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July 07, 2026
 

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AI

KDDI and KDDI SmartDrone will study the potential use of AI drones for disaster prevention and for patrolling and inspecting infrastructure facilities.
BUSINESS
Jul 7, 2026
KDDI to conduct AI drone feasibility study in Vietnam and the Philippines
KDDI and KDDI SmartDrone will study the potential use of AI drones for disaster prevention and for patrolling and inspecting infrastructure facilities.
Liu Debing, chairman of Knowledge Atlas Technology, better known as Zhipu, attends the Chinese generative-AI startup's listing ceremony at the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Thursday, Jan. 8.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 7, 2026
A China shock is shaking Silicon Valley
One thing has become clear: Open models from China now pose one of the biggest existential threats to the U.S. AI establishment.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara (third from left) speaks at a meeting of the digital administrative and fiscal reform council, held at the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN
Jul 7, 2026
Japan to launch council to overhaul legal frameworks governing AI use
The government is seeking to advance what is described as AI transformation, or a fundamental review of work using AI, to cope with population decline.
Samsung reported preliminary operating income of 89.4 trillion South Korean won ($58 billion) in the three months through June, dwarfing its performance for all of 2025.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jul 7, 2026
Samsung’s soaring profit fails to lift shares after AI rally
Samsung’s shares have underperformed rival those of SK Hynix, which is more focused on high-end memory geared for AI’s computation needs.
Workers transport soil containing rare earth elements for export at a port in Lianyungang, in China's Jiangsu province. China dominates the global market for rare earths and it is using those supplies as a diplomatic cudgel.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 7, 2026
Corporate Japan’s rare-earth warnings get louder as China keeps spigot closed
As the economy strengthens, an unprecedented increase in company notices about critical ​minerals is flashing a warning signal for the quarters ahead.
Reliant on Nvidia hardware for AI training and inferencing since its outset, Turing now handles roughly 10% of its AI training needs with Advanced Micro Devices graphics processing units.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 6, 2026
Self-driving startup Turing gets AMD backing and adopts AMD GPUs
The five-year-old Japanese startup is adding to its capabilities as it builds toward a commercial launch.
Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi attends an annual training session near Mount Fuji at Higashifuji Training Field in Gotemba, Shizuoka Prefecture, on June 7.
JAPAN / FOCUS
Jul 5, 2026
‘Defense,’ not ‘warfare,’ stressed as pacifist Japan beefs up capabilities
The move is seen as at least partially aimed at winning public support for boosting the country’s defense capabilities.
Sharp is targeting ¥300 billion in new business sales by fiscal 2030
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 4, 2026
Sharp targets ¥300 billion new business sales by fiscal 2030
Sharp also plans to expand its satellite communications equipment business, including compact antennas.
Haruki Murakami's first book in three years hit shelves in Japan on Friday.
CULTURE / Books
Jul 3, 2026
Murakami says his novels are ‘different’ from AI literature
When he is deeply focused on writing a story, characters suddenly show up, and “that’s not something that comes out from analogy,” he said, adding “AI probably can’t do that.”
Hiroo Ota (center left), CEO of Kioxia Holdings, and others unveil Kioxia's new 3D flash memory chip at its Kitakami plant in Kitakami, Iwate Prefecture, on Friday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 3, 2026
Kioxia ships samples of new flash memory for AI data centers
The Tokyo-based chipmaker’s latest high-density 3D flash memory chips aim to better meet AI data center needs with better efficiency and transmission speeds.
Junichi Miyakawa, the head of SoftBank's telecom unit. The company's new AI-tailored-cloud venture, 49% of which will be owned by its parent group, has the potential to generate profit “on a different order of magnitude,” Miyakawa said in a recent interview.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 3, 2026
SoftBank plans to rent AI compute in U.S. at 10-gigawatt scale
The mobile carrier operator and group company will set up the new venture this month, aiming to supply data center capacity at a scale of 10 gigawatts by around 2030.
OpenAI has discussed giving the U.S. government a 5% stake as artificial intelligence firms face scrutiny in Washington.
BUSINESS
Jul 3, 2026
OpenAI proposes handing U.S. government a 5% stake, report says
The move follows growing public backlash ​in the U.S. over AI’s potential to cause economic upheaval, including layoffs, and could help OpenAI sweeten ties with the government.
Zhipu's AI service on the web, dubbed Z.ai.
BUSINESS / Tech / ANALYSIS
Jul 3, 2026
A cheap Chinese model is catching up with U.S. AI giants on their home turf
Z.ai’s GLM-5.2 model has been put at the heart of a growing debate about whether China is finally catching up to the U.S. in the artificial intelligence race.
Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama speaks during an interview on Monday.
JAPAN
Jul 2, 2026
Finance Minister Katayama says G7 will discuss AI defense standards
Japan’s Financial Services Agency is considering using advanced AI models to conduct cyberattack response drills at financial institutions.
The debate over AI agents running checkout functions is far from resolved, as some retailers balk at giving up control.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 2, 2026
An English furniture maker faces AI era of bots buying sofas
Consumers are using chatbots to research products now, but agentic AI could one day see bots acting as their personal shopper.
Anime thumbnails adorn the sonic creations on YouTube channel Norinori Core, like this one from the Norinori Remix of Iruka's 1976 track "Nagoriyuki."
CULTURE / Music / Sound Off
Jul 2, 2026
Japan’s first great AI music trend is gloriously wrong
Norinori Core turns old J-pop into dopamine-fueled divisive dance music.
The logo of social media company Meta. As the tech behemoth spends billions annually to build out its artificial intelligence capabilities, employees at Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp are increasingly unhappy with their Mark Zuckerberg-led parent company.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jul 2, 2026
Fear and anger brew inside Meta amid AI frenzy
After weathering layoffs, some Meta employees were reassigned to an internal artificial intelligence training initiative that has drawn accusations of surveillance.
An android at the Humanoids Summit in Tokyo on May 28
JAPAN
Jul 1, 2026
Japan plans sovereign AI model and 10 million AI robots
The country will reportedly invest around $6 billion in the homemade AI model, which will be developed by Noetra, a consortium of firms including SoftBank and Sony.
Kawasaki Heavy Industries is collaborating with companies including Nvidia to integrate AI and ⁠robotics, and last month announced a development hub in Silicon Valley.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 1, 2026
Kawasaki Heavy seeks ¥200 billion via new shares and convertible bonds
The company will decide on ‌the details ‌of the issuance as soon as this week, the sources said.
Panasonic Holdings CEO Yuki Kusumi has been revamping the business to cut costs and take advantage of global growth areas.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 1, 2026
Panasonic targets further AI growth to build on record valuation
The Japanese electronics conglomerate is attracting renewed investor attention as a beneficiary of the artificial-intelligence boom.
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

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