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May 01, 2024
 

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Noah Smith
For Noah Smith's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 22, 2018
Beijing invents a different way to run an economy
The nation has avoided a recession for a quarter-century. Few countries can make the same claim.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 16, 2018
Robots will make life grim for the working class
Cheap technology will sweep away lots of jobs. That's an argument for a better safety net.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 6, 2018
Social media looks like the new opiate of the masses
Researchers have found some troubling parallels with addictive drugs.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 1, 2018
Abenomics starts looking a lot like Reaganomics
Explaining Japan's economy to Western audiences is hard.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 6, 2018
Will Trump rejoin the Trans-Pacific Partnership? Let's hope so
Reentering the trade agreement could make the U.S. a winner.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 5, 2018
What Trump's trade guru doesn't get about economics
Promoting U.S. trade hawk Peter Navarro to the office of assistant to the president would not be good for growth.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 16, 2018
Abe keeps the right person to run the Bank of Japan
Abenomics required an end to timid monetary policy. Haruhiko Kuroda is providing it.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 12, 2018
Trump's chain-immigration plan takes direct aim at Asians
Asian immigrants thrive in America, but fewer would come if they couldn't bring family members.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 16, 2017
Nurture as important as nature for success
The world would be a better, richer, more equal place with less emphasis on natural talent and more on humans' potential to improve.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 20, 2017
The robot revolution is still coming
The robot revolution is coming, but will it amount to much?
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 8, 2017
Japan and the U.S. don't have a trade problem
Japan is a good trade partner and a key source of investment into the U.S. Monetary easing, rather than aggressive jawboning, is the best approach to the imbalances that remain.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 3, 2017
Rich nations need to find a cure for baby bust
Child-care subsidies and paid parental leave boost fertility rates by reducing the economic and opportunity costs of having children.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 31, 2017
Free college helps the rich the most
Making college free for all isn't the right way to insure poor students have access to higher education.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 19, 2017
Who has the world's No. 1 economy? Not the U.S.
The days of U.S. economic supremacy are over.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 16, 2017
Japan Inc. scandals build case for corporate reform
Another big scandal is rocking corporate Japan. This time it's Kobe Steel Ltd., a major producer, which has confessed to faking data on the quality of its materials. Everything from bullet trains to cars to U.S.-made airliners could be affected. It's doubtful that the scandal will wreak lasting damage on Japan's reputation for top-notch manufacturing quality — after all, every country's industrial giants suffer this sort of debacle from time to time. But Kobe Steel does show that Japanese companies need better corporate governance. Along with recent accounting scandals, cover-ups by major firms as well as falsified data at airbag maker Takata Corp., the incident shows that Japanese companies need to work harder to catch these problems earlier, instead of just apologizing after it's too late.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 14, 2017
A Nobel for humility in field of economics
Instead of trying to design a new theory-of-everything to explain anomalies, Richard Thaler borrowed or created situation-specific theories.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 2, 2017
Japan has to spend a little less on its well-off elderly
Lowering pension and medical benefits to well-off elderly people looks like Japan's least-bad option to rein in its debt.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 1, 2017
We'll get flying cars to go with our 140 characters
There has been an explosion of commercial interest in flying cars.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 28, 2017
Did quantitative easing do any good?
QE probably helped end the Great Recression, though we'll never know for sure.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 5, 2017
How Japan needs to change to welcome immigrants
If managed wisely, immigration can be a boon for Japan.
'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.
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.
Did Japan intervene to prop up the yen? Analysts think it did.
A man walks past an electronic board displaying the exchange rate for the yen against the U.S. dollar (right) in Tokyo on Tuesday.
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.
Golden Week crowds greeted with high temperatures as holiday period kicks off
The departure lobby for domestic flights is crowded with travelers at Haneda Airport in Tokyo on Saturday, the first day of this year's Golden Week holidays.
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

Students ‘study abroad’ on island of Suo Oshima
Students ‘study abroad’ on island of Suo Oshima

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