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Netflix Japan’s new reality series whisks its participants to a picturesque seaside city in France and leans into nostalgia for a simpler time. Source link

The Bank of Japan is set to continue raising its benchmark interest rate toward 1% for now and will likely look for further rate hike opportunities afterwards depending on economic conditions, according to a former deputy governor of the central bank. “The environment for continued interest rate hikes is reasonably well prepared in Japan,” former deputy Hiroshi Nakaso said at a news conference in Tokyo on Tuesday. “The bank should continue raising interest rates as much as possible, making appropriate judgments at each meeting.” Nakaso emphasized the importance of creating room for future policy adjustments as needed, adding that the interest rate is the most effective tool for influencing the economy. Source link

3D Investment Partners has criticized Sapporo Holdings over its execution of overseas acquisitions, expressing concerns about the risk that the Japanese brewer may continue to “misallocate capital” leading to further “destruction of corporate value.” The Singapore-based investment fund censured the management over “impairment losses on all of its overseas alcoholic beverage acquisitions” and questioned the responsibility of the board of directors, in a letter seen by Bloomberg. The letter, dated Feb. 18, was sent to Sapporo’s board of directors and specifically railed against the ¥13.9 billion ($92 million) impairment loss that Sapporo booked in January 2025 for Stone Brewing, a U.S. craft brewer that it acquired in 2022. The letter said the company has acquired the U.S. brewer at a price-to-book ratio of 3.4 times despite Stone Brewing’s declining sales and unprofitable operations. On Monday, Sapporo announced that the board had voted against appointing former Toshiba outside director Paul Brough, whose name 3D had proposed. According to data compiled by Bloomberg, 3D is the largest shareholder, owning more than 19% of Sapporo shares. Sapporo said last week it continues to explore “large-scale” M&A deals to grow its alcoholic beverage business using funds raised from real estate. 3D Investment said that as a major shareholder it had the responsibility to ensure the board addresses the key issue of capital discipline. Spokespeople for Sapporo and 3D weren’t immediately available to comment. Source link

Naha – The Naha branch of Fukuoka High Court on Tuesday found last year’s House of Representatives election constitutional in terms of vote-value disparity, following similar rulings on the event. Plaintiffs had demanded the annulment of the October election for the lower chamber of parliament in which the maximum gap in the value of votes between constituencies was 2.06 times. It was the seventh ruling among the 16 lawsuits on the latest general election filed so far by two groups of lawyers at 14 high courts and high court branches. In all seven cases, the election was found constitutional. The remaining rulings are slated to be released by March 7. A unified judgment on the matter is expected to be given at the Supreme Court as early as this year. At the Naha branch, presiding Judge Takashi Miura said that the constituency map redrawn for the election was reasonable as it adopted the so-called Adams method, which is believed to reflect population ratios more accurately. Miura judged that the maximum disparity of 2.06 times was not so large as to make the election unreasonable. “Disparities have shrunk thanks to the constituency redistricting,” compared with the 2021 Lower House election, whose maximum gap was 2.08 times, Miura said, concluding that the latest general election therefore was not unconstitutional. Source link

Olaf Scholz is heading for the worst election defeat of any German chancellor, and his poor economic track record is one major reason. If polls are correct about the drop off from Scholz’s 2021 victory — and the numbers have barely moved during the three-month campaign — then his Social Democrats will face a bigger loss than under any German leader since the Federal Republic was set up in 1949. The projected outcome of about 15% of the vote would also be the lowest for any incumbent. A lot of his problems come down to the economy. Not since Gerhard Schroeder’s narrow defeat in 2005 has that featured so prominently in an election. Back at the turn of the century, as now, the country was labeled the “sick man of Europe.” Source link

President Xi Jinping’s embrace of Chinese tech bosses in a rare public meeting is fueling hope Beijing is shifting its stance to give the private sector a freer hand as it fights a trade war with U.S. President Donald Trump. Four years after launching a regulatory crackdown that plunged the tech sector into turmoil, China’s top leader sat down publicly for the first time with Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma, whose firm bore the brunt of that campaign. Also on the guest list Monday were rising stars from robotics start-up Unitree, electric car giant BYD and AI newcomer DeepSeek — firms rolling out world-beating innovations despite U.S. export controls. While a similar show of support from Xi in 2018 proved fleeting, developing national tech champions is core to Beijing’s plan for boosting the economy as it deflates a bubble in the property market that once drove about a quarter of growth. Underscoring the importance of spurring innovation, high-tech industries contributed to 15% of gross domestic product last year and are set to overtake the housing sector in 2026, according to Bloomberg Economics. Source link

Seoul – Twenty-five years ago, director Park Chan-wook risked jail to make a movie about friendship between North and South Korean soldiers, striking box-office gold and beginning his actors’ ascent to global stardom. Relations between the two Koreas have since plunged, with Pyongyang renouncing its long-held goal of unification and last week destroying a venue that traditionally hosted reunions of families separated by decades of divisions. However, Park says his smash hit “Joint Security Area” still strikes a chord a quarter of a century later. “It is a sad reality that this movie’s themes still resonate with the younger generation,” he says. “I hope that by the 50th anniversary, we will be able to discuss it as just a story from the past.” Source link

The Tokyo Regional Taxation Bureau has seized some ¥1.8 billion in back taxes, including penalties, on a Hong Kong-based game company for failing to pay in Japan consumption tax associated with revenue from in-game spending, it was learned Tuesday. Yotta Games was found to have failed to pay over the three years through December 2022 about ¥1.5 billion in consumption tax related to in-game item fees paid by Japanese users of its Mafia City online game. The taxation bureau found the tax nonpayment after asking for information, such as a list of companies, from the tax authorities of Singapore based on the Japan-Singapore tax treaty and analyzing the collected data. The operator of the game distribution platform used by Yotta Games is located in Singapore. The bureau is believed to have seized the receivables of Yotta Games’ Japanese unit and collected the consumption tax as the Hong Kong firm was not cooperative with its investigation. Source link

Singapore – The new French ambassador to Singapore said on Monday that France and Europe do not want their Asian partners to have to choose between the United States and China. Stephen Marchisio, who took office on Tuesday, said France sees increasing pressure, “maybe more on the U.S. side,” that partners in Asia must make a choice. “It’s very important to say we can talk to everybody,” he said. “We don’t want anyone to choose.” Source link

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has made convincing people to relocate from Tokyo to other parts of Japan where residents are aging and the populations are declining a key policy goal for realizing a “joyful Japan.” In late December, the Ishiba government released its basic thinking on what it dubs “regional revitalization 2.0.” It began by recognizing the mistakes of previous efforts to encourage such revitalization. One of the biggest problems, the report said, was that young people and women could not find good jobs or enjoy life in rural areas. Source link