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Shinji Fukukawa

For Shinji Fukukawa's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:

COMMENTARY

May 19, 2012

How to right what's wrong in East Asian manufacturing

East Asia's manufacturing industry, with its remarkable growth in recent years centering on China, South Korea and members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), has come to be called "the Factory of the World."

COMMENTARY

Mar 3, 2012

How to push reform forward

Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda has stated he would stake his political life on realizing integrated reform of the tax and social security systems. Japan's financial structure is worse than those of other advanced countries and even that of Greece, which was responsible for the euro crisis. Therefore it is in dire need of reform.

COMMENTARY

Jan 21, 2012

Bring the world closer to Japan

Once the Cold War was over, globalism was widely expected to expand but has since lost its momentum due to the credit crunch stemming from the sovereign debt crisis in Europe and the ensuing economic recession around the world. As a result, the World Trade Organization gave up in December on concluding the new round of trade rule negotiations at an early date.

COMMENTARY

Dec 21, 2011

Populism hinders globalization

The world is in a shroud of thick mist. At the time the Cold War ended, people around the world widely expected that globalization would make progress, the U.N.-centered order of peace would be maintained and market-economy-based global high growth would materialize. However, the ensuing reality has shown that the unifying force of the world order is reeling from United States' declining national power and that the global economic situation has become persistently unstable due to the economic stagnation and financial crisis in the U.S. and Europe.

COMMENTARY

Oct 26, 2011

A call for improved national crisis management policy

More than seven months have already passed since the Great East Japan Earthquake disaster. Industrial production in the affected areas has bounced back to pre-disaster levels, but the recovery of agriculture and fishery is lagging and nearly 70,000 people remain in evacuation facilities. On top of that, it will take more time to place the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant's reactors into a state of "cold shutdown," the processing of compensation payments for nuclear-related damages is proceeding at a slow pace, and it will be some time before the investigation into the cause of the nuclear crisis is concluded.

COMMENTARY

Sep 16, 2011

New prime minister must restore confidence in politics

Yoshihiko Noda, taking over from Naoto Kan as president of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan, was elected the 95th prime minister on Aug. 30. He is the 18th prime minister in 25 years and the third since the DPJ came to power two years ago.

COMMENTARY

Jul 26, 2011

Push FTA of South Korea, Japan, China toward TPP

Ten years since the concept of a free-trade agreement (FTA) among Japan, China and South Korea was proposed, some visibly significant moves have gotten under way recently. The three countries, at their leaders' summit talks held in Japan on May 21 and 22, reached agreement to conclude the industry-government-academia joint studies on the FTA issue this year and begin intergovernmental negotiations next year.

COMMENTARY

Jun 17, 2011

Triple disaster proves need for an industrial revolution

Some three months since the colossal earthquake and tsunami in eastern Japan, stricken areas are getting on track for recovery with local industrial production capacity having been restored to as much as 90 percent of pre-disaster levels.

COMMENTARY

Apr 24, 2011

Will postquake recovery lead to a new Japan?

The March 11 Great Eastern Japan Earthquake and tsunami left some 27,000 people dead or missing and caused an estimated ¥25 trillion in economic devastation along the northeastern Pacific coastal areas. And the accidents at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant caused radiation leaks and a power supply shortage, adding up to a complex catastrophe with no precedent.

COMMENTARY

Mar 22, 2011

The rejuvenation of Tokyo

With April's gubernatorial election in Tokyo just around the corner, major candidates have announced their decisions to run. This political event comes amid the world's red-hot competition for intercity popularity.

COMMENTARY

Feb 13, 2011

How does Japan start to cope with fewer births, longer lives?

Economic growth depends on the rates of population increase and technological evolution, among other factors. Technological evolution relies on the capacities of human beings. So its kernel factor is human power.

COMMENTARY

Dec 25, 2010

Revitalizing national politics

The Democratic Party of Japan realized a dramatic change of government with its great win in the Lower House election in August 2009. The DPJ victory came when policy evolution in the later years of the coalition administration by the Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito stagnated, prompting mass media and leading intellectuals to call for change of government to pave the way for revitalization of national politics.

COMMENTARY

Nov 25, 2010

Surviving the currency competition

The yen's exchange value is considered likely to top the rate of ¥79.75 to the dollar registered in 1995 for an all-time high sooner or later. At a meeting that ended Oct. 23, Group of 20 finance ministers and central bank governors managed to contain the confrontation between the advanced economies led by the United States and the major emerging economies including China, and agreed for now to avert a global competition of currency devaluation.

COMMENTARY

Oct 11, 2010

Is Japan's disease curable?

Since the 1990s, often called Japan's "lost 10 years," many parts of Japanese society have been disintegrating. Japan's influence has been in decline in the international community and on the global economic scene.

COMMENTARY

Aug 11, 2010

Can Japan's politics change people's despair to hope?

The outcome of the July 11 Upper House election symbolized voters' distrust of national politics in Japan. The ruling Democratic Party of Japan led by Prime Minister Naoto Kan took only 44 of the 121 contested seats against its pre-election share of 54 seats due for contention and the DPJ-led coalition lost a majority in the 242-seat chamber by a large margin.

COMMENTARY

Jul 13, 2010

How Japan regains vitality

Japan's international rating has been declining lately. Heard overseas are suggestions that Japan is about to enter its third "lost decade," or that Japan has disappeared off the world's radar screen. Its share of global GDP, 14.3 percent in 1990, slipped to 8.9 percent in 2008 and is expected to sink below China's this year.

COMMENTARY

May 18, 2010

Overhaul industrial policy to bolster the economy

Japan's industrial power is so stagnant that it seems a crisis is in store for our economy. Even as it lags far behind the United States in creating intelligent information systems, Japan is finding that South Korea, Taiwan and China are catching up with it in manufacturing.

COMMENTARY

Apr 7, 2010

Getting along with China

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, delivering a government work report at the third session of the 11th National People's Congress in March, claimed that China was "first in the world to realize economic recovery and positive turnaround" following the international financial crisis, and that its strategies for "reform, opening up and social modernization" brought about "new achievements."

COMMENTARY

Mar 9, 2010

Hatoyama's growth strategy for economy raises questions

Responding to the criticism that the Hatoyama Cabinet lacks a growth strategy, the government on Dec. 30 unveiled the basic policy of its new strategy for economic growth titled "For a Shining Japan."

COMMENTARY

Jan 29, 2010

Building on Copenhagen

Last month the 15th Conference of the Parties to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP15) closed by announcing the Copenhagen Accord drawn up by major participating countries. Although the process produced some positive results — such as calls for steps to hold the global temperature increase below 2 degrees Celsius and to streamline the mechanism for funding developing nations — agreement on a new framework to succeed the Kyoto Protocol was put off. Signatories were asked to work for a new strategy formulation.

From easily navigable train stations to the helpfulness of its municipal staff, Tokyo has earned high praise for its commitment to accessibility for disabled travelers.

[Rebroadcast] Japan is doing better on accessibility than you may think

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Climbing the branches of a Japanese family tree

By Alex K.T. Martin

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