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April 22, 2025
 

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COMMENTARY

World

World
Japan
A U.S. judge’s ruling against Google’s ad tech business marks a rare antitrust case with a clear remedy, threatening a key revenue stream and signaling a potential shift in the digital advertising landscape.
COMMENTARY / World
Google’s money-printing machine can be easily dismantled
On Thursday, a district court judge handed down a ruling that threatens to dismantle part of that money-printing machine.
COMMENTARY / World
How much 'weaponization' can the global economy take?
Global trade, energy and financial networks are increasingly being leveraged as strategic tools by nations.
COMMENTARY / World
The White House just kicked a World Cup own-goal
Next year’s FIFA World Cup will test whether the U.S. — with President Donald Trump pushing tariffs and tough immigration policies — can draw global fans or drive them away.
Canada is standing up to American tariffs and territorial threats. The “Buy Canadian” movement has erupted and the country is brimming with expressions of patriotic zeal that are reshuffling the deck in an upcoming election for the next prime minister.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 18, 2025
Is this Canada’s moment?
By Thomas O. Falk
Washington's tariffs and territorial threats have ignited Canadian unity and resolve, reshaping the upcoming vote to choose who will lead Ottawa through the geopolitical storm.
An autonomous aerial vehicle designed to carry one passenger conducts a test flight in Guangzhou, China. Flying taxis and even drone-powered food delivery services are rapidly becoming realities in the country's government-backed "low-altitude economy."
COMMENTARY / World / Geoeconomic Briefing
Apr 18, 2025
Will a 'low-altitude economy' make Chinese growth soar again?
By Hotaka Machida
Beijing wants to repeat the economic success story of its battery and EV players by propelling companies operating in low-altitude airspace to global market dominance.
Hyundai Motor vehicles bound for export are loaded aboard a cargo ship at the port in Ulsan, South Korea, in July 2015.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 17, 2025
Can Trump’s tariffs restore U.S. manufacturing?
By Keun Lee
Rather than encouraging foreign direct investment in local manufacturing, Trump’s tariffs are deterring it.
Donald Trump’s punitive tariffs have dealt a blow to U.S. credibility and the greenback. It’s a bigger leap to project the currency's demise.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 16, 2025
King dollar’s reign looks secure — for now
By Daniel Moss
The greenback survived Trump's first term at the pinnacle and will likely endure his second.
It's not just the far right, even some liberal voices worry that Marine Le Pen's conviction and disqualification undermine France's democracy, but their arguments don’t hold up.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 15, 2025
No, Le Pen was not railroaded
By Jan-Werner Mueller
Le Pen is appealing the verdict and her supporters are not the only ones finding fault with it.
The trade war is ratcheting up tensions between Beijing and Washington. Taipei needs to be more prepared. 
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 15, 2025
Taiwan is under siege with or without tariffs
By Karishma Vaswani
Taiwan must urgently strengthen defenses and unite politically to counter rising threats from China, despite Trump’s trade war.
U.S. President Donald Trump and his “madman theory” won’t get Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei to scrap his nuclear program.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 14, 2025
Why should Iran believe anything the U.S. threatens or promises?
By Andreas Kluth
The Iranians — like the Russians — are notoriously shifty negotiators. But so are the Americans, now that they’re led by Trump.

Social media helps fuel growing 'sex tourism' in Japan
People walk down a street in the red-light entertainment area of Kabukicho in the Shinjuku district of Tokyo on March 31.
Pope Francis, radical leader who broke the papal mold, dies at 88
Pope Francis blesses the faithful during the weekly general audience at the Vatican in August 2023.
Japan mulls reviewing car safety rules to strike deal with Trump
Ryosei Akazawa, Japan's Economic Revitalization Minister and top tariff negotiator with the U.S., speaks to the press upon his arrival at Haneda Airport in Tokyo on Friday.
Japan tariff negotiator rules out quick U.S. deal despite push by Trump
Ryosei Akazawa, Japan's top tariff negotiator with the U.S., speaks to reporters upon his arrival at Tokyo's Haneda Airport on Friday, a day after talks in Washington.
Shohei Ohtani announces birth of daughter
Shohei Ohtani and his wife Mamiko Tanaka attend a Lakers game in Los Angeles on Dec. 8, 2024.
Is Japan’s parliament ready to welcome more youth to its ranks?
Lower House lawmaker Kai Odake in his Tokyo office on Wednesday
The floor is art: Takuro Tamayama transforms mundanity
Takuro Tamayama’s sculpture “Models (Pair, 6 sets, 12 rings)” comes with a mathematical formation that scales it for different spaces.
Nothing sells like Shohei Ohtani, MLB’s marketing megastar
People walk past an advertisement featuring Los Angeles Dodgers two-way star Shohei Ohtani outside Tokyo Dome on March 18.
Calling all Potterheads: ‘The Goblet of Fire’ comes to Tokyo
The Tokyo version of the globe-trotting exhibition features a Ministry of Magic set, which includes an imposing replica of the Magic Is Might monument representing magical fascism.
Tokyo stock picker advises Trump-proofing portfolios with Godzilla creator Toho
The head of Godzilla, a Japanese monster movie character, is seen on a building of Toho Cinema in Tokyo. Toho is one tariff-defensive stock being recommended by brokers.

Podcast

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

Longform

Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.
Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.
By Tomoko Otake

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

BOARDING & INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL DAY 2025 (Sunday, April 20)
BOARDING & INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL DAY 2025 (Sunday, April 20)

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