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April 30, 2024
 

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Robert Samuelson
For Robert Samuelson's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 14, 2014
How Americans learned to love deleveraging
Now that the ugly process of America's deleveraging seems mostly done, more money can flow into old-fashioned consumer and business spending. The bad news is that this improvement is not assured.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 8, 2014
Russia's big bet on 'Putinomics'
Russian President Vladimir Putin thinks he can enjoy political and military freedom in dealing with Ukraine without experiencing crippling economic costs from sanctions or the exit of multinational firms from Russia.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 31, 2014
Russia's natural gas weapon looks overblown
On close inspection, the threat that Russia could use its natural gas as a doomsday weapon involves much bluff. If used, it would probably do less damage than imagined while imposing long-term costs on Russia.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 14, 2014
Will Putin's Crimea gamble backfire?
Although Russia could acquire Crimea, Russian President Vladimir Putin might not be able to keep Ukraine in Moscow's economic orbit. The crisis might have accelerated Ukraine's reorientation westward.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 17, 2014
How U.S. won — and lost— the war on poverty
In reality, Americans both won and lost the War on Poverty launched 50 years ago this month. This is an ambiguous truth that the acrimonious U.S. political culture has trouble accepting.
COMMENTARY
Jan 4, 2014
China risking a debt crisis from localities
Although the odds this year of a full-blown financial crisis in China are slim, they're not nonexistent. The flash point is the burgeoning debt of localities to finance infrastructure.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 23, 2013
Shift from early retirement impacts the young
The transition in many industrialized countries from retiring early to working longer is happening at an awful time. Without stronger economic recoveries, jobs taken by older workers contribute to the high unemployment of the young.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 15, 2013
The hallowed role of the U.S. emergency room
Emergency rooms are the black boxes of the U.S. health care system. From TV hospital dramas, Americans see them as citadels of chaotic caring but otherwise harbor myths about them.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 25, 2013
With rapid growth imperiled, China at a crossroads
China remains a colossus, but its future is increasingly clouded.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 19, 2013
A pragmatic way to reduce emissions
A carbon tax could not only cut emissions but also reduce budget deficits and enhance energy security.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 15, 2013
Behind Washington's firestorm
The story behind the story of the U.S. budget showdown is that prolonged slow growth threatens historic changes to America's political and social order.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 25, 2013
Deleveraging results garner incomplete grade
Almost everyone agrees that too much borrowing was at the core of the financial crisis and Great Recession. Where do we stand five years after Lehman Brothers
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 27, 2013
Obama should settle the battle for the Fed soon
The struggle to succeed Ben Bernanke as chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve has turned into a soap opera.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 13, 2013
Can Bezos provide what good journalism needs?
A veteran journalist never imagined that American newspaper reporters and editors would become the economically threatened steelworkers of the 21st century.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 17, 2013
Obama's timid budget evades basic choices
There is something profoundly timid about U.S. President Barack Obama's proposed budget for 2014. He's evading basic choices while claiming he's bold and brave.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 10, 2013
Plenty of industry left in post-industrial America
The “decline” of manufacturing in the U.S. refers mostly to job loss, which is stark and long-term. Output itself continues to climb but with fewer workers.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 3, 2013
America's love-hate relationship with foreign trade
While Americans cheer foreign trade as consumers, scarfing up imports at the right prices, politically they are skeptics, fretting about jobs and wages.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 27, 2013
Signs indicate the U.S. economy is strengthening
Traditional economic labels lose their meaning for many Americans when they're told that the U.S. economy has been in a recovery since mid-2009.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 25, 2013
Cyprus mess portends unsafe world for deposits
The controversy over a Cyprus bailout plan the past week raises fears that future financial crises in Europe will trigger bank runs by worried depositors.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 18, 2013
'Lost generation' may learn a bit from restraint
This past decade, Americans under 35 have suffered the largest income decline of any age group. Will they view their challenges as useful someday?
When will Japan intervene to support the yen?
Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki has reiterated the government's readiness to take an appropriate action as the yen continues to slide against the U.S. dollar.
'So hot you can't breathe': Extreme heat hits the Philippines
A pedestrian cools himself with a folding hand fan as he waits for a ride along a road in Manila on Wednesday, as extreme heat hit the Philippines.
Raising kids in Japan as a single parent? It takes a village.
Making things work as a foreign, single mother in Japan isn't easy, but these tips and tricks can help you through the hardest parts.
Yen rebounds strongly after first slide past ¥160 since 1990
The yen dropped to ¥160.245 per dollar on Monday before heading into the other direction to ¥155.01 amid speculation of an intervention by Japanese currency authorities.
JAL cancels international flight after captain gets drunk at Dallas hotel
A Japan Airlines' flight from Dallas to Tokyo was canceled last week after its captain got drunk at a local hotel.
Climate change, chalky grains and the risks for Japan’s rice farmers
A farmer plants seedlings in Satsumasendai, Kagoshima Prefecture. Japan’s self sufficiency rate for rice is nearly 100%, compared with 38% for food overall, on a calorie basis.
Japan wants you to spend more with ‘luxury tourism’
Performers play a traditional drum unique to Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, in the prefectural capital of Kanazawa on March 16 to mark the extension of the Hokuriku Shinkansen line to Tsuruga Station in Fukui Prefecture.
Theaster Gates’ ambitious ‘Afro-Mingei’ brings Black Chicago to Tokyo
Theaster Gates' “A Heavenly Chord” lines up church pews before seven speakers and a Hammond B3 organ, a type of electric organ prevalent in Black American churches.
Casa del Cibo: A thriving jewel born from Tohoku’s harsh past
When chef Ryohei Ikemi moved to Hachinohe, Aomori Prefecture, and opened Casa del Cibo in 2011, it was the first proper Italian restaurant in the city.
Town to block view of Mount Fuji in response to overtourism
The town government of Fujikawaguchiko, Yamanashi Prefecture, decided to set up a 2.5-meter-high screen to prevent tourists from taking pictures of Mount Fuji looming behind a convenience store.

Podcast

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

Longform

When trying to trace your lineage in Japan, the "koseki" is the most important form of document you'll encounter.
Climbing the branches of a Japanese family tree
By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Vol. 34: Tokyo, a vanguard city for sustainability
Vol. 34: Tokyo, a vanguard city for sustainability

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