author

 
Menu
Search
 
November 22, 2024
 

Today's print edition

Home Delivery
Subscribe for more access

Meta

Shinji Fukukawa
COMMENTARY
May 19, 2012
How to right what's wrong in East Asian manufacturing
East Asia's manufacturing industry, with its remarkable growth in recent years centering on China, South Korea and members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), has come to be called "the Factory of the World."
COMMENTARY
Mar 3, 2012
How to push reform forward
Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda has stated he would stake his political life on realizing integrated reform of the tax and social security systems. Japan's financial structure is worse than those of other advanced countries and even that of Greece, which was responsible for the euro crisis. Therefore it...
COMMENTARY
Jan 21, 2012
Bring the world closer to Japan
Once the Cold War was over, globalism was widely expected to expand but has since lost its momentum due to the credit crunch stemming from the sovereign debt crisis in Europe and the ensuing economic recession around the world. As a result, the World Trade Organization gave up in December on concluding...
COMMENTARY
Dec 21, 2011
Populism hinders globalization
The world is in a shroud of thick mist. At the time the Cold War ended, people around the world widely expected that globalization would make progress, the U.N.-centered order of peace would be maintained and market-economy-based global high growth would materialize. However, the ensuing reality has...
COMMENTARY
Oct 26, 2011
A call for improved national crisis management policy
More than seven months have already passed since the Great East Japan Earthquake disaster. Industrial production in the affected areas has bounced back to pre-disaster levels, but the recovery of agriculture and fishery is lagging and nearly 70,000 people remain in evacuation facilities. On top of that,...
COMMENTARY
Sep 16, 2011
New prime minister must restore confidence in politics
Yoshihiko Noda, taking over from Naoto Kan as president of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan, was elected the 95th prime minister on Aug. 30. He is the 18th prime minister in 25 years and the third since the DPJ came to power two years ago.
COMMENTARY
Jul 26, 2011
Push FTA of South Korea, Japan, China toward TPP
Ten years since the concept of a free-trade agreement (FTA) among Japan, China and South Korea was proposed, some visibly significant moves have gotten under way recently. The three countries, at their leaders' summit talks held in Japan on May 21 and 22, reached agreement to conclude the industry-government-academia...
COMMENTARY
Jun 17, 2011
Triple disaster proves need for an industrial revolution
Some three months since the colossal earthquake and tsunami in eastern Japan, stricken areas are getting on track for recovery with local industrial production capacity having been restored to as much as 90 percent of pre-disaster levels.
COMMENTARY
Apr 24, 2011
Will postquake recovery lead to a new Japan?
The March 11 Great Eastern Japan Earthquake and tsunami left some 27,000 people dead or missing and caused an estimated ¥25 trillion in economic devastation along the northeastern Pacific coastal areas. And the accidents at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant caused radiation leaks and a power...
COMMENTARY
Mar 22, 2011
The rejuvenation of Tokyo
With April's gubernatorial election in Tokyo just around the corner, major candidates have announced their decisions to run. This political event comes amid the world's red-hot competition for intercity popularity.
COMMENTARY
Feb 13, 2011
How does Japan start to cope with fewer births, longer lives?
Economic growth depends on the rates of population increase and technological evolution, among other factors. Technological evolution relies on the capacities of human beings. So its kernel factor is human power.
COMMENTARY
Dec 25, 2010
Revitalizing national politics
The Democratic Party of Japan realized a dramatic change of government with its great win in the Lower House election in August 2009. The DPJ victory came when policy evolution in the later years of the coalition administration by the Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito stagnated, prompting mass media...
COMMENTARY
Nov 25, 2010
Surviving the currency competition
The yen's exchange value is considered likely to top the rate of ¥79.75 to the dollar registered in 1995 for an all-time high sooner or later. At a meeting that ended Oct. 23, Group of 20 finance ministers and central bank governors managed to contain the confrontation between the advanced economies...
COMMENTARY
Oct 11, 2010
Is Japan's disease curable?
Since the 1990s, often called Japan's "lost 10 years," many parts of Japanese society have been disintegrating. Japan's influence has been in decline in the international community and on the global economic scene.
COMMENTARY
Aug 11, 2010
Can Japan's politics change people's despair to hope?
The outcome of the July 11 Upper House election symbolized voters' distrust of national politics in Japan. The ruling Democratic Party of Japan led by Prime Minister Naoto Kan took only 44 of the 121 contested seats against its pre-election share of 54 seats due for contention and the DPJ-led coalition...
COMMENTARY
Jul 13, 2010
How Japan regains vitality
Japan's international rating has been declining lately. Heard overseas are suggestions that Japan is about to enter its third "lost decade," or that Japan has disappeared off the world's radar screen. Its share of global GDP, 14.3 percent in 1990, slipped to 8.9 percent in 2008 and is expected to sink...
COMMENTARY
May 18, 2010
Overhaul industrial policy to bolster the economy
Japan's industrial power is so stagnant that it seems a crisis is in store for our economy. Even as it lags far behind the United States in creating intelligent information systems, Japan is finding that South Korea, Taiwan and China are catching up with it in manufacturing.
COMMENTARY
Apr 7, 2010
Getting along with China
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, delivering a government work report at the third session of the 11th National People's Congress in March, claimed that China was "first in the world to realize economic recovery and positive turnaround" following the international financial crisis, and that its strategies...
COMMENTARY
Mar 9, 2010
Hatoyama's growth strategy for economy raises questions
Responding to the criticism that the Hatoyama Cabinet lacks a growth strategy, the government on Dec. 30 unveiled the basic policy of its new strategy for economic growth titled "For a Shining Japan."
COMMENTARY
Jan 29, 2010
Building on Copenhagen
Last month the 15th Conference of the Parties to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP15) closed by announcing the Copenhagen Accord drawn up by major participating countries. Although the process produced some positive results — such as calls for steps to hold the global temperature...
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 launched intercontinental ballistic missile during attack on Ukraine, Kyiv says
A Yars intercontinental ballistic missile is launched during a test from the Plesetsk cosmodrome in Northern Arkhangelsk region of Russia, in this still image captured from video released on Oct. 29.
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.
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.
Japanese expats in Asia find community through rugby
The Taiwan Fivewoods celebrate their victory at the 2023 Asian Japanese Rugby Cup in December of last year.
In Fukushima, a weekend of prose, poetry and translation
Aomori-based writer JJ Carter presented on tabletop gaming as creative inspiration for building characters and narratives.
For Dr. Nakamats, aging is just experience in action
Though he didn't win the recent gubernatorial election in Tokyo, the 96-year-old Dr. Nakamats' run was seen as inspirational in Japan's aging society.

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

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

mission sustainability vol.12 : Kose Corp.Kose takes pride in creating beauty in the world
mission sustainability vol.12 : Kose Corp.Kose takes pride in creating beauty in the world

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS note

Read more

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER