AJU PRESS ASIA FIRST NEWS AGENCY

Journalist

Park Sujeong
  • Reliance’s Jio Financial, Allianz to Form 50-50 General Insurance Venture in India
    Reliance’s Jio Financial, Allianz to Form 50-50 General Insurance Venture in India India’s Jio Financial Services (JFSL), the financial arm of Reliance Industries (RIL), said on the 22nd it will set up a general insurance company with Germany’s Allianz Group, with each side taking a 50% stake. JFSL said it signed an agreement with Allianz on the 22nd to establish a joint venture that will offer property and casualty insurance and health insurance. The two companies are also preparing to sign an agreement covering life insurance operations in India. RIL Chairman Mukesh Ambani said combining JFSL’s digital network with Allianz’s expertise would create “unique strengths.” He said the partners want to provide “easy-to-understand, affordable, world-class” insurance solutions across India and contribute to the Indian government’s vision of “insurance for all by 2047.” Allianz has long operated in India through two joint ventures with local insurer Bajaj Finserv. In March last year, Allianz said it would withdraw its investment from the two companies and end its partnership with Bajaj, and in July the same year it announced a tie-up with JFSL.* This article has been translated by AI. 2026-04-24 15:15:34
  • Aeon Fantasy Opens Kidzooona Safari Indoor Playground in Surabaya, Indonesia
    Aeon Fantasy Opens Kidzooona Safari Indoor Playground in Surabaya, Indonesia Aeon Fantasy, an operator of amusement facilities, has opened a large indoor playground called Kidzooona Safari in Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia's second-largest city. It is the company's fifth location in Indonesia under this business format. The site opened at Pakuwon Mall Surabaya, a major commercial complex in western Surabaya. The store covers 1,169 square meters. Membership pricing starts at 100,000 rupiah (about 920 yen) for one hour on weekdays. Miki Kawashima, president of Aeon Fantasy Indonesia, said the facility is located in a restaurant area, so the company introduced hourly short-stay rates to make it easy to visit before or after meals. Kidzooona Safari launched as a new format in April 2024 with its first Indonesian location in Cibubur, West Java, on the outskirts of the capital. In Indonesia, it has also expanded to Balikpapan in East Kalimantan, Bandung in West Java and Makassar in South Sulawesi. Overseas, it operates in Thailand and Malaysia. Including the newly opened Kidzooona Safari, Aeon Fantasy Indonesia now operates 62 facilities in total.* This article has been translated by AI. 2026-04-24 12:00:16
  • Acecook Vietnam Breaks Ground on Ho Chi Minh City R&D Center
    Acecook Vietnam Breaks Ground on Ho Chi Minh City R&D Center Vietnam’s largest instant-noodle maker, Acecook Vietnam, held a groundbreaking ceremony on the 20th in Ho Chi Minh City for a research and development center. The company said it aims to strengthen its R&D system to develop more health-oriented products and speed up global expansion. The center will be built in the Tan Binh Industrial Park. The site covers more than 7,000 square meters, with completion planned for 2027. Guided by its philosophy of “creating the value of food culture from Vietnam to the world,” the company will focus on developing new products beyond instant noodles, researching technologies to meet health-focused demand, and conducting basic food-chemistry research. Acecook Vietnam described the project as a key investment in its shift toward becoming a “comprehensive food company.” It said it plans to pursue broad-based research without limiting itself to specific fields.* This article has been translated by AI. 2026-04-24 11:51:15
  • Hong Kong’s March CPI Rises 1.7% Year Over Year, Unchanged From February
    Hong Kong’s March CPI Rises 1.7% Year Over Year, Unchanged From February Hong Kong’s Census and Statistics Department said on April 23 that the Composite Consumer Price Index rose 1.7% in March 2026 from a year earlier, unchanged from the previous month. By category, other services posted the largest increase, up 4.6%. Electricity, gas and water and transport rose 3.9%, other goods 2.8%, alcoholic drinks and tobacco 2.1%, and rents — including private and public housing — 1.0%. Food, including dining out, increased 0.9%. Durable goods fell 2.2%, while clothing and footwear slipped 0.7%. The A-type CPI, which covers lower- and middle-income households that make up about half the population and have average monthly spending of 6,500 to 27,999 Hong Kong dollars (about 132,500 to 570,700 yen), rose 1.6% from a year earlier, also unchanged from the previous month. For January through March, the Composite CPI rose 1.6% from the same period a year earlier. Underlying inflation for the period was 1.4%. A government spokesman said March inflation was slightly faster, noting it exceeded the average monthly increase of 1.5% in January and February after adjusting for the timing difference of the Lunar New Year holiday (Feb. 17 in 2026). The spokesman said the pickup remained mild and was mainly driven by a sharp rise in international oil prices amid heightened tensions in the Middle East. The spokesman also said elevated oil prices are expected to affect prices of related goods and services in the CPI in the short term.* This article has been translated by AI. 2026-04-24 11:42:16
  • Taiwan’s UMC Weighs Producing 2D NAND Flash Memory at Japan Plant
    Taiwan’s UMC Weighs Producing 2D NAND Flash Memory at Japan Plant Taiwan foundry United Microelectronics Corp. is believed to be considering producing NAND flash memory at its plant in Mie, Japan, the Economic Daily reported. The company is said to be looking at so-called mature products that memory makers in South Korea and Japan, including Samsung Electronics and Kioxia, have scaled back or exited. The product under review is a flash memory known as “2D NAND.” While competitors such as Samsung and Kioxia have shifted production toward higher-margin “3D NAND,” 2D NAND still has demand in long-life electronics such as automotive, home appliances and industrial control equipment. With supply tight, prices have been surging. The report said UMC plans trial production in the second half of this year (July-December) and aims to start mass production from 2027. UMC is expected to make the 2D memory based on circuits designed by its partner, Taiwan-based fabless chip designer eMemory. The report said UMC has been studying the plan after receiving a request from a major Japanese memory maker to help maintain domestic 2D NAND production capacity. UMC’s Mie plant was originally a Fujitsu facility that produced 12-inch wafers. UMC acquired it in 2019 and made it a subsidiary, United Semiconductor Japan Corp., or USJC. The plant currently focuses on logic chips for smartphones and vehicles, with capacity of 39,800 12-inch wafers a month. A USJC spokesperson told NNA that the report “was not announced by UMC or our company,” adding, “We cannot respond to market speculation.”* This article has been translated by AI. 2026-04-23 16:48:14
  • Dandadan Juicy Gyoza Izakaya to Open First Thailand Store in Bangkok in Late July
    Dandadan Juicy Gyoza Izakaya to Open First Thailand Store in Bangkok in Late July Restaurant operator NATTY SWANKY Holdings Co., based in Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo, said on the 22nd that its subsidiary Dandadan will open its first store in Bangkok, marking the brand’s first overseas location. The gyoza izakaya, branded as “Dandadan of Juicy Gyoza Dumplings,” is scheduled to open in late July. The store will be on the fifth floor of Cloud 11, a large mixed-use complex in eastern Bangkok, in a rooftop garden area. The shop will cover 100 square meters. As in Japan, the signature item will be pan-fried “juicy gyoza,” while the menu will be localized for Thailand. The company expects average spending per customer to be about 1.3 times the level in Japan. A Dandadan spokesperson told NNA, “We will enter the Thai market in cooperation with a local partner.” The company will prioritize stabilizing operations at the first store and will decide on any further openings after assessing conditions. Dandadan has 131 locations in Japan. It previously ran a one-year, limited-time store in Malaysia as a test of overseas operations. The spokesperson said completing that Malaysia operation without major problems helped inform the decision to expand into Thailand.* This article has been translated by AI. 2026-04-23 16:20:19
  • Philippine Airlines Fuel Surcharge Raised Near Cap for April 16-30
    Philippine Airlines Fuel Surcharge Raised Near Cap for April 16-30 The Philippine Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) raised the benchmark used for airlines’ passenger fuel surcharges to “Level 19,” near the ceiling, for the April 16-30 period. For passenger flights, the surcharge for international routes will range from 2,070.77 to 15,397.15 pesos depending on the destination, while domestic routes will be charged 627 to 1,834 pesos. That is about 2.5 times higher than the April 1-15 period. The CAB sets fuel-surcharge benchmarks on a Level 0-20 scale. It had stayed at “Level 4” for a long period through March, but raised it to “Level 8” for April 1-15 as fuel prices surged amid conflict in the Middle East. Price monitoring and surcharge-setting had been done on a monthly cycle, but starting in April it was temporarily shifted to a 15-day cycle to respond more quickly to price swings.* This article has been translated by AI. 2026-04-23 15:59:35
  • Malaysia Food Culture Fair Set for June 17-30 at ANA Crowne Plaza Kobe
    Malaysia Food Culture Fair Set for June 17-30 at ANA Crowne Plaza Kobe The agriculture section of the Embassy of Malaysia in Japan said April 22 it will hold a special fair, “Taste of Malaysia,” with Malaysia’s government tourism office at the ANA Crowne Plaza Kobe from June 17 to 30 to showcase Malaysian cuisine. The event will also include a tasting for industry participants featuring Malaysian seafood, aiming to raise awareness in the Japanese market and expand business. The fair will offer a buffet of traditional dishes, including seafood imported directly from Malaysia, nasi lemak (rice cooked in coconut milk), chicken satay and beef rendang. During the event, tastings will be held for HoReCa operators — hotels, restaurants and catering services — and food-industry buyers to present Malaysian seafood in greater detail. Japanese dishes will also be served alongside Malaysian cuisine to suggest a wider range of uses. Organizers said they plan to create opportunities for direct exchanges with Japan’s food industry to support future deals and business cooperation.* This article has been translated by AI. 2026-04-23 15:51:16
  • Amara Raja to Double Telecom Lithium Storage Deployments in India to 2 GWh by 2026
    Amara Raja to Double Telecom Lithium Storage Deployments in India to 2 GWh by 2026 Amara Raja Energy & Mobility Ltd., a major Indian maker of industrial and automotive batteries, said on April 21 it plans to double cumulative deployments of lithium energy storage systems in the telecommunications sector to 2 gigawatt-hours by the end of 2026. The company said cumulative installations have already exceeded 1 gigawatt-hour, with systems deployed at 50,000 telecom sites nationwide as India’s energy transition accelerates. In a statement, the company said energy storage is becoming “core infrastructure” for India’s shift in energy use. Amara Raja said demand for high-performance storage products is rising domestically as fifth-generation, or 5G, mobile networks and data centers expand, and it is aiming to reach the 2 gigawatt-hour target by late 2026. It identified data centers and broader industrial uses as its next growth areas.* This article has been translated by AI. 2026-04-23 15:46:01
  • Saikyo Bank Opens First Overseas Unit in Indonesia to Boost Hiring Support
    Saikyo Bank Opens First Overseas Unit in Indonesia to Boost Hiring Support Saikyo Bank said April 21 that it has established a local subsidiary in Jakarta, Indonesia, called Saikyo Consulting Indonesia. It is the bank’s first overseas entity and will support client companies’ recruitment of Indonesian talent and their expansion into the country. The subsidiary was set up April 17 with capital of 2.749 billion rupiah (about 25 million yen) and is wholly owned by the Saikyo Bank group. Through the local unit, the bank plans to strengthen support for hiring in Indonesia, including highly skilled workers. It will also expand consulting aimed at developing key personnel and helping clients move overseas. A bank official told NNA the group plans to partner with three Indonesian universities by the end of September to bolster support for recruiting highly skilled talent. The bank began consulting services in April 2024 to help companies recruit Indonesian workers and enter the market, and has served more than 30 firms so far. In Yamaguchi Prefecture, labor shortages have worsened due to a declining birthrate, an aging population and young people moving to the Tokyo area, prompting the bank to deepen ties with Indonesia, which has a large population and is expected to keep growing as a market.* This article has been translated by AI. 2026-04-23 15:32:48