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August 11, 2026
 

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VIDEO GAMES

Nintendo posted net income of ?147.4 billion ($934 million) for the June quarter, compared with an analyst consensus estimate of ?77.8 billion.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 6, 2026
Nintendo tops estimates with strong games and tariff refunds
The Kyoto-based company posted net income of ?147.4 billion for the June quarter, compared with an analyst consensus estimate of ?77.8 billion.
Releasing on Aug. 4, Beast of Reincarnation is set in a far-future version of Japan ruined by a mysterious apocalypse.
LIFE / Digital
Aug 1, 2026
Beast of Reincarnation shows Game Freak has more to learn
Game Freak¡¯s ambitious action RPG borrows familiar ideas but struggles to make them feel fresh.
Sony says artificial intelligence-powered tools will help artists create more entertainment content, while streamlining the production of films, videos and games across its businesses.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 31, 2026
Sony raises outlook after entertainment drives earnings jump
Sony has been shifting its resources toward accumulating entertainment assets spanning music, games and anime, while scaling back in low-margin areas in consumer electronics.
In Denshattack!, your one-car train becomes a kickflipping, wall-riding vehicle up and down a postapocalyptic Japan.
LIFE / Digital
Jul 16, 2026
¡®Tony Hawk with Japanese trains¡¯: Denshattack! makes derailing a blast
Launching July 15, the new game mashes up Japanese trains with stylish tricks and fast-paced gameplay for a delightfully addictive time.
Gaming enthusiasts check out the Sony PlayStation booth during the Tokyo Game Show at Makuhari Messe in Chiba Prefecture in September.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 8, 2026
Sony hits eject on the era of owning games
Fans are losing one of their last bits of leverage over an industry that is going places many don¡¯t like and there are clear downsides from Sony¡¯s move.
From January 2028, PlayStation games will release only as digital downloads, calling into question protections about ownership over software and the long-term playability of older titles released on discs.
LIFE / Digital
Jul 2, 2026
Sony to end video game disc production in January 2028
The gaming giant says the move toward digital-only games aligns the company with consumer trends toward online marketplaces.
Â鶹´«Ã½ global soft power through anime and video games has grown in recent years in part because it largely remains more attuned to fans than investors.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 17, 2026
Don¡¯t let Wall Street crush Â鶹´«Ã½ soft power
Gamers fear that big money, foreign or otherwise, is going to ruin what might be one of the least-touched bastions of nerd entertainment.
A French consumer advocacy group filed a claim alleging "planned obsolescence" in 2020, saying Nintendo knew some controllers were failing too quickly.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 9, 2026
Nintendo agrees to €35 million French fine over faulty Switch controllers
France¡¯s consumer protection agency determined that Nintendo Europe had not sufficiently informed consumers of a recurring problem despite the console being sold for years.
Scientist Brett Kagan looks at cortical and hippocampal cells on cell culture plates as they attempt to decode morse code, at Cortical Labs' Physical Containment Level 2 laboratory in Melbourne.
ASIA PACIFIC / Science & Health
May 31, 2026
Australian researchers teach brain cells to play Doom video game
Each so-called ¡°biological computer¡± contains around 200,000 living human brain cells, grown from stem cells that were harvested from blood donations.
Other Japanese role-playing game series may be more popular overseas, but in Japan, Dragon Quest still reigns supreme ¡ª even 40 years after the first game in the franchise hit shelves.
LIFE / Digital
May 27, 2026
On Dragon Quest¡¯s 40th anniversary, ¡®it¡¯s impossible to ignore its influence¡¯
The famous JRPG franchise that developers around the world say set the standard for the genre turns 40 on May 27.
Despite record Switch 2 sales and blockbuster movie success, Nintendo's shares have plunged as investors worry about rising costs and the company's lack of announced hit games for the crucial holiday season.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 24, 2026
Nintendo gamers love surprises. Investors don¡¯t.
The stock selloff is not entirely irrational: Investors can¡¯t value what they don¡¯t know and Nintendo¡¯s plans for this year are a mystery.
In Coffee Talk Tokyo, a new visual novel game set in a near-future Tokyo populated by spirits and folkloric creatures, the player steps into the role of a barista dispensing as much advice as caffeine.
LIFE / Digital
May 23, 2026
A salaryman, a ghost and a water spirit walk into a coffee bar
Out May 21, visual novel Coffee Talk Tokyo trades flashy gameplay for thoughtful meditations on life in a near-future Japan.
Nintendo shares climbed as much as 6.8% in Tokyo Tuesday to mark a third straight day of gains ¡ª their longest winning streak since mid-March.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 19, 2026
Nintendo shares rebound as AI fatigue fuels Japan stock rotation
Nintendo shares climbed as much as 6.8% in Tokyo to mark a third straight day of gains ¡ª their longest winning streak since mid-March.
Despite Tokyo's outsized impact on Japan in real life, much of Forza Horizon 6's content sends players through Japan's more rural stretches than its neon-soaked cities.
LIFE / Digital
May 14, 2026
Forza Horizon 6 is all gas, no brakes in series¡¯ first Japan pit stop
The newest entry to the arcade racing series isn¡¯t exactly subtle about portraying Japan as a playground for cars ¡ª but that¡¯s what makes it so fun.
A customer visits the gaming section for Nintendo products at a shop in Tokyo last week.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 11, 2026
Nintendo shares dive after forecast exposes memory squeeze
Nintendo shares had shed close to 30% this year through Friday, with concerns growing about the slow pace of game launches since the Switch 2¡¯s debut in June.
Sony Group said Friday it expects operating profit to rise about 11% to ?1.6 trillion for the year through March 2027, broadly in line with market expectations.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 8, 2026
Sony announces $3 billion buyback as memory prices take toll
Sony¡¯s shares are down 22% this year as escalating component costs erode margins across the consumer electronics industry.
Alongside the simplified management of a convenience store, Inkonbini asks players to help a small cast of regular shoppers with not only their shopping but problems in their personal lives.
LIFE / Digital
Apr 25, 2026
Inkonbini: Slice-of-life, cozy gaming from Â鶹´«Ã½ convenience stores
Inkonbini developer Dima Shen says convenience stores are like ¡°safe rooms¡± from video games: familiar, friendly and always there when you need them.
Nintendo¡¯s Switch 2 was the best-selling console in the U.S. in March, driven by the surprise hit Pokemon Pokopia, as hardware spending jumped 69% year on year to $500 million.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 23, 2026
Pokopia flurry helps Nintendo¡¯s Switch 2 top U.S. sales in March
Pokemon Pokopia, an entry in a budding genre of ¡°cozy games¡± that eschew leaderboards and time pressure, swept to global success with little expectation ahead of its release.
A professional table tennis player competes against Sony AI autonomous robot Ace in December in Tokyo.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 23, 2026
Table tennis robot Ace makes history by beating top-level human players
The feat could presage an array of other applications for similarly adept robots.
A Sanrio store in Tokyo's Asakusa district. Sanrio is launching a new gaming brand, with some 10 titles to be released over the next three years.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 21, 2026
Sanrio launches gaming brand, tapping fast-growing global market
Sanrio¡¯s push into gaming reflects a broader trend among Japanese intellectual property owners to diversify revenue by extending popular franchises into interactive entertainment.
America¡¯s cyberforces grapple with cluster of deaths by suicide
The U.S. Cyber Command building (center) stands on the National Security Agency campus at Fort Meade, Maryland.
Many Indonesians named after Japanese anime characters
Some people in Indonesia are named Doraemon, the name of a lead character of the blockbuster anime series with the same title.
Yasukuni Shrine introduces ban on military attire and cosplay
People gather in front of thousands of lanterns on display at Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo on July 15 during the Mitama Matsuri, one of the capital's largest summer o-Bon festivals.
As countries ban social media for children, Japan mulls a different approach
Data from NTT Docomo¡¯s Mobile Society Research Institute released in June found that 55% of respondents across all age groups said they fiddled with their phones when they had nothing to do, even when another person was in front of them.
¡®Total whiplash¡¯: Foreign residents react to Â鶹´«Ã½ changing permanent residency rules
The entrance to the Tokyo Immigration Bureau in Minato Ward, Tokyo, in March. For some foreign residents of Japan, tightening measures for permanent residency have become one factor in a broader calculation over whether remaining in the country makes financial sense over the long term.
¡®Total whiplash¡¯: Foreign residents react to Â鶹´«Ã½ changing permanent residency rules
The entrance to the Tokyo Immigration Bureau in Minato Ward, Tokyo, in March. For some foreign residents of Japan, tightening measures for permanent residency have become one factor in a broader calculation over whether remaining in the country makes financial sense over the long term.
Â鶹´«Ã½ brewers experiment with a secret ingredient: music
At Smoke Craft, a craft beer brewery in Tokorozawa, Saitama Prefecture, music isn't just a background to the brewing process ¡ª it's an ingredient.
As countries ban social media for children, Japan mulls a different approach
Data from NTT Docomo¡¯s Mobile Society Research Institute released in June found that 55% of respondents across all age groups said they fiddled with their phones when they had nothing to do, even when another person was in front of them.
J. League enters new era as league kicks off first fall-spring campaign
Players from each J. League club pose during a kickoff event on Monday ahead of the start of the 2026-27 campaign.
Speaking Japanese at the movies with ¡®Chiikawa¡¯
A "Chiikawa The Movie" poster is seen at Toho Cinemas in Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo¡¯s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo¡¯s ¡®stadium of desire¡¯

Longform

Disaster relief workers Taichi Kato (left) and Seiji Yoshimura enter the collapsed living quarters at Kyuganji temple in Yatsushiro, Kumamoto Prefecture.
What Kumamoto revealed about Â鶹´«Ã½ earthquake readiness
By Alex K.T. Martin

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