TOKYO/NIIGATA, Japan -- After reaching a speed of 110 kph, the bullet train gradually decelerated, missing the targeted resting point by less than 9 inches. During the entire trip, the operator kept his hands on his lap, without touching a single lever.

OSAKA -- Japan's biggest homebuilder, Daiwa House Industry, has been ordered by local construction authorities to halt electrical and plumbing work for 22 days after hundreds of its supervisors were found to be improperly licensed.

Katsuji Nakazawa is a Tokyo-based senior staff writer and editorial writer at Nikkei. He spent seven years in China as a correspondent and later as China bureau chief. He was the 2014 recipient of the Vaughn-Ueda International Journalist prize.

WASHINGTON -- With China building up its military, the U.S. should engage with Japan and other Indo-Pacific partners on deploying intermediate-range missiles in the region to deter a crisis in the Taiwan Strait, an influential bipartisan advisory body said in a report published Wednesday.

Richard Yetsenga is chief economist and head of research for ANZ.

SINGAPORE/WASHINGTON -- U.S. President Joe Biden seeks to work closer with Indo-Pacific countries to set transparent rules governing digital trade and technology, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said Wednesday, as China makes a bid to join more regional economic blocs.

WASHINGTON -- Japanese and South Korean diplomats declined to share a stage at a joint news conference here Wednesday after trilateral talks with the U.S. due to "bilateral differences," leaving a lone American representative to field questions.

TOKYO -- Japan is considering letting foreign nationals working in farming, food service and other sectors remain in the country indefinitely as soon as next fiscal year, a significant turning point for a country that has long kept its borders mostly closed to immigrants.

TAIPEI -- With relations between Beijing and Washington at their frostiest in decades, expectations were low for any deliverables from Xi Jinping and Joe Biden's summit this week. At the center of the discussion was Taiwan, and while the two leaders agreed to disagree, the short-term effect may be one of reduced tensions.

Nikkei Asia is tracking the spread of the coronavirus that was first detected in the central Chinese city of Wuhan.

Cumulative global cases have reached 254,444,468 according to Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. The worldwide death toll has hit 5,116,058.

For more information about the spread of COVID-19 and vaccination progress around the world, please see our interactive charts and maps.

-- Global coronavirus tracker charts

-- Status of vaccinations around the