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July 04, 2026
 

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MANUFACTURING

An employee at Emerald Packaging operates a machine that prints grocery bags at the company’s facility in Union City, California, on Monday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 9, 2026
From falling U.S. wealth to Indian factory closures, oil shock raises global recession risk
As oil prices surge in the sixth week of the Iran war, businesses across the world are feeling the strain of a widening energy shock.
Mitsubishi Chemical's Ibaraki plant in Kamisu, Ibaraki Prefecture, which produces ethylene and other petrochemical products
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 8, 2026
Japan walks tightrope to keep ethylene plants running amid Middle East crisis
Manufacturers are reducing output to keep their plants running because it takes over a month to restart after a suspension.
Rohm, Toshiba and Mitsubishi Electric launched discussions on integrating their power chip operations after auto parts supplier Denso offered to acquire Rohm.
BUSINESS
Apr 6, 2026
Japan’s power chip sector undergoing realignment
Rohm, Toshiba and Mitsubishi Electric launched discussions on integrating their power chip operations after auto parts supplier Denso offered to acquire Rohm.
An employee inspects a printed circuit board at a factory, which is in partnership with Agilian Technology, in Dongguan, China, on March 16.
BUSINESS / Tech
Apr 6, 2026
How one factory in China learned to live with Trump, tariffs and turmoil
A Chinese electronics supplier ended 2025 more convinced than ever of China’s manufacturing strengths.
Electric vehicles on display outside the Geely Auto Group Global Comprehensive Safety Center in Ningbo, China, in December last year
BUSINESS
Apr 3, 2026
Cheap Chinese cars are waiting on Detroit’s doorstep
Nervous U.S. automakers fear it’s just a question of when Chinese competitors will succeed in cracking the market.
Health deputy minister Hirobumi Niki (center left) receives a petition from patient groups in Tokyo on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Science & Health / FOCUS
Apr 2, 2026
Patients in Japan seek stable supply of medical goods as war concerns loom
Shortages of naphtha — used in plastic — has patients worried about access to life-saving equipment as the Iran war continues to disrupt supply chains.
The business sentiment index advanced in March to 17 from a revised 16 in the previous quarter, the Bank of Japan’s <i>tankan</i> business survey showed Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Apr 1, 2026
Japan’s manufacturer mood improves, supporting BOJ’s rate stance
The business sentiment index advanced in March to 17 from a revised 16 in the previous quarter, the BOJ’s tankan business survey showed Wednesday.
An employee works next to a reel of copper flat wire on the production line at the Wellascent factory in Ganzhou, Jiangxi province, China, on Aug. 14.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 26, 2026
China’s official calm belies a war battering its small factories
In public, top leaders have so far sidestepped the Iran war’s toll on China.
Gantry cranes and shipping containers at the Yangshan Deepwater Port in Shanghai on May 14, 2025.
BUSINESS / Markets
Mar 24, 2026
Some Chinese exporters lift prices on rising costs due to war
Exporters across the world’s second-largest economy began raising prices last week as oil-linked costs surged and the conflict showed no sign of easing.
Employees work on the assembly line at Nanjo Auto Interior, a manufacturer for Mazda Motor, in Akitakata, Hiroshima Prefecture, in July 2025.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 19, 2026
Japan core machinery orders down 5.5% in January
Many private think tanks expect corporate capital spending to remain firm, but concerns linger over the conflict in Iran.
Humanoid robots are making rapid progress, but their widespread deployment remains limited by safety, power and performance challenges.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 18, 2026
The era of humanoid robots is here: Governments must seize the moment
The reality is that most people overestimate what robots can do at this point in their development.
A gasoline tanker truck at an Idemitsu Kosan gas station in Tokyo on Monday. Curbs on production of petrochemical products by multiple Japanese firms point to a brewing crisis that could stunt pressure sectors from food to technology.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 17, 2026
Limited supplies of naphtha an underrecognized supply chain risk in Japan
Curbs on production by multiple Japanese petrochemical firms point to a brewing crisis that could stunt pressure sectors from food to technology.
A customer holds newly purchased iPhone 17 Pro at one of the Apple’s stores in Mumbai, India.
BUSINESS
Mar 10, 2026
Apple now makes about 25% of iPhones in India after China pivot
Even though the gap has narrowed, electronics assembly and component manufacturing still costs more in India than in countries including China and Vietnam.
Denso headquarters in Kariya, Aichi Prefecture.
BUSINESS
Mar 7, 2026
Rohm shares soar most since 2000 on Denso acquisition bid
Rohm shares surged 18%, the most in 26 years, after the Japanese chip parts maker said it had received an acquisition proposal from Denso.
Nidec CEO Mitsuya Kishida (center) and others bow in apology during a news conference in Tokyo on Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 4, 2026
Nidec warns of $1.6 billion charges from accounting scandal
The world’s largest manufacturer of precision motors said there could be additional charges that would impact its past financial results.
Jose Alejandro Zamora Yrala in June last year. Zamora Yrala has been convicted of defrauding customers by falsifying documentation that related to the origin, status or condition of aircraft parts between 2019 and 2023.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 25, 2026
The fake parts, people and PDFs that duped the aviation industry
Jose Alejandro Zamora Yrala spent years selling 60,000 questionable jet-engine components with fabricated paperwork.
Workers prepare a bundle of steel reinforcing bar at a metal stock yard in Shanghai.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 20, 2026
Nippon Steel executive sees China-driven supply glut nearing end
Exporters in China were increasingly struggling to generate profits from overseas sales as the regional market had become oversupplied, Nippon Steel’s CFO said.
Oliver Hilburger, founder of the self-styled union Zentrum, hands out flyers before the early morning shift at the Mercedes car plant in Stuttgart on Feb. 11. His group is affiliated with the far-right Alternative for Germany party and is aiming to challenge mainstream unions.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 16, 2026
Germany’s far right woos unhappy auto workers
Far-right political forces, including the Alternative for Germany party, are hoping to harness anxieties among the struggling auto industry’s workers to gain influence and support.
The HD Hyundai Heavy Industries Ulsan Shipyard
BUSINESS / FOCUS
Feb 12, 2026
Koreans are shunning dangerous shipbuilding jobs envied by Trump
Shipbuilding is among South Korea’s most dangerous industries, killing dozens of people each year, prompting more Korean workers to avoid those jobs.
Nippon Steel is forecasting a ¥70 billion net loss for the fiscal year through next month, up from ¥60 billion, partly due to a fire that broke out at a plant in Muroran, Hokkaido, last December.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 6, 2026
Nippon Steel projects larger full-year loss than expected
The steelmaker is now projecting a consolidated net loss of ¥70 billion as consequences of a fire at a plant in Muroran, Hokkaido, hit its bottom line.
‘My dream is broken’: Japan visa rules push out foreign residents
A man orders from a kebab shop in the Okubo district in Tokyo.
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.
Japanese-language education is at a turning point
The country is gradually transforming Japanese-language education from a volunteer-driven system into a professional, government-supported network to better serve its growing foreign population. 
More facilities in Japan placing sanitary bins in men’s restrooms
A sanitary bin with an awareness sticker placed in a men&#039;s restroom in the Nagasaki Municipal Government building
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.
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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