TOKYO -- More than 10 video game titles boast at least 100 million users worldwide, opening up lucrative secondary markets for in-game purchases that are larger than most nations.

E3, one of the world's biggest gaming conferences hosted in the U.S., opened this weekend as a virtual event after canceling last year. Microsoft stole the show Sunday by announcing that hit title Among Us will be made available for download on Xbox consoles.

The strategy game, in which crewmates and "

Ben Fouracre is the Japan representative for the Berkeley Research Group. Jody Ono is adjunct professor at Hitotsubashi University Business School, and is an outside director at Mabuchi Motor.

It is the email CEOs are receiving much more frequently these days: "We've received a letter from an NGO asking what we are doing about forced labor at our suppliers in Southeast Asia."

Not new: companies fielding questions on their business practices. New: the close scrutiny, the sharp tools and the steepening expectations for ethical supply practices,

TOKYO -- Japan began vaccinating Self-Defense Forces members against the coronavirus Monday, readying the emergency and national security responders to mobilize for the floods and typhoons common in the summer.

The country has fallen behind others in inoculating defense personnel, who generally live and train in groups and face a higher risk of COVID-19 clusters.

The strengthened program took advantage of open appointments at an SDF-run mass vaccination site in Tokyo, where 1,650 slots for Monday remained unfilled the day before.

SDF

TOKYO -- Each day, dozens of residents in Tokyo's Setagaya district visit an office to sign up for a My Number identification card. Officials take each visitor's photo, make copies of their existing ID documents and ask them to write down four passwords. The information gets sent back to the local government, and it can take months before the card is issued.

The process has been slow due to COVID-related restrictions. Residents are asked to book appointments in advance, and slots are limited to prevent

GUANGZHOU -- A 1 million yuan banana?

In early May, one real estate brokerage in a bustling Shenzhen neighborhood put on its window a list of what appeared to be fruit prices.

From a 10 million yuan ($1.56 million) durian to a 1 million yuan banana, the document seemed nonsensical to the untrained eye. But for those in the know, it served as code referring to homes for sale on the city's growing black market for property.

The disguised listings were a response

TOKYO -- Japan's maritime shipper Nippon Yusen will invest over 100 billion yen ($912 million) in 12 new vehicle transporters fueled by liquefied natural gas, as auto manufacturers seek to reduce carbon dioxide emission in their supply chains, Nikkei has learned.

Nippon Yusen's order is the biggest in Japan for LNG-fueled ships. Such ships are expected to produce 25% less carbon dioxide emissions compared with current transporters fueled by petrol.

Carmakers have been trying to reduce emissions in

Marthe M. Hinojales is an economist and Vanne Khut is a researcher at the ASEAN+3 Macroeconomic Research Office.

Global value chains have long formed the backbone of economic growth and trade, especially in East Asia.

Cheaper manufacturing costs from lower wages and an abundance of raw materials strongly appealed to Western multinationals seeking to set up their bases overseas.

Supported by strong foreign direct investment inflows, East Asia's regional economies witnessed rapid economic growth over the past several decades. Other economies have attempted to replicate this growth strategy -

TOKYO -- Asia woke up on Monday to find that a fixture of international politics, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, had been ousted from power after a 12-year run.

Following four elections since 2019, an awkward coalition of right-wingers, liberals and an Islamist Arab party finally cobbled together a razor-thin advantage in the Knesset, Israel's parliament. Naftali Bennett, a 49-year-old nationalist and tech millionaire who has described himself as "more right-wing

JAKARTA/MANILA -- Ever since digital artist Beeple sold his NFT artwork at Christie's for $69 million in March, nonfungible tokens have been in vogue. Skeptics see the blockchain-based technology as just another fad, but proponents believe it could change the world of finance.

And while the talk of revolution may be overblown, NFTs are indeed changing the lives of some Southeast Asians, from those struggling to make ends meet to budding artists who are using the tokens to earn valuable extra income.

Gilbert Jalova