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Gearoid Reidy

Warren Buffett, chairman and chief executive officer of Berkshire Hathaway, arrives for a news conference at the Tungaloy Corp.'s headquarters in Iwaki City, Fukushima Prefecture, in November of 2011.

COMMENTARY / Japan

Jan 5, 2024

Warren Buffett brought Japan back. Will it last in 2024?

In 2023, Japan experienced an unexpected surge in investor interest, leading to the Nikkei 225 index reaching highs not seen since 1990.

Firefighters inspect earthquake-damaged houses in Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, on Tuesday.

COMMENTARY / Japan

Jan 3, 2024

Heed the warning of Japan’s New Year's Day earthquake

That so few deaths happened in Japan's Noto region, even in areas with the most severe shaking, isn’t down to luck.

From movies, anime, manga and even to sports stars, 2023 was a year where global audiences demonstrated their increasing fondness for Japanese soft power.

COMMENTARY / Japan

Dec 27, 2023

From Godzilla to Shohei: Japan's soft power had a big year

Little by little, Japan is getting better at pitching its copious wares overseas, and 2023 proved that.

A Mainichi poll this week gave Fumio Kishida's Cabinet a nearly 80% disapproval rate, the worst result since the newspaper began surveying in 1947.

COMMENTARY / Japan

Dec 21, 2023

No, seriously, this is one Japan scandal that’s important

With no clear rival, and potential challengers likely reluctant to take their shot with support so low, Kishida may yet hang on in the near term.

Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda, who took office in April, has been considered a skeptic of negative interest rates.

COMMENTARY / Japan

Dec 17, 2023

One small step for BOJ. One giant leap for the yen.

Japan can hold off on undoing negative interest rates

An event is held in Osaka on Nov. 30 to mark 500 days until the opening of Expo 2025.

COMMENTARY / Japan

Dec 15, 2023

Why should any city want to host a world expo?

The projected budget for the 2025 Osaka Expo has nearly doubled and netizens and opposition politicians are calling for a cancellation.

Then-Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi at Graceland, a mansion once owned by Elvis Presley, in Memphis, Tennessee, in June 2006. Koizumi was dubbed the "jujitsu prime minister” for his style of politics.

COMMENTARY / Japan

Dec 11, 2023

Japan needs a 'jujitsu PM' to grapple with this scandal

Kishida fights for survival as the political funding scandal deepens. His predecessor, "jujitsu PM” Junichiro Koizumi, could teach him a thing or two.

Godzilla is presented with a certificate after being selected for Hollywood's Walk of Fame during a news conference in Tokyo in October 2004.

COMMENTARY / Japan

Dec 6, 2023

New 'Godzilla' flick deftly tackles postwar Japan in cinematic triumph

Godzilla strikes again: New 'Minus One' movie is a visual spectacle that challenges Hollywood's big budget norms.

Buyouts by management and controlling parties have surged this year in Japan, with the total value now set to pass ¥1 trillion.

COMMENTARY / Japan

Dec 3, 2023

Being a listed company in Japan is losing its luster

Japan's corporate landscape is shifting as companies opt for management buyouts.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's approval ratings have dropped significantly with his economic stimulus package being met with disapproval.

COMMENTARY / Japan

Nov 7, 2023

Kishida is so unpopular, he can't even give money away

Kishida has seen his popularity plummet as his tax rebate leaves residents with the impression that it’s just a cynical ploy to win votes.

Every time Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda has made an announcement since taking up his post, that information has appeared initially not in the public domain, but in the pages of the fourth estate.

COMMENTARY / Japan

Nov 2, 2023

Bank of Japan leaks are making an awful mess

Central bank decisions can move billions of dollars and with the BOJ, the closely watched outlier that it is, its conclusions have more impact than most.

Shibuya's local government has mounted a campaign to dissuade revelers from visiting the neighborhood for Halloween celebrations and has banned drinking in the streets.

COMMENTARY / Japan

Oct 30, 2023

Shibuya wants to cancel Halloween. That's a mistake.

This year, Shibuya isn't dressing up for Halloween. The neighborhood is turning revelers away, ignoring its role as a youth culture hub.

The simplest option for many Japanese industries facing labor shortages might be to do what the taxi sector is doing — keep people in the workforce longer.

COMMENTARY / Japan

Oct 26, 2023

Octogenarian taxi drivers to the labor-crunch rescue

An option for many Japanese industries facing labor shortages might be to do what the taxi sector is doing — keep people in the workforce longer.

The late Rev. Sun Myung Moon, founder of the Unification Church, is depicted on a leaflet marking the first anniversary of his death in September 2012

COMMENTARY / Japan

Oct 16, 2023

Japan's media has to account for its failures, too

The Unification Church is set to be dissolved and Johnny & Associates is undergoing structural reforms. What role did the media play, or not play?

The U.K.'s decision to cut back on its HS2 high-speed rail network runs contrary to the path taken by Japan, which stuck to a long-term infrastructure plan.

COMMENTARY / World

Oct 11, 2023

U.K. effort to imitate Japan's shinkansen falls short

There is value of sticking to a long-term infrastructure plan, as Japan has done for almost 50 years with its high-speed rail system.

From happōshu to real beer, Japan’s tax changes aim to improve brewing quality and prices.

COMMENTARY / Japan

Oct 6, 2023

Amid rising costs, why is Japan making beer cheaper?

A 350-milliliter can of brew costs drinkers about ¥7 (5 cents) less from October, thanks to changes in the country’s tax system.

Mori Building's Azabudai Hills complex in Tokyo's Minato Ward, which will house offices, shops, apartments, hotels and a school, is set to open in November

COMMENTARY / Japan

Oct 2, 2023

While Manhattan’s offices stay empty, Tokyo keeps building

Remote working has decimated offices in cities like New York and London. But Tokyo's workspaces have bounced back, also thanks to new builds.

Nintendo Tokyo at the Shibuya Parco department store complex, the first such official Nintendo store in Japan

COMMENTARY / Japan

Sep 27, 2023

Microsoft buying Nintendo would have been a disaster

Imagine the clash of cultures. Nintendo executives famously cut their own salaries rather than lay off workers during the failure of the Wii U.

An exhibition featuring Studio Ghibli films, including calligraphy by film producer Toshio Suzuki with famous film lines, is held in Bangkok in February 2022.

COMMENTARY / Japan

Sep 22, 2023

Is this the end for Japan’s iconic Studio Ghibli?

It’s tough to find an appropriate analogy for the Ghibli sale; the only one that comes close is Disney's purchase of Pixar for $7.4 billion in 2006.

Sogo & Seibu’s flagship store in Ikebukuro is closed due to a strike on Aug. 31.

COMMENTARY / Japan

Sep 19, 2023

As goes the Sogo department store, so goes Japan

The number of department stores located outside Japan's 10 biggest cities has dropped by 30% in the past decade.

You can often see generations of families enjoying performances together at Fuji Rock Festival.

Japan’s summer music festivals are feeling the heat in more ways than one

Akiko Trush says her experience with the neurological disorder dystonia left her feeling like she wanted to chop her own hand off.

The neurological disorder that 'kills culture'

By Tomoko Otake

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