Osaka Expo 2025 closed in October with 29.02 million visitors and a ¥3.6 trillion economic impact. In December the association revised its operating surplus up to ¥32-37 billion, beating Aichi Expo. Here is what made the expo profitable, and what the figures leave out.
CATL has taken sodium-ion cells into mass production. They can be shipped at 0V, which all but removes the fire risk in transit, they hold about 90 percent of their performance at -40°C, and they run past 10,000 charge cycles. Here is where the energy density problem still stands.
Author Ken Honda cites a ghostwriter charging 50,000 yen, about $350, per letter. Actual Japanese market rates run 1,000 to 5,500 yen, an order of magnitude lower. So what does it say that the price can be argued for at all in the AI era?
With Fast Retailing (Uniqlo) at a market cap of roughly 27 trillion yen and its domestic business past one trillion yen in revenue, a single brand holds nearly 10% of Japan's apparel market. Explore how legacy brands like Onward and Sanyo Shokai are pivoting to survive in this new era.
Yoshinoya Holdings plans to quintuple its ramen revenue to 40 billion yen in five years and reach 500 stores, aiming to serve more bowls of ramen than anyone in the world by fiscal 2034. Why is Japan's beef bowl king betting on ramen, and can the strategy work?
In chip production, a single invisible particle can ruin a wafer. Daifuku is said to hold over half the world market for the systems that move those wafers. A look at the technology, and at the record ¥660.7 billion in revenue it posted for 2025.
ANA Holdings has written a 2027 commercial launch for drone logistics into its mid-term strategy, aiming for nationwide operations by fiscal 2028. An Okinawa trial flew medicines 100 km from Itoman to Kumejima in 64 minutes. Here is what the 500-km hub plan involves, and what it still has to solve.
Japan's JAMSTEC will conduct the world's first rare earth mud mining test from 6,000m deep ocean off Minamitorishima in January 2026. A historic project key to Japan's economic security strategy to reduce dependence on China for critical minerals.
As generative AI drives data center construction boom, Japan faces severe power supply constraints. Peak power demand from new data centers and chip plants is projected to grow about 13-fold by fiscal 2034. GPU servers consume 10x more power than conventional systems, requiring massive cooling energy. Exploring Japan's infrastructure challenges and solutions.
Philosophy-related skills on LinkedIn increased 6x in 5 years. Learn why global giants like Google and Apple hire in-house philosophers and their crucial role in AI ethics, governance, and corporate compliance in the modern business landscape.
In December 2024, Finance Minister Kato warned over the yen at 157 per dollar, pledging an "appropriate response to excessive movements" and hinting at intervention. Japan's ¥15 trillion of 2024 operations, the US-Japan rate gap, and what followed: the 2026 interventions and the first coordinated yen-buying with the U.S. in 28 years.