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Scammers in Myanmar - picture of Shwe in Bin Monastery in Mandalay in the background, a scammer in a mask on a computer on the left, and a video game controller on the right

How Video Games Trapped a Japanese Teenager in Myanmar

At least one of two Japanese kids rescued recently was kidnapped by scammers via a growing recruitment avenue: online games such as Fortnite.
Akihabara and the GTX 5090

Near Riot in Akihabara Over Store Raffle of New NVIDIA GPUs

Resellers appear to have struck again in Japan - this time, causing chaos in a rush to buy up the new NVIDIA RTX 5080/5090 GPUs.
Credit cards

Japan Will Eliminate Credit Card Signatures Soon. Will That Impact Travel?

As of March 2025, Japan will eliminate the "PIN bypass" procedure that's allowed customers to get away without entering their secret code.
Lawson combini avatars

Japanese Combini Uses Overseas-Operated Avatars for Night Shifts

How do you keep combini in Japan operating 24 hours a day during a labor shortage? Lawson thinks it has the answer.
Waymo self-driving taxi

Self-Driving Taxis Will Hit Tokyo Streets on a Test Run in 2025

Waymo is partnering with two companies in Japan to pilot self-driving "robotaxis" in seven cities in Tokyo next year. The experiment could provide more taxi capacity in the face of a chronic labor shortage. But is it safe?
Mister Donut staffless store design

Staffless Shops in Japan See Success – and Theft

Japan is renowned for its customer service. However, in the near future, there may be no one serving you at all. Here's why even major chains like Mister Donut are using staffless shops - and how they're contending with theft.
Impression zombies in Japanese SNS

“Impression Zombies” Are Making Japanese Social Media Worse

As X focuses on subscriptions, "impression zombies" from outside Japan are clogging Japanese posts in hopes of finding a pot of gold. They're making the service harder to use - and spreading dangerous misinformation.
AI celeb scam

AI-Driven Fake Celebrity Ads are Japan’s Latest Scam Trend

At least AI is good for something: thieves in Japan are using it to impersonate celebs like Naomi Osaka and con people out of millions. Those same celebs are now asking social media sites to do something about it.
Fax machines at Japanese schools

Japan’s Government Will Ban Fax Machines From Schools

Welcome to the 21st century: as part of its ongoing digitization efforts, Japan's telling schools that fax machines are so yesterday.

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