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November 22, 2024
 

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Kevin Rafferty
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 10, 2010
IMF flunks good governance
HONG KONG — On Feb. 26, International Monetary Fund managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn put forward a bold-sketch map for what he called "an IMF for the 21st century," but in the very same week he and two key members of the fund, China and Japan, flunked the most important test for the future...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 2, 2010
Whose GDP is No. 2 misses point
HONG KONG — News headlines this month proclaimed that Japan is still the world's second-biggest economy, ahead of its neighbor China. Gross domestic product figures for 2009 showed Japan with $5.085 trillion against China's $4.91 trillion.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 21, 2010
Not the time to junk the factories
HONG KONG — While President Akio Toyoda and his Toyota Motor Corp. search for the vehicle pedal that says "damage control," economists and political commentators are increasingly speculating whether the multimillion vehicle recall by Toyota presages the beginning of the end of Japan's mighty manufacturing...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 17, 2010
Perilous U.S.-China games
BEIJING — Beijing is increasingly playing hardball on every issue that brings it into contact and potential conflict with the rest of the world: democracy in Hong Kong; U.S. arms sales to Taiwan; the visit of the Dalai Lama to the White House; sanctions against Iran; the value of the renminbi; the...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 11, 2010
Critical role for bureaucrats
HONG KONG — Some political commentators are suggesting that Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama is preparing to make Britain his model for reforming Japan's government system so that ministers — and not bureaucrats — make the important policy decisions.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 24, 2010
'Fat cats' roaring back at Obama
HONG KONG — U.S. President Barack Obama has used harsh words in denouncing the big bonuses that Wall Street is paying to its bankers and announcing new levies to claw back some of that money. "We want our money back, and we are going to get it," he said, calling the bankers "fat cats" and their payments...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 17, 2010
Limits on 'Allah' amid paradise's blessings
HONG KONG — An ad shown on the BBC and CNN channels portrays a Caucasian couple frolicking in a paradise on Earth, enjoying jungle greens filtered through dancing sunlight, scantily clad on a pristine golden beach undisturbed except by turtle tracks, snorkeling through vivid clear blue underwater life,...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 13, 2009
Wresting the press from pampered hacks
HONG KONG — Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States, was adamant that a free press is the most precious of all freedoms because it opens up or expands other freedoms. He famously wrote that given the choice of a government without a free press or a free press without a government,...
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 17, 2009
Unholy hunt for an EU president shows the hypocrisy of states
HONG KONG — With the signing of the Lisbon Treaty by Czech Republic President Vaclav Klaus, the leaders of the 27 countries of the disunity known as the European Union are now free to take an important step backward on the tortuous road to give Europe global relevance that matches the size of its combined...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 26, 2009
Challenging Obama's word
DELHI, India — During his U.S. presidential campaign, Barack Obama promised that he would be prepared to meet with so-called rogue rulers like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran or Kim Jong Il of North Korea in the interests of peace.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 1, 2009
A dose of common sense for the crisis in capitalism
HONG KONG — The global economic turmoil has sparked international debate over whether we are witnessing the death throes of capitalism or signs that a "new capitalism" needs to be devised. French commentators have gloated over the end of the Anglo-Saxon way of doing business, citing the need for the...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 26, 2009
Pope's dream of heaven on Earth
HONG KONG — Of all the criticisms and critiques of the state of the world since the financial crisis that triggered global recession, the most devastating and yet the most profound and constructive came this month from such an unusual and unlikely source that many media ignored them. Yet the comments...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 28, 2009
Reactive oil markets won't wait
HONG KONG — Economists are arguing whether they can see the green shoots of economic recovery or whether they are still only the yellow weeds of continuing recession. But global oil markets have been hyperactive and reacting as if the green shoots have already burst into flower on the way to a full-grown...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 21, 2009
Pain of Kashmir blocks realistic relations
HONG KONG — One of the most important, painful, politically controversial but essential tasks for the new Indian government of Manmohan Singh is to get relations with its neighbor and rival Pakistan onto a smoother footing for the sake of both countries, as well as for the peace and stability of the...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 5, 2009
Geithner's 'G-2' invitation
HONG KONG — Some Chinese see U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, who was in Beijing this week, as a repentant debtor humbly visiting his bank manager. Influential Americans, however, see the visit as the start of a beautiful friendship, perhaps even a tipping point in global finance — the overture...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 1, 2009
Squeeze Pyongyang gently
HONG KONG — North Korea demonstrated last week that it knows how to blow an atomic-bomb-size hole through the hot air and pretensions of the so-called rulers of the world. U.S. President Barack Obama was exposed as the outraged huffer and puffer in chief against North Korea's nuclear test, but he was...
COMMENTARY / World
May 21, 2009
Can India's Congress deliver?
LONDON — Yet again, India's voters confounded the pundits and comfortably returned the Congress party alliance to power. Now the question is whether leader Sonia Gandhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and their colleagues can return the compliment and get to grips with the immense problems and the enormous...
COMMENTARY / World
May 18, 2009
Pope discovers his voice in a pilgrimage of learning
HONG KONG — Pope Benedict XVI's leaving the home comforts of the Vatican for the political and religious mine field called the Holy Land proved to be his own difficult pilgrimage in which a learned, but aloof, theologian discovered in Palestinian pain and suffering his own authentic cry for peace in...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 1, 2009
Group of 20 too diverse to succeed
HONG KONG — Amid great fanfare, pestered by a rainbow alliance of protesters, and protected by almost blanket security costing $30 million for a mere seven hours of meetings and making London a virtual no-go area, the leaders of the Group of 20 (G20) countries meet this week, promising to restore hope...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 1, 2009
Pope should reflect on his universal mission
HONG KONG — Is the pope Catholic! This, of course, is a fabled American rhetorical expression, usually used sarcastically and meaning, how could you be so stupid as to doubt something?
Two of America’s biggest debt holders are dumping Treasurys
The U.S. Treasury building in Washington. Investors in Japan and China sold a pile of U.S. debt in the last quarter, just before the U.S. presidential election.
Russia fired experimental ballistic missile at Ukraine, Putin says
Ukrainian firefighters work on a spot following an airstrike in Dnipro on Thursday.
Ishiba aggravates his own political failures with diplomatic faux pas
Prime Minster Shigeru Ishiba is greeted at the APEC summit in Lima by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday. The Japanese leader was criticized for remaining seated while meeting several world leaders at the event.
Japan's 3.31 million visitors in October set monthly record
Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto in December 2023. Famous autumn leaf colors contributed to increased tourism demand last month from many markets across Asia, Europe and North America, the Japan National Tourism Organization has said.
Japan ranks last in romance satisfaction for second straight year
In a survey of 31 countries, Japan ranked last in terms of those who felt loved, with just 51% of respondents saying so.
The slow-burn success of ‘A Samurai in Time’
A 19th-century warrior gets struck by lightning and wakes to find himself in 21st-century Kyoto in Junichi Yasuda’s surprise hit “A Samurai in Time.”
Around a quarter of Japan married couples in their 20s met through dating apps
A survey released by an organization promoting “Good Couples Day” shows that 24% of couples in their 20s met their marriage partner through a dating app.
'Tokyo Swindlers': Get deep into the minds of real estate con artists
In Ko Shinjo's "Tokyo Swindlers," a group of con artists manipulates real estate giants into falsified deals within the highly competitive, quick market.
Japan, U.K. and Italy discuss inviting more countries to joint fighter project
A new concept model of a next-generation fighter jet to be jointly developed by Japan, Britain and Italy is on display in Farnborough, Hampshire, in July.
Haruki Murakami's 'The City and Its Uncertain Walls' gives deep deja vu
For “The City and Its Uncertain Walls,” translated into English by Philip Gabriel, Haruki Murakami confronts the ghosts who won't leave him alone.

Podcast

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

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?
By Kathryn Wortley

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