The companies plan to deploy their autonomous bZ4X vehicles to other right-hand drive markets like the UK. In April 2025, Toyota and Waymo entered a preliminary agreement to work together on robotaxis. Now, the companies have announced that they will start testing an autonomous fleet of Toyota bZ4X electric vehicles in Japan sometime in 2027. After Japan, they're planning to deploy the vehicles to the UK and other right-hand drive markets in the years that follow. The bZ4X is Toyota's first modern mass-market electric vehicle based on the e-TNGA platform it developed with Subaru.

JR East's new four-legged landscapers are proving to be a hit An East Japan Railway worker alongside one of two goats that the railway company has deployed to an area near Tokyo's Yotsuya Station in order to trim excess growth | Johan Brooks In a city with countless food options, a new spot in Tokyo is drawing lunchtime crowds, although it's the four-legged workers in the area who are doing most of the eating. Atop a wrought-iron bridge next to Yotsuya Station, clusters of smartly dressed students and workers linger in amazement at the rather unusual site below: a pair of sprightly, cream-colored goats nibbling overgrown greenery. One-year-old Nagi, a male, and Pokke, a 2-year-old female, are the key "employees" in a new environmentally friendly initiative by East Japan Railway to tackle overgrowth near the bustling train hub. In a time of both misinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever. By subscribing, you can help us get the story right.

'I live with a ghost': Japan's haunted homes attract bargain hunters From the moment Ryua first walked into her rental apartment in Tokyo she believed it to be haunted. When I visited the place for a viewing there was a man standing there, glaring at me, she says. Since the estate agent couldn't see him, I realised he must be a ghost. While someone more squeamish would probably have quickly left the flat never to return, Ryua chose to go ahead and move in. I'm a bit of a contrarian, so I decided I wanted to become friends with this glaring male ghost, adds Ryua, who works as an aidoru, a young entertainer, and who doesn't wish to share her surname.

Head of the British Fashion Model Agents Association John Horner poses for a photograph during an interview in London on July 2. | REUTERS LONDON - AI-generated fashion models present a tantalizing opportunity for brands: the ability to create lifelike images for their retail websites while cutting costs by 90% or more compared to photo shoots with human models. For the modeling industry, the technology poses an existential threat because of scant regulation governing the ownership or use of digital twins. Fashion models face the risk of unpaid replication of their image -- or replacement by entirely synthetic models. To understand how AI is upending the economics of fashion modeling, Reuters interviewed 15 model-agency directors and reviewed more than a dozen confidential photo-shoot contracts in which brands including Diesel, Calvin Klein and L'Oreal detailed proposed terms for AI-created alterations and future use of the images. In a time of both misinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever.

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Takanari Ono, CEO of Valt Japan, at Next Hero DIC Marunouchi, a digital work support center created with Mitsubishi Estate. In Marunouchi, one of Tokyo's central business districts, a new model of digital work infrastructure is testing how people who face barriers to employment can contribute to real business needs, and to the city's wider economy. For Takanari Ono, CEO of Valt Japan Co., Ltd., the question of work began in the pharmaceutical industry. Before founding the company in 2014, Ono worked at a pharmaceutical company, where he believed medicine could improve people's lives by stabilizing symptoms and supporting health. Then, at a patient advocacy group meeting, he heard something that changed his perspective.

What does it cost an athlete to take a stand? From Muhammad Ali and Colin Kaepernick to Azeez Al-Shaair and Naomi Osaka, athletes have spoken out on issues they believe in, sometimes at great personal and professional cost. Al Jazeera's Samantha Johnson explores the price athletes pay for their activism. Why did Africa boycott the 1966 World Cup? Why are World Cup tickets so expensive?

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The exchange rate of the U.S. dollar against the yen is displayed outside a securities firm in Tokyo on Monday. The yen is becoming less vulnerable when global yields move higher, according to Goldman Sachs. The yen is becoming a more effective hedge against an artificial intelligence-driven market shock as changes in Japan's policy backdrop reduce the risk of the currency weakening sharply when global yields rise, according to Goldman Sachs. "The yen now looks like a more attractive hedge for procyclical portfolios than it has been over recent years, despite the global backdrop still arguing for further JPY weakness," strategists including Kamakshya Trivedi wrote in a note dated Friday. The call comes after the yen showed renewed signs of its traditional haven characteristics during last week's global technology stock rout.

SoftBank's Son plans $50 billion Malaysia tech outlay, PM Anwar Ibrahim says Masayoshi Son, chairman and CEO of SoftBank Group, has reportedly picked regions in Malaysia for data centers and other projects. Masayoshi Son of SoftBank Group has tapped locations in Malaysia for $50 billion in technology investments, the country's prime minister said, an outlay that would accelerate the billionaire's global bet on AI infrastructure. Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said he had a videoconference with Son last week, during which the Japanese tech investor said he had picked regions in the Southeast Asian country for projects including data centers. SoftBank representatives didn't immediately respond to a request for comment outside normal business hours. "He said he had chosen Sarawak -- Kuching -- and Peninsular Malaysia to expand investment in what would be among the largest investments in the region, worth $50 billion," Anwar said in a speech in Malacca on Saturday.