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July 06, 2025
 

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INEQUALITY

By enabling a few wealthy individuals to wield disproportionate influence, today’s global economy increasingly marginalizes and disenfranchises much of the world’s population.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 4, 2024
To preserve democracy, tax the rich
What the world needs are progressive tax systems that redistribute income from the rich to the poor without weakening socially beneficial incentives.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 1, 2021
Winners and losers in the digital transformation of work
Perhaps no single aspect of the digital revolution has received more attention than the effect of automaton on jobs, work, employment and incomes.
JAPAN / History / Defining the Heisei Era
Feb 23, 2019
Defining the Heisei Era: Women in Japan speak out on inequality
Last April, a female reporter from TV Asahi accused Junichi Fukuda, the top bureaucrat at the Finance Ministry, of sexual harassment.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 13, 2018
Globalization must center on people
After the 'yellow vests' challenged Macron in France, is there a way out of the conundrum for G20 nations?
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 13, 2016
Poverty: the dark side of the American empire
U.S. politicians must do more to help the 43 million Americans mired in poverty.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 15, 2015
The decline and fall of America's working class
Why are mortality rates rising for American working-class whites?
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 25, 2015
Inequality debate looks in the wrong direction
What's truly terrible in America isn't that a few people have so much. It's that so many people have so little.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 4, 2015
Impose a land tax to fight inequality in the U.S.
Henry George advocated forcefully for a land tax in his 1879 book, 'Progress and Poverty.' More than 135 years later, perhaps its time is ripe.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 29, 2014
Business Book of the Year is timely but way off target
The economics in Thomas Piketty's 'Capital in the Twenty-First Century,' chosen the Business Book of the Year by the Financial Times, leaves a lot to be desired. But its timing was fantastic.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 27, 2014
The difference between good and bad equality
The 'old' theory about inequality was that redistribution via the tax system weakened incentives and undermined economic growth. But the relationship between inequality and growth is far more complex and multi-dimensional than this simple trade-off suggests.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 28, 2014
Suicide kills more Americans than gun violence
Being poor doesn't bum people out. Being poorer than other people — people whose relative wealth you personally witness — does.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 14, 2014
Economic inequality by the click
Free markets are expected to distribute the fruits of some new technologies in dramatically unequal ways. Will the relative losers, satiated by computer games and Internet entertainment, and provided with the basics of a minimally acceptable life, be too docile to revolt?
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 7, 2013
Inequality threatens Mandela legacy
Nelson Mandela emerged from 27 years in apartheid jails in 1990 pledging to seize South Africa's mines and banks. Four years later, his government slashed spending and courted foreign investors, paving the way for the longest period of growth in the country's history.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 8, 2013
Anxiety replacing confidence for many Chinese
Billionaires as well as the new middle class are hedging their bets on China. Some joke that the president's slogan of 'a Chinese dream' refers to getting your kids into an American university.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 10, 2013
America's shattered dream
In recent years the trend toward extremes in income and wealth has accelerated significantly in the U.S. Is the collapse of the American dream at hand
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 8, 2013
The movie exposing the lies at the heart of U.S. capitalism
In one sense, "Inequality for All" is absolutely the film of the moment. We are living through tumultuous times. The economy has tanked. Austerity has cut a swath through our lives.
Japan braces for more quakes as authorities dismiss doomsday hype
Evacuees from Akuseki Island, located in the Tokara island chain in Kagoshima Prefecuture, arrive at Kagoshima Port on Friday.
Hidden AI prompts in academic papers spark concern about research integrity
Waseda University is one of 14 institutions in eight countries found to have used hidden prompts in research papers.
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. 
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.
U.S. military apologizes over Okinawa sexual assault case
Col. Neil Owens (right), chief of staff for the 3rd Marine Division, bows in apology at the Okinawa Prefectural Government office in Naha 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

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