After a 2021 amendment, the Elderly Employment Stabilization Law calls on companies to make efforts to employ workers until age 70, with the goal of shoring up Japan’s dwindling workforce. Efforts are only mandatory until age 65, but 25 percent of employers are complying by re-employing retirees or abolishing retirement ages.

A court ordered the operator of Tabelog, a popular website that rates restaurants based on aggregated user reviews, to pay 38.4 million yen in compensation to a Korean barbeque chain. The plaintiff claimed Tabelog’s proprietary algorithm automatically downgrades chain restaurants, and that its monthly customers fell by over 5,000 as a result.

Yahoo Japan is a rare Japanese company in that it embraces remote work and flexible schedules, and it is about to loosen its policies further. From April its employees, 90% of whom work remotely, will get more generous commuting allowances for when they need to come to the office –– even when that requires flying. The company’s goal is to diversify its workforce in terms of both location and lifestyle.

Japan’s Financial Services Agency said on Wednesday that it issued a business improvement order to Mizuho Financial Group and its banking unit amid concerns over its technical problems following a series of system failures this year.

Rakuten Mobile announced new prices on Thursday, with free data for light users and unlimited data at 2980 yen a month. The company has ratcheted up the price war among mobile phone carriers.

Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said on Saturday that the government will suspend its tourism promotion program in areas where infections are spreading rapidly. Japan’s COVID-19 cases have reached record levels since the campaign started.

NTT Docomo said on Thursday that it will compensate victims who had money stolen from bank accounts linked to its e-money service.  The Executive Vice President admitted that their measures to check users’ identities were insufficient.

Japan intends to launch a subsidy campaign later this month to boost domestic tourism industry hit by the new coronavirus pandemic amid concerns over a second wave of infections.

Retail stores in Japan started this month to charge for single-use plastic bags in line with a global trend of reducing plastic waste. The move is aimed at encouraging consumers to bring their own bags.

Internet portal Yahoo Japan and messaging app Line have reached a basic agreement to merge to stay competitive in the global market. The merger will create an online giant with social media, advertising and other mobile services.

Telecom operators in Asia and Europe on Wednesday suspended taking pre-orders for Huawei’s new smartphone models equipped for next generation 5G networks, following Washington’s decision to restrict the Chinese giant’s access to US software and component suppliers amid a trade war with Beijing.