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July 05, 2025
 

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The U.S. economy has shifted from strong growth to heightened recession risk and uncertainty due to President Trump’s aggressive trade tariffs and budget cuts, leaving Congress to reclaim control over policy to avoid worsening economic disruption and global instability.
COMMENTARY / World
May 6, 2025

Only the U.S. Congress can end Trump's economic uncertainty

There is no chance of reining in the disruption and destruction unless the Republican-controlled U.S. Congress reclaims its constitutional authority over trade policy.
Unlike Silicon Valley, many Asian societies, due to their penchant for risk aversion, need more government support to boost early-stage deep-tech innovation.
COMMENTARY / World
May 18, 2025

Government capital is not just 'silly money'

Unlike Silicon Valley's predominantly private-sector-driven ecosystem, many Asian societies exhibit greater risk aversion, necessitating proactive government involvement.
The rush to electrify everything is reshaping energy, but without addressing demand, grid and supply risks, the green transition may falter.
COMMENTARY / World
May 18, 2025

It’s electricity realism, not climate denialism

Electrifying everything comes with plenty of risks of its own.
A Rheinmetall Leopard 2 tank production line in Unterluess, Germany. The country's new chancellor, Friedrich Merz, has pledged to make the Bundeswehr Europe’s strongest army, marking a sharp departure from post–Cold War pacifism and sparking economic optimism rather than fear.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 19, 2025

German rearmament is a welcome 'war dividend'

Merz’s planned arms buildup means the definitive end to the "peace dividend” that the Western world had enjoyed since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.
The world’s largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, reaches the eastern Mediterranean Sea. The U.S. Navy's resources are stretched across multiple regions, including Europe, the Middle East and Indo-Pacific, where China's presence is growing.
COMMENTARY / World / Geoeconomic Briefing
May 19, 2025

U.S. Navy faces tough resource allocation challenges

There's a growing mismatch between U.S. strategic ambition and its military's naval capabilities, with China posing an increasingly formidable adversary both on land and at sea.
Pakistan's Chinese-made J-10C fighter jets fly over Islamabad in March 2024. Claims that Chinese fighter jets downed advanced Western-made Indian aircraft in recent clashes have caught investors' attention, raising prospects for increased arms sales for Beijing.
COMMENTARY / World
May 19, 2025

China’s defense industry is getting a DeepSeek moment

Investors are reassessing Beijing’s military capacity and potential to rise as an arms exporter.
Ocean plastic pollution is a systemic crisis that cannot be solved by a few sustainability-minded citizens recycling but requires an economy-wide solution.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 19, 2025

The true cost of ocean plastic pollution

The problem of maritime plastic-waste pollution first became apparent in the 1970s. In the half-century since then, the problem has become ever more widespread, as scientific expeditions conducted by the Tara Ocean Foundation (of which I am executive director) have shown.
Moody’s downgrade of the U.S. credit rating reflects growing concern over Washington’s unwillingness to confront rising debt, soaring deficits and interest costs — even as global investors keep piling into Treasuries.
COMMENTARY
May 19, 2025

Moody’s tells us what we already know about U.S. debt

Take the firm’s decision to strip the country of its top AAA credit rating seriously, not literally.
China’s Made in China 2025 program set an ambitious agenda, and a decade later, initial assessments conclude it had mixed success but maintain its goals will shape Chinese policy for years to come.
COMMENTARY / World
May 20, 2025

Ten years of Made in China 2025 sees mixed success

MIC2025 set an ambitious agenda, and a decade later, early reviews say it has had mixed success but maintain that its goals will shape Chinese policy for years to come.
''A Minecraft Movie'' star Jack Black attends the films world premiere in London on March 30. Video-game adaptations like the movie are overtaking superhero films at the box office.
COMMENTARY / World
May 20, 2025

Success of ‘Minecraft’ shows the future of movies is games

The big-screen feature from Warner Bros. Discovery, "A Minecraft Movie," has outearned every other U.S. movie so far in 2025.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi meets with U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House on Feb. 13. Trump’s coercive use of trade threats against India during the Pakistan military crisis has undermined trust in the U.S.-India partnership and exposed Washington as an unreliable security ally.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 21, 2025

Trump’s wake-up call for India’s foreign policy

Trump may have done India a favor. His actions have exposed an uncomfortable truth: Under his leadership, the U.S. is not a dependable partner in matters of security.
Agriculture minister Taku Eto answers reporters questions at the at the Prime Minister's Office on Monday.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 21, 2025

Why Ishiba pulled a 180 on the gaffe-stricken farm minister

Taku Eto is the first minister to fall since the Japanese leader formed his Cabinet last October
As Japan confronts global economic shifts and mounting fiscal pressures, its upcoming election risks being consumed by a stale, politically fraught debate over the consumption tax.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 21, 2025

Don’t reopen the ‘demon's gate’ debate in Japan

As Japan confronts global economic shifts and mounting fiscal pressures, its upcoming election risks being consumed by a stale, politically fraught debate over the consumption tax.
Britain's King Charles inspects a guard of honor in Edinburgh, Scotland, last July. The rising cost of the British monarchy, marked by increased taxpayer funding and limited transparency, is prompting questions about whether the public is getting fair value for supporting the royals.
COMMENTARY / World
May 21, 2025

A king’s ransom: The eye-watering cost of Charles III

Brits should be told how much their royals’ extravagant lifestyles are costing them.
China’s prolonged real estate slump has pushed housing construction back to early 2000s levels, sharply cutting cement production and offering a rare climate reprieve from one of the world’s biggest sources of carbon emissions.
COMMENTARY / World
May 21, 2025

China’s building crash is rewinding 22 years of growth

The real estate slump may be bad for the economy, but it’s good for the planet — cement is one of the most polluting substances on Earth.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba takes part in deliberations on pension system reform in the House of Representatives on Tuesday. Ishiba’s comparison of Japan’s finances to Greece’s during a tax debate drew backlash for spooking markets and misrepresenting the country’s debt situation.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 22, 2025

Ishiba's Greece debt comparison risks deeper crisis

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s comparison of Japan’s finances to Greece’s during a tax debate drew backlash for spooking markets and misrepresenting the country’s debt situation.
A demonstration is held in Malawi as part of government efforts to pilot test the use of drones for humanitarian purposes, with assistance from UNICEF. As this and other technologies become more accessible, we must ensure their use advances sustainable development.
COMMENTARY / World
May 22, 2025

How efficiency can transform sustainable development

In our haste to improve efficiency, we can't ignore the interests of humanity. Democratizing access to AI and other technologies is a fundamental step in this direction.
The U.S. debt crisis can’t be fixed without reforming entitlements, and that means Americans must retire later and pay more in taxes.
COMMENTARY / World
May 22, 2025

To fix the U.S. debt problem, Americans must retire later

The House’s proposed $3.7 trillion tax bill isn’t what sparked that Moody’s downgrade — it was the runaway growth of entitlement spending.
Mixue, a Chinese bubble tea chain, has become the world’s largest food and beverage chain, with tens of thousands of stores all over Asia. The company is just one example of the increasing reach and popularity of Chinese cultural exports across the globe.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 23, 2025

How China’s soft power is rewriting Asian culture

Chinese cultural exports are becoming increasingly popular across the world and especially Asia. Do they promote cross-border understanding or are they tools for propaganda?
With Russia holding the upper hand in Ukraine and its people likely to support a favorable peace, why is the Kremlin unwilling to negotiate?
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 22, 2025

Russia’s two minds on Ukraine

Russian people used to have savings; today, they spend whatever they can get their hands on and even take out loans.
A worker sorts plastic waste for recycling at Minato Resource Recycle Center in Tokyo in 2019. Japan has been criticized by environmental groups for its strategy on plastics, which is heavily reliant on recycling instead of reduction.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability / OUR PLANET
May 25, 2025

Are microplastics hurting our fertility?

While a lot remains unknown about how microplastics affect our health, scientists in Japan and around the world broadly agree there's an urgent need to reduce plastic production.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s attempt to punish Harvard by targeting its international students is an unconstitutional power grab aimed at intimidating free institutions and advancing his authoritarian agenda.
COMMENTARY / World
May 25, 2025

Harvard is fighting for much more than foreign students

Trump is trying to break the world’s leading university because he knows that higher education — everywhere — is one of the bulwarks of a free society.
The U.S. military’s longstanding dominance is eroding as China exploits its vulnerabilities with cheaper, faster and smarter warfare, demanding urgent American reinvention in energy, logistics and artificial intelligence.
COMMENTARY / World
May 21, 2025

America’s hard power must get harder — quickly

Aircraft carriers and fighter jets look a lot less stealthy in a world of limitless drones and autonomous submarines.
Donald Trump's attempt to bar international students from enrolling at Harvard, along with other actions, undercut America’s image as a land of opportunity, alienating future Asian leaders and diminishing U.S. influence in Asia.
COMMENTARY / World
May 25, 2025

America’s 'wolf warriors' are getting it all wrong in Asia

Trump's actions erode goodwill among future Asian leaders and weaken America's standing in a region once deeply aligned with it.
Demonstrators parade a picture of jailed Kurdish militant leader Abdullah Ocalan during a rally in Diyarbakir, Turkey, in February. The PKK’s decision to disband after decades of armed struggle marks a historic opportunity for Turkey to resolve its Kurdish issue through political reform.
COMMENTARY / World
May 26, 2025

The sudden death of Kurdish separatism in Turkey

Some four decades after orchestrating its first attack against Turkish government targets, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party has decided to disband and disarm.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's new plan to restrict updated COVID-19 vaccines to high-risk groups has sparked confusion and criticism, with experts warning it could limit public access and bypass established advisory channels.
COMMENTARY / World
May 26, 2025

The FDA’s new COVID-19 vaccine policy is clear as mud

The U.S. health agency's promises of transparency and choice for COVID-19 vaccines fall short in its first big test. 
Jack Ma attends his company Alibaba Group's initial public offering at the New York Stock Exchange in September 2014. After a long absence from the public sphere, Ma recently attended a government-led private enterprises symposium in Beijing.
COMMENTARY / World / Geoeconomic Briefing
May 26, 2025

Harnessing China’s tech giants: The case of Jack Ma

Alibaba founder Jack Ma's rehabilitation into public life signals China's intention to steer its tech entrepreneurs to do business with broader national interests in mind.
A Palestinian woman carries a toddler as she walks amid the destruction following Israeli strikes in Jabalia's Saftawi neighborhood in the northern Gaza on Thursday.
COMMENTARY / World
May 26, 2025

Nothing civilized about Netanyahu's war in Gaza

The continued razing of Palestinian enclave following the killing of Israel Embassy staffers will only perpetuate the cycle of violence.
Donald Trump’s approval of Nippon Steel’s U.S. Steel partnership signals a key step in U.S.-Japan economic and security cooperation amid rising competition with China.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 27, 2025

Nippon Steel partnership go-ahead boosts U.S.-Japan cooperation

The move is a sharp departure from Trump’s earlier, politically motivated stance opposing foreign ownership of U.S. Steel.
A Chinese J-10B fighter jet is put on display at the China International Aviation & Aerospace Exhibition in Zhuhai, China, in October 2016. The short May conflict between India and Pakistan became a live trial for Chinese arms, exposing vulnerabilities in its fighter aircraft and air defense systems.
COMMENTARY / World
May 27, 2025

Lessons from India-Pakistan war: Were China's arms overrated?

The short May conflict between India and Pakistan became a live trial for Chinese arms, exposing vulnerabilities in its fighter aircraft and air defense systems.
A prophesied disaster (likely) won’t strike Japan this weekend
A viral manga prediction of a July 5 disaster has gripped Japan with anxiety and triggered an economic impact, but experts warn that while such dates are unreliable, the threat of a massive earthquake remains real. 
Magnitude 5.5 earthquake jars Tokara Islands amid flurry of seismic activity
A strong quake struck off the Tokara Islands on Thursday afternoon, with the island chain having recorded around 1,000 earthquakes since a burst of seismic activity first began on June 21.
Japan to require flight passengers to keep power banks within sight
The transport ministry has announced new regulations requiring flight passengers to keep power banks within sight to mitigate fire risks while on board planes.
Ghibli’s Isao Takahata exhibit shows how beloved anime is made
“The man who planted Japanese animation” exhibition includes a variety of sketches, drawings and animation cels from Isao Takahata films such as color design for characters by Michiyo Yasuda from "Grave of the Fireflies."
Residents of Tokara Islands begin evacuation as seismic swarm continues
Details about evacuations from Akuseki Island, located in the Tokara island chain in Kagoshima Prefecture, is seen written on a whiteboard in the city of Kagoshima on Thursday.
Ghibli’s Isao Takahata exhibit shows how beloved anime is made
“The man who planted Japanese animation” exhibition includes a variety of sketches, drawings and animation cels from Isao Takahata films such as color design for characters by Michiyo Yasuda from "Grave of the Fireflies."
Flag football facing challenges and opportunities ahead
Japan’s women’s flag football team at the 2025 International Bowl in Los Angeles in June. The sport is enjoying continued growth in the country.
From Hokusai’s Great Wave, shinkansen to One Piece: a cultural treasure box for Lego Japan
Michael Ebbesen, general manager of Lego Japan, says Lego bricks based on Japanese culture have a rich global appeal and are sellable around the world.
With farmed fish, RelationFish swims against the tide in fine dining
Chef Hideaki Matsuo (middle) and the staff of Oseto Suisan Fisheries prepare to check on their sustainably farmed fish.

Podcast

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

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji
By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Smile! It’s ‘Sanrio Time,’ now and ever after
Smile! It’s ‘Sanrio Time,’ now and ever after

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