Japan

China has started a battle against the US and Japan that no one is talking about. And it is crucial to winning the chip war

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In the semiconductor war that the US and China are fighting Companies that specialize in the manufacture of photolithography equipment tend to attract attention, such as ASML; those that design the chips, such as NVIDIA or AMD; and the companies that produce them, such as TSMC or Samsung. However, in this complex network there are other much less known companies that also play an essential role in the integrated circuit industry. One of them is the Japanese company JSR Corporation. This entity is one of the industrial strongholds of Japan. And it is because it supplies its photoresist liquids to most of the semiconductor manufacturers that produce cutting-edge chips, helping to sustain Japan’s leadership in a very important area that usually goes unnoticed: that of the manufacture of advanced materials to produce integrated circuits. For China to have its own advanced photoresist liquids in your path to total independence of its chip industry is crucial, so its plan involves break Japan’s monopoly in no more than five years. China prepares to intimidate Japan The photolithography equipment designed and produced by ASML is responsible, very roughly, for transferring the geometric pattern described by the mask with great precision to the surface of the silicon wafer. In this area we can observe the pattern as the “drawing” that delimits the distribution of the transistors, the connections and the other elements that make up an integrated circuit. Before transferring the geometric pattern to the wafer, it is necessary to pour a liquid capable of absorbing light and preserving the pattern on it. However, before reaching this very important step, it is necessary to subject the wafers to a process known as deposition. It usually involves equipment manufactured by Tokyo Electron or Applied Materials. Its purpose is prepare silicon wafers for the transfer of the geometric pattern by depositing a very thin layer of material on them. Depending on the type of chip being manufactured, it will be necessary to use one material or another. One of the most used deposition techniques is known as oxidation, and consists of taking advantage of the ability of silicon to form a very thin layer of oxide when reacting with water. Its purpose is to protect the transistors and other chip components from external contamination. However, before transferring the geometric pattern to the wafer using lithography equipment, it is necessary to pour a liquid capable of absorbing light and preserving the pattern on it. This is the function of the photoresist fluid. During the last two decades, all companies specialized in the production of photoresist materials have been Japanese. In fact, Japan has since then the monopoly of this marketwhich is currently led by JSR Corporation. For the US, one of its main allies should lead this market not a problembut the possibility of China developing the capacity to produce its own advanced photoresist materials on its path to cutting-edge chip manufacturing is an issue. The Chinese government knows that photoresist production is a critical bottleneck, which is why its latest five-year plan has set out to resolve it. Xuzhou B&C Chemical, which is one of the leading photoresist materials manufacturers in China, anticipates that in at most five years will have the capacity to produce large-scale advanced KrF photoresists (Krypton Fluoride) and ArF (Argon Fluoride). Precisely this last material is commonly used in nodes equipped with deep ultraviolet (UVP) lithography equipment. However, the great challenge facing China is the development of photoresists suitable for the production of integrated circuits in extreme ultraviolet (EUV) nodes. We will see what achievements it achieves over the next five years. Image | Generated by Xataka with Gemini More information | SCMP In Xataka | Japan takes the lead with nuclear fusion and sets an extremely ambitious date: the 2030s

Germany wants to do what Japan did with rare earths in 2010: join forces against China

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BMW, Rheinmetall and the main German industries are working on the creation of a joint agency to purchase critical mineralsa move that would reduce dependence on China, according to they count from Financial Times. The idea is to pursue the model that Japan proposed a few years ago, and the story behind it explains why it makes sense. The starting point. In 2010, China imposed an embargo on rare earth exports to Japan in the midst of a territorial dispute. Tokyo depended on these materials to manufacture everything from cars to electronics. To alleviate the mess they had gotten themselves into, they decided to build an alternative architecture. They created JOGMEC (Japan Organization for Metals and Energy Security), a state agency that collaborates with the country’s main conglomerates to ensure the supply of minerals, oil and gas. With this, Japan significantly reduced its dependence on China for rare earths. What Germany is building now. According to counted In the middle, BMW works together with the VDA automobile lobby and representatives of the German defense industry in order to develop a structure similar to what Japan did at the time. Rheinmetall is also in the talks. The specific idea is to create a kind of large private company that bulk buys critical raw materials (lithium, gallium, germanium, rare earths) on behalf of German industry. Just like share In the middle, the federal government could participate with a minority stake. The figures are not yet finalized, but the total cost of the project could amount to several hundred million euros. Why now. Last year, China imposed export controls on essential materials for batteries, permanent magnets and weapons systems. In November it temporarily suspended some of these restrictions until November 2026, but the scare was already in place. Europe was exposedwithout real alternatives, without negotiating power, nothing to do. And German industry (car manufacturers, defense companies, industrial machinery) realized how fragile its supply chain was. The Japanese model. JOGMEC works because it combines public capital with the agility that its large private companies allow, as they are structures with centuries of history in Japan specialized in industrial supply. Germany already has a raw materials agency, DERA, but sources close to the media recognize that needs a profound reform to fulfill that role. The agency being proposed now would have more muscle, with active financing, investment capacity in mining and recycling projects, and direct presence in the market. The state development bank KfW has already prepared a fund of 1 billion euros to finance mining, processing and recycling projects of critical materials, which would serve as a complement. Diplomacy. Just like account The media, Chancellor Friedrich Merz contacted Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi this week, and critical minerals were on the table. And Japan has shown interest in exporting its model abroad. In parallel, this same week the media informed also that the Australian Lynas Rare Earths, the largest producer of rare earths outside China, has closed a supply agreement with Japan with a guaranteed minimum price of $110 per kilogram for neodymium-praseodymium for 12 years. The same price that Washington guaranteed to the American producer MP Materials. The tension with Brussels. The European Commission also works in a centralized body to coordinate strategic purchases and reserves of critical minerals. But from Germany there is skepticism. According to share FT, Germany’s position is that “the industry must make its own decisions” and that governments should limit themselves to managing strategic reserves. In other words, Berlin prefers a model of private initiative with specific state support rather than leaving the strategy in the hands of Brussels. What is at stake. Steel, lithium and rare earths are the backbone of the energy transition and European rearmament. Without neodymium there are no magnets for electric motors or guided missiles. Without gallium and germanium there are no advanced semiconductors. China controls between 60% and 90% of the production chain for most of these materials. Hence many countries are restless. Cover image | Prometheus and Wikimedia Commons In Xataka | The United States knows it has a problem with rare earths from China. And he believes he has an alternative: Mexico

China already dominates the screen market. The US and Japan have decided to draw up a plan to stop their advance

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China currently accounts for almost 60% of the LCD panel market which are used in the manufacture of monitors, televisions and other display devices. The growth of Chinese companies BOE and TCL has caused South Korean panel manufacturers, such as LG Display or Samsung Display, gradually abandon LCD technology to dedicate their resources to other, more profitable innovations, like OLED technology. South Korea produces most of the organic matrices (OLED) that we can find in our televisions and mobile phones, among other devices, but China’s market share in this segment does not stop growing. In fact, It is already close to 40% in OLED panels for smartphones, and presumably little by little it will also grow in the segment of large-format OLED matrices for televisions and monitors. However, South Korea is not the only country that is suffering from China’s monumental onslaught. Japan, Taiwan and the US also fear that their display device manufacturers will end up in the hands of Chinese suppliers, something that is essentially already happening to a large extent if we stick to LCD technology. This dependency also acquires a critical nature in the field of screens used in military systems. Japan Display will be the great beneficiary of the very probable agreement between the US and Japan During the 80s, 90s and the first decade of the 2000s, Japan led the screen market with its cathode ray tube televisions, and later with its first LCD and plasma panels. However, in the early 2000s, Japanese companies made a strategic mistake: they bet everything on plasma technology because they believed that it would end up taking over LCD technology. South Korea, however, opted for the production of these latest matrices, and finally Samsung and LG won this war. The state-of-the-art plant that Japan Display plans to build in the US will cost about $13 billion Japan paid a very high price for this strategic mistake: it lost a large part of its share in the market for the production of panels for display devices. Twenty years later, the US and Japanese governments are determined to amend it to compete with the solutions coming from China. And they plan to do it by investing, according to Reutersa package of 550 billion dollars coming from Japanese funds. Some of this money will presumably be used to build a state-of-the-art display manufacturing plant in the US. It will cost about $13 billion and will be managed by Japan Display, a consortium created in 2012 as the result of the merger of the panel production divisions of Sony, Hitachi and Toshiba. This plan seeks to limit the dependence that American and Japanese manufacturers have on matrices from China, especially in the field of technology militaryrbut they are not going to have it easy. And it is that the consulting firm Counterpoint Research It predicts that China will expand its share of the display market to reach 75% in 2028. Image | Generated by Xataka with Gemini More information | Reuters In Xataka | LG and Samsung have a new pact that no one expected, according to Reuters. One who wants to shake up the television market In Xataka | China is devouring the television market. So much so that Panasonic is considering abandoning it

Japan was the king of semiconductors in the 80s. Rapidus is its only hope to compete in this market again

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In the 1980s, Japan did not compete in semiconductors and technology. It was devastating. In 1988, Japanese companies controlled more than half of the world semiconductor market, and NEC, Toshiba, Hitachi and Fujitsu were above giants of the time in the US such as Motorola, Texas Instruments or Intel. That golden era ended with the hyperspecialization that emerged both in South Korea and China and (especially) in Taiwan, but now Japan wants to make a splash again. what has happened. A year ago the technology industry was surprised by the birth of Rapidus Corporationa company born from the alliance of several Japanese giants (Sony, Toyota, SoftBank) with the aim of returning to Japan part of its relevance in the field of semiconductors. The initial plan was very ambitious: they wanted to jump directly to 2 nm by 2027. As we will see later, they have had to delay that forecast, but what has also changed (a lot) is the structure of the company. Japan like main investor. The Japanese government has decided to make Rapidus a centerpiece of national security, and is taking unprecedented control of the company. He will become the largest shareholder, although initially he will only exercise 10% of the voting rights to leave management in private hands. Of course: the State reserves the right to raise that participation above 50% if the company is experiencing difficulties. Total capital has skyrocketed to 420 billion yen ($2.7 billion), when in 2022 the investment did not exceed 50 million. The golden action. The Japanese executive has made use of a legal mechanism by acquiring the so-called “golden shares” with which he can exercise his veto in critical decisions such as changes in management or mergers. The objective is to shield Rapidus against foreign capital acquisitions and guarantee the sovereignty of the project. Which is exactly the same thing we are seeing around the world, of course: each country wants to have its own apples in its basket. Investors who are also clients. Financial support comes from the Japanese government, but also from some large Japanese business groups such as the aforementioned Sony and Toyota or Denso. In total, 32 companies have invested 167.6 billion yen (1.075 billion dollars) and will contribute to this commitment by also being customers of the silicon that Rapidus can produce. They remain just as ambitious… or more. Rapidus CEO Atsuyoshi Koike has adjusted the development plans for his chips, and has delayed the arrival of mass production to March 2028. That’s bad news, but not so much when we discover that the company has plans to go beyond 2nm and is preparing to be able to make 1.4nm chips and even 1 nm. Fast as gunpowder. One of the factors that want to differentiate Rapidus is its promise of rapid delivery of semiconductors. The project aims to automate both the manufacturing, packaging and testing of the chips. These last two are processes with great manual intervention, but at Rapidus they believe they have the key to making them much more autonomous. If they succeed, they could reduce the cycle time of semiconductors by 66% and thus beat even giants like TSMC by the way. Japan turns to chips. Japan’s aspiration is striking, and its Prime Minister, Sanae Takaichi, seems to be clear that the commitment to this segment must be notable. In fact, Japan is investing a proportion of its GDP (0.71%) in semiconductors much higher than that of the US (0.21%) or Germany (0.41%). Challenges. The strategy, of course, has its critics. Takero Doi, professor at Keio University, point “There are many cases in which public-private investment has led to systems that lacked accountability. It is important to clarify who will lead the project, the private sector or the government.” Plan B. Although the plan with Rapidus is ambitious, the country is actually playing both sides. While boosting its own business, the government has made commitments with TSMC to upgrade its manufacturing plants in Japan. This makes it have a hybrid ecosystem: it attracts the experience and knowledge of the semiconductor giant while on the other hand trying to create a national alternative. Image | Xataka with Freepik In Xataka | Panasonic was the bastion of 100% Japanese TVs after Sony’s step back. Now it has surrendered to China

It has Taiwan in front of it and Japan is going to fill it with missiles

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At the westernmost tip of Japan there is a paradise place where, on clear days, you can see another territory from the coast. It is the same enclave where they live more native horses than school-age children. That isolated corner, for decades outside the big headlines, has begun to occupy an unexpected space in the strategic conversations of the Indo-Pacific. Also to become in a fort. A red line. That island has become the new red line against China. The reason? Japan will deploy missiles 100 km from Taiwan. In this way, Yonaguni, the westernmost point of the Japanese archipelago, has gone from being a remote enclave in just a few years. a centerpiece of the Indo-Pacific strategic board. Its location, at the end of the Nansei island chainplaces it right in the geographic arc that connects the East China Sea with the Western Pacific, the same corridor that worries Tokyo and Washington facing a possible conflict in the Taiwan Strait. The calendar changes. A few hours ago, Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi set for the first time a very specific horizon: before March 2031, a set of surface-to-air missile medium range, projectiles with 360 degree coverage capacity and the possibility of intercepting multiple targets simultaneously. The decision is not isolated, but is part of the strategic turn started in 2022 to reinforce defenses on the southwestern islands, shifting the historical focus from Russia to growing Chinese military activity in the East China Sea. The diplomatic context and Chinese pressure. The announcement also comes after months of deterioration between Tokyo and Beijingaggravated by the statements of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi about the possible Japanese involvement if there was an attack on the island of Taiwan that represented an existential threat for the nation. China’s response It was devastatingresponding with trade restrictions, diplomatic pressure and a battery of military demonstrations that, how do we countincluded drone flights and an increased naval presence in the area, while maintaining its claim to Taiwan and its dispute with Japan through the Senkaku Islandsadministered by Tokyo but claimed by Beijing as Diaoyu. The internal transformation. Since 2016, the island has hosted a surveillance unit coastal with about 160 troops, to which electronic warfare capabilities and new military infrastructure will be added. In a community of barely 1,500 inhabitants, where depopulation has been a constant since the postwar period, the presence of military personnel and their families alters the structure demographic and economicgenerating a division between those who see militarization as an investment opportunity and those who fear that the enclave will become a priority objective in the event of conflict. From peripheral paradise to strategic bastion. From that perspective, the expansion of the base, the plans to improve the airport and port and the possible installation of advanced defense systems They consolidate Yonaguni as a key link in the Japanese deterrence architecture. What for decades was a marginal territory is now integrated into a defensive network designed to complicate any attempt to alter the status quo in the Taiwan Strait, sending a clear message about even where is it arranged Japan to arrive to protect what it considers its most sensitive front. The new map. If you will also, the Yonaguni decision reflects a broader transformation in Japanese defense policy, one underpinned by a historic increase of the military budget and the security treaty with the United States, which could drag Tokyo into a larger scale regional conflict. What is clear afterto official statement of Tokyo is that, on the new strategic map of the Indo-Pacific, the small island is no longer a lost point in the ocean: it is the place where Japan has decided mark your limit and where any future crisis could have its first warning signal. Image | GetArchivejpatokal In Xataka | The Japanese island of Yonaguni was known for its beauty and Bad Bunny. Now it is a military fortress because of Taiwan In Xataka | Satellite images leave no doubt: China has concentrated thousands of fishing boats off Japan, and its idea is not to fish

There was a time when Japan was the king of TVs. All its giants have ended up surrendering to the evidence

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Not so many years ago, talking about Japanese televisions was talking about the kings of the market. Not so much for volume but for quality. The Sony Trinitron were (and still are) to play retro video games) legendary, but there were the technologies of Sharp, Toshiba or the plasma from Panasonic. However, first South Korea and now China have run over Japanese brands. And Panasonic is the latest “victim.” And it may be for the best. The Panasonic case. Bluntly: Panasonic, which was once on the podium of the great Japanese manufacturers, has just announce that the Chinese company skyworth From now on, it will be in charge of producing and selling its televisions. At the catalog presentation event for this year, representatives of the Japanese brand they commented that the new partner “will lead sales, marketing and logistics while Panasonic provides expertise and quality assurance.” Speaking to FlatpanelsHD, Panasonic said Skyworth will take care of everything, but the resulting product will still be one that will have the “Panasonic” name. Turn towards China. The company had been outsourcing the production and functions of its models for years. mid-range and entrybut now that loss of identity is complete. With the move, the firm hopes to once again become one of the largest in both Europe and the United States, and the curious thing is that this announcement comes just a few weeks after Sony will outsource the production of its televisions to TCL. It is a symbolic turn because the Japan that previously led the technological conversation was gradually eclipsed by South Korea, Taiwan and, now, China. Both TCL and Skyworth are Chinese companies and, although TCL is much better known, Skyworth is not exactly small. Headquartered in Shenzhen, it has intermittently strained in the conversation of the main television manufacturers Android TV. It makes… sense. In statements to FlatpanelsHD, both companies will jointly develop the high-end OLED TVsand the movement has a very clear reading: it is a win-win for both companies, but as in the case of Sony-TCL, one wins -much- more than the other. Chinese companies have made a very strong investment in recent years in plants capable of producing an enormous quantity of large-inch panels. Televisions are manufactured from what is known as “mother glass”plates that, the larger the size, the more derived large-inch televisions will be produced. And if more televisions can be produced at a time, they can be sold at a lower price. TCL has state-of-the-art factories focused on that large-inch production, which helps explain why they sell 65- and 75-inch models at ridiculous prices. Therefore, with these associations, the Japanese hope that the muscle of the Chinese will help them achieve greater penetration. But, of course, it is undeniable that the names ‘Sony Bravia’ and ‘Panasonic’ are much more powerful than those of any Chinese brand, and now it is TCL and Skyworth that can exploit it in the market. Tears in the rain. In the end, as they say, of those muds, these muds. Panasonic, which was once one of the spearheads in terms of television technology thanks to plasma, had not made much of a splash for years in a conversation dominated by LG, Samsung and, by leaps and bounds, the Chinese. They were, along with Sony, the stronghold of a Japanese industry that had already seen how giants like Sharp, Pioneer or Toshiba they stayed in the gutter to be, in some cases, rescued by… Chinese companies (Toshiba by Hisense) or Taiwanese (Sharp by Foxconn). As they say, ‘mistakes were made’ and Panasonic held on for too many years to a plasma technology which was impressive, but also very expensive to produce and a huge ship that could not correct course when better LCD and OLED panels began to come out. As we say, we have to wait to see what this translates into in terms of market share, but in Japan it is a blow. Only with the joint venture of Sony and TCL, esteem that 50% of the Japanese market will be controlled by Chinese capital. The last pride they could hold on to was Panasonic. In Xataka |

China has concentrated thousands of fishing boats off Japan, and its idea is not to fish

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The East China Sea is one of the more sensitive scenarios of the strategic balance in Asia for decades. territorial disputes, historical rivalries and the growing weight of new powers have turned these waters into a space where every movement is observed with a magnifying glass. There, apparently minor gestures usually fit into dynamic much deeperand China has just made a move. The diplomatic fuse. Japan’s detention of a chinese fishing boat within its exclusive economic zone, about 170 kilometers from Nagasaki, has rekindled a relationship already deteriorated between Tokyo and Beijing, with a certain island as a backdrop. He captain’s arrestafter refusing an inspection, occurs in a context of growing dispute marked by Japanese statements on Taiwan and the subsequent Chinese warnings its citizens to avoid traveling to Japan. Therefore, it is not an isolated episode, but rather the visible spark of a maritime tension that had been building for weeks. Images from space. AIS system data and the images by satellite show unprecedented concentrations of up to 2,000 fishing boats Chinese aligned near the median line between the two countries in the East China Sea. The formations, hundreds of kilometers long and with vessels separated by less than 500 meters, remained more than 24 hours in static positions despite adverse weather conditions. In other words, China was concentrating thousands of fishing boats off Japan, and its idea is not exactly to fish. The maritime militia and the “gray zone”. They counted on Nikkei that the vast majority of these fishing vessels are part of the so-called chinese maritime militiaa civil network that cooperates with the State and the Army in operations that do not reach the threshold of armed conflict. A priori, this strategy allows pressure to be exerted without formally deploying naval forces, thus making a direct response difficult. In other words, as we count A few weeks ago, what was presented as economic activity could become a test of maritime control or even the interruption of trade routes in the first island chain. Taiwan as a backdrop. Impossible to ignore it. The maneuvers coincide with statements by the Japanese government warning that a crisis in the Taiwan Strait would be an existential threat for Japan. Beijing, for its part, considers the island part of its territory and does not rule out the use of forcewhile Tokyo reinforces its deterrent posture. In this context, each movement in the East China Sea takes on a meaning that goes beyond fishing and is integrated into the regional strategic calculation. A pattern of sustained pressure. Furthermore, the activity is not limited to civil fleets. I remembered the Guardian that the Chinese coast guard has broken presence records around to the Senkaku Islandsalso known as Diaoyu in China, and has released images of patrols in disputed waters for the first time. Plus: the Liaoning aircraft carrier has expanded its radius of operations near Okinawa, while Beijing advances infrastructure on its side of the maritime median line. More than boats, an essay. Analysts interpret these concentrations like exercises of mobilization and coordination within the civil-military fusion plan promoted by Beijing. There is no doubt, the capacity of gather thousands of boats civilians at a strategic point in a short time sends a fairly clear message about the possibility of, for example, saturating maritime spaces without openly resorting to force. In this way, the pulse is no longer so much or only bilateral, but rather a warning to the entire region: China is perfecting tools to shape the balance of the Indo-Pacific, and it is doing so without firing a single shot. Image | Planet Labs, Marine Traffic, Anna Frodesiak, Micromesistius In Xataka | China’s best weapon doesn’t fire a single bullet: 300km ‘moving wall’ to close sea routes instantly In Xataka | China has turned deep-sea salmon farming into an engineering feat. This state-of-the-art boat proves it

Japan has been wanting fewer tourists for years. Now he fears China is making his wishes come true

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Japan has been choked by foreign tourism. And it is understandable. The weakness of the yen, the reactivation of demand after the pandemic stop and the enormous popularity that the country has achieved on networks has triggered its flow of visitors to record levelsstirring up the debate on he oversight and generating discomfort in some particularly congested destinations, such as Kyoto, nara or Osaka. To stop it, there is already talk of a tax increase. There are even cities looking for ways to reduce the flow of international tourists. Now, for reasons that have little or nothing to do with the tourism market, Japan is encountering the collapse of demand in its big market: China. The question is whether that is a blessing or a threat to your economy. Pack of tourists. The data is incontestable. Japan has become one of the most popular destinations among those planning their vacations. Last year the country received 42.7 million of foreign visitors, an absolute record that shatters the data from 2024, when it fell just short of 37 million. Beyond the year-on-year comparison, the data is interesting for two reasons. First, because never before had the Japan Tourism Organization (ONTJ) counted more than 40 million visitors annual. Second, because the data leaves the 31.9 million of 2019, the last year before the pandemic, far behind. If nothing changes, the Government plans to reach the 60 million this decade, which will translate into a powerful injection of resources into the Japanese economy. In 2025 alone, foreign travelers spent more than $60 billion. More than money. The problem is that this flow of tourists not only translates into full planes, hotels with the sign ‘no places left’ and hoteliers and merchants satisfied with their sales. The international tourism boom has generated tensions in some destinations especially congested, leaving almost almost surreal episodes, such as the one lived in Kyoto. There the authorities have had to prohibit “paparazzi tourists” from accessing one of the most emblematic points of the city. The reason: so that they do not harass the geishas. It is not the only proof of the tensions that are emerging due to tourist saturation. In Fujikawaguchiko the authorities, unable to contain the hordes of travelers eager to “hunt” the best selfiethey chose to install a fence that blocks the views of Fuji. In Fujiyoshida they just canceled your festival Sakura because it saturates the city with visitors who clog traffic, sneak into homes and leave trash in parks. And in Yamanashi they decided years ago start charging to ascend Fuji to preserve the mythical mountain. And the Taiwan crisis arrived. Whims of geopolitics and international diplomacy, Japan has just found that this record flow of visitors could receive a severe setback. And all on account of something that has little or nothing to do with the tourist market: Taiwan. To understand it, we have to go back to November 7, when the Prime Minister of Japan, Sanae Takaichi, warned during a parliamentary debate that Japan would not hesitate to mobilize its self-defense forces in case China entered Taiwan by force. Although the Japanese Government assures that its position remains the same as always, the truth is that Takaichi’s words broke the “strategic ambiguity” that Japan has maintained for decades. And that was not liked one bit in China. The relationship between Beijing and Tokyo became strained to such an extent that the Asian giant responded with more than complaints diplomatic: canceled concerts by Japanese artists, postponed the premiere of movies, he claimed the pandas on loan to Japanese zoos and restricted its valuable rare earth exports. What does it have to do with tourism? That in its response to Japan, Beijing also played one of its great economic assets: tourism. The Chinese authorities they advised its citizens to avoid Japan and even canceled dozens of routes airlines with the country. In November the BBC reported that some Chinese airlines were offering their customers refunds for their flights to Japan. Such a movement would not have much importance if it were not for the fact that China is one of the main sources of the Japanese tourism sector. The Asian giant is one of its big markets issuers, along with Korea. According to the Japan National Tourism Organization, in 2024 China was the second largest source of tourists visiting Japan. concentrated about 19% of all demand, only behind Korea (24%). The data is also completed with the 7.3% of Hong Kong and the high weight that Taiwan also has in Japanese tourism. The flow from the Asian giant is key, however, for another reason: as remember The New York TimesChina not only moves many tourists but its tourists spend a lot in Japan. Goodbye Chinese tourists. Although the open conflict between China and Japan is recent, its effects have not taken long to be noticed in the tourism industry. TNYT assures that in December the flow of Chinese travelers already plummeted by 45% compared to the same month in 2024. And the situation does not seem to be improving in the coming months: Japan has fallen on the list of the most coveted destinations for the Chinese to enjoy their Lunar New Year holidays. There are those who already warn that Japanese hotels will welcome 60% less of Chinese. Why is it important? Beyond the percentages, this ‘puncture’ in the Chinese market represents a setback for a sector (Japanese tourism) that until recently seemed unbeatable. Despite how popular Japan continues to be in the rest of the world and the record data it is collecting, its balance of incoming tourist spending registered a drop of 2.8% during the last three months of 2025. It is not a high percentage, but it represents the first decline in more than four years. In November, Bloomberg already warned that the diplomatic row with China threatened to cost Japan’s tourism sector 1.2 billion in income. If the data were not conclusive in itself, it comes at a … Read more

In 1977 Japan released an anime inspired by a raccoon. To this day he continues to pay the consequences

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What harm could a raccoon? Any search surface on the Internet reveals its many aesthetic virtues. They are small, but not too small; hairy, but not in moderation; intelligent, but still simple; handsome, still goofy. The dream of any child, the object of desire of every human passionate about terrestrial mammals Appearances are often treacherous. Numerous testimonies and graphic documents support the disruptive nature, in criminal occasionsof raccoons. Its own genes give it away: if its gigantic dark spots around its eyes function as a mask, the raccoon is the caco of nature, an extremely skilled animal, elusive, sagacious in its objectives, diligent in its blows. They know it well conservation services Madrid. Since the small bug was introduced into the community at the beginning of the last decade, it has spread across three different watersheds. During the last fifteen years more than 800 copiesa modest sample of a probably millennial population. They have become in a nightmare. Without natural predators (they come from the American continent), they wipe out numerous local species and cause fear among peripheral neighborhoods. The extreme expertise that only millennia of plunder provides is combined with a totalitarian reproductive capacity to dominate virgin lands in a matter of decades. The raccoon is a colonizing weapon perfect. (Thomas Despeyroux/Unsplash) We know it today, however. Half a century ago, as in many ways still today, the image of such a friendly animal conquered the hearts of a nation at the other (literal) end of the Western cultural world: Japan. A counterproductive obsession Their love-hate story begins in 1963, when American author Sterling North published Rascal: A Memoir of a Better Eraa small children’s story in which he surfs the waves of nostalgia in the company of his domestic raccoon. The work becomes an instant classic, hitting the shelves of thousands of children across the country. His media epic would enjoy a definitive boost when six years later Disney gained access to the rights to the work. Rascal, the moviewould debut in American theaters during the summer of 1969. Without viewing, the film would contemporize the dazzling success of the friendly raccoon in the United States, and limit its legacy. Until 1977. Almost fifteen years after its publication, Nippon Animationa Japanese animation studio, had an idea: how about moving the story of Rascal to the small screen, in a production of 52 episodes intended for family consumption? Overnight, Rascal, its irresistible manga version, conquers hyperbolic Japanese pop culture. It is difficult to define the impact of the series. Rascal would end up appearing in television advertisements and video games intended a la GameBoyand would cause thousands of Japanese children to want a raccoon in their homes. What harm could the proverbial Rascal do, after all? It was 1977 and Japanese parents had no choice but to shrug their shoulders. In the blink of an eye Japan started to matter raccoons like there was no tomorrow. The fever reached its peak in the late seventies, when Japanese families acquired the mammalian sibylline at a rate of 1,500 copies for weeks. Suddenly, Japan had placed a Trojan horse perfect in its natural ecosystems. And he had done it driven by an animated series. And the raccoons took over Japan The consequences were quickly felt. How do they explain in Atlas Obscuraone of Rascal’s moral readings was the liberation of the animal. Raccoons, after all, are wild animals, and at the end of the day they only want one thing: to flee. The idea fit well into the Japanese cultural world, soon to any symbiosis spiritual between fauna and flora. Many Japanese parents learned the lesson the hard way: the raccoons had begun to behave like, err, raccoons. Aggressive, destructive and difficult to domesticate, many of them were found where the fable of Rascal entrusted them: in nature. Turned into a nightmare, the series offered a comfortable moral safeguard. The subsequent history is similar to that of Madrid. Within a handful of years raccoons had spread throughout Japan. At the end of the last decade, its presence was known in no less from 42 prefectures (out of a total of 47). They looted templesthey finished with species natives with similar characteristics (the tanuki) and disrupted numerous ecosystems and crops, generating annual damages worth €300,000. The Japanese government would not take long to prohibit the importation of raccoons, imposing severe fines on anyone who dared to go to the black market, but the damage would already be irreparable. The raccoon continues to roam freely in the archipelago, and Rascalvery oblivious to the consequences caused by his media enthronement, remains very popular. The beginning of the end. Even though the raccoon has sneaked in in many nations of the planet (Germany catches about 25,000 every year), only in Japan does its history rotate around pop mythomanias and animated series. Its presence is probably irreversible. As this report As Slate illustrates, the raccoon is not only an animal suitable for the countryside: it is also a nearly perfect urban pest. His grasping hands allow him to avoid countless traps, and his particular intelligence causes the policies to stop him to become obsolete in a matter of days. Cities, in essence, function as a field of military training. Each obstacle posed by public authorities offers valuable learning that always ends up being overcome, and that underpins the adaptability urban of the species. In Toronto, for example, the introduction of famous anti-raccoon garbage containers, supposedly impassable, was revealed useless after two years. Nothing that the Japanese governments don’t know about. Thank you, Rascal. Image | Richard Burlton In Xataka | We have found an ancient bone in Córdoba. Some believe it is part of Hannibal’s war elephants. In Xataka | 13% of Spaniards have tried cocaine once in their lives. If we ask the dogs of Madrid the percentage will be higher

The US hamburger has found an unexpected rival that arrives en masse from Japan: sushi

by

When they arrived in the US, back in the 60ssushi restaurants were true extravagances, establishments with a diverse audience in which immigrants and businessmen eager to try new flavors mixed. The oldest business in Chicago, for example, Kamehachi, was dedicated to prepare nigiris and makis traditional for the people who came to the Buddhist Temple of the Midwest. Today things are different. Sushi has permeated US culinary culture and has become so popular that it is even in demand at children’s parties. From a gastronomic rarity it has become a rival to the hamburger. Sushi eats the US. We don’t say it. I said it in September The New York Times in a report which started with a headline that made things clear from the first line: “Sushi is more fashionable than ever in the US.” The data managed by the industry certainly show growing popularity and, above all, enviable business expectations. The Kroger chainwhich operates stores in most of the US and has been selling sushi since the early 90s, says its sales they have shot up 50% since 2019. In practice that is equivalent to selling a million rolls a day. Arrivals from Japan. The Blue Ribbon restaurant chain assures that in just a few years takeout sushi has gone from representing 6% of all your sales at 30%. Probably encouraged by this context, the Japanese firm Chiyoda Sushi has decided to bet big on the US market. A few weeks ago Nikkei revealed that in spring the operator will begin to market its trays of frozen sushi rolls in the US, where it has already achieved the support of a Japanese supermarket chain, Mitsuwa Marketplace. A millionaire business. Beyond the income statements and decisions of specific companies, the sector conducts market studies that reveal that sushi is not doing badly in its expansion to the other side of the Pacific. The research firm Circana estimates that in 2024 the so-called sushi deli (sushi sold through retail channels, such as supermarkets) represented a business of 2.8 billion dollars7% more than the previous year. All this after experiencing a notable sales increase since the pandemic. In general, according to data from the Government of Japan, in North America there are between 29,000 and 30,000 ramen restaurants and other Japanese specialties. If compared to data from a decade ago, it represents a growth of 17%. And there is no reason to think that it has peaked. a year ago Technavio estimated that the global market (not just in the US) for sushi restaurants will continue to expand in the remainder of the decade, with a growth rate of 3.5%. Beyond the numbers. The popularity of sushi in the US is not measured only in market reports and growth percentages. Much of their success is based on a more qualitative and abstract factor: nigiris and makis succeed simply because they are no longer seen as something extravagant and alien. It explained well in The New York Times the owner of Kamehachi, the oldest sushi restaurant in Chicago: after almost six decades of history, the business has seen an increase in demand for increasingly “creative” rolls, made with new ingredients, such as mango, cheese or jalapenos. Opportunity… And risk? This trend is a sign of the interest that the dish arouses, but also a risk. “The more we explore different types of rolls, the more I worry about moving away from the origins of sushi,” recognizes Giulia Sindlergranddaughter of the founder of the business, who admits in any case that she is delighted to see how Japanese cuisine is no longer something exclusive to the fooders more daring to be a pleasure shared by several generations. In a way, this assimilation into North American gastronomic culture can be traced back to the 1970s, when the California roll was invented in an attempt to hide raw fish and make the dish more palatable to Americans. Goodbye Happy Meal, hello nigiri. Perhaps the clearest proof of the extent to which sushi has penetrated the gastronomic heritage of the USA was given a few days ago. The Wall Street Journal in an article in which he revealed something surprising: in the US it is no longer strange to find children’s parties in which Japanese food has replaced ‘orthodox’ options, such as pizza or hamburgers. The reason? Probably a combination of factors that combine its growing popularity, but also the presentation of the sushi, the aesthetics of the premises or even the content of the rolls. “The more sugar we put in rice, the more it is eaten,” recognize Trevor Corson, author of ‘The Story of Sushi’. Your consumption level may be far from the huge intake of hamburgers that the US registers each year, but the trend led by sushi is surprising to say the least. Especially in a context marked (at least in Spain) by the fall in consumption of fish. “He doesn’t want fries or chicken nuggets. He wants tropical shrimp tempura,” joke Laureano Escobar, a 40-year-old man, when he talks about the culinary tastes of his six-year-old daughter. Images | Daniel (Unsplash) and Only Seafood (Unsplash) In Xataka | Until the 90s, no one in Japan ate sushi with raw salmon. Until a marketing campaign changed everything

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