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Takamitsu Sawa

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Takamitsu Sawa
COMMENTARY
Oct 9, 2006
Easier way to emissions cuts
Generally speaking, innovation is driven by constraints and shortages. When Japan faced the first international oil crisis in 1973, it looked like the end of the world for the nation, since it depended on imports for 99 percent of its oil. However, Japan survived the oil crunch and used it as a springboard...
COMMENTARY
Sep 12, 2006
Reform book needs review
Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe, the overwhelming favorite to replace Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi as prime minister later this month, lists education reform as one of his policy priorities.
COMMENTARY
Aug 8, 2006
Danger of education divide
During its five-year rule, the administration of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has completed a number of structural reforms, including the privatization of the postal service. To that extent, the administration deserves high praise.
COMMENTARY
Jul 3, 2006
Regaining the spirit to build
I had thought that Japan's Internet mogul Takafumi Horie, arrested Jan. 23 by public prosecutors for allegedly violating the securities and exchange law, was likely to be the last person to "pay the price" for the excesses associated with the nation's bubble economy from 1987 to 1990.
COMMENTARY
Jun 5, 2006
Japan's college gap growing
In the two years since Japanese national universities were reorganized into independent administrative corporations, government grants for their operating expenses (personnel and equipment costs) have been slashed by 1 percent each year.
COMMENTARY
May 2, 2006
Limiting the economic gaps
Japan is rich because Japanese are poor.
COMMENTARY
Apr 3, 2006
If 'affluence' fails to please
One measure of "affluence," whose meaning can be ambiguous, is per capita gross domestic product. While GDP growth indicates a quantitative expansion of the economy, its size is by no means a measure of social well-being or people's happiness.
COMMENTARY
Mar 6, 2006
A 'livable' society has rules
Takafumi Horie, the former Livedoor president arrested in January on charges of breaking securities laws, was one of the last men to "pay the price" for the excesses of Japan's bubble economy (1987-90). I cannot help but feel a certain amount of sympathy for him, for there are still many others who have...
COMMENTARY
Jan 30, 2006
A way past Kyoto's 'hot air'
In a Jan. 7 symposium at Dalian University of Technology, I delivered a keynote speech on the possibility of Japan's implementing the clean development mechanism in China.
COMMENTARY
Jan 9, 2006
Post-Kyoto wind picking up
The 11th Conference of Parties to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change was held in Montreal from Nov. 28 to Dec. 9, more than a year after Russia ratified the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, thus enabling it to take effect last Feb. 16.
COMMENTARY
Dec 5, 2005
Japan's education disability
Many economists say the Japanese economy is at a "standstill" ahead of the start of a full recovery. For some time I have used a similar expression -- but in a different context -- to describe Japan's economic condition following the "Heisei recession," which lasted from February 1991 to October 1993....
COMMENTARY
Oct 31, 2005
Students need analytical skills
One characteristic of Japanese universities is that they provide highly specialized education for undergraduate students. This is partly because high-school students receive a high level of science education. In fact, their knowledge level in math and physics is one of the highest in the world. Thus,...
COMMENTARY
Oct 3, 2005
The PC-cell phone downside
Since the 1990s, personal computers and cell phones have made fast inroads into the modern world. Without them, normal life would be almost impossible.
COMMENTARY
Aug 29, 2005
Japan's green economic edge
There are two meanings to the axiom that the 21st century is the century of the environment: (1) Global environmental problems will become more serious, and (2) environmental problems will be the driving force of economic development.
COMMENTARY
Jul 26, 2005
Cutting butter with a saw?
The 2005 government white paper on the Japanese economy and public finances, which the Cabinet cleared earlier this month, has a chapter titled "From Public to Private: Restructuring the Government Sector and Its Challenges." It makes the following points:
COMMENTARY
Jul 4, 2005
Denial of a philosophical root
Unlike their Western counterparts, many Japanese economists seem to have a mistaken notion that theories are everything in economics. Rather than disregard them, Japanese almost seem unaware of the philosophies that underlie theories. Western economists make policy proposals based on economics only after...
COMMENTARY
May 30, 2005
Japan's paradox of wealth
On his first visit to Japan in 1995, French sociologist Jean Baudrillard came up with a paradoxical hypothesis that Japan was affluent because Japanese were poor. Acknowledging that he was not an expert on Japanese affairs, Baudrillard made the suggestion in an interview with the Asahi Shimbun after...
COMMENTARY
May 3, 2005
University gap set to widen
One year has passed since Japan's national universities gained corporate status. How have they changed? Following are my personal views on the merits and demerits of some of the changes.
COMMENTARY
Mar 29, 2005
The price of a clean project
On March 28, 2001, U.S. President George W. Bush declared that the United States would pull out of the Kyoto Protocol for two reasons: The protocol was imperfect because it did not require developing countries to cut their emissions of greenhouse gases, and it was detrimental to U.S. economic interests....
COMMENTARY
Mar 7, 2005
Let taxes spur carbon cuts
On Feb. 16, the Kyoto Protocol, aimed at curbing the air pollution blamed for global warming, took effect. To become valid, the accord had to be ratified by at least 55 countries, including developed countries that accounted for at least 55 percent of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gas emissions...
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.
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.
Ruling coalition and DPP strike last-minute deal over economic policy
DPP policy chief Makoto Mahaguchi speaks at the party's policy gathering in Tokyo on Wednesday.
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

Azabudai Hills, Tokyo’s green new downtown ‘village’
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