Prime Minister Takaichi will hold a cybersecurity meeting as attacks grow, according to Bloomberg. Nikkei Asia reports that the cyberattack on internet provider GMO threatens customers' computers, and Politika says GMO's chief executive Masatoshi Kumagai apologized on Sunday.
Technology
GMO Internet is compensating customers of its foreign exchange trading service after a cyberattack. Japanese companies are facing a wave of attacks, Reuters and the South China Morning Post report.
Technology
A tech sell-off on Thursday sent investors into government bonds and pushed gold below $4,000 an ounce.
Economy
Many websites pulled offline after the PHP flaws were disclosed on Tuesday are back, but security experts say updates alone fall short. Executives warn that AI will find such bugs faster than they can be patched.
Technology
Two critical PHP flaws found with AI tools forced agencies and firms to pull websites offline on Wednesday. Cloudflare reports millions of exploit attempts, while many sites are back.
Technology
Concerns over how the AI boom is financed hit markets on Thursday. Meta's credit risk gauge rose to a record after its results.
Economy
Super Typhoon Champi is nearing Taiwan and eastern China, prompting warnings, an emergency response and flight cancellations.
Geopolitics
China's foreign ministry said its rare-earth export controls on Japan are meant to prevent 'remilitarization' and nuclear ambitions, according to Global Times. The statement responds to reports that Japan is seeking US help to ease the controls amid a yttrium shortage.
Geopolitics
French bond-risk measures rose as investors weighed street unrest against a stalled austerity budget. Money is flowing into ultralong Japanese bonds.
Economy
Japan is months from running out of yttrium and has asked the US to press China to ease rare earth export controls, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday. The metal is vital to car, jet engine and chip production.
Economy
Japan's space agency JAXA launched its MMX probe on an H3 rocket on Tuesday. It aims to bring back the first samples from a Martian moon.
Technology
US stock futures and semiconductor shares recovered on Monday after the sharpest weekly selloff in months. Worries about AI financing remain.
Economy
China lodged a sharp protest with Japan over an offering by Prime Minister Takaichi to the Yasukuni shrine, Politika reports, quoting Mao Ning as calling the shrine a spiritual tool and symbol of Japanese militarists and their war of aggression. Joint drills involving about 45,000 Japanese troops and 12,000 US service members have begun, Kyodo reported, according to TASS.
Geopolitics
Japan is due to launch a spacecraft early on Tuesday Japan time to collect the first samples from a Martian moon, according to the Financial Times and Daily Sabah. A German-French lander named Idefix plays a key role in the mission, FAZ reports.
Technology
Japan's Nikkei fell 1.8% on Monday as funding concerns over AI data-centre builders hit chip stocks. Microsoft's exit from a UK deal with Nscale and a new DeepSeek model added to the pressure.
Economy
China condemned Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi for sending a ritual offering to Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine and warned of 'remilitarisation', the South China Morning Post reports. Separately, a Kyodo poll put support for her cabinet below 50%, the lowest since she took office, according to Reuters.
Geopolitics
Debt trouble at CoreWeave, Oracle and SoftBank is raising doubts about how the AI data-centre build-out is financed. Bloomberg reports that the AI trade reversal has now reached Asia's AI supply-chain stocks.
Economy
Worries about debt-funded AI spending hit CoreWeave shares and bonds and data-centre debt. Big US bank shares are on course for their worst weekly losing streak since 2008.
Economy
Fed chair Kevin Warsh avoided signalling a rate move for October. In Bangkok on Friday, central bankers pushed back on market bets on tightening.
Economy
Beijing has criticised Japan's growing nuclear ambitions, according to a Global Times report published on Friday. The criticism follows remarks in which Takaichi hinted at exceptions to Japan's non-nuclear principles.
Geopolitics
Asian tech stocks plunged on Thursday, with South Korea's KOSPI down 7.6% and Japan's Nikkei nearly 5%, after a US selloff on hot inflation data. Record TSMC profit did not stop the slide.
Economy
G20 and G7 finance ministers met in Bangkok while the Iran war's energy shock feeds into bond yields and fuel supply. The IMF names a prolonged war as the biggest risk for the Middle East.
Economy
Chip shares extended a global rout, and Bloomberg reports they were set to erase $1 trillion in value. ASML said on Wednesday that AI demand will exceed supply for two more years.
Economy
Japan will invest about $21 billion in up to two chip factories in New York State, GlobalFoundries said on Wednesday. The company will operate them.
Technology
Tokyo summoned Russia's ambassador after Yuki Imai, a Russia correspondent of the Hokkaido Shimbun, was arrested on Sakhalin, according to reports on Wednesday. The FSB says Imai spied on Russian defence capabilities, while Le Monde reports that Imai was violently detained in a hotel room.
Geopolitics
Memory-chip stocks fell sharply on Tuesday after Chinese chipmaker CXMT claimed a technical advance and Broadcom's chief likened AI investing to a casino. South Korea's KOSPI closed down 5.5%.
Economy
Russia's FSB says it detained a reporter for Japan's Hokkaido Shimbun on Sakhalin Island and transferred the reporter to Moscow, and Meduza reports that a court ordered the journalist held. TASS alleges the Japanese citizen collected information on mobilized and volunteer participants in what Russia calls its special military operation among Kuril Islands residents, while the New York Times says the reporter had been covering military recruitment.
Geopolitics
South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said on Monday that they detected several ballistic missiles fired off North Korea's east coast. According to TASS, Japan reported two missiles, the first of which landed outside its exclusive economic zone.
Geopolitics
Nobel laureate Navi Pillay called the US sanctions on the entire International Criminal Court unacceptable on Saturday. Japan and the Netherlands also object.
Geopolitics
SoftBank founder and chief executive Masayoshi Son has held talks with senior figures in the UAE in recent weeks, the Financial Times reports. According to the FT, as relayed by Reuters, the group is seeking up to $100bn from Gulf investors for its AI push.
Economy
Japan has declared a cyber space emergency as attacks soar, the Financial Times reports. Dozens of targets, including car rental operators, barbecue chains and rail group JR East, have disclosed data leaks.
Technology
The World Bank forecasts that the Middle East economy will shrink 2.1% in 2026 and Gulf economies 4.3%, the Jerusalem Post reports. Asian states are building oil buffers in response to the Iran war, with Saudi Arabia and the UAE joining a Japan-led push, according to Reuters and Bloomberg.
Economy
US forces on Okinawa were put under a 30-day curfew and a 48-hour alcohol ban on Wednesday after US Marine Devin Jacob Ballard was arrested on suspicion of strangling Anna Yagi, 39, according to Al Jazeera and Daily Sabah. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is under pressure to strengthen oversight of the US military in Japan, the New York Times reports, and Okinawa's governor has urged Japan to act.
Geopolitics
The Wall Street Journal reports that hackers used a Chinese AI tool to attack South Korean banks. Separately, FAZ reports that Japan transferred to Germany a Russian suspected of masterminding a Qilin ransomware attack on a German logistics company, and Handelsblatt reports that a Russian was arrested in a North Rhine-Westphalia operation against the group.
Technology
Bloomberg and the Financial Times report that Japan plans the biggest revamp of the Topix index to date, removing hundreds of stocks. The move would leave the benchmark with fewer than 1,000 constituents, according to the Financial Times.
Economy
Japan's 10-year government bond sale drew solid demand on Tuesday while yields topped 3%, Bloomberg reports. Nikkei Asia reports the bonds' coupon reached a 30-year high as rising rates add to fiscal fears.
Economy
A 20-year-old US Marine is suspected of killing Anna Yagi, 39, in a hotel in Naha on Saturday, according to the Jerusalem Post; the suspect denies the charge, Al Jazeera reports. Protests were held in Okinawa and Tokyo, and Prime Minister Takaichi protested to Washington.
Geopolitics
Police arrested a 20-year-old US Marine stationed on Okinawa on suspicion of robbing and murdering a woman in Naha, and Japan's prime minister called the crime "exceptionally brutal and vicious". According to Bloomberg, Japan called in the US envoy over the arrest.
Geopolitics
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung proposed talks on Saturday to replace the 1953 armistice with a permanent peace regime. North Korea answered by denouncing coming US-South Korean drills and vowing stronger nuclear deterrence.
Geopolitics
China's defence ministry criticised Japanese politicians for their moves at the Yasukuni Shrine on the 81st anniversary of Japan's unconditional surrender, marked on Saturday. Global Times also reports public commemorations in Beijing and new documents on the Japanese invasion handed to the Nanjing Massacre memorial hall.
Geopolitics
Record rainfall in Chiba prefecture east of Tokyo has killed at least five people and forced evacuation orders for more than 400,000 residents. The New York Times reports eight dead.
Geopolitics
Japan's prime minister Sanae Takaichi sent a ritual offering to the Yasukuni Shrine on Saturday, 81 years after the surrender, but stayed away herself. Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi visited in person.
Geopolitics
The yen has given back the gains it made after the US Treasury intervened to support it, with concern mounting over the direction of Japan's spending, the New York Times reported on Friday. Bloomberg reports that carry traders are using the intervention to rebuild short positions and that Senator Warren has written to Bessent asking him to justify the operation.
Economy
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun called on Japan to respect the international order on the Kuril question, saying the results of the victory in the war against Nazism must be respected and defended. Analysts told the South China Morning Post that Vladimir Putin's first visit to the disputed southern Kurils points to a coordinated Russian and Chinese push to pressure Tokyo.
Geopolitics
Vladimir Putin visited Iturup on Thursday, the first trip by a Russian president to the disputed Kuril Islands. Tokyo summoned Russia's ambassador and called the visit absolutely unacceptable.
Geopolitics
Trump signed a proclamation on Thursday imposing duties of up to 100 percent on imported drones and parts. The White House cites national security and reliance on foreign suppliers.
Economy
SMIC and Hua Hong reported triple-digit profit growth for the June quarter on Thursday. China's memory makers passed milestones of their own.
Economy
OpenAI's annualised revenue has passed $40bn ahead of a planned stock market listing, Bloomberg reported on Thursday. Two more senior managers are leaving the company.
Technology
Torrential rainfall around Tokyo caused flooding and forced evacuations, and several people died, FAZ reported. More than 20,000 households were left without electricity.
Geopolitics
Bloomberg reports that Japan's government supports faster rate increases by the Bank of Japan, following joint intervention with Washington to prop up the yen. The Economist writes that buying yen unwinds a dangerous trade, while Bloomberg describes domestic inflation as creating winners and losers.
Economy
Global Times reported on Thursday that new archives on Unit 731 document the Imperial Japanese Army's biological warfare and the military's cover-up of it, while scholars trace the germ-warfare campaign across Asia. The same outlet reported that Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is considering skipping a visit to the Yasukuni Shrine on the anniversary of Japan's surrender, which the experts it cites read as political manoeuvring rather than historical remorse.
Geopolitics
Bloomberg reports that Washington and Tokyo are preparing what would be the deepest seabed mining operation attempted so far, aimed at challenging China's dominance in critical minerals. The report published on Wednesday gives no further detail on the site or the timetable.
Economy
North Korea fired a ballistic missile towards the Sea of Japan on Wednesday, its second test in a week. It came five days before a large US-South Korean exercise begins.
Geopolitics
Intel upsized its share sale to about $20bn on Tuesday. Sony and TSMC sealed a $4.7bn image-sensor venture in Japan the same day.
Technology
The effect of the joint US-Japanese intervention in support of the yen has worn off, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday. Bloomberg reports that a public split between US Treasury chief Bessent and Japan's Prime Minister Takaichi over Bank of Japan policy could undermine any repeat rescue.
Economy
Bloomberg reported that the Fed's Hammack floated 'some number' of rate increases on Monday. US long-term yields are at levels last seen in the financial crisis.
Economy
Nikkei Asia reported on Monday that expectations of faster interest rate rises by the Bank of Japan pushed up Japanese government bond yields. The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday that the yen firmed slightly on prospects of coordinated intervention, while Nikkei put corporate Japan's quarterly profit growth at 70 percent, driven by the weak currency and AI spending.
Economy
Typhoon Dolphin, China's strongest storm this year, made landfall in Zhejiang on Sunday evening after more than a million people were moved to safety. It also pushed Hong Kong to its hottest day on record.
Geopolitics
Nagasaki marked 81 years since the US atomic bombing on Sunday, its mayor calling nuclear weapons an "absolute evil". Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi again left Japan's three non-nuclear principles open.
Geopolitics
The Bank of Japan's summary of its July meeting showed board members discussing scope to speed up rate increases and flagging upside risks to prices, according to Reuters and Bloomberg. Japan also posted its first current account deficit in nearly one and a half years, and executives called for exchange-rate stability as the weak yen raises import bills.
Economy
Nikkei Asia reports that the two companies will build an advanced image-sensor plant in Kumamoto. The investment extends Japan's effort to rebuild domestic semiconductor capacity.
Technology
Typhoon Dolphin injured six people and cut power to more than 50,000 buildings in Okinawa and Kagoshima on Saturday. Chinese forecasters expect it to reach the east coast between late Sunday and early Monday.
Geopolitics
Amazon has confirmed that it is financing a private gas-fired power plant in Texas to supply new data centres. The plant could become the single largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States.
Technology
Nagasaki marked the 81st anniversary of the 1945 atomic bombing with a warning that the risk of nuclear war is rising, Nikkei Asia reports. The commemoration comes as Japan debates extended deterrence and its own rearmament.
Geopolitics
The US economy lost 23,000 jobs in July instead of the 80,000 gains economists had expected, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Friday. Markets rallied as traders pared bets on a Federal Reserve rate rise.
Economy
Chinese rare-earth exports fell 10% between January and July, with shipments to Japan and the United States plunging after new export restrictions, according to Global Times and Nikkei Asia. Beijing plans to raise annual output capacity by 50% at the Bayan Obo mine in Inner Mongolia, the world's largest rare-earth deposit, investing more than $74 million, the South China Morning Post reports.
Economy
The yen surrendered nearly half of the gains it made after the joint US-Japan intervention, and hedge funds slashed their short bets on the currency, Bloomberg reported. Nikkei Asia attributes the limited impact to market doubts about Japan's policy, while BlackRock warned that US sales of euros to buy yen add geopolitical risk.
Economy
Authorities told almost 260,000 residents of Kagoshima and Okinawa prefectures to move to safety as Typhoon Dolphin approached, and more than 500 flights were cancelled, the FAZ reported on Friday. Japan's weather agency warned of flooding and possible damage to buildings.
Geopolitics
Tensions between China and Japan have escalated after Tokyo labelled Beijing its greatest strategic challenge, The Hindu reported on Thursday. The report is a headline summary and gives no further detail.
Geopolitics
Volatile electricity demand from AI workloads is damaging the data centres that run those workloads, Bloomberg reported on Thursday. The same day it reported that a sovereign fund from the United Arab Emirates is weighing $6.3 billion for a Japanese AI data centre, and that US authorities said Oklo's small nuclear reactor had reached criticality.
Technology
The United States sold euros as part of an effort to support the yen, a step that blindsided the European Central Bank, the Financial Times reported on Friday. No details on the size or timing of the sale were given in the report.
Economy
SoftBank secured a $10 billion margin loan backed by its stake in OpenAI, the Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg reported on Thursday. Its quarterly profit beat expectations, helped by an $8 billion gain on its Intel holding, according to the Financial Times.
Economy
Japan continued its foreign exchange interventions this week with backing from the US Treasury, with the yen stuck at about 157 per dollar as markets weigh the limits of the operation. Bessent said the aim was to stop instability spreading to other Asian markets; Le Monde notes Washington intervened similarly for Argentina in October 2025.
Economy
Flight testing began last week for the air-launched variant of Japan's upgraded Type 12 anti-ship missile, part of a long-range capability to strike Chinese warships, the South China Morning Post reported. North Korea's Kim Yo Jong warned of new military options in response to Tokyo's growing strike capabilities, according to The Hindu.
Geopolitics
The People's Liberation Army released the first official footage of the nuclear-capable air-launched ballistic missile Jing Lei-1 mounted on an H-6N bomber in combat-ready status during an anti-ship exercise, the South China Morning Post reported on Wednesday. State outlet Global Times defended separate Chinese warship movements as freedom of navigation and rejected Japanese criticism.
Geopolitics
The US Treasury has publicly explained why Washington bought yen together with Tokyo. It says the operation was meant to contain currency risks across Asia.
Economy
North Korea said on Wednesday it will pursue unspecified "additional military options" against Japan. Tokyo had published its annual defence white paper a day earlier, naming China, North Korea and Russia as growing threats.
Geopolitics
Japan's finance ministry and the US Treasury bought yen together on Friday, their first coordinated operation since 2011. The yen has climbed off a 40-year low since then.
Economy
Citadel Securities expects a $500bn debt binge to finance semiconductor expansion, and NTT Data is reported to be considering a $9bn outlay for data centres in Japan, Bloomberg reported. Bloomberg also reported that South Korean AI chip designer DeepX reached a valuation of $2.2bn in a funding round, while the Financial Times reported that James Dacombe, 25, tripled his AI chip start-up's valuation to $3.3bn.
Economy
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi visited the south-western prefecture of Kumamoto almost a week after a magnitude 7.1 earthquake killed 38 people there, the Guardian reported. Soaring temperatures are hampering recovery work.
Geopolitics
The State Department has notified Congress that it plans to close five foreign missions, among them consulates in Canada, Japan and Indonesia, people familiar with the notice told the South China Morning Post. Reuters sources cited by TASS said the White House initially sought to close up to 30 overseas posts.
Geopolitics
Japan and the United States intervened jointly on the currency market last week to support the yen. It was their first joint operation of this kind since 2011, according to Nikkei Asia.
Economy
The Kumamoto prefectural government said on Saturday it had ended rescue operations at an Aeon shopping centre, where seven workers died in an explosion shortly after a magnitude 7.1 earthquake. The New York Times reported that rescuers are working in 100-degree Fahrenheit heat and that shelters with limited air conditioning put displaced people at risk of heatstroke.
Geopolitics
Japan and the United States stepped up coordinated action in the currency market to stem the yen's decline, Nikkei Asia reported, and Reuters said on Sunday, citing sources, that Tokyo would announce the joint move. Bloomberg reported that Treasury Secretary Bessent and the Federal Reserve helped reverse months of yen losses.
Economy
Four days after a magnitude 7.1 earthquake hit Japan's Kumamoto Prefecture, the death toll stood at 34 to 35 on Friday. Rescuers were still working through a wrecked shopping mall in heat above 35 degrees Celsius.
Geopolitics
The US Treasury bought yen alongside Japan on Friday, its first such intervention since 2011, according to reporting by the Financial Times. The yen surged after Tokyo had already stepped in a day earlier.
Economy
Japan launched a new intelligence bureau on Friday, 31 July, prompting China's foreign ministry to urge Tokyo to act prudently and to warn against remilitarisation. North Korea's news agency KCNA said the US military headquarters in Japan is being turned into a "war command" to ensure joint action by US and Japanese forces in the event of war.
Geopolitics
Three days after a strong earthquake hit Kumamoto prefecture in south-western Japan on Tuesday, the confirmed death toll has risen to 35. Rescuers are still working through a partly collapsed shopping centre and a paper mill in temperatures of up to 35C. About 15,000 people are in shelters and around 23,000 homes remain without electricity, with 75,000 without running water.
Geopolitics
Japan carried out yen-buying intervention and the United States conducted a rate check, Nikkei Asia reported on Thursday, as the yen reached a two-month high against the dollar, though the Wall Street Journal noted the intervention had not been officially confirmed. Bloomberg reported that India's central bank sold about $7 billion to defend the rupee.
Economy
Earthquake damage at a Japanese auto parts maker is rippling through the wider global automotive supply chain, Nikkei Asia reported on Thursday. The report describes the effects of the earthquake spreading well beyond the damaged plant itself.
Economy
A magnitude 7.1 earthquake in Kumamoto prefecture in southwestern Japan has killed at least 18 people and injured 62, with dozens still unaccounted for a day later. Rescuers are digging through a shopping mall that partly collapsed after a suspected gas explosion an hour after the quake, and through a factory where a chimney fell. More than 9,000 people are in shelters during a heat wave, and China has offered condolences and help for its nationals.
Geopolitics
Brent crude rose by roughly 8 percent to about $91 a barrel on Wednesday after Iran's Revolutionary Guard fired ballistic missiles at US forces in Jordan and US and Saudi forces struck Iran-aligned groups in eastern Iraq. Tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remains far below normal, and US crude inventories fell by 7.2 million barrels last week. Japan and other Asian buyers are turning to Canadian crude shipped through the Trans Mountain pipeline to cut their Gulf exposure.
Economy
A powerful earthquake struck Kumamoto prefecture on Japan's southern island of Kyushu on Tuesday afternoon, killing at least 13 people and injuring hundreds. About an hour later an explosion tore through a shopping mall in the prefecture, and a factory chimney collapsed, leaving workers missing. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi called the search a race against time as more than 9,000 people spent the night in evacuation centres.
Geopolitics
A report that China is bringing a domestically built machine for semiconductor production to market sent chip shares tumbling around the world on Tuesday, 28 July 2026. Samsung and SK Hynix each lost more than 10 percent and Korea's market hit a three-month low, while ASML, Nvidia and the Nasdaq chip complex also fell. Investors are weighing Chinese competition alongside doubts about how US tech groups are financing their artificial-intelligence spending.
Economy
OpenAI is close to finalising a data-centre project worth roughly $500 billion, with Nvidia in talks to provide about $250 billion in financial guarantees, according to the New York Times. Neither company has confirmed the terms. The reports land as the cost of financing such projects rises and as Nvidia also stands behind a separate $50 billion data-centre lease in Texas.
Technology
Nvidia is reported to be negotiating funding guarantees worth about $250 billion so that OpenAI can lease a 10-gigawatt data centre being built in Piketon, Ohio, by SoftBank subsidiary SB Energy. The account originates with the Wall Street Journal; neither Nvidia nor OpenAI has commented in the available material. The Journal separately reports that Nvidia is investing in Ilya Sutskever's new AI lab, extending its reach over future computing demand.
Technology
Crude oil moved in both directions within days, slumping roughly 5% after Washington and Tehran halted strikes and spiking back toward $100 a barrel as escalation fears returned. Gold rose as the pause curbed inflation risk, Asian equities and currencies firmed on softer US inflation data, and bond markets repriced war risk. Financial outlets report the pause has calmed markets without removing the underlying supply risk in the Gulf and the Red Sea.
Economy
The Philippines, Japan and the United States conducted a joint exercise in the South China Sea, according to Reuters and Bloomberg. China's PLA Southern Theater Command accused Manila of stirring up trouble and said it carried out its own routine patrols in the area.
Geopolitics
The Japanese yen fell to its weakest level in decades, Nikkei Asia reports. Market participants responded by increasing bets that the Bank of Japan will raise interest rates earlier than previously expected.
Economy
Japan reported the latest position of vessels on a joint Chinese-Russian naval patrol, Global Times reports. An expert cited by the outlet said the route demonstrates the two navies' ability to break through the so-called first island chain.
Geopolitics
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has set out a blueprint to inject ¥370tn (£1.7tn) into the economy with the aim of doubling the growth rate, according to the Guardian. International investors are questioning where the money will come from and warn of a Liz Truss-style market backlash in the world's largest sovereign debt market.
Economy