Factories Shared by People and Machines
From humanoids, Alzheimer’s care and teenage developers to pension assets, rice prices, utility poles, intelligence reform and maritime diplomacy: how Japan balances convenience, security, growth and trust.
Four to Read First
Robots, youth, medicine and founders
Japan Market Desk
Tokyo close report · July 14
After Tokyo, Before the Next Open
Tokyo rose about 0.7% as domestic-investment policy signals supported sentiment. The yen remained near ¥162, JGB yields fell, and rising oil shaped the global handoff.
Read the Tokyo close report →Four More from July 14
Inflation, rates, factory AI and regional tourism
Today’s Edition: 14 News Stories + Art Choice
Ten new reports, four selected from July 14, and one independent art story
Mitsubishi Motors Plans Humanoid Robot Production at Kyoto Factory
Why an auto plant becoming a humanoid production base matters in Japan’s long history of automation and labor scarcity.
Japan’s Girls Earn Record Three Places in Global App Competition
Teenagers build apps around social problems—and show what Japan can gain by narrowing technology’s gender gap.
Eisai Says Leqembi Autoinjector Data Support a More Convenient Treatment Path
What simpler administration could mean for patients, caregivers and clinics—and where anti-amyloid treatment came from.
JAFCO Brings Anthropic, LayerX and Tokyo Stock Exchange to Seed Founders
Technology, capital and public markets meet in one room as Japan confronts its persistent startup scaling gap.
Students Invited to Help Design the Future of Sado’s Gold Mines
How young people can connect conservation, tourism and island life at one of Japan’s most consequential mining landscapes.
Japan Builds a Central Intelligence Agency with Allied Assistance
The drive to integrate scattered capabilities raises questions about oversight, secrecy and Japan’s postwar institutions.
Japan Says No Immediate GPIF Overhaul Despite Domestic-Investment Push
Where return, stability and industrial policy meet inside one of the world’s largest pools of retirement savings.
Japan’s Rice Crisis Swings from Shortage to Surplus
A sharp supply reversal can hurt consumers and growers in turn. We trace acreage controls, reserves and price formation.
Why Japan’s Utility Poles Are Not Going Away
Streetscape, disaster risk, construction cost and repair speed complicate the seemingly simple case for burying wires.
China Singles Out Japan Over South China Sea Tribunal Statement
The 2016 award, freedom of navigation and China-Japan rivalry frame a diplomatic contest fought through words.
The New Price Squeeze on Japan’s Small Businesses
Fuel, food, logistics and materials force local companies to choose between higher prices and thinner margins.
Thirty-Year-High Bond Yields Reach Mortgages and Business Loans
Learn how a change in long-term rates travels into household, corporate and government borrowing costs.
Japan’s Factory AI Enters the Physical World
When agents control machinery, the boundaries of productivity, safety, intellectual property and responsibility shift.
Can Iwaki Sell a City in a 60-Second Drama?
Can character and emotion in a phone-first story outperform conventional municipal advertising?
Today’s Gateways
Weather, horoscope, regions and archive
Today’s Art Choice
Japan’s bridge in Monet’s garden
Today’s Art Choice: Claude Monet’s The Japanese Footbridge
Water lilies, reflections and a green bridge bring Japonisme into an Impressionist garden. Learn why Monet designed the very landscape he painted.
Read the independent art story →