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October 16, 2025
 

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The flags of participating countries are displayed near the entrance during a media preview day for the 2025 Osaka Expo on Wednesday.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 11, 2025

Japan’s second city is hosting a $66 billion coming-out party

First held in London in 1851, world expos have been promoted as venues to bring nations together and foster global coordination.
At many prominent Chinese universities, there are more graduate than undergraduate students. While a high level of educational attainment is seen as a measure to contrast youth unemployment, it may be compounding the problem instead.
COMMENTARY / World / Geoeconomic Briefing
Apr 11, 2025

Is China overproducing highly qualified talent?

Chinese universities are investing heavily in graduate education, but burgeoning ranks of highly qualified job seekers are struggling to find work and increasingly looking abroad.
The greenback’s share of global reserves dropped to 58% last year from over 70% two decades ago, reflecting its declining dominance in international trade and finance.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 11, 2025

Why buy the dollar if the U.S. becomes an economic island?

The greenback’s share of global reserves dropped to 58% last year from over 70% two decades ago, reflecting its declining dominance in international trade and finance.
Hyde Park's famed Speakers' Corner in London, which some call the home of free speech, is a place where anyone has the right to turn up every Sunday and talk about whatever is dear to their heart.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 10, 2025

Britain's free-speech retreat can't be denied

Britain's climate for free expression is deteriorating, as seen in aggressive police crackdowns on peaceful activists and dissenters across the political spectrum.
In the dystopian society of Sayaka Murata's latest book to come out in English, sex between married couples is considered incest and therefore taboo.
CULTURE / Books
Apr 14, 2025

'Vanishing World': Sayaka Murata’s vision of a sex-hating society

In Sayaka Murata’s latest book to come out in English, sex between married couples is considered taboo, and humans reproduce predominantly via IVF.  
U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping arrive prior to a meeting on the sidelines of the Group of 20 Summit in Hamburg, Germany, in July 2017.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 12, 2025

Trump-Xi truce appears elusive as China prepares to dig in

Authorities in Beijing seem intent on proving that they can withstand even more trade pain from the Trump administration.
Overcrowded trains and a lack of legal consequences for groping in Japan have led to a rise in "chikan," or groping, which has been linked to a mental condition and compounded by cultural stigmas.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 13, 2025

'Chikan' incidents rise as Japan grapples with mental health and cultural challenges

The governments of the U.K. and Canada have warned their citizens traveling to Japan that they could experience inappropriate physical contact — or "chikan" — on crowded trains
Jared Isaacman (left), U.S. President Trump’s nominee to head NASA, testifies during his Senate confirmation hearing on Wednesday. Bloomberg
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 13, 2025

NASA nominee should resist Musk’s pull toward Mars

During a Senate confirmation hearing on Wednesday, Jared Isaacman, the nominee for NASA administrator, was — in a twist on the Will Smith ’90s tune — gettin’ squishy wit it.
Russian leader Vladimir Putin meets with U.S. President Donald Trump's envoy, Steve Witkoff, in St. Petersburg on Friday.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 13, 2025

The U.S. and Russia are negotiating in bad faith

For now, Trump says he is “pissed off” at Putin for not being more amenable to his administration’s ceasefire proposals and he is threatening to impose yet more sanctions.
The Trump administration has slashed LGBTQ+ health research funding, dismantling key programs and halting studies on disparities and mental health, which experts warn will reverse progress and harm vulnerable communities.
COMMENTARY
Apr 14, 2025

The very idea of LGBTQ+ health is under attack

The Trump administration is rapidly breaking down the research infrastructure for these communities and doing so in a manner that guarantees it can’t be restored.
A wave of fear is spreading in immigrant communities as ICE uses secretive, aggressive tactics, bypassing legal protections and spreading panic reminiscent of authoritarian crackdowns.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 14, 2025

Unmarked vans and secret lists. The police state has arrived.

"It’s the unmarked cars,” a friend who grew up under an Argentine dictatorship said. He had watched the video of Columbia graduate student Mahmoud Khalil’s abduction. In the video, which Khalil’s wife recorded, she asks for the names of the men in plainclothes who handcuffed her husband.
While U.S. President Donald Trump has imposed new tariffs on nearly every country in the world, China is clearly his primary target.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 14, 2025

How should Beijing respond to Trump’s tariffs?

Many are already comparing it to President Herbert Hoover’s 1930 Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act, which slashed global trade by 66% in five years and deepened the Great Depression.
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?

The Iranians — like the Russians — are notoriously shifty negotiators. But so are the Americans, now that they’re led by Trump.
U.S. President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba hold a news conference at the White House in Washington on Feb. 7. Tokyo's focus on economic strength to promote security contrasts with Washington's current era of unpredictability.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 15, 2025

For real national security, try a Japanese perspective

Genuine national security starts from a strong economy, one that provides for its citizens, incentivizes growth, production and wealth, and invites foreign participation.
The Trump administration, in a desperate bid to cushion trade war inflation, is pushing for cheap oil, but $50-a-barrel will ultimately widen the very trade deficit the U.S. president wants to reduce.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 13, 2025

$50-a-barrel oil is a problem for the U.S. trade deficit

If oil prices fall to $50, under that scenario, total petroleum production in America will probably decline by 1 million barrels a day by the end of 2025.
The building of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia in Phnom Penh. The court, which ended proceedings in 2022, tried former Khmer Rouge officials for crimes committed during the regime, reinforcing global norms against impunity.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 16, 2025

Japan should challenge Washington in defense of justice

Japan played a key role in trying the Khmer Rouge for their crimes in Cambodia. Half a century on from the genocidal regime, Tokyo must renew its commitment to international law.
Facing a new round of U.S. tariffs, China may devalue the yuan — possibly by as much as 20% — if fiscal stimulus falls short, risking a global currency war as it fights to meet its growth target.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 16, 2025

When will China start to devalue the yuan?

One way to think about China’s currency policy is its fiscal stance. Unless Beijing brings out the stimulus bazooka, devaluing the yuan might be the most expedient option.
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

Taiwan must urgently strengthen defenses and unite politically to counter rising threats from China, despite Trump’s trade war.
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

Le Pen is appealing the verdict and her supporters are not the only ones finding fault with it.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has sent a delegation to Washington for high-stakes tariff talks, as other nations watch to see if Tokyo can secure favorable terms from the Trump administration.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 16, 2025

If Japan can’t get a good trade deal, can anyone?

The Asian nation is the canary in the tariff coal mine. If it can’t secure a good deal, there’s little hope for others.
Economists fail to understand that Donald Trump's tariff policy is part of a broader strategy to prepare the U.S. for long-term competition with China, driven by national security concerns rather than traditional economic or trade policy.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 17, 2025

What economists 'don’t get' about Trump tariffs

My view is that the U.S. has started to prepare seriously for a long-term competition with China for global dominance.
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

The greenback survived Trump's first term at the pinnacle and will likely endure his second.
ASEAN should use the 90-day pause on Donald Trump’s punishingly high tariffs to develop a unified position and broaden its membership by admitting East Timor and opening accession talks with Sri Lanka.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 16, 2025

ASEAN should expand to counter Trump’s tariffs

It came as no surprise that China would be the hardest hit, but the punishing duties imposed on most Asian countries were a profound shock.
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?

Rather than encouraging foreign direct investment in local manufacturing, Trump’s tariffs are deterring it.
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?

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?

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.
More than half of Japan's population may suffer from pollen allergies, with hay fever dubbed the nation’s "national disease" and blamed for being a drag on the economy.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 21, 2025

Did I fall victim to Japan’s stealth productivity killer?

Hay fever has been dubbed Japan’s "national disease” and blamed as a major drag on productivity.
Next year’s FIFA World Cup, co-hosted by Canada, Mexico and the U.S., will test whether America — with President Donald Trump pushing tariffs and tough immigration policies — can draw global fans or drive them away.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 21, 2025

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.
Global trade, energy and financial networks are increasingly being leveraged as strategic tools by nations, with supply chains, shipping routes and financial systems becoming potential points of conflict.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 21, 2025

How much 'weaponization' can the global economy take?

Global trade, energy and financial networks are increasingly being leveraged as strategic tools by nations.
Hiroshima is full of memorials to the 1945 atomic bombing. Among them, the peace museum promotes an ambiguous message: One against nuclear weapons without acknowledging the role of nuclear deterrence in preserving the postwar peace.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 21, 2025

The ambiguity of Japan’s message on nuclear weapons

It is common in Japan to be both anti-atomic weapons and anti-war. But are these positions not contradictory if nuclear deterrence actually works to preserve the peace?
Hypothermia in the land of the rising Sanae
Amid the election of Sanae Takaichi as Liberal Democratic Party president, and possibly the next prime minister, Japan's economy shows signs of recovery, but weak wages, a conservative corporate culture and currency issues raise doubts about a true economic thaw.
Number of scenarios now on the table for who might be Japan’s next prime minister
Newly-elected leader of Japan's Liberal Democratic Party Sanae Takaichi (right) celebrates with Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba after winning the LDP leadership election in Tokyo on October 4.
Could an opposition candidate become Japan's next prime minister?
The lawmaker that secures a majority of votes in the Lower House will become prime minister. If no one gets a majority, the two top contenders will enter a runoff in which the person with the highest number of votes gets elected.
Coalition talks could bring Takaichi closer to being PM
Nippon Ishin no Kai leader and Osaka Gov. Hirofumi Yoshimura meets with Liberal Democratic Party President Sanae Takaichi in Tokyo on Wednesday.
As temperatures drop in Japan, bear attacks shoot up to historic highs
Bear warning signs at the Akita Prefectural Government building
Number of scenarios now on the table for who might be Japan’s next prime minister
Newly-elected leader of Japan's Liberal Democratic Party Sanae Takaichi (right) celebrates with Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba after winning the LDP leadership election in Tokyo on October 4.
Pace eyes great strides for Japan’s art market
Pace Japan Vice President Kyoko Hattori, the de facto head of the nation’s business, believes a larger, more lucrative art market will allow Japan to be more attractive for collectors.
A frenetic diplomatic schedule looms for Japan’s next leader — whomever that may be
As horse-trading and speculation surge over who will be elected the next prime minister in parliament — the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's Sanae Takaichi or a possible candidate put forward by a unified opposition — Japan’s next leader will be confronted with a quick succession of key diplomatic events.
Ghost of Yotei’s bloodstained fun sidesteps Ainu identity
Ghost of Yotei, the follow-up to 2020's smash hit Ghost of Tsushima, is a violent, vengeful and engaging romp through 17th-century Hokkaido that fails to stick the landing on its most sensitive cultural material.
At Osaka Expo, gas giants promote a greener future. But is it a lot of hot air?
The Gas Pavilion had welcomed around 500,000 visitors by the end of August, making it one of the most popular exhibits at the Osaka Expo.

Podcast

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

Longform

Rock group The Yellow Monkey played K-Arena Yokohama in June as part of a nationwide tour. Concerts are increasingly popular in the age of social media as users value in-person experiences.
Inside Japan’s arena boom: Sports, sound and city-building
By Patrick St. Michel

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