TOKYO -- Japanese trading house Sumitomo Corp. will invest in a major health care intermediary in Vietnam, looking to launch new digital services in a region facing rising costs and uneven access to doctors.

Sumitomo is expected to invest tens of millions of dollars in Insmart, part of the region's growing managed-care industry.

Private health insurance is the norm in Southeast Asian countries where publicly funded health care systems lack scale. Managed-care companies serve as intermediaries between insurers and medical institutions as well as provide services to

TOKYO -- A new contender poised to join the race to succeed Japanese leader Yoshihide Suga could become the country's first female prime minister, as former communications minister Sanae Takaichi intends to declare her candidacy for the top post in the ruling party, Nikkei has learned.

Takaichi, one of the most prominent female cabinet members in recent years, is an ally of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. She has Abe's support to seek the leadership of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party in the Sept. 29

William Pesek is an award-winning Tokyo-based journalist and author of "Japanization: What the World Can Learn from Japan's Lost Decades."

In the end, even Yoshihide Suga could not vote for Yoshihide Suga.

Back in September 2020 , when Suga replaced Shinzo Abe as prime minister, voters hoped he would be a capable, decisive leader keenly attuned to the will of the people. Instead, Suga's decision not to run in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's presidential election later

NEW YORK -- The United States is days away from marking the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, which brought down the World Trade Center towers in New York City and collapsed part of the Pentagon, outside Washington. Nikkei interviewed Thomas Friedman, The New York Times' foreign affairs columnist, and asked him to look back on how the attacks affected the world in terms of history and thought. The following are edited excerpts from the interview.

On Sept.

TOKYO/OSAKA -- Abundant, easily processed silicon has been the material of choice for decades in the semiconductor industry, but electric vehicles are helping chip away at its dominance in the pursuit of energy efficiency.

Tesla has been a catalyst for this change. The U.S. automaker became the first of its peers to use silicon carbide chips in a mass-produced car, incorporating them into some of its Model 3s. This move gave the power-saving material a boost of momentum in the EV supply chain

HONG KONG -- As Chinese equities hover near a bear market, neighboring India is scaling new highs despite having a bigger fight in hand with the coronavirus pandemic.

The contrast in fortunes of the largest and fourth-largest stock markets in the region has offered foreign investors an opportunity to rotate their capital, as a regulatory crackdown on big technology companies has wiped out over $1 trillion from mainland Chinese stocks.

But as Indian equity valuations soar and bargains begin to emerge in China, investors are now wondering if a reversal is

TOKYO -- With Sunday night's closing ceremony of the Paralympic Games, Japan will turn the page on a global sporting event that took place despite the COVID-19 pandemic, overwhelming public opposition and a string of scandals involving Olympic officials.

Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga is expected to attend the closing ceremony in one of his final public appearances as Japan's head of government. Suga said Friday that he will step down this month. His government's insistence on pressing ahead with the quadrennial event amid the pandemic

BANGKOK -- The dream of a Thai land bridge, a transport route that would cross the Malay Peninsula to connect ports on either side, has surfaced again in Thailand. If it becomes a reality, a land bridge could cut shipping times by about two days, compared with the current shipping route through the Malacca Strait.

The idea of a trade route cutting across the peninsula dates back to the 17th century. Thailand's current government is looking to large public works projects to rejuvenate the economy. The proposed

NEW DELHI -- The Taliban retook Afghanistan after a nearly two-decade war with U.S. forces, a feat the Islamic fundamentalist group achieved by wooing impoverished youths with social media and the promise of jobs.

The group imposed strict Islamic rules that banned television, music and education for girls during its last reign from 1996. But it has since adapted to the modern era at least in some ways by accepting the internet and smartphones.

"We wake up at 5 a.m. to pray