BIDEN-KISHIDA | VIRTUAL SUMMIT U.S. President Joe Biden will meet virtually on Friday with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to discuss the two nations' economies, security matters and climate change.

Beijing tightens rules for entering city after Omicron case.

UPDATE | North Korea's freight train arrives in China's Dandong: source

UPDATE | Djokovic flies out of Australia after losing court appeal.

MERCARI | U.S. STRUGGLE As Japan's Mercari pursues its ambition to become a global secondhand-goods marketplace, it must first turn around flagging operations in the U.S. #Mercari 

CHIPS AND BATTERIES | RELYING LESS ON CHINA The Japanese government aims to subsidize developers of chips and other key items as Sino-American trade tensions and COVID-19 expose supply chain vulnerabilities. #chipshortage 

A CALMER CHINA? | OUTSPOKEN EDITOR RETIRES The retirement of Hu Xijin as editor-in-chief of the Global Times could be a sign that China is considering a less confrontational approach to pursuing its global ambitions, writes Dave Sharma.

TURKISH MONETARY POLICY | EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED After months of unpredictable and highly unorthodox steps, many market pros no longer even want to guess how Turkey's policy rate will end the year.