Mark Zuckerberg, the head of Meta (Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp), is currently in Japan and is planning trips to South Korea and India this week, AFP reports.
The 39-year-old American multi-billionaire posted photos on social media of a "really special afternoon learning to make katanas" - traditional Japanese swords - at a craft workshop in Kumagaya, in Saitama Prefecture.
After skiing with his family in Japan last week, Zuckerberg is due to meet Meta developers in Tokyo on February 26 and 27.
He is then expected in South Korea, where he may meet with President Yoon Suk Yeol as well as the heads of the country's tech giants Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics, in particular to discuss artificial intelligence (AI), according to local media.
"Mark is planning a short visit to South Korea, with several important meetings," Meta said in a statement, without giving further details.
Samsung Electronics and other South Korean firms are among the world leaders in artificial intelligence chips.
With the head of LG Electronics, Zuckerberg is also expected to discuss a possible collaboration between their two groups to develop a new augmented reality (virtual, mixed and augmented reality) headset to compete with Apple's just-launched Vision Pro.
Then, at the end of the week, Zuckerberg is expected in India to attend huge celebrations ahead of the wedding of one of the sons of Mukesh Ambani, the wealthy head of conglomerate Reliance Industries.
Meta and others have invested billions of dollars in Jio, Reliance's digital services unit, which it seeks to turn into an Indian e-commerce giant.
A thousand other prominent guests, including Bill and Melinda Gates, Disney CEO Bob Iger and Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka Trump, are expected to attend the celebration. / BGNES
