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November 22, 2024
 

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Mamoru Ishida
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 20, 2017
Responding to Trump's currency accusations
It's wrong for the U.S. to dictate Japan's monetary policy.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 25, 2014
'Abenomics' needs reform
Abenomics' has made a good start, thanks to the expansionary monetary policy and fiscal expenditures. But it relies too much on monetary policy.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 19, 2013
Finding common ground on the Senkakus dispute
The only realistic way to stabilize Japan-China relations is for both countries to go back to the idea of shelving the Senkaku Islands sovereignty issue.
Jun 22, 2012
An East Asian community?
The leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and Japan, China and South Korea (ASEAN-plus-3) announced in December 2005 their determination to realize the East Asian Community.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 12, 2010
Japan's experience highlights perils for China
Until the global financial crisis hit, China had achieved export-led high economic growth by keeping its currency at an undervalued level. It is now abundantly clear that the growth model is not sustainable. The People's Bank of China reinstated the "managed floating exchange rate regime with reference...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 11, 2008
Regional role for China's yuan
It is likely that a renminbi (RMB) area emerges in East Asia.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 31, 2005
Key to a common currency
The Economist magazine forecast in a recent issue that a future multiple reserve currency system could include the Chinese yuan: "The world might drift toward a multiple reserve currency system shared by the dollar, the euro and the yen, or indeed the yuan at some time in the future."
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 10, 2004
Asian currency zone beckons
There is no doubt that the stable renminbi (RMB) exchange rate, pegged at about 8.25 yuan to the U.S. dollar, has helped China's economic development. It has brought about enormous production capacity in the export industries. Meanwhile, the sharp increase in exports to the United States has prompted...
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 10, 2003
China can learn from Japan
China faces mounting pressure to revalue its allegedly undervalued yuan. I am concerned that China could repeat the mistakes that Japan made in exchange-rate policy. China can learn much from Japanese experiences in economic management and currency diplomacy.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 4, 2003
Responsibility for Hiroshima
As Aug. 6 approaches each year, I cannot help wondering how my best friend perished in the atomic bombing of Hiroshima in 1945. Possibly, like many other children, he was burned to death under a collapsed school, where I found the scattered, burned bones of children a few days after the bombing. He was...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 22, 2003
Regulation remains a problem
In his policy speech to the Diet earlier this year, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi announced that the government would double foreign direct investment in Japan in five years to increase employment.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 20, 2003
The folly of inflation targets
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said recently the next governor of the Bank of Japan must take aggressive action to fight deflation, giving rise to expectations of inflation targeting among government and ruling coalition officials. I doubt, however, that inflation targeting will cure deflation. In...
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 23, 2002
Reform delays discouraging
Junichiro Koizumi was Japan's first prime minister to receive a mandate to push structural reforms by convincing the public that there would be no economic growth without painful reforms. It remains to be seen, however, whether Koizumi will succeed in his reforms. More than a year after launching his...
COMMENTARY / World
May 27, 2002
Perils of undervalued yuan
I am concerned that China could repeat Japan's mistakes in economic policy. In Japan's high-growth years, the yen became increasingly undervalued, pegged at 360 to the dollar, while the nation's productivity kept increasing. Exports were profitable and the manufacturing industries built up excess production...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 1, 2002
Risks in waiting on Koizumi
When he debuted as prime minister, Junichiro Koizumi pledged economic and political reforms, saying there will be "no economic recovery without structural reforms." To implement the reforms, Koizumi said he was ready to overhaul the governing Liberal Democratic Party. I have supported Koizumi's determination,...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 17, 2001
A reason to invest in Japan
What is the true nature of the current recession in Japan? Is it cyclical, a result of asset deflation, or has it been caused by the deteriorating competitiveness of this country as an industrial location? These questions must be answered to formulate an effective economic policy. In my view, the economic...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 30, 2001
Luring investment to Japan
Japan is a risk for the world economy. Although Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's reform plans are vague and offer no guarantee of results, Japan, and the world as well, depend on the success of the reforms for their prosperity.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 20, 2001
Corporate investment is key
Amid widespread economic uncertainty, some economists prefer a more expansionary monetary policy or inflation targeting. At a recent meeting of the government's Economic and Fiscal Advisory Council, many members called on the Bank of Japan to relax credit restraints even further.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 21, 2000
Japan's missing management
The failure of the department store operator Sogo Co. is a typical case of corporate governance gone awry. It has exposed some of the old problems in Japanese-style management, relations between main creditor banks and corporate clients, and bank regulation by the Finance Ministry. The incident offers...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 20, 2000
Time to chase 'two hares'
Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi, citing a popular proverb, says his administration will not "run after two hares": It will first achieve economic recovery and then tackle fiscal reform. The official scenario is that the economy will pick up soon. The question is what will happen next. Without fiscal props,...
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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