artificial intelligence to pass on memories and lessons from the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami.
Microsoft, whose Copilot has struggled to keep pace with OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini, said it will invest in cybersecurity partnerships and train a million artificial intelligence engineers through 2029.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 3, 2026
Microsoft drafts $10 billion investment plan in AI-hungry Japan
Microsoft is battling Amazon.com and Alphabet for dominance in Japan, which is spending billions to develop an artificial intelligence ecosystem and catch up to the U.S. and China.
More than 200 children’s specialists, advocacy groups and schools sent a letter raising concerns about what they view as a lack of substance in AI-generated YouTube videos.
BUSINESS / Tech
Apr 2, 2026
Google faces calls to prohibit AI videos for kids on YouTube
More than 200 children’s specialists, advocacy groups and schools sent a letter raising concerns about what they view as a lack of substance in AI-generated YouTube videos.
Spools of electrical wires outside a series of assembly tents at the Stargate AI data center in Abilene, Texas
BUSINESS / Tech
Apr 2, 2026
America’s AI build-out hinges on Chinese electrical parts
The boom in AI infrastructure is colliding with a shortage of transformers and other electrical components needed to power massive data centers.
The information distribution platform law, enforced in April last year, requires social media platform operators to take measures to deal with defamation and problems linked to generative artificial intelligence.
JAPAN / Society
Apr 1, 2026
Social media platforms differ in transparency on defamation and AI issues
A survey made the findings a year after the enforcement of the information distribution platform law, aimed at tackling the spread of illegal and harmful online content.
AI translation and algorithm changes on X unexpectedly connected American and Japanese users through shared content, highlighting the social media platform’s promise of cross-cultural exchange.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 1, 2026
Japanese X is now America’s favorite corner of the internet
Japanese Twitter has been insulated from the culture wars and manipulation by foreign bots, one reason political discourse remains reasonably sane.
Despite repeated technological upheavals, finance has preserved its profits by reinventing fee-generating services. But the rise of AI could ultimately render much of the industry irrelevant.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 1, 2026
AI threatens the finance industry’s perpetual profit machine
The utopian promise of AI is abundance, but the only guaranteed beneficiaries are the super elites that own the machines.
Japanese payment processor’s collapse hits banks and restaurants
Zentoshin served around 200,000 shops, many of which rely on early payments to maintain cash flow, raising concerns over their financial stability following the disruption.
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.
Trump says ‘Japan’ instead of Iran at meeting in Ankara
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at a news conference during a NATO leaders' summit in Ankara on Wednesday.
Wakatakakage injury casts pall over July meet, but potential new stars loom
Nicholas Tarasenko trains at Minato stable in August 2024.
Osaka trumps Tokyo as both ranked among world’s top 10 most livable cities
Osaka’s infrastructure earned higher marks than Tokyo’s in the Economist Intelligence Unit’s latest Global Liveability Index.
‘Princess Mononoke’ comes alive in Super Kabuki staging
The “Princess Mononoke” adaptation was created under Shochiku’s Super Kabuki initiative, a modern form of kabuki with more technology in staging and open to pop culture collaborations.
The beating heart inside ‘Human Vapor’
Different forms of love and connection form the emotional backbone of Netflix’s “Human Vapor,” says actor Shun Oguri, who plays troubled detective Kenji Okamoto.
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.
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
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