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July 19, 2025
 

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Clive Crook
U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson (center) attends a news conference at the Capitol on May 22 after the House narrowly passed a sweeping budget bill that some worry could add trillions to the country's deficit over the next decade.
COMMENTARY
May 28, 2025
The U.S. is about to discover if deficits actually matter
It turns out that this pattern — the bigger the debt, the less likely politicians are to address it — is lurking in the data, and not just in the U.S.
While tariffs and value-added taxes seem similar, a VAT would be a more effective, long-term solution for boosting the U.S. economy.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 4, 2025
Europe’s VAT hurts the U.S.? Retaliate with a VAT.
Maybe misconceptions about tariffs and trade can be turned to America’s advantage.
U.S. President Donald Trump and outgoing President Joe Biden, along with their respective first ladies, Melania Trump and Dr. Jill Biden, share words during the Bidens' departure ceremony on the East Front of the Capitol on Monday.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 21, 2025
Joe Biden’s abiding legacy will be Donald Trump
The question is how Democrats got to the point where more voters trust Trump — not just any Republican but Trump — to do a better job of running the country than Harris.
The massive Gemini fiasco unveils critical questions about artificial intelligence's role and accountability in decision-making.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 15, 2024
Google’s bad Gemini rollout did the world a favor
Part of the difficulty in grappling with AI’s full implications is the huge effort that has gone into devising models that express themselves like humans.
U.S. President Joe Biden announces new provisions in March 2022 requiring the government to buy more made-in-America goods.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 26, 2024
Biden doesn’t get why we need the WTO
What do Biden and Trump have in common? Protectionism. As a result, the 13th WTO ministerial conference underway in Abu Dhabi is doomed to fail.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 21, 2022
Want a better IRS? Simplify the tax code
The biggest problem facing the IRS isn't bad management or a lack of resources, but the metastasizing complexity of the tax rules it must administer.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 15, 2019
Britain's next great Brexit mistake
A short delay before the U.K. leaves the EU won't work — Brexit should be canceled.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 22, 2019
Where is the European Union's Brexit policy?
The U.K. has set a new standard for political paralysis — but the EU has little to boast about.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 30, 2017
Leaving the EU doesn't have to be a disaster
A friendly parting between the U.K. and EU is still possible, and in both sides' best interests.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 21, 2016
Why Trump might be good president
Expectations of Trump are so low in the minds of many Americans that small acts of civility and moderation will seem like remarkable achievements.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 24, 2016
The Brexit question that nobody has asked
Is Britain's less-than-full-hearted commitment to the European adventure best pursued as an increasingly anomalous member of a broken EU or as a concerned and friendly neighbor?
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 18, 2016
U.S. stance on Britain and the EU is hypocritical
U.S. President Barack Obama might at least pay the British the courtesy of understanding their distinctively American ideas about sovereignty.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 27, 2015
Europe's messiah complex
Britain's debate over its membership of the European Union is bound to end badly because whatever U.K. voters decide, they'll come to regret it.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 28, 2015
Climate and the Volkswagen scandal
But there are several scandals swirling around Volkswagen's emissions malfeasance, and the most important may be European governments' passion for diesel over gasoline.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 31, 2015
What if the 2008 crisis comes around again?
The obstacles to effective remedies for a major economic crisis would be formidable, but more political than economic.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 15, 2015
Stand back: China's bubble will burst
The bursting of China's stock-market bubble could conceivably deflate the myth that what Beijing commands of the economy shall be so. And who knows where that might lead.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 28, 2015
Britain's strange silence on Europe
Britain's election was supposed to be about the nation's future in the European Union, but the issue is being given short shrift by both Labour and the Conservatives.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 20, 2015
The poverty of American presidential politics
The time, effort and money that will be poured into the battle for the U.S. presidency are enormous, but the difference the outcome will make is limited.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 10, 2015
Feckless Europe kowtows to China on AIIB
Europe's decision to support the AIIB over U.S. objections reflects its own weakness more than America's.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 7, 2015
Criminals, frauds taught capitalists about trust
The history of markets is, in part, the history of lying, cheating and stealing — and efforts to fight commercial crime.
Living conditions index hits lowest level in 15 years in Japan
The share of respondents to a Bank of Japan quarterly survey in June who said they have become worse off came to 61.0%, up 5.1 percentage points from the previous survey.
Tokyo emerges as a top market for global tech talent
Tokyo ranks among the world's top tech talent hubs alongside Beijing, the San Francisco Bay Area, Bengaluru, Paris, New York and Dublin, according to Colliers' newly released global tech markets report.
From stalking to death threats, female candidates still face harassment
Mayu Ushida, a former NHK newscaster running for election in the Tokyo electoral district on the Democratic Party for the People ticket, signs an autograph for a voter after a public rally at Shinjuku Station in Tokyo on Tuesday.
CDP leader criticizes ‘Japanese First’ policy and calls for inclusive society
Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan leader Yoshihiko Noda said it is obvious that Japanese society could not function without the help of foreign workers in manufacturing, health care, construction and public transportation.
JSA’s 100th anniversary event is a once-in-a-lifetime chance for sumo fans
Egyptian wrestler Osunaarashi has some fun with children during a special Japan Sumo Association event in 2017.
Japan's rice farmers are confounded by Shinjiro Koizumi’s policies
Kiyoshi Shibata stands in front of one of the rice paddies in Murayama, Yamagata Prefecture, where he produces the prefecture's signature rice brand Tsuyahime.
From stalking to death threats, female candidates still face harassment
Mayu Ushida, a former NHK newscaster running for election in the Tokyo electoral district on the Democratic Party for the People ticket, signs an autograph for a voter after a public rally at Shinjuku Station in Tokyo on Tuesday.
Kawaii Lab redefines idol pop for the TikTok generation
Misa Kimura is the main producer for Kawaii Lab, a project by entertainment agency Asobisystem whose groups have found success by pairing a social media-first strategy with a fresh perspective on traditional idol-pop tropes.
Craig Mod's life in motion in a disappearing Japan
Mod's memoir “Things Become Other Things” chronicles his walking trips across the Kii Peninsula, surveying “a graceful end to a certain life cycle.”
With China and Trump, Japan defense report says world entering ‘new era of crisis’
A senior member of a Self-Defense Forces honor guard inspects a formation before the arrival of Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba for a visit to the Defense Ministry in Tokyo on June 30.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

After pandemic-era border regulations eased, Indian migrants began returning to Japan. Their population now stands at more than 50,000 across the country.
How remote work is rewriting the migrant experience in Japan
By Megha Wadhwa

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