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December 22, 2024
 

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Keun Lee
U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks on the CHIPS act in Syracuse, New York, in October 2022. America is still struggling with chip self-sufficiency despite limiting China’s access to key technology.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 4, 2024
The chip war turns two
The U.S. struggles with chip self-sufficiency despite limiting China’s access to technology, while China makes strides in NAND and HBM chips despite significant barriers.
International Monetary Fund guidance on industrial policy must balance protection with market discipline and emphasize fiscal prudence.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 25, 2024
What fiscally sound industrial policy can do
Industrial policy can help countries cope with growing economic and political uncertainty. But the details matter.
Farmers dry coffee beans at the Thiririka farming cooperative in Kiambu County, Kenya, in November 2022.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 15, 2024
Is it time for a coffee cartel?
If farmers in the developing world are prevented from getting their fair share from coffee production they should take matters into their own hands.
U.S. President Joe Biden and his South Korean counterpart, Yoon Suk-yeol, visit a Samsung semiconductor factory in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, in May 2022.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 14, 2024
South Korea's economic strategy amid the U.S.-China rivalry
If the world is to avoid incurring increasingly high costs from fragmentation, the U.S. and China must learn how to coexist and engage in fair competition.
Solar panels at a proof-of-concept site for green hydrogen production in Vredendal, South Africa
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 25, 2023
The key to greening heavy industry
If the world’s vast ocean resources can be tapped directly to produce hydrogen, there will be no holding back the green transition.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 29, 2023
The myth of AI-driven unemployment
Whether generative AI — including large language models like ChatGPT-4 — will be good for workers depends significantly on whether it leads to more innovation in products or processes.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
May 1, 2023
The sources of East Asia’s industrial prowess
The United States cannot ignore its own dependence on small Asian economies like South Korea and Taiwan for advanced technologies.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 19, 2022
Is there a South Korean democratic trajectory for China?
South Korea's recent history shows how a vibrant economy can lead to the emergence of a large middle class — and, with it, demands for democratization.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 22, 2022
Sustaining economic growth in an age of deglobalization
Developing economies face challenges on gaining ground, but some, like Malaysia and Chile, show there is still a way.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 30, 2022
How realistic are Beijing’s semiconductor ambitions?
Despite big aspirations, China has struggled to catch up with the U.S. in the economically and strategically vital semiconductor industry, and will continue to face significant barriers to progress.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 21, 2022
Yoon Suk-yeol’s next opponents: Housing and jobs
If President-elect Yoon Seok-youl takes the wrong approach to key issues, the country may be unable to avoid a Japanese-style “lost decades.”
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 2, 2022
China’s economic development is rife with new challenges and traps
China's weak rule of law carries serious risks, including official corruption, which tends to increase inequality and thus could undermine efforts to avoid the middle-income trap.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 24, 2021
East Asia’s 'Squid Game' economies
Nowadays, South Korean capitalism seems more noxious — perhaps because it has been converging with the liberal Anglo-Saxon model, with its weak investment, slow growth and high inequality.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 22, 2021
China’s loss can be the rest of Asia’s gain
China's changing role in the global economy is forcing companies to reconsider it as a manufacturing hub.
Nippon Steel alleges undue White House influence on doomed deal review
U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks on the economy at the Brookings Institution in Washington on Dec. 10.
Record 78% of people in Japan feel anxious, government survey finds
The public opinion survey on people's lives, conducted by the Cabinet Office, found that 28.1% of respondents think that their standard of living is at a lower-middle level among the general public — the highest percentage to give that response in 35 years.
Police raided suspect's home to arrest him after fatal Kitakyushu stabbing
Broken window glass is seen at Masanori Hirabaru's house in Kitakyushu's Kokuraminami Ward.
Taiwan lawmakers brawl over bills that would 'damage democracy'
Lawmakers from the Democratic Progressive Party and opposition party Kuomintang brawl in parliament in Taipei on Friday.
Mother hopes for reunion with daughter ensnared by Tokyo host clubs
The Kabukicho district in Tokyo, where the daughter of a woman in her 60s fell deeply into the host club culture.
Casual workouts, cool living, ‘complete’ food: Japan’s health trends of 2024
In 2024, efficiency trumped effort among Japan's fitness-focused aspirants.
The mighty Mekong River's growing plastic problem
A group of elephant keepers in Chiang Saen, Thailand, remove plastic waste from the Ruak River, a tributary of the Mekong River, as a pair of Asian elephants bathe behind them.
Japanese officials inspect Yokota Air Base over PFAS concerns
The Yokota Air Base in western Tokyo in September 2019. An inspection of the base by Japanese government officials on Friday came amid public pressure to investigate suspected links between the use of PFAS-containing firefighting foam by the U.S. base and contamination of soil and groundwater in western Tokyo.
Crime numbers rise in Japan for second straight year
A police officer stands in front of the residence of a man alleged to have stabbed two junior high school students in Kitakyushu.
A year of Oscar wins and a quiet push for diversity
Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s “Evil Does Not Exist,” released in Japanese theaters in April, sharply dramatizes the clash between rural and urban values. The film won five awards at the 2023 Venice Film Festival, including the second-place Silver Lion prize.

Podcast

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

Longform

Yasuyuki Yoshida stirs a brew in a fermentation tank at his brewery in Hakusan.
The quake that shook Noto's sake brewing tradition
By Alex K.T. Martin

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