Transcript

Hello and welcome to today’s news from TotemoTech on May 27th, 2024. In today’s news, Ubisoft’s latest game, ‘Assassin’s Creed: Shadows,’ set in Japan, has sparked a major controversy. The release date for the game has been announced, and fans were eagerly awaiting the trailer. However, when it was released, it caused an uproar both domestically and internationally. Many people were disappointed with the portrayal of Japan in the game. Moving on to our next story, after 63 years of being a beloved science education facility, Toshiba has announced that the general public access to the ‘Toshiba Future Science Museum’ will be ending on June 29th. The decision to close the museum is due to Toshiba’s shift in business focus from B2C to B2B. This news has saddened many people who have enjoyed visiting the museum over the years. Now let’s talk about the world of movies. The film ‘Gundam SEED’ will be available for streaming on Amazon Prime Video and Netflix starting from June 8th. Gundam fans are excited to have the opportunity to watch this highly acclaimed movie. Shifting gears, let’s discuss the potential for AI-powered Japanese input. Despite the significant advancements in AI technology, it seems that Japanese input systems have not fully utilized this potential. While there are options such as Google Japanese Input and ATOK, there is still room for improvement in areas like selecting the correct homophones and avoiding incorrect conversions. It would be great to see AI technology enhance the natural language processing capabilities of Japanese input systems. Next, let’s explore a new trend in the world of consumer electronics. Panasonic has recently launched a service for selling refurbished electronic products. Customers can now purchase refurbished products at Panasonic stores. This follows the footsteps of Hitachi GLS, which started selling refurbished products in 2022, and Yamada Denki, which has been offering refurbished products since 2001. The appeal of these products lies in the fact that they come with warranties. In other news, Sharp has reached a wireless technology patent cross-licensing agreement with Xiaomi in China. As a result, both companies have decided to withdraw their lawsuits against each other. This agreement is the outcome of friendly negotiations between Sharp and Xiaomi. Finally, let’s discuss a recent change in payslips due to the introduction of fixed tax reductions. Starting in June, the Japanese government has mandated that income tax reductions be clearly stated on payslips. However, this has caused dissatisfaction among companies’ accounting departments. The additional workload is estimated to increase by approximately 50 hours. While the government aims to provide taxpayers with a tangible sense of tax reduction, this has become a burden for many accounting professionals. That’s all for today’s news from TotemoTech. Stay tuned for more updates on the latest tech developments. Visit JapanDailyNews.com for the news, yen exchange rates, and a daily Japanese proverb.

Keywords - japan, tech, news