Tootfinder

Sony unveils a cheaper, Japan-only PlayStation 5 Digital Edition for ~$350, a ~25% discount, following a similar move by Nintendo with the Switch 2 (Financial Times)
https://www.ft.com/content/f6edb22a-0b19-4073-9e28-ec29b096dde3

Sony launches cheaper Japan-only PlayStation 5 console
Region-locked version at 25% discount in move to boost domestic sales

🍚 Race to secure 2025 rice crop heats up, lifting prices
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/10/17/japan/new-rice-crop-competition/
🆓

Race to secure 2025 rice crop heats up, lifting prices
Competition to secure new-crop rice is intensifying, pushing up the provisional payments that agricultural cooperatives advance to growers.

iOS und Android: Neue Nintendo-App erlaubt auch Shopping
Der japanische Spielekonzern betreibt schon seit 2020 in Japan eine eigene Shopping-App. Die landet nun auch im Westen – inklusive EU.
https://www.

U.S. plans to ask visitors to disclose 5 years of social media history

The proposal would affect travelers from countries on the visa waiver program,
including Australia, Britain, France, Germany, Israel, Japan and South Korea
https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration

U.S. plans to ask visitors to disclose 5 years of social media history
The proposal would affect travelers from countries on the visa waiver program, including Australia, Britain, France, Germany, Israel, Japan and South Korea.

https://asia.nikkei.com/spotlight/cybersecurity/hack-on-japan-brewer-asahi-claimed-by-qilin-ransomware-group
Hack on Japan brewer Asahi claimed by Qilin ransomware group

Hack on Japan brewer Asahi claimed by Qilin ransomware group
Platform allows users to carry out attacks in exchange for a percentage of extortion proceeds

FedibirdにMastodon Japan Serverのグループがあるので、閉鎖する2月以降に故郷が懐かしくなったら集うといいよ。
@…

When I build my time machine, the first thing I will do is travel back to the 90s in Japan and kill all the people who made those horribly broken support websites that couldn't be properly archived and all the drivers are now lost

Zelensky approves new Russia sanctions in coordination with Japan: https://benborges.xyz/2025/10/11/zelensky-approves-new-russia-sanctions.html

Warum wurde eine Piratenflagge aus der japanischen Anime-Serie "One Piece" zu einem Symbol für die Protestbewegungen der Generation Z auf der ganzen Welt?
https://www.dw.com/de/was-die-one-piece-pi

Was die "One Piece"-Piratenflagge für die Gen Z bedeutet
Warum wurde eine Piratenflagge aus der japanischen Anime-Serie "One Piece" zu einem Symbol für die Protestbewegungen der Generation Z auf der ganzen Welt?

Kimi Onoda, Japan's new Minister of State for Economic Security, is a 43 year old half-Irish ex-game industry PR femcel with an extensive history of defending her exclusive attraction to anime boys on twitter

SoftBank-owned PayPay takes a 40% stake in Binance Japan for an undisclosed sum, to capitalize on Japan's crypto boom; PayPay filed for a US IPO in August (Mayumi Negishi/Bloomberg)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/20

I think I've met more interesting western #expats in a week in #Malaysia than I do in a year in #Japan.

Robo-Buddhism
https://uwm.edu/letters-science/event/robo-buddhism-kokoro-technology-and-spirituality-in-japan-today/

Unpacking Discourses on Childbirth and Parenthood in Popular Social Media Platforms Across China, Japan, and South Korea
Zheng Wei, Yunqi Li, Yucheng He, Yuelu Li, Xian Xu, Huamin Qu, Pan Hui, Muzhi Zhou
https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.06788

Unpacking Discourses on Childbirth and Parenthood in Popular Social Media Platforms Across China, Japan, and South Korea
Social media use has been shown to be associated with low fertility desires. However, we know little about the discourses surrounding childbirth and parenthood that people consume online. We analyze 219,127 comments on 668 short videos related to reproduction and parenthood from Douyin and Tiktok in China, South Korea, and Japan, a region famous for its extremely low fertility level, to examine the topics and sentiment expressed online. BERTopic model is used to assist thematic analysis, and a …

What? You didn't see that coming? 😁
#japan #humor

Two years ago, I was in South Korea—definitely the highlight of that year. The food was amazing, the winter vibes were perfect, and everything was so affordable.
But for a long time, I’d had Japan on my list. I’ve been checking plane tickets now and then, only to watch the prices climb higher by the minute. Even though flying to Tokyo is just an hour or two longer than flying to Seoul, it’s nearly twice as expensive. So, I decided to go back to South Korea instead.
This time, I’l…

When Russia and Japan Went to War - Sarah Paine - YouTube
#russie #histoire

Japan: Drohnen vergrämen Bären mit Hundegebell und Feuerwerkskörpern
Die zunehmende Anzahl von Bären in Japan stellt ein Problem für die Bevölkerung dar. Die Stadt Hida setzt Drohnen ein, um Bären fernzuhalten.

Heikle Provokation - China-Kampfjets sorgen vor Japan für Schreckmoment #News #Nachrichten

Quantifying Gender Stereotypes in Japan between 1900 and 1999 with Word Embeddings
Shintaro Sakai, Haewoon Kwak, Jisun An, Akira Matsui
https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.03905 https://…

Quantifying Gender Stereotypes in Japan between 1900 and 1999 with Word Embeddings
We quantify the evolution of gender stereotypes in Japan from 1900 to 1999 using a series of 100 word embeddings, each trained on a corpus from a specific year. We define the gender stereotype value to measure the strength of a word's gender association by computing the difference in cosine similarity of the word to female- versus male-related attribute words. We examine trajectories of gender stereotype across three traditionally gendered domains: Home, Work, and Politics, as well as occupatio…

https://www.theguardian.com/world/gallery/2025/dec/02/fading-japan-showa-era-in-pictures

plant_pol_kato: Kato plant-pollinator web
A bipartite network of plants and pollinators from Kyoto University Forest of Ashu, Japan, from 1984 to 1987. Edge weights represent frequency of interactions.
This network has 772 nodes and 1206 edges.
Tags: Biological, Food web, Weighted
https://networks.skewed.d…

🌟 Astrocytes are superstars in the game of long-term memory
#memory

Astrocytes are superstars in the game of long-term memory
Why are we able to recall only some of our past experiences? A new study led by Jun Nagai at the RIKEN Center for Brain Science in Japan has an answer. Surprisingly, it turns out that the brain cells responsible for stabilizing memories aren't neurons. Rather, they are astrocytes, a type of glial cell that is usually thought of as a role player in the game of learning and memory.

A 17-year-old in Japan allegedly asked ChatGPT for ways to bypass the security of the Kaikatsu Club internet cafe chain and used it to launch malware that stole over 7 million pieces of personal data.
Japan teen arrested for alleged ChatGPT-assisted cyberattacks
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/new

Unser heutiger Ausflug führte uns zunächst zum Tempel Horyu-ji - einem der ältesten buddhistischen Tempel in Japan aus dem 7. Jahrhundert. Er ist zugleich der Tempel mit einigen der ältesten erhaltenen Holzbauwerken der Welt. Dazu zählt die Pagode und die Haupthalle, die noch aus der Gründungszeit des Tempels stammen. #Horyuji
Nach dem schon regnerischen Aufenthalt dort ging es zum Freizeit…

Japan faces bottlenecks in data center construction due to labor shortages and more; DC Byte says Japan's capacity has tripled to 6.8 GW in the past five years (Tsubasa Suruga/Nikkei Asia)
https://asia.nikkei.com/business/techn

Bottlenecks in data center construction threaten Japan's AI ambitions
Labor shortages, rising costs and outdated building processes delay construction

TIL: The Japanese Blind ICT Network (JBICT) runs AT surveys (kind of like WebAIM’s).
#accessibility

microJAX: A Differentiable Framework for Microlensing Modeling with GPU-Accelerated Image-Centered Ray Shooting
Shota Miyazaki (Institute of Space,Astronautical Science, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Japan), Hajime Kawahara (Institute of Space,Astronautical Science, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Japan)
https://arxiv.org/abs/251…

microJAX: A Differentiable Framework for Microlensing Modeling with GPU-Accelerated Image-Centered Ray Shooting
We introduce microJAX, the first fully differentiable implementation of the image-centered ray-shooting (ICRS) algorithm for gravitational microlensing. Built on JAX and its XLA just-in-time compiler, microJAX exploits GPU parallelism while providing exact gradients through automatic differentiation. The current release supports binary- and triple-lens geometries, including limb-darkened extended-source effects, and delivers magnifications that remain differentiable for all model parameters. Be…

#Microsoft kauft 100 Megawatt #Solarstrom von Shizen Energy in #Japan, um den steigenden #Energiebedarf

Microsoft buys another 100 MW of solar, this time in Japan | TechCrunch
The new deal covers output from four different solar projects. Microsoft has said it will spend $2.9 billion to expand its infrastructure in Japan.

"Historisch wird in Japan kein wirklicher Unterschied zwischen der Wahrnehmung der #Farben #blau und #grün gemacht. Eventuell könnte dies das an der Insellage und dem umgebenen Meer liegen, das meist wie eine Mi…

In the closing days of the Biden administration, deputy national security adviser for cyber and emerging technology Anne Neuberger warned,
“China is targeting critical infrastructure in the United States.”

That sounds like the sort of thing the U.S. government might want to do something about.
But apparently not;
On Dec. 3, the Financial Times reported that the Trump administration had
“halted plans to impose sanctions on China’s Ministry of State Security

What Trump lets China do for buying U.S. soybeans
The president is buddy-buddy with Xi and won’t let cyberattacks or saber-rattling get in the way.

In talks with Xi and Takaichi, Trump looks to strike a delicate balance (Jesse Johnson/The Japan Times)
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/11/25/japan/trump-xi-taiwan-china-us-japan-analysis/
http://www.memeorandum.com/251125/p69#a251125p69

Japanese media giant Nikkei reports Slack breach exposing employee and partner records https://therecord.media/japan-nikkei-slack-breach

Fox Sports gets US TV and streaming rights for the 2026 World Baseball Classic; in August, Netflix picked up the WBC rights in Japan (Alex Weprin/The Hollywood Reporter)
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/fox-sports-deal-2…

Fox Sports Inks Deal for 2026 World Baseball Classic
Fox will once again be the home for the international tournament, with select games also set to stream on Fox One and Tubi.

I was very excited (as folks could tell) and honored about having given the keynote at @… this year in Nara, Japan. Thanks everyone for their very kind reception of the talk! Thanks for inviting me!
I was talking about Wikipedia and the Semantic Web - 20 years of co-development and the future, sketching out how the two have and keep influencing each oth…

from my link log —
Pezy SC: Japan is still investing in custom floating point accelerators.
https://www.nextplatform.com/2025/09/04/why-is-japan-still-investing-in-custom-floating-point-accelerators/
saved 202…

Why Is Japan Still Investing In Custom Floating Point Accelerators?
It has taken nearly two decades and an immense amount of work by millions of people for high performance computing to go mainstream with GenAI. And now,

Here's an interesting take on disappearing bookstores. In Japan, some stores are leasing bookshelves.
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/11/27/japan/society/japan-bookstore-shelves-lease/

Chinese silicon wafer manufacturers like Eswin have rapidly gained market share by undercutting global leaders, such as Japan's Shin-Etsu Chemical, on price (Nikkei Asia)
https://asia.nikkei.com/business/technology…

In silicon wafers, China's emerging local stars rattle global giants
Japan has long led in key chip material, but Chinese rivals like Eswin catch up

European 'kei cars' are on their way. Big in Japan, these smaller, lighter cars with reduced safety requirements were introduced to support the country's automotive industry. Now, they should come to the rescue of the EU's car industry, too.
Or will Asian manufacturers quickly take the lead?

12th Low-Level RF Workshop (LLRF2025)
Dmitry Teytelman
https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.07603 https://arxiv.org/pdf/2510.07603

12th Low-Level RF Workshop (LLRF2025)
This volume contains contributions submitted to the 12th Low-Level RF Workshop which will be held in Newport News, Virginia, USA on October 12-16, 2025. This workshop continues the series of successful international workshops held in Newport News, USA (2001), Geneva, Switzerland (2005), Knoxville, USA (2007), Tsukuba, Japan (2009), Hamburg, Germany (2011), Tahoe City, USA (2013), Shanghai, China (2015), Barcelona, Spain (2017), Chicago, USA (2019), Brugg-Windisch, Switzerland (2022), and Gyeong…

https://tokyopaladin.substack.com/p/ghosts-in-the-newsroom-how-abes-japan

Ghosts In The Newsroom: How Abe's Japan Became Trump's Blueprint
Japan had Trump before America did: Shinzo Abe, grandson of a war criminal, muzzled the press, bullied broadcasters, and faked statistics. Now Trump, The GOP, and Disney are replaying the script

New toy: Font coverage analyzer (alpha)
blueset.github.io/font-coverage/

📸 'Purikura' photo sticker machines keep offering more 30 years after debut
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/09/25/japan/purikura-machines-anniversary/
🈚

'Purikura' photo sticker machines keep offering more 30 years after debut
The first photo sticker machines in 1995 were much simpler than what's offered today, but the novel feature of turning photos into stickers led to their blockbuster popularity.

This CSO letter submitted today has a single #China/#HongKong entity, China Labour Bulletin.
Which self-dissolved in mid-2025...
https://foejapan.org/en/issue/20251205/27117/

Call for the Suspension of Irresponsible Nickel Development in Palawan, the Philippines — More Than a Decade Without Effective Environmental Measures, Leaving Community Rights at Risk — International Petition (8,411 Signatories from 36 Countries; 90 Organizations from 40 Countries) Submitted to Sumitomo Metal Mining | Friends of the Earth Japan
Ahead of Human Rights Day on December 10, an international petition calling for the suspe...

Ukraine's Deaflympians top the Deaflympics table 🏅🏆
@… https://channels.im/@alojapan/115660110549364623

Gives the tragedy of the Russian aggression of Ukraine its full depth. :-(

🇺🇦 #NowPlaying on KEXP's #AfternoonShow
Japan:
🎵 Quiet Life
#Japan
https://brasslampedits.bandcamp.com/track/japan-quiet-life-brass-lamp-dub
https://open.spotify.com/track/7GTcfdzY73zsDINXbBzV7B

Japan ermahnt OpenAI wegen Urheberrechtsverstößen KI-generierter Anime-Videos
Sora 2 erzeugt KI-Videos auch mit Anime-, Manga- und Spielcharakteren. Die japanische Regierung will das nicht länger dulden und stellt OpenAI zur Rede.

@… fedibird.comに引っ越してきた人は、
このURLにアクセスするとMastodon Japan Serverのローカルタイムラインのようなものがみられるので（ドメインタイムラインという機能）

Japan frustrated at Trump administration's silence over row with China (Financial Times)
https://www.ft.com/content/bf8b5def-db4d-43ac-91cf-bea5fcfa3189
http://www.memeorandum.com/251207/p42#a251207p42

Sources: Micron plans to invest $9.6B in Japan to build a production facility for next-gen HBM memory chips beginning in 2026, with shipments expected in 2028 (Ryo Mukano/Nikkei Asia)
https://asia.nikkei.com/business/tech/s…

Micron to invest $9.6bn in western Japan to make AI memory chips
US company's decision enables Japan to secure domestic access to key components

Apples Siri kann ausgetauscht werden – zunächst in Japan und via Seitentaste
Apple folgt einer Anweisung der japanischen Regierung und macht es demnächst möglich, Siri-Alternativen direkt aufzurufen.

Bank account: "Did you just book hotels in Japan?"
Me: "oh i did"
Seems like I'm going to japan, next year!
#japan #travel #asia

A Japanese court orders Cloudflare to pay a ~$3.2M fine to four major Japanese publishers for its role in hosting servers for manga piracy sites (The Japan Times)
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/11/20/japan/crime-legal/cloudflare-manga-piracy/

Japanese court orders Cloudflare to pay ¥500 million over manga piracy
Four major publishing firms accused Cloudflare of copyright infringement for its role in hosting sites that distribute pirated copies of manga titles.

Cyberattack on Japanese beer giant Asahi limits shipping, call center operations https://therecord.media/asahi-japan-cyberattack-limits-shipping-call-centers

It's been a crazy week, so don't leave for the weekend until you check out today's Metacurity for the crucial cyber developments you should know, including
--Oracle confirms customer extortion emails, urges patch updates,
--Red Hat confirms security incident and begins remediation,
--Apple drops ICEBlock ICE tracking tool under pressure from DOJ,
--Japan to run out of Asahi beer after cyberattack,
--Air Force probes possible SharePoint breach,
-…

Oracle confirms customer extortion emails, urges patch updates
Red Hat confirms security incident and begins remediation, Apple drops ICEBlock ICE tracking tool under pressure from DOJ, Japan to run out of Asahi beer after cyberattack, Air Force probes possible SharePoint breach, Israeli medical center targeted in suspected Iran attack on Yom Kippur, much more

plant_pol_kato: Kato plant-pollinator web
A bipartite network of plants and pollinators from Kyoto University Forest of Ashu, Japan, from 1984 to 1987. Edge weights represent frequency of interactions.
This network has 772 nodes and 1206 edges.
Tags: Biological, Food web, Weighted
https://networks.skewed.d…

Japans neuer Raumtransporter dockt an die ISS an
Fünf Jahre lang war Japan auf andere Raumtransporter angewiesen. Jetzt kann die Jaxa wieder selbst Versorgungsgüter zur ISS bringen.
https://www.

Japan slaps new sanctions on Russia over Ukraine war: https://benborges.xyz/2025/09/12/japan-slaps-new-sanctions-on.html

The $550 Billion Shadow Budget: Trump's Japan Deal and the Disappearing Appropriations Clause (Scott Levy/Just Security)
https://www.justsecurity.org/123478/trump-japan-deal-appropriations-clause/
http://www.memeorandum.com/251030/p142#a251030p142

🤑 Nearly Half of Young Japanese Workers Spend Big on Fandom Activities
https://www.tokyoweekender.com/japan-life/news-and-opinion/young-japanese-workers-spend-big-on-idol-fandom/

Nearly 50% of Young Japanese Workers Are Investing in Idol Fandom Activities
A recent survey suggests that Japanese 20-somethings are increasingly turning to fandom culture for motivation at work.

Die japanische NHK-Partei hat ihren Anhängern versprochen, sie müssten keine #Rundfunkgebühren für den Sender #NHK zahlen. Man hat einen juristischen Trick versprochen, um den Mahnungen zu entgehen. Zur Not würde die Partei aufkommen.
Nun sind einige Jahre vergangen, die Partei ist in d…

Russian-speaking ransomware gang Qilin says it was responsible for an attack on Japan's Asahi and stole ~27GB of data, including financial docs and contracts (Bloomberg)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-10-08/…

I think I got uninvited to be a guest on a podcast run by an expat in #Japan because she didn't like a post where I called convenience store #food #unhealthy & the same as eating fast food.

Freitag: Millionen für deutsches Raketen-Start-up, Japan gegen OpenAIs KI-Videos
Finanzierung einer Weltraumrakete Kritik an Anime-Videos von Sora 2 Lyft expandiert international Sprachbedienung von Windows 11 Datenschutz-Podcast

Japanese brewer Asahi delays product launches, halts deliveries after cyberattack https://therecord.media/japan-asahi-delay-cyberattack

Indiana governor Mike Braun announced today that he is calling a special session to consider redrawing congressional districts in the state, the latest Republican state to work on its maps ahead of 2026.
Indiana is one of several Republican-led states that the Trump administration has pressured to undertake mid-decade redistricting to favor Republicans,
-- which began with a push in Texas to redraw lines to add Republican seats.
“I am calling a special legislative session to…

Had a chat with our local cafe owner, who, it turns out, regularly goes to #Indonesia to source coffee and loves it. She showed us the Luwak Coffee she has, but only offers to regular customers - not on the menu!
I've finally figured out the mystery of who in #Japan is drinking

United States-Japan Framework (President Donald J. Trump/The White House)
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/2025/10/united-states-japan-framework-for-securing-the-supply-of-critical-minerals-and-rare-earths-through-mining-and-processing/
http://www.memeorandum.com/251028/p50#a251028p50

OpenAI launches its Sora app on Android, including in the US, Canada, and Japan; the app got 1M downloads in the five days after its September iOS launch (Emma Roth/The Verge)
https://www.theverge.com/news/813533/openai-sora-android-launch

OpenAI launches its Sora app on Android
OpenAI has launched Sora on Android, giving more people access to its AI-generated video feed.

AltStore, one of the first alternative app stores in the EU, raised a $6M Series A led by Pace Capital, aims to launch in Australia, Brazil, and Japan in 2025 (Sarah Perez/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2025/10/07/alternative-app-st…

Alternative app store AltStore raises $6M, connects with the fediverse | TechCrunch
The alternative app marketplace AltStore has raised $6 million and launched a Mastodon server.

plant_pol_kato: Kato plant-pollinator web
A bipartite network of plants and pollinators from Kyoto University Forest of Ashu, Japan, from 1984 to 1987. Edge weights represent frequency of interactions.
This network has 772 nodes and 1206 edges.
Tags: Biological, Food web, Weighted
https://networks.skewed.d…

🗾 Heatstroke patient numbers jumped in cooler Hokkaido and Tohoku this summer
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/09/08/japan/heatstroke-cases-rising-in-hokkaido-and-tohoku/
🈚

Heatstroke patient numbers jumped in cooler Hokkaido and Tohoku this summer
In Hokkaido, the number of heatstroke patients rose 1.7-fold from the previous year, while Aomori Prefecture saw a 1.53-fold rise and Akita Prefecture saw a 1.42-fold rise.

JPYC gibt an den Yen gekoppelten Stablecoin heraus
In Japan ist eine neue Kryptowährung gestartet. Sie ist an die Landeswährung gekoppelt.
https://www.heise.de/news/JPYC-gibt-an-den

Fact check: 11 false claims Trump made to the troops in Japan (Daniel Dale/CNN)
https://www.cnn.com/2025/10/28/politics/fact-check-trump-japan-troops
http://www.memeorandum.com/251028/p122#a251028p122

Japanese regulators' plan to cull the smallest listings on the Tokyo Stock Exchange is spurring a record number of startup buyouts in Japan, while IPOs slump (Bloomberg)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-10-20/de…

Deals for Startups Reach Record in Japan Before Listing Curbs
A plan to cull the smallest listings on the Tokyo Stock Exchange is spurring a record number of buyouts of young companies in Japan, reflecting Tokyo’s push to create more billion-dollar startups to better match the country’s global standing in scientific research.

Cybercrime crew claims attack on Japanese brewer as it restarts operations https://therecord.media/qilin-ransomware-gang-alleged-asahi-hackers

https://finimize.com/content/ransomware-snarls-muji-and-loft-online-orders-in-japan
Ransomware Snarls Muji And Loft Online Orders In Japan

An admirer of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher,
Sanae Takaichi is a protege of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's ultra-conservative vision
and a regular at the Yasukuni Shrine,
seen as a symbol of Japan's wartime militarism,
which could complicate Tokyo's relations with its Asian neighbors.
#Sanae

Asahi says most of its 30 factories in Japan have not operated since September 29 after a cyberattack, leaving Japan with just days of Asahi Super Dry stock (Financial Times)
https://www.ft.com/content/bb86349f-0ad8-432b-a62a-fdd63b3b76ab

Trump inspires a new wave of nationalism -- from Japan to Argentina (Daniel McCarthy/New York Post)
https://nypost.com/2025/10/27/opinion/trump-inspires-a-new-wave-of-nationalism-from-japan-to-argentina/
http://www.memeorandum.com/251028/p44#a251028p44

Japan's 2026 Oscar entry Kokuho grosses more than $111M, breaking the country's 22-year-old box office record for a domestic live-action film (Mayumi Negishi/Bloomberg)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-11-25…

"Ghost of Yotei": Wenn der Wind weht
Im Open-World-Abenteuer "Ghost of Yotei" begleiten die Spieler eine Kriegerin auf einem blutigen Rachefeldzug durch das Japan des frühen 17. Jahrhunderts.
https://www.

Japan's New Prime Minister Has an Advantage in Winning Over Trump (Javier C. Hernšndez/New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/26/world/asia/japan-trump-takaichi.html
http://www.memeorandum.com/251027/p73#a251027p73

We're halfway through the post-Thanksgiving week, and the cyber news machine is cranking back up again, so check out today's Metacurity for the critical infosec developments you should know, including
--Indian government retreats from spy app mandate,
--US DOJ seizes Myanmar scam center website,
--Coupang execs sold company stock before breach was announced,
--Coupang is reviewing compensation for breach victims,
--Korea's Gmarket hit by string of una…

Indian government retreats from spy app mandate
US DOJ seizes Myanmar scam center website, Coupang execs sold company stock before breach was announced, Coupang is reviewing compensation for breach victims, Korea's Gmarket hit by string of unauthorized payments, Japan's Askul internet service resumes one month post-breach, much more

Japanese chipmaker Rapidus plans to start building a second plant in Hokkaido in fiscal 2027, aiming to make advanced 1.4nm chips as early as 2029 (Nikkei Asia)
https://asia.nikkei.com/business/tech/semiconductors…

Japan's Rapidus to build cutting-edge 1.4-nm chip plant in race with TSMC
Construction to begin in fiscal 2027, production to start as early as 2029

Einhörner unter Notebooks: Fujitsu-Modelle mit Wechselakku & Blu-ray-Laufwerk
Fujitsu zeigt in Japan, dass auch leichte Notebooks einen einfach wechselbaren Akku haben können. Ein 16-Zöller kommt zudem mit optischem Laufwerk.

Asahi restarted production at six Japanese breweries on October 2 after a cyberattack forced it to halt production and shipments for days, and is investigating (Bloomberg)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-10-06/a…

🗾 Japan’s new PM faces sumo-sized dilemma: will Takaichi defy the sport’s ban on women?
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/nov/12/japan-pm-sumo-wrestling-ban-women

Japan’s new PM faces sumo-sized dilemma: will Takaichi defy the sport’s ban on women?
Women are banned from entering the ‘sacred’ dohyo. Sanae Takaichi is undecided on whether to attend a trophy presentation later this month

"Silent Hill f" angespielt: Das Horror-Comeback des Jahres
Mit "Silent Hill f" wagt Konami einen Neustart in Japan und trifft mit einer persönlichen Reise durch eine zerbrechliche Teenager-Seele genau ins Schwarze.

Sources: Masayoshi Son plans with the White House to build "Trump Industrial Parks" in the US to produce AI infrastructure parts, funded by Japan's trade deal (Wall Street Journal)
https://www.wsj.com/tech/trump-softbank-ma

Tokyo-based Sakana AI becomes Japan's most valuable unicorn at a ~$2.6B valuation, following a ~$130M raise from Mitsubishi UFJ Financial and US VC firms (Nikkei Asia)
https://asia.nikkei.com/business/technology/a…

Sakana AI takes crown as Japan's most valuable unicorn
AI developer valued at $2.63bn in latest funding round

Trump threatens to send 'more than National Guard' to US cities (Julia Manchester/The Hill)
https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/5576016-trump-national-guard-deployment-speech-japan/
http://www.memeorandum.com/251028/p41#a251028p41

Japan says it will provide $3.63B to Micron for R&D and capital spending at its Hiroshima fab to mass produce advanced DRAM, aiming for shipments by August 2028 (Hajime Tsukada/Nikkei Asia)
https://asia.nikkei.com/business/tech/

Japan readies $3.6bn for Micron to make cutting-edge DRAM
Subsidies cover memory development, mass production at Hiroshima plant

OpenAI launches its Sora app on Android, including in the US, Canada, and Japan; the app reached 1M downloads in the five days after its September iOS launch (Emma Roth/The Verge)
https://www.theverge.com/news/813533/openai-sora-android-launch

OpenAI launches its Sora app on Android
OpenAI has launched Sora on Android, giving more people access to its AI-generated video feed.

Kioxia, whose stock has more than tripled since its public debut in Tokyo last December, expects NAND storage demand to grow by ~20% annually amid the AI boom (Bloomberg)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-09-30/japan…

Japanese fintech JPYC launches a yen-pegged stablecoin, the country's first, and its issuance platform JPYC EX, targeting $65.4B in circulation in three years (Timmy Shen/The Block)
https://www.theblock.co/post/376199/japan-jpyc-launches-yen-stablecoin

The Japanese government says it formally requested that OpenAI refrain from infringing on Japanese IPs, such as anime, calling them "irreplaceable treasures" (Verity Townsend/IGN)

Japanese Government Calls on Sora 2 Maker OpenAI to Refrain From Copyright Infringement, Says Characters From Manga and Anime Are 'Irreplaceable Treasures' That Japan Boasts to the World - IGN
The Japanese government has made a formal request asking OpenAI to refrain from copyright infringement. This comes as a response to Sora 2’s ability to generate videos featuring the likenesses of copyrighted characters from anime and video games.

General Atlantic purchases a $96M minority stake in Japanese HR software unicorn SmartHR, marking the PE firm's first growth equity investment in Japan (Lisa Du/Bloomberg)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-11-…