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Daniel Moss
For Daniel Moss's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
Customers make a toast at an eatery in Tokyo. Many view Japan’s economy as being on the rise, and that of regional powerhouse China as declining. But how accurate is this narrative?
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 18, 2024
Japan is back, China is over. The trouble with narratives.
The idea that Japan and China's roles have flipped, with the former on the rise and the latter in decline, obfuscates important facts and trends.
Shi Pong Hsu, 75, makes coffee in a Singapore coffee shop. The city-state's government projects that almost a quarter of its population will be 65 or over by 2030.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 10, 2024
Singapore is bracing for a super-aging society
Japan and South Korea may be the poster children for low birthrates, but Singapore is confronting its own decline. Its solution? Bonuses for nurses.
What is the BOJ hoping to achieve through tighter policy? The bank's governor, Kazuo Ueda, dissented in 2000, arguing then a hike was premature — and he was right. Why the change now.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 29, 2024
Selling a rate hike during recession is tough. Good luck, Ueda.
What sounded like a statement of the obvious by Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda last week — that a country where prices are rising by 2% is, in fact, experiencing inflation — has more to it than meets the eye.
BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda at a news conference in Tokyo on Jan. 23. In it, he delivered a consistent message about the bank's intentions moving forward.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 29, 2024
BOJ's Ueda finds his mojo as rate message cuts through
After some growing pains, BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda finally delivers a clear message on the bank's intentions. He should keep at it.
The health of China's economy will always be a factor in how other Asian economies fare, and some of those are doing OK despite their larger neighbor’s woes.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 19, 2024
The latest indignity for China’s flawed recovery
Neighbors whose economic fortunes were supposed to be tied to the heft of China’s rebound from the pandemic seem to be doing pretty well without it.
Activists protest outside the offices of the Australian Immigration Department in Sydney in February 2016
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 10, 2024
The danger of talking down immigration Down Under
Australians are facing an economic dilemma Down Under amid an unsettling debate over immigration policies.
Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda, who took office in April, has been considered a skeptic of negative interest rates.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 17, 2023
One small step for BOJ. One giant leap for the yen.
Japan can hold off on undoing negative interest rates
Every time Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda has made an announcement since taking up his post, that information has appeared initially not in the public domain, but in the pages of the fourth estate.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 2, 2023
Bank of Japan leaks are making an awful mess
Central bank decisions can move billions of dollars and with the BOJ, the closely watched outlier that it is, its conclusions have more impact than most.
Despite shifts in the global economy and trade, the world remains highly integrated and globalization is far from over.
COMMENTARY
Oct 25, 2023
Globalization’s demise has been greatly exaggerated
Trade flows, allocation of dollars, and supply chains are evolving, but these changes are not uniform and can be challenging to predict.
The Bank of Japan's attempts to dismantle ultraloose monetary policies have led to unexpected market reactions and left some investors struggling to understand the central bank's intentions.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 10, 2023
The BOJ gets a new doctrine. It’s just keeping it to itself.
The BOJ is likely sincere when it says the 2% price goal is still some way off, even if one member seemingly believes it’s on the horizon.
Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda gives a news conference in Tokyo on Friday. The BOJ jolted financial markets by loosening its grip on bond yields.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 30, 2023
BOJ yields some control, but also throws a curveball
In trying to keep several plates spinning as it pertains to monetary policy and inflation, BOJ Gov. Kazuo Ueda steps on his message.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
May 29, 2023
Singapore’s high costs won’t dethrone the money center — yet
Southern Malaysia is becoming popular as Singaporean housing prices surge. The commute to Johor brings its own challenges.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 30, 2023
BOJ chief Ueda spares us the theatrics in his debut
The new Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda"s first task was not to blindside the market. So far, so good.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 6, 2023
A tumultuous Kuroda era reverberated far beyond Japan
Outgoing BOJ Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda"s battle against deflationary mindsets was exhausting, but it burnished his reputation as an innovator.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 15, 2023
What Kazuo Ueda’s past says about the BOJ’s future
Japan’s new central bank boss, Kazuo Ueda, is being likened to a wise old policy "owl" rather than a "dove" or a "hawk."
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 2, 2023
Superheroes need not apply for the BOJ’s top job
The challenges facing Kuroda’s BOJ successor look almost conventional. There’s no sense of national peril this time.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 27, 2023
Kuroda’s head-fakes make the unthinkable plausible
Skepticism about the Bank of Japan’s intentions is clouding Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda"s last months on the job.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 28, 2022
Haruhiko Kuroda spent 2022 showing the courage to be disliked
Bank of Japan Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda ticked nearly everyone off in a chaotic year. He wonu2019t care.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 23, 2022
Java without java? The crisis brewing in coffee
The Indonesian island is a byword for caffeine. The woes piling up for the coffee industry are on full display.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 21, 2022
Master of surprise Kuroda does it one more time
An unexpected BOJ policy tweak stunned markets. Expect central bankingu2019s biggest outlier to keep confounding investors.

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