Japan’s Mobile Game Market Is Growing and Its Studios Are Going Bankrupt at a Record Pace
Japan's mobile game market grew 8.0 percent in 2025, yet studio bankruptcies hit a record pace: 10 in seven months. Who is leaving, and what is left behind.
Category Economy&Markets
Can an AI Lab Live Inside a Business? Google Splits Research From Product, and Jeff Dean Walks Out the Door
Alphabet moved Demis Hassabis away from day-to-day operations at Google DeepMind, while Jeff Dean and three colleagues left to found Discovery Loop with Alphabet as a founding investor. Why this reads as a functional split rather than a talent exodus.
Who Owns the World Cup? Why FIFA’s Plan to Sell a Stake Collapsed in Under Ten Days
FIFA announced a plan to move the commercial side of all its competitions into a new company open to outside investors. Ten days later the plan was withdrawn. What sank it, and the fight over the presidency that remains.
Japan Approves Its First Consumption Tax Cut: Why Food Lands at 1% and What Happens in Two Years
Japan's cabinet approved a plan to cut the consumption tax on food from 8% to 1% for two years from April 2027, the first cut since the tax began in 1989. What it costs, who is left out, and whether the rate can really go back up in 2029.
What 700 Million Yen Cannot Buy Back: Japan Raises Its Medical Cost Cap, and a Famous Saver Says He Wishes He Had Spent More
Hiroto Kiritani, known across Japan for living on shareholder perks, disclosed two cancers and said he wished he had spent more while healthy. Days later Japan raised its cap on out-of-pocket medical costs. A look at what the safety net covers, and why households still do not spend.
Two Days of Yen Buying, and Washington’s Reported Return After 28 Years
Japan intervened to buy yen while the Bank of Japan was still meeting, and the US Treasury reportedly followed by selling euros. What two days of coordinated action can and cannot change about the weak yen.
Japan’s Japanese Population Falls Below 120 Million: What Is Already Fixed, and What Can Still Be Chosen
Japan's Japanese population fell below 120 million for the first time since 1984, while foreign residents passed four million. What the numbers actually show.
When a Strait Is No Longer Open to Everyone: The Houthi Red Sea Blockade and the Linking of Chokepoints
Yemen's Houthis declared a blockade of Saudi-bound shipping in July 2026, threatening the Red Sea route that had served as Saudi Arabia's detour around Hormuz. How two chokepoints became linked, and why shipping is shifting from efficiency to redundancy.
Why Japan’s Summer Heat Hits Visitors Harder Than the Temperature Suggests
Japan's rainy season ended on July 20 and central Tokyo hit 36.1C the same day. Why humidity, tropical nights, and walking-heavy itineraries strain visitors more than the temperature suggests, and how heat may push tourism dispersal.
How Long Do AI Moats Last? What Kimi K3 Tells Us About the Shrinking Head Start
China's Kimi K3 claims near-frontier performance and will release its weights on July 27. What a shrinking head start means for the moats, margins, and IPOs of OpenAI and Anthropic.