Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s government moved on July 28 to reassure investors that it respects the Bank of Japan’s independence, as Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama said relations between the government and the central bank remain smooth despite market concern over rising bond yields, yen weakness and the administration’s growth-oriented fiscal agenda.

A section of the Ken-O Expressway being extended in Chiba Prefecture to improve access to Narita Airport has been opened to the media ahead of its scheduled completion.

Keigo Higashino, the Naoki Prize-winning author whose prolific career produced such bestsellers as Journey Under the Midnight Sun and The Devotion of Suspect X, died of colon cancer in the early hours of July 23, his publisher said. He was 68.

The Nikkei Stock Average plunged 2,566.27 yen, or 3.9%, to close at 62,364.92 on July 28 as a sharp fall in South Korean stocks and growing concerns over intensifying competition in the global semiconductor industry triggered heavy selling in artificial intelligence and chip-related shares.

U.S. semiconductor giant Nvidia said on July 27 that it has established a corporate alliance to prevent cyberattacks using open artificial intelligence technology whose underlying systems are publicly available.

Artificial intelligence could bring changes equal to or greater than the Industrial Revolution, reshaping the role of government, society and policymaking, Mirai party leader Takahiro Anno said in an interview broadcast on July 26.

For decades, Sega Sammy thrived in pachinko parlors and arcades, but as those machines fade and mobile screens take over, the company knows it needs to change.

Honda Motor and Nissan Motor have entered final-stage negotiations to jointly develop an operating system that will serve as the core software for their next-generation vehicles, with an agreement targeted by the end of August.

Cryptocurrency is no longer a niche term as it was a few years ago, but a mass financial instrument that has captured the attention worldwide.

Japan feels ready for another big financial moment. The talk everywhere is about digital money and how fast it has moved from curiosity to common ground. Everyone seems to sense a change coming. <

Tokyo stocks rebounded on July 27, with the Nikkei 225 closing at 64,931.19, up 320.04 points, or 0.50%, as easing concern over the Middle East conflict supported broad buying across domestic-demand and value shares, although semiconductor weakness continued to cap the market’s recovery.

A Japanese professional basketball team is using artificial intelligence to analyze nearly 30,000 data points from each game, uncover overlooked patterns and help coaches devise winning strategies as advanced technology begins to reshape both sports and industry.

The Sumida River Fireworks Festival, a summer tradition in Tokyo's historic downtown districts, was held across Taito and Sumida wards on July 25, with about 20,000 fireworks lighting up the night sky following a day of intense heat.

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi entered the final week of July facing the sharpest political test of her administration so far, as a fall in public support exposed growing unease over the weak yen, rising living costs and doubts about whether her growth strategy can reassure both households and financial markets.

Multiple rare earth elements essential for high-tech products have been confirmed in mud extracted from the deep seabed off Minamitorishima, Japan's easternmost island.

Generative artificial intelligence is rapidly becoming part of everyday life, with people using conversational systems for everything from relationships and parenting to health concerns and online searches.

Japanese business leaders voiced concern over new additional tariffs imposed by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump, warning that the measures could damage global manufacturing and undermine free trade.

Paid seating has become the norm at fireworks festivals across Japan, with all 15,000 reserved-seat tickets for the Sumida River Fireworks Festival in Tokyo already sold ahead of the July 25 event.

Fujitsu has developed a new artificial intelligence architecture called PHOTON that achieved up to 475 times the processing efficiency of a conventional Transformer model in research tests, raising the possibility of significantly reducing the cost of generative AI while eventually competing with services such as ChatGPT and Claude.

A Japan Airlines flight attendant suffered a broken rib after sudden turbulence shook an aircraft during its descent to Tokyo's Haneda Airport, prompting authorities to investigate the incident as an aviation accident.

Kozo Okamoto, a member of the Japanese Red Army who took part in a 1972 mass shooting at an Israeli airport, has died at age 78 in Lebanon, where he had lived for decades under political asylum.

Low-cost USB drives advertised online with enormous storage capacities are exposing users to the risk of lost data, malware infections and information theft, with tests finding that some products contain only a fraction of the memory shown on their labels.

Japanese investors may be starting to redirect money from semiconductor and memory-related stocks toward automakers and other value shares, as concerns grow that soaring memory prices, increased Chinese production and the search for cheaper suppliers could weaken the technology rally.

Ammonia, commonly associated with its pungent odor and its presence in urine, is gaining recognition as one of humanity's most important inventions and a potential foundation for a new energy system that could reduce the world's dependence on oil.

The share of people in Japan using generative artificial intelligence has more than doubled to 58.8%, while more than one in 10 regard the technology as a friend, according to the communications ministry's 2026 white paper.