Japan

Japan abandons SLIM hopes its lunar lander will revive, ends Moon mission

Lasted longer than expected, but hasn't been heard from since late April

Science26 Aug 2024 | 2

Missing scissors cause 36 flight cancellations in Japan

Plus a further 200 delays, rockstars knocked off stage … all on a holiday weekend

Offbeat20 Aug 2024 | 117

Japan's Astroscale wins contract for space junk harvesting robotic arm

The plan is to do away with an H-IIA rocket upper stage – and prove it's possible

Science19 Aug 2024 | 9

Japan's Fugaku supercomputer released in virtual version that runs in AWS

Graviton processors get the job of helping RIKEN achieve HPC world domination

HPC07 Aug 2024 | 6

Japan stops measuring train crowding by ease of newspaper readership

The smartphone strikes again! And so might the Reg Standards Bureau, with your help

Offbeat06 Aug 2024 | 49

Japan mandates app to ensure national ID cards aren't forged

First delays, then data leaks – now fraud detection needed at point of use

Security02 Aug 2024 | 36

Ridesharing makes new and unique mess in Japan's taxi industry

Minister accuses cab drivers of gaming algos to score more lucrative fares

SaaS31 Jul 2024 | 9

Malware that is 'not ransomware' wormed its way through Fujitsu Japan's systems

IT giant says data exfiltration was extremely difficult to detect

Malware Month10 Jul 2024 | 8

Japan's digital minister declares victory against floppy disks

The war on the relic is finally won. Now on to fax machines?

Storage03 Jul 2024 | 73

Like Uber, but for rainy days: Japan eases its ridesharing restrictions

Nation turns once again to technology to help with declining population

Public Sector02 Jul 2024 | 12

Yahoo! Japan to waive $189 million ad revenue after detecting fraudulent clicks

Admits it's not sure some clicks came from humans, points to bettter quality as sign not all is rotten

Cyber-crime26 Jun 2024 | 11

Japan's industrial SciTech Institute plans two quantum computers and an Nvidia injection

10,000 qubits reportedly on the cards for one of them, with help from IBM

Systems19 Jun 2024 |

Japan's space junk cleaner hunts down major target

Asia in brief Plus: Australia to age limit social media; Hong Kong's robo-dogs; India's new tech minister

Security17 Jun 2024 | 10

Japan's space agency helps to target advertising with satellite photos of crops

Some would say ads for cabbage are futile – can pics from space at least make them timely?

Software14 Jun 2024 | 20

Japan forces Apple and Google to allow third-party app stores and payments

DMA-like law passes in pursuit of a more innovative and open smartphone market

Public Sector13 Jun 2024 | 10

Japanese vid-sharing site Niconico needs rebuild after cyberattack

Offline for four days and counting, as are parent company and e-commerce brand

Security11 Jun 2024 | 5

Tokyo takes on Tinder by developing its own dating app it hopes will arrest population decline

We're from the government and we want you to find love and procreate

Public Sector06 Jun 2024 | 17

Toyota plus 4 other Japanese automakers caught cheating on certification tests

Mazda, Yamaha, Honda, Suzuki all copped to lying on reports, while Toyota is still under investigation

Personal Tech04 Jun 2024 | 18

Flying phone base stations to take off over Japan in 2026

NTT Docomo teams with Airbus subsidiary to make it happen

Networks04 Jun 2024 | 2

JAXA's Akatsuki probe goes silent after more than a decade studying Venus

Plus: Japanese billionaire cancels joyride with artists around the Moon

Science03 Jun 2024 | 3

Japan's space agency enlists train operator's AI to foresee in-orbit failures

Shinkansen maintenance tricks boost reliability on the ground, so why not?

AI + ML24 May 2024 | 4

Toshiba to shed 4,000 jobs as part of revitalization plan

Over-50s to get early retirement offer

Storage17 May 2024 | 13

Japan may need 50% more electricity for hungry, hungry AI and chip fabs

While Tokyo pours billions into revitalizing chipmaking sector, it might want to check out the grid

On-Prem15 May 2024 | 8

Once Alibaba’s main investor, SoftBank sheds remaining stake

SoftBank to focus on AI, but might pick up LINE, Yahoo! holding company

PaaS + IaaS14 May 2024 | 1

Japan will use AI to find out what bears do in the woods

Because nobody wants a big surprise

Public Sector02 May 2024 | 24

Japan's space junk cleaner prototype closes in on its target

Asia In Brief PLUS: Huawei returns to top Chinese smartphone market; China's new IPv6 goals; Malaysia's golden VC Visa

Science29 Apr 2024 | 11

Rapidus US chief says AI chip crunch, supply chain paranoia make for an ideal growth climate

Interview Japanese foundry upstart aims to bolster domestic production while catering to growing demand for custom accelerators

Systems24 Apr 2024 | 2

Japanese and Singaporean devs battle over gamified crowdsourced telco maintenance app

You read that right – it's a bit like Pokémon Go, but for telephone poles

Software24 Apr 2024 | 3

Japan to draw up routes for roads dedicated to robot trucks

Digital reform conference sees PM repeat calls to get online government services right at last

Public Sector23 Apr 2024 | 9

Tokyo wags finger at Google for blocking Yahoo Japan! from using ad tech

Seven years of stonewalling and no consequences for advertising giant

Off-Prem22 Apr 2024 | 4

Japanese government rejects Yahoo! infosec improvement plan

Just doesn't believe it will sort out the mess that saw data leak from LINE messaging app

Security17 Apr 2024 | 3

OpenAI launches Asian operations in Tokyo to avoid being lost in translation

Local customers get early access to Japanese-language GPT-4

AI + ML16 Apr 2024 | 3

Konica Minolta and Fujifilm ponder JV to cut costs of printer businesses

Japanese giants have big brands, but tiny shares of a shrinking market

Personal Tech16 Apr 2024 | 10

US, Japan announce joint AI research projects funded by Nvidia, Microsoft, others

Not that $110M will go very far, mind

AI + ML11 Apr 2024 |

Google plunks down $1 billion for extra Japan-US submarine cable

Adds Hawaii stopover for another planned link

Networks11 Apr 2024 | 7

AI could crash democracy and cause wars, warns Japan's NTT

Calls for ecosystem in which AIs keep other AIs in check, and lots more regulation

AI + ML09 Apr 2024 | 28

World's second-largest eyeglass lens-maker blinded by infosec incident

Japan's Hoya also makes components for chips, displays, and hard disks, and has spent four days groping for a fix

Security05 Apr 2024 | 5

TSMC evacuated fabs after M7.4 earthquake hit Taiwan

Video Internet outages recorded as Japan issues tsunami warning

Off-Prem03 Apr 2024 |

Simulation reveals all Japanese will have the same surname by 2531

Konnichiwa, Sato-San

Offbeat03 Apr 2024 | 32

Execs in Japan busted for winning dev bids then outsourcing to North Koreans

Government issues stern warning over despot money-making scheme

Cyber-crime28 Mar 2024 | 12

India quickly unwinds requirement for government approval of AIs

Asia in brief Also: US woos Thailand, Philippines, for tech trade; China's Fukushima rage glows; Alibaba targets South Korea

AI + ML18 Mar 2024 | 2

'Chemical cat' on the loose in Japanese city

Unlikely to survive hexavalent chromium dip, officials ask residents to keep an eye out

Bootnotes13 Mar 2024 | 69

Japan's first private satellite launch imitates SpaceX's giant explosions

Video KAIROS detonated a few seconds after clearing the launchpad

Science13 Mar 2024 | 17

Japan orders local giants LINE and NAVER to disentangle their tech stacks

Government mighty displeased about a shared Active Directory that led to a big data leak

Security06 Mar 2024 | 2

NASA and Japan's X-ray satellite space 'scope sends first snaps of distant galaxies

Calibration is done, operations nominal, science starts in August

Science06 Mar 2024 | 4

NTT boss takes early retirement to atone for data leak

No mere mea culpa would suffice after 9.2 million records leaked over a decade, warnings were ignored, and lies were told

Security01 Mar 2024 | 8

Japan's SLIM unexpectedly wakes up on Moon after month-long nap

How's that for resilient?

Science27 Feb 2024 | 14

Please stop pouring the wrong radioactive water into the sea, Fukushima operator told

Government takes TEPCO to task for caesium absorption tower incident

Science23 Feb 2024 | 41

Japanese Yakuza boss charged with nuclear trafficking by the US

No, this isn't a pitch for a Godzilla sequel

Offbeat22 Feb 2024 | 15

Japan's Rakuten plans satellite cell service across its islands from 2026

Launch delays persist, but test space-based voice calls work

Networks16 Feb 2024 | 2

Japan's space program seeks reboot with Wednesday launch

Second test flight for failed H3 booster after a run of bad luck

Science12 Feb 2024 | 6

Japan's second-ranked mobile telco to buy convenience store chain from Mitsubishi

KDDI wants to snack on data about who buys what at which of Lawson's 14,600 stores

Offbeat08 Feb 2024 | 5

Japan stumps up more cash for Kioxia and Western Digital to make memory chips

Pair still looking to merge after SK hynix blocked deal

Storage06 Feb 2024 |

Japanese space lasers aim to clean up orbital junk

Zap it and trap it like a cosmic Marie Kondo, but will everyone approve?

Science31 Jan 2024 | 33

Japanese government finally bids sayonara to the 3.5" floppy disk

Businesses can at long last submit digital docs to government agencies

Storage29 Jan 2024 | 63

Amazon plots massive cloud expansion in Japan with $15B investment

Land of the rising profit?

PaaS + IaaS21 Jan 2024 |