Jul 1, 2012

Asia richer than ever — or is it?

Asian millionaires have surpassed North American millionaires for the first time ever, according to a study by Capgemini consultancy and the Royal Bank of Canada. The Asia-Pacific region now has 3.37 million so-called high-net-worth individuals, calculated in terms of the number of people with ...

May 19, 2012

Few strong performers in 2011

Listed major companies are announcing their business performance for fiscal 2011. As a whole, they are expected to show the first decrease in recurring profits in three years, mainly due to the effects of the 3/11 disasters, floods in Thailand, the strong yen and ...

May 1, 2012

Slow but steady economic recovery

Japan’s economic prospects are not very bright due to the effects of the 3/11 earthquake and tsunami and the stronger yen. But it is not that the prospects are completely gloomy. The government’s monthly assessment of the economy for April released in mid-April by ...

Mar 28, 2012

Challenges for electronics makers

Electronics makers, which served as a crucial engine of the Japanese economy during the period of high growth, are now experiencing difficult times. Certainly they suffered greatly from external factors such as the 3/11 disasters, the floods in Thailand and the strong yen. But ...

Jan 13, 2012

Caveman defense budgets

by Gwynne Dyer

If you’re not allowed to enslave people any more, or even loot their resources, then what is the point of being a traditional great power? The United States kept an army of over 100,000 soldiers in Iraq for eight years, at a cost that ...

Jan 9, 2012

Adaptation to climate change will cost plenty

by Haruhiko Kuroda

Rising, warming and increasingly acidic seas threaten the very survival of Pacific island countries. The retreat of glaciers and snowfields in the Himalaya and Tibetan Plateau jeopardize these “water towers” on which 1 billion Asians depend for flows during the dry season and drought ...

Dec 23, 2010

Thailand advancing with purpose

The Dec. 14 editorial “Thai king’s call for unity” is overly pessimistic in assessing the Thai monarchy. Similar to the Imperial institution in Japan, the Thai monarchy is widely respected in Thailand. It is the country’s principal institution that has evolved amid changing circumstances ...

Dec 14, 2010

Setbacks in Indonesia's antigraft policy

by Donny Syofyan

PADANG, West Sumatra — Transparency International publishes the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) every year. Based on 13 different expert and business surveys, the CPI measures and ranks public sector corruption in 180 nations. The 2010 Corruption Perceptions Index shows that nearly three-quarters of the ...