Tootfinder

Japan, driven by labor shortages, is increasingly adopting robotics and physical AI, with a hybrid model where startups innovate and corporations provide scale (Kate Park/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2026/04/05/japan-is-proving-e…

In Japan, the robot isn't coming for your job; it's filling the one nobody wants | TechCrunch
Driven by labor shortages, Japan is pushing physical AI from pilot projects into real-world deployment.

What do Ukraine and Japan have in common? They are leaders in robotics, and for the right reasons
https://techcrunch.com/2026/04/05/japan-is-proving-experimental-physical-ai-is-ready-for-the-real-world/

In Japan, the robot isn't coming for your job; it's filling the one nobody wants | TechCrunch
Driven by labor shortages, Japan is pushing physical AI from pilot projects into real-world deployment.

„Nioh 3“: Japan sehen und sterben
Brutal, aber ehrlich: In „Nioh 3“ von Team Ninja erwartet die Fans ein temporeiches wie schwieriges Actionspektakel im alten Japan.
https://www.heise.de/tests/Nioh-3-Japan-se<…

"Used Diapers Turned into New Ones Thanks to Super-Recycling Japanese Towns and New Innovation"
#Japan #Recycling

Used Diapers Turned into New Ones Thanks to Super-Recycling Japanese Towns and New Innovation
The process uses ozone, a sterilizing gas, to clean and deodorize the pulp to the point that it passes sanitary requirements.

ah yes, Japan comes from Japan

Jun Togawa - “An Army of Bugs” (1984)
Japanese avant-garde musician singing quite theatrically about bugs 🐛 🐞
#music #Japan
https://www.y…

Japan is building the world's largest liquefied hydrogen carrier — a massive 40,000 cubic meter vessel set to revolutionize clean energy transport by the 2030s.
Kawasaki Heavy Industries and Japan Suiso Energy are teaming up on this groundbreaking ship, which will run on both diesel and hydrogen fuel. It features specialized tanks and advanced insulation to keep the super-cold liquid hydrogen stable during ocean voyages.

Japanese companies to build world’s largest liquefied hydrogen carrier
Kawasaki Heavy Industries and Japan Suiso Energy will construct a 40,000 cubic meter vessel designed to meet global hydrogen demand in the 2030s.

A very heartfelt apology from Japan's Keio University regarding a data breach.
https://www.keio.ac.jp/en/news/2026/Jan/7/48-171848/index.html

Apology and Notice Concerning Unauthorized Access Incident and Possible Personal Data Breach: Keio University
January 7, 2026It has now been determined that, due to unauthorized access from outside the universi

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…

Fact Check: Video Does NOT Show U.S. Destroyer 'Attacked By Iranian Missiles' Near Cyprus -- It's 2017 Damage From Ship Collision Near Japan: https://benborges.xyz/2026/03/05/fact-check-video-does-not.html

[die austrotürkische Band Zackzackzack dürfte in Japan nicht unpopulär sein, sie touren dort schon zum zweiten Mal.]
https://zackzackzack.live
https://www.

Sources: Tokyo-based chipmaker Renesas agrees to sell its clocks and timing device business to Nasdaq-listed chip design company SiTime for ~$3B (Nikkei Asia)
https://asia.nikkei.com/business/business-deals/japan-s-re…

Japan's Renesas to sell timing solution segment to US-based SiTime for $3bn
Chipmaker divesting non-core businesses after seeing a loss in 1st 9 months of 2025

Netflix tests Japan's entrenched baseball viewing habits, long dominated by domestic and free-to-air broadcasters, by locking up World Baseball Classic rights (Bloomberg)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/20

👩 'Artists of steel': Japanese swords forge new fanbase
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2026/02/12/japan/japan-katana-pupularity/
🆓

'Artists of steel': Japanese swords forge new fanbase
Despite the rapidly shrinking population of blademakers in Japan, their fine steel swords known as katana are amassing a new generation of fans, particularly younger women.

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…

The science in this article is a bit too hard for me but it sounds like excellent news 🙂
"Scientists achieve ‘impossible’ solar efficiency in renewables breakthrough"
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/solar-pane…

Scientists achieve ‘impossible’ solar efficiency in renewables breakthrough
‘Spin-flip’ technique promises to shatter efficiency limits

"#Japan mit der #Bahn erleben. Ausgefallene Routen, extravagante Züge, Kulinarisches und ein Schuss Geographie“: Aufzeichnung eines Vortrags von Matthias Reich aka Tabibito vom http:…

Akelig verwend knaapje met Trumpig gedrag.
Verstappen stuurt bij Grote Prijs Japan Engelse journalist weg
https://www.rtl.nl/nieuws/sport/artikel/5582627/verstappen-stuurt-bij-grote-prijs-japan-engelse-journalist-weg

Verstappen stuurt bij Grote Prijs Japan Engelse journalist weg
SUZUKA (ANP/AFP) - Viervoudig wereldkampioen Max Verstappen is donderdag betrokken geraakt bij een incident voorafgaand aan de Grote Prijs van Japan, toen hij weigerde zijn persconferentie te beginnen totdat een Engelse journalist de zaal had verlaten.

PERFECT DAYS - Officiële trailer
#ARD #rbb
https://www.ardmediathek.de/tv-programm/6972aec23f02b0bd40a4df63 (2023, 120min)
Streamen: overzicht https://www.cinema.nl/db/15096811-perfect-days
Bijvoorbeeld MUBI:
https://mubi.com/films/perfect-days (124min)
Interview: Now Is Now: On Wim Wenders's "Perfect Days" on Notebook | MUBI
https://mubi.com/nl/notebook/posts/now-is-now-on-wim-wenders-s-perfect-days
/2

Japan and the Octopus Trap of Modernity (file under: Takotsubo is not only a cardiac disease)
https://genealogiesofmodernity.org/journal/2021/6/10/cgq5rildc4mxhatmak817jxn3f9bef

Genealogies of Modernity — Japan and the Octopus Trap of Modernity
What we see in Japanese modernity, according to Maruyama, is a national franchise of these “idols of the market place” through the continuous specialization and internal diversifications that multiply these groups. Takeshi Morisato on how Japan became trapped in a hyper-specialized version of mode

Gosh, how inconvenient that tourists have to deal with cultural differences that don't cater to them. 🙄
☑️ Tourists in Japan Are Baffled: Where Are the Trash Cans? - WSJ
https://www.wsj.com/lifestyle/travel/tourists-in-japan-are-b…

TSMC plans to produce 3nm chips at its second plant in Kumamoto, Japan; sources say that is an upgrade from an original plan to produce 7nm chips by late 2027 (Bloomberg)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-02-05/ts…

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…

Japan setzt Hochgeschwindigkeitszug für Gütertransport ein
Das Geschäft mit der Personenbeförderung in Japan geht zurück. Die Bahngesellschaft JR East sucht nach Alternativen – und schickt Güter auf die Schnellstrecke.

Japan: Entwickler kritisieren Apples neue Gebühren
Nach Einführung des Mobile Software Competition Act (MSCA) in Japan gibt es massive Kritik. Entwickler fordern ein Einschreiten gegen Apple und Google.
https://www.

Dave Thomas is one of the authors of The Pragmatic Programmer, one of the key people who brought Ruby from Japan to the western world (through "the pickaxe book", Programming Ruby),  one of the authors of the Agile manifesto, and one of my software heros, among other things.
Like many of the original Agile manifesto writers, he's pretty excited about how LLMs/Agents are opening up more possibilities, not ending the software profession.
"Castles in the Air: It's Still Just as Rewarding
It's Still Programming
I was expecting to hate using Claude. I just knew it would dehumanize the process, draining away all the fun stuff, turning what was once creative into a mechanical slog.
I was wrong. Coding with AI is fun. In fact, to me it feels like I'm having more fun than I have had in a while. So I took some notes over the last month to work out why.”
#agenticAI
https://media.pragprog.com/newsletters/2026-03-25.html

Jetzt wo ein neuer Streik im öffentlichen Nahverkehr angekündigt wurde, hört man wieder vermehrt die Forderung, dass die Mitarbeitenden der Verkehrsbetriebe doch lieber wie in Japan streiken sollten, also die Leute einfach kostenlos fahren lassen?
Turns out: "Streiken wie in Japan" bezieht sich auf ein singuläres Ereignis, was am Ende auch eher ein PR-Gag der "bestreikten" Firma war.

#Japan startet eine Tiefseemission zur Förderung von #SelteneErden, um die Abhängigkeit von #China zu verringern.
Das Forschungsschiff Chikyu soll mineralhaltigen Schlamm aus 6 Kilometern Tiefe n…

Japan beginnt Tiefseemission zur Förderung Seltener Erden
Japan will seine Abhängigkeit von chinesischen Seltenen Erden verringern und sucht nach einer Möglichkeit, sie im eigenen Land zu fördern.

Ever classy.
#NarcissistInChief

Trump mocks Japan about Pearl Harbor in response to question about Iran war
US president was meeting with Japanese PM when he said: ‘Who knows better about surprise than Japan?’

Daughter and I are going to the Japan StrEAT Party tomorrow. I've been looking forward to it for weeks and I'm so glad the weather will be okay.
#Canberra #Japanese #StrEAT

So just the other day I found out a vaccine targeting feline kidney disease has entered into trials in Japan last year.
Supposedly, this could enable cats to easily live into their mid to late 20s, which…is kinda amazing, if true.
Here’s a kind of pop-level article about it:
https:/…

Promising New Feline Kidney Disease Treatment Enters Trials in Japan - Catster
An exciting new treatment for feline kidney disease has entered clinical trials. Here's how it works and what we can expect...

https://www.instagram.com/p/DUNFbR2AbG9/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==

VT on Instagram: "In Japan, a new kind of bar is drawing attention for flipping workplace culture on its head. The bar is designed specifically for people who are considering leaving their jobs. Drinks are free, and the focus is not on alcohol sales but conversation. Patrons are invited to talk openly about burnout, frustration, and career doubts, while staff are trained to listen without judgement or pressure. The idea taps into a growing reckoning in Japan around long working hours, rigid hierarchies, and the mental health toll of intense job expectations. Conversations about quitting or dissatisfaction have traditionally been stigmatised, making this kind of space unusual. By removing the cost barrier and offering a supportive environment, the bar aims to normalise discussions about career dissatisfaction and help people reflect on what they actually want from work, even if that means starting over."
34K likes, 169 comments - vt on January 31, 2026: "In Japan, a new kind of bar is drawing attention for flipping workplace culture on its head. The bar is designed specifically for people who are considering leaving their jobs. Drinks are free, and the focus is not on alcohol sales but conversation. Patrons are invited to talk openly about burnout, frustration, and career doubts, while staff are trained to listen without judgement or pressure. The idea taps into a growing reckoning in Japan a…

With a historic supermajority now secured, the Japanese
Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) under Sanae Takaichi stands at its strongest position in decades.
The collapse of the Centrist Reform Alliance (CRA) in the same election has left Japan’s political landscape without its most prominent counterweight.
The question now is simple: what is left of Japan’s opposition?
Running under the slogan “Citizens First,” the CRA tried to appeal to voters with middle-ground messagi…

[Insider] Where Will Japan’s Bruised Opposition Go After Takaichi’s Big Win? - Unseen Japan
PM Takaichi secured a supermajority in the Lower House election as the opposition fractured. What comes next for Japan’s politics?

Japan Expands Whaling as Vulnerable Whales Face Extinction https://www.idausa.org/campaign/cetacean-advocacy/latest-news/japan-expands-whaling-as-vulnerable-whales-face-extinction/

Japan Expands Whaling as Vulnerable Whales Face Extinction
 

From predator to plate: Japan's bear crisis sparks culinary craze - The Japan Times
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2026/01/08/japan/japan-bear-crisis-sparks-culinary-craze/

Surprise, embarrassment, unease in Japan after Trump uses Pearl Harbor to defend Iran war (Associated Press)
https://apnews.com/article/tokyo-us-trump-takaichi-japan-pearl-harbor-iran-war-9b3a60e02d384d1e024094e49c1e7f5e
http://www.memeorandum.com/260321/p47#a260321p47

他鯖からFedibirdに来た人は、出身サーバをお気に入りドメインに設定しておくといいよ。
お気に入りドメインはメニューに追加されるので、WebUIからワンクリックで辿れるようになる。
こいつは購読と違って、ホームやリストに流すのではなく、ドメインで絞り込んだ連合タイムライン（ドメインタイムライン）への導線なんだ。
サーバに蓄積されている過去投稿も全部みられるので、閉鎖されたサーバの投稿も遡れる。
なお、ドメインタイムラインは他にも導線があって、リモート投稿の右下の…から開くメニューからも辿れるから、試してみるといいよ。
ただし、対象ドメインの投稿数によっては、クエリーが凄く重いときがあるので、壊れた感があります。激重なだけでそのうち出てきたりするのでよろしくです。
mastodon-japan.net の人とか、試してみるといいよ。
@…

MPA: Japan's premium VOD sector hit a revenue of $7.2B in 2025, up 15% YoY; Netflix leads with 22% of revenue; Prime Video has the most subscribers at 19.3M (Naman Ramachandran/Variety)
https://variety.com/2026/tv/news/japan-streaming-market-7-billion-123666…

Japan's Streaming Market Hits $7.2 Billion, Report Finds
Japan's premium video-on-demand sector achieved $7.2 billion in total revenue during 2025, marking a 15% year-over-year increase, a new report found.

Sources: Japan's FTC raids Microsoft's Japan offices as part of a probe into whether Azure customers were improperly hindered from using other cloud services (Nikkei Asia)
https://asia.nikkei.com/business/technology/ja…

Japan antitrust watchdog raids Microsoft over cloud services concerns
US software giant's Japanese unit suspected of hampering customers wanting to use rival services

🗾 Japan is betting big on AI. Few workers have used it.
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2026/03/02/japan/society/ai-awareness-japan-jobs/
🆓

Japan is betting big on AI. Few workers have used it.
Surveys show strong public confidence, despite shallow workplace adoption and unresolved cultural concerns.

RE: #Osaka, #Japan …

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…

They Did Deals With Trump to Get Lower Tariffs. Now They Are Stuck. - The New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/22/business/trump-tariffs-japan-indonesia.html

Japan sent a team to save America.
I am confident they will succeed!
#Pinponpanpon (The #1 idol unit in Japan)

🇺🇦 #NowPlaying on BBCRadio3's #EssentialClassics
Felix Mendelssohn, Jone Martínez, Eri Sawae, Bach Collegium Japan & Masaaki Suzuki:
🎵 Symphony No 2 'Lobgesang': V. Ich harrete des Herrn
#FelixMendelssohn #EriSawae
https://open.spotify.com/track/1hMTX9B2cA4tUCiwcp7Nod

The Japanese have successfully built a ship-mounted, electromagnetic cannon: Something America & China have failed to do for 30yrs & billions of dollars.
Japan has a RAILGUN.
▶️ Japan Built the Weapon the US Couldn't
https://youtube.com/watch?v=ceTfyzvGcA

In 1917 Tokyo YMCA built the first gymnasium equipped with an indoor pool in Japan and introduced modern swimming techniques, such as the front crawl, to Japan.

Japan testet Abbau Seltener Erden aus der Tiefsee
Japan will seine Abhängigkeit von chinesischen Seltenen Erden verringern und sucht nach einer Möglichkeit, sie im eigenen Land zu fördern.
https://www.

New backdoor found in Android tablets targeting users in Russia, Germany and Japan https://therecord.media/new-backdoor-found-in-android-russia-japan-brazil

aus der reihe "spezielle spezialprobleme in den sprachen der welt" heute: "Verwirrende Wegbeschreibungen im Japanischen": https://japan-almanach.de/blog/verwirrende-wegbeschreibungen-im-japanischen/ 🤪

Microsoft partners with SoftBank and Sakura Internet to build AI data infrastructure in Japan, investing $10 billion over four years and training 1M engineers (Takashi Mochizuki/Bloomberg)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/20

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…

Formel 1 in Japan - Piastri lässt Silberpfeile im FP2 hinter sich #News #Nachrichten

Japan to join PURL to buy U.S. weapons for Ukraine, limited to nonlethal equipment: https://benborges.xyz/2026/02/11/japan-to-join-purl-to.html

The amusing part of being in #Japan right now is being able to have a video call home to Vermont and wish my wife “Happy St Patrick’s Day!” …. when it is still the middle of the afternoon for her on Monday, March 16! 😄
Ah, the joys of timezones… and the fact that we all live on a REALLY BIG spinning ball!

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…

In 2 Wochen ist in #Dresden wieder #DeDeCo - Convention zu Anime, Manga, Games, Japan und mehr. Das Programm ist inzwischen komplett veröffentlicht und bietet neben Händlern, Künstlerinnen und Gamesroom auch Programm auf drei Bühnen und zusätzliche Workshops.
Vielleicht sieht man sich ja dort! :b…

News about the fourth season of That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime "Tensei Shitara Slime Datta Ken"
(Tensura)
The first promotional video and details about the premiere have been released:
Structure: Season 4 will be divided into five cours in total.
Release: The first two cours will air consecutively starting in April 2026.
Broadcast in Japan: Begins on Friday, 3 April at 23:00 (NTV).

Sad to hear the news that Dave Farber has died. I’ve been a long time subscriber to his Interesting People list. RIP to “the grandfather of the internet”
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2026/02/11/japan/david-harber-obituary-internet/

Pioneering computer scientist and Keio professor dies at 91
David J. Farber was a central figure in the development of early research networks that evolved into today’s internet.

Pika! Pika! Pikachu! 30 Fakten zu 30 Jahren Pokémon
Am 27. Februar 1996 erschien das erste Pokémon-Spiel in Japan. Die Serie begründete das erfolgreichste Medien-Franchise der Welt.
https://www.

Sandisk and Kioxia announce a five-year extension of their JV manufacturing contract from 2029 to 2034; the new deal involves SanDisk paying Kioxia $1.165B (Ryo Mukano/Nikkei Asia)
https://asia.nikkei.com/business/tech/sem…

Japan's Kioxia extends memory chip JV with Sandisk, receiving $1bn
US partner's access to Yokkaichi plant to last 5 more years through 2034

Japan, the Philippines and the United States held joint military drills near the Bashi Channel -- the waterway between the Philippines and Taiwan, for the first time earlier this week.
The naval and aerial exercises were conducted under the framework of the Multilateral Maritime Cooperative Activity (MMCA), and ran from Feb. 20 through Thursday.
On Tuesday, the Maritime Self-Defense Force took part in the drills, deploying a P-3C patrol aircraft for flight training alongside the…

"How Japan Lost the Plot on Open Access" @ Katina Magazine
https://katinamagazine.org/content/article/open-knowledge/2026/how-japan-lost-the-plot-on-open-access
"In

In #Japan hat das Goto-Konsortium unter Führung von Toda den kommerziellen Betrieb des ersten schwimmenden #OffshoreWindparks des Landes aufgenommen.
Die 16,8 MW starke Anlage vor #Nagasaki

In Japan, Trump's Pearl Harbor Joke Elicits Scorn and Dismay (New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/20/world/asia/japan-trump-pearl-harbor.html?unlocked_article_code=1.UlA.p49M.qyGSqbGGEUup&smid=url-share
http://www.memeorandum.com/260320/p74#a260320p74

OSM Japan is bidding to host @… 2026 this September! 🇯🇵
https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/State_of_the_Map_Asia_2026/Call_fo…

🗾 Is it Really Impossible to Make a Living as an Animator in Japan?
https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/feature/2026-02-20/is-it-really-impossible-to-make-a-living-as-an-animator-in-japan/.233979

Is it Really Impossible to Make a Living as an Animator in Japan?
There have been numerous horror stories about working as a newbie animator in Japan—namely, the inability to earn a living wage. To find out if this was still the case, ANN met freelance and studio-employed animators, studio heads, and animator-rights advocates.

Musk's Grok AI Faces Scrutiny From Japan Over Sexualized Images | Financial Post
https://financialpost.com/pmn/business-pmn/musks-grok-ai-faces-scrutiny-from-japan-over-sexualized-images

Japan to join NATO-led initiative to buy US weapons for Ukraine, media reports: https://benborges.xyz/2026/02/10/japan-to-join-natoled-initiative.html

🇺🇦 #NowPlaying on BBCRadio3's #EssentialClassics
Johann Sebastian Bach, Bach Collegium Japan Chorus, Bach Collegium Japan & Masaaki Suzuki:
🎵 'Geschwinde, ihr wirbelnden Winde', from Cantata BWV201
#JohannSebastianBach #BachCollegiumJapanChorus #BachCollegiumJapan

Vor 30 Jahren: Apples Konsolen-Flop Pippin erscheint
Am 28. März 1996 wird in Japan Apples Spielkonsole Pippin veröffentlicht. Sie floppt – aber die Zeche zahlt jemand anderes.
https://www.

Western allies form 6G security coalition amid tech rivalry with China https://therecord.media/western-allies-form-6g-security-coalition

"Omoiyari"
#Japan​ese word with no English equivalent: Omoiyari. It means something like a deep, reflexive consideration for others tha…

China cites Biden’s message to Xi
that Japan could build nuclear weapons ‘overnight’
Beijing releases 30-page report that includes a call for international community to
‘take concrete and strong measures’
against Japan’s nuclear ambitions
https://…

China cites Biden’s message to Xi that Japan could build nukes ‘overnight’
Beijing releases 30-page report that includes a call for international community to ‘take concrete and strong measures’ against Japan’s nuclear ambitions.

Zenkimi are back in Japan but are still doing their gig as 3 members
Which means its really the end for Nene and Mei...

Japan's Sakana AI launches Sakana Chat, its first consumer chatbot, marking a shift from its business focus as competition to localize generative AI intensifies (Tsubasa Suruga/Nikkei Asia)
https://asia.nikkei.com/business/techn

Sakana AI enters chatbot race with Japan-tailored model
Tokyo-based startup bets on cultural alignment to stand out in crowded field

Yes siree, never a shortage of critical cybersecurity news, so check out today's Metacurity for the most important developments you should know, including
--Anthropic case puts courts at center of fight over AI supply chain authority,
--Iran officials tied to cyber ops killed in airstrikes,
--Bennett and Brassard win Turing Award,
--Japan to allow offensive operations starting Oct. 1,
--Tech giants pledge to help open source with AI bug surge,
--Apple p…

Anthropic case puts courts at center of fight over AI supply chain authority
Iran officials tied to cyber ops killed in airstrikes, Bennett and Brassard win Turing Award, Japan to allow offensive operations starting Oct. 1, Tech giants pledge to help open source with AI bug surge, Apple patches WebKit flaw, Chinese hacker group steals $7m posing as a cyber firm, much more

News about the fourth season of That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime "Tensei Shitara Slime Datta Ken"
(Tensura)
The first promotional video and details about the premiere have been released:
Structure: Season 4 will be divided into five cours in total.
Release: The first two cours will air consecutively starting in April 2026.
Broadcast in Japan: Begins on Friday, 3 April at 23:00 (NTV).

Trump Jokes About Pearl Harbor in Meeting With Japan's Leader (Javier C. Hernšndez/New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/19/us/politics/trump-japan-pearl-harbor-oval-office-takaichi.html
http://www.memeorandum.com/260319/p76#a260319p76

https://tabelog.com/en/ wird für die Restaurantsuche in Japan empfohlen. Man solle sich nicht von Bewertungen in den 3-er-Bereichen irritieren lassen, heisst es, da die Bewertenden in Japan höchst kritisch wären.

A look at Japan's Team Mirai, a party founded by software engineers that won 11 of 465 parliament seats by promising self-driving buses and high-tech jobs (New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/22/world/asia/japan-ai-politics-election.html…

Memories of Japan. Man, I miss that country.
▶️ How This Old Man Runs the Last Soba Shop in a Ghost Town
#japan

A return to nuclear power is at the heart of Japan’s energy policy
-- but, in the wake of the 2011 disaster,
residents’ fears about tsunamis, earthquakes and evacuation plans remain
Activity around the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant is reaching its peak:
workers remove earth to expand the width of a main road,
while lorries arrive at its heavily guarded entrance.
When all seven of its reactors are working, Kashiwazaki-Kariwa generates 8.2 gigawatt…

Joint statement from the leaders of the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Japan on the Strait of Hormuz: 19 March 2026 (GOV.UK)
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/joint-statement-from-the-leaders-of-the-united-kingdom-france-germany-italy-the-netherlands-and-japan-on-the-strait-of-hormuz-19-march-2026
http://www.memeorandum.com/260319/p65#a260319p65

Japan Approves Stem-Cell Treatments For Parkinson's, Heart Failure In World Firsts - Slashdot
https://science.slashdot.org/story/26/03/07/2249259/japan-approves-stem-cell-treatments-for-parkinsons-heart-failure-in-world-firsts

Kollegin A., die 2020 pandemiebedingt einige Monate in Indien gestrandet war, ist erneut in Indien. Ihr für gestern geplanter Rückflug nach Wien über Dubai, nun ja. Sie wird versuchen, über Japan (woher sie kommt) nach Europa zurückzukehren.

🐞 New species of ladybird beetle discovered on university campus in Japan
#insects

New species of ladybird beetle discovered on university campus in Japan
University campuses are often places of learning and discovery, but rarely do researchers find a new species living right on their doorstep. However, that is exactly what happened when a research team from Kyushu University discovered a new species of ladybird beetle, Parastethorus pinicola, on a pine tree at Kyushu University's Hakozaki Satellite.

As Apple turns 50, a look at how a management course in postwar Japan paved the way for Steve Jobs' obsession with quality and its dominance in the iPhone era (Patrick McGee/Financial Times)

In Hong Kong, companies have received “America 250” forms from the U.S. consulate
soliciting donations.
In Japan, companies have heeded the call and committed to tens of millions of dollars in contributions.
In Singapore, the American ambassador pressed for donations before a room full of executives at a dinner at one of the city-state’s most expensive hotels.
The solicitations from the diplomatic outposts come as Trump's allies are aggressively raising money for a…

Like Trump, U.S. Embassies Are Raising Cash for Lavish July Fourth Parties
Some of Washington’s diplomatic outposts in Asia are raising millions for events to mark the 250th independence anniversary. One ambassador offered to sing and dance.

Singapore-based Startale, developer of the Strium blockchain for tokenized securities and JPYSC and USDSC stablecoins, raised a $63M Series A from SBI and Sony (Francisco Rodrigues/CoinDesk)
https://www.coindesk.com/business/2026/03/…

SBI, Sony back Startale’s $63 million push to expand Japan’s tokenized finance stack
The Singapore-based company builds blockchain tools for financial firms and retail users, including a blockchain for tokenized securities, stablecoins, and a consumer app.

International response to Trump’s call for the dispatch of warships has so far proved vague and reluctant,
with countries unwilling to commit to a military response that could prove treacherous for their navies.
Tehran has said any oil tanker heading for the US, Israel or its allies is a legitimate target in the war and will be “immediately destroyed”.
Sixteen tankers have been attacked in the strait of Hormuz since the war started at the end of February
and Iran has…

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…

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…

Sources: SoftBank plans to form a consortium to build a $33B power plant in Ohio, set to produce 9.2 GW for AI data centers, as part of the US-Japan trade deal (Nikkei Asia)
https://asia.nikkei.com/economy/trade-war/trump-ta…

SoftBank to form consortium for $33bn 'Trump deal' power plant
Hitachi and Toshiba show interest in Japan's invest-in-US initiative

Google invests an undisclosed sum in Sakana AI, valued at $2.6B in November 2025, to boost Gemini's presence in Japan; Sakana AI gains access to Google's LLMs (Min-Jeong Lee/Bloomberg)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/20

Sources: Apple and Qualcomm are scrambling to secure glass cloth fiber, used in chip substrates and PCBs, as the AI boom boosts demand for the component (Nikkei Asia)
https://asia.nikkei.com/business/technology/tech-…

Apple and Qualcomm fret over strained supplies of Japan's glass cloth
Surge in demand from AI giants like Nvidia send companies in search of new sources

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…

Sony Japan temporarily suspends fulfillment of orders for nearly all of its CFexpress and SD memory card product lines due to solid state memory shortages (Jaron Schneider/PetaPixel)
https://petapixel.com/2026/03/27/sony-shuts-down…

Sony Shuts Down Nearly Its Entire Memory Card Business Due to SSD Shortage
Sony has announced that it is suspending fulfillment of all orders for nearly its entire SD and CFexpress memory card product lines.

DoorDash says it plans to exit Qatar, Singapore, Japan and Uzbekistan, winding down both Deliveroo and Wolt, and make limited operational changes elsewhere (Kimberley Kao/Wall Street Journal)
https://www.wsj.com/busines…

Morgan Stanley: UK companies reported that AI led to 8% net job losses over the past 12 months, above Japan's 7%, Germany's 4%, Australia's 2%; the US added 2% (Irina Anghel/Bloomberg)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/20