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July 27, 2024
 

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Kevin Rafferty
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 3, 2013
China's population time bomb
China's one-child policy, implemented to prevent overpopulation and raise living standards, will likely negatively impact China's future economic growth.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 27, 2013
Polar bear's death is a warning
Does the death of a single polar bear, which starved on the Arctic tundra, carry a warning for all human beings
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 13, 2013
Fed's dark succession games
It's strange how, in the first half of the year, humans beat robots in the dark art of interpreting the gnomic utterances of the U.S. Federal Reserve chairman.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 1, 2013
Beautiful but wasted Earth
Most people are too preoccupied with the business of keeping a job and remaining healthy even to think about the grand problems of the survival of planet Earth.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 30, 2013
Right royal load of parochial hot air
BBC World television coverage of the birth of the new British prince, including the mindless prattling and cooing about what he would look like, was a disgrace.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 23, 2013
Obama's blunder with Bangladesh
President Barack Obama's recent suspension of trade benefits on a trifling amount of Bangladeshi exports makes one question his sense and sensitivity.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 3, 2013
Antidote for Abe's nationalism
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe should think carefully before taking bold strides toward changing the U.S.-imposed Constitution and restoring Japan's 'greatness.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 28, 2013
U.S. corporate tax whinge
If the U.S. tax code is broken, then Congress should fix it, simplify it. But don't let the big corporations avoid paying their fair share of federal revenue.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 17, 2013
A pork sale wrapped in a thin skin
America's reaction to the advance by corporate China, including the buyout of Smithfield Foods, is reminiscent of its reactions to the Japanese 20 years ago.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 4, 2013
Sunny spin to an oily Earth
Politicians seem to be the last people in the world understanding clean energy or what kind of planet they will bequeath to their grandchildren.
COMMENTARY / World
May 21, 2013
Weep for poor Earth itself
What would prompt a respected international investor to lament that the global economy shows signs of potential failure that has brought down civilizations before us?
COMMENTARY / World
May 8, 2013
Globalized sacrificial altars
The Bangladeshi garment factory collapse poses moral questions for politicians and business executives worldwide, including: What is the value of a human life?
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 26, 2013
Cost of the American dream
The U.S. Fed policy of low interest rates and easy money is criticized for creating a 'bubble machine' from which asset prices could rise without growing jobs.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 22, 2013
Markets flunk challenge of poor people's health
A lack of balance exists between the health needs of really poor people in the world and the market for helping the rich and super-rich lead a fashionable lifestyle.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 8, 2013
China gets Apple's 'iKowtow'
Leading computer maker Apple has responded to weeks of remorseless criticism in China's official media with 'iKowtow' — aka a groveling apology.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 1, 2013
'Dream Team' nightmares
Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang are being advised by their own colleagues to get ready for national economic reforms, or else.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 30, 2013
Wanted: adult U.S. leadership
If the U.S. executive branch and Congress can't agree on a relatively simple thing like the budget, how can they hope to lead on important matters?
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 26, 2013
Is China a world-beating model of governance?
Is the Chinese Communist Party giving the world a glimpse of a superior post-democratic system of goverment
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 20, 2013
Stunned pope asks for prayers
Pope Francis understands that the Catholic Church is bleeding. In Latin America, it is losing members to evangelical Christianity and to secularism.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 5, 2013
In Lew of loopy corrections
New U.S. Treasurey Secretary Jacob Lew's, whose mastery of the nitty-gritty details makes him a tough negotiator and a difficult opponent, has won a reputation as unflappable.
Japan's population continues to fall even as foreign resident count rises
The number of residents in Tokyo as of Jan. 1 rose by 0.03% from a year before, data shows, marking a year-on-year increase for the first time in three years, while the country's other 46 prefectures saw their populations continue to decline.
Ahead of the Olympics, Japan is still talking about the gymnast who won't be there
Japan's Shoko Miyata withdrew from the gymnastics team herself over her drinking and smoking, although it had already appeared as though the association was prepared to send her home from the team’s training camp in Monaco.
Japan’s minimum wage set for record ¥50 hike in major boost
Demonstrators rally to demand a big hike in minimum wages in Tokyo last week.
One dead, three missing as heavy rain batters Tohoku
Camera footage shows the Mogami River bursting its banks in Tozawa, Yamagata Prefecture, on Friday morning.
Brazil issues apology for persecuting Japan immigrants during WWII
Enea Almeida (right), chair of the Brazilian amnesty commission, shakes hands with the representative for Japanese immigrants on Thursday in Brasilia.
When did summer in Japan stop being fun?
Summer in Japan is now consistently brutal enough to drive you indoors and keep you there until autumn.
Japan’s minimum wage set for record ¥50 hike in major boost
Demonstrators rally to demand a big hike in minimum wages in Tokyo last week.
Japan loses top spot on strongest passport list to Singapore
Japan had the strongest passport for six years running from 2018, before being dethroned by Singapore on the 2024 list.
Why Japan's mysterious stash of classified funds escapes scrutiny
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi (right) during a meeting in Tokyo on Tuesday.
Japan eyes gold — and the future — as Olympic men's soccer campaign begins
Japan midfielder Yu Hirakawa controls the ball during a match against the United States in Kansas City, Kansas, on June 11.

Podcast

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

Longform

Traditional folk rituals like Mizudome-no-mai (dance to stop the rain) provide a sense of agency to a population that feels largely powerless in the face of the climate crisis.
As climate extremes intensify, Japan embraces ancient weather rituals
By Alex K.T. Martin

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mission sustainability vol.8: Omron Corp.Omron helping firms achieve carbon neutrality
mission sustainability vol.8: Omron Corp.Omron helping firms achieve carbon neutrality

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