Information & Communications Technology

Japanese telecommunications carrier SoftBank Corp. looks to finish the initial stage of building its fifth-generation wireless network two years ahead of schedule, hoping to get a leg up on rivals.

Kizuna Ai, the most popular streamer in Japan, is an anatomically exaggerated, perpetually adolescent girl in frilly thigh-high socks and a pink hair ribbon. She’s also an entirely virtual character, given life by the actions and voice of an invisible actress.

Mobile phone carrier NTT Docomo Inc. said Wednesday that it would begin on Friday a trial service allowing people in Tokyo and other major cities, including Nagoya and Osaka, to experience using fifth-generation, or 5G, communications networks, ahead of its full commercial 5G rollout next spring.

The government plans to build a central database to strengthen the monitoring of remote islands that define Japan’s territorial waters and exclusive economic zone.

Cross-border payment startups are rushing into Asia as deregulation of the sector has enabled online services to operate in the region, in a major threat to existing banks.

Japan's biggest game event will kick off this Thursday, with developers and publishers from around the world gathering in Makuhari Messe, a convention hall just outside Tokyo.

Chipmakers have spent two decades pouring investment into a revolutionary new technique to push the limits of physics and cram more transistors onto slices of silicon. Now that technology is on the cusp of going mainstream, thanks to a secretive Japanese company that’s mastered the skill of manipulating light for applications from squid fishing to cinema projection.

Nikkei Inc. on Wednesday received Japan's top media award for its feature series investigating the issue of internet data and privacy and shedding light on the social and economic implications of the rise of global technology platforms such as Google and Facebook.

Bank of Japan Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda on Wednesday emphasized the potential growth that banks and fintech companies can spark if they work together, acknowledging the expanding role of financial services provided by companies outside the conventional banking industry.

The Japanese government will fund a program to develop artificial-intelligence-powered software that performs simultaneous interpretation in 15 languages, aiming to have it ready by the 2025 World Expo in Osaka.