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Gearoid Reidy

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.

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.

Sofia Coppola (right), Bill Murray (center) and Scarlett Johansson attend the Venice Film Festival to present their movie “Lost in Translation” in August 2003.

COMMENTARY / Japan

Sep 13, 2023

The complex legacy of ‘Lost in Translation,’ 20 years on

Sofia Coppola's acclaimed film relaunched Tokyo's global fame, but along the way it forgot to show its Japanese characters some love.

Tourists drive rental go-karts while dressed up as game characters through the streets of Shibuya and other areas of Tokyo in December 2018.

COMMENTARY

Sep 6, 2023

A 10-year tourist boom and all I got was this lousy 'Mario Kart'

Like cockroaches in a nuclear apocalypse, seemingly nothing can destroy the "Mario Karts": not legal action, not the government and not even the pandemic.

A schoolgirl wears a padded hood for protection from falling debris during an earthquake simulation exercise at an elementary school in Tokyo. The government estimates a 70% chance of a magnitude 7 event striking directly underneath the capital in the next 30 years.

COMMENTARY / Japan

Sep 4, 2023

Tokyo has lived on the brink of the ‘Big One’ — for a century

The Great Kanto Earthquake demolished the nascent Japanese capital, killing more than 100,000 people — some 3% of the city’s population at the time.

As China slips into deflation, one word is popping up more and more to describe the gloomy atmospherics: "Japanification."

COMMENTARY / Japan

Aug 30, 2023

'Japanification' for China? It should be so lucky.

China is not on the path to global dominance nor set for collapse, and observers should consider the various shades of gray in analyzing these countries.

A playful photo of Japanese female politicians on a work trip to Paris drew much criticism back home. The backlash may be one of the reasons women choose to avoid public service.

COMMENTARY / World

Aug 16, 2023

Japan has a misery-loves-company problem

The backlash to government officials' lighthearted moment is a prime example of how to undermine workers.

The Bank of Japan's attempts to dismantle ultraloose monetary policies have led to unexpected market reactions and left some investors struggling to understand the central bank's intentions.

COMMENTARY / Japan

Aug 10, 2023

The BOJ gets a new doctrine. It’s just keeping it to itself.

The BOJ is likely sincere when it says the 2% price goal is still some way off, even if one member seemingly believes it’s on the horizon.

Technical trainees from Vietnam work at a knitwear factory in the city of Mitsuke, Niigata Prefecture, in February 2019.

COMMENTARY / Japan

Aug 6, 2023

Japan is bringing in more foreign nationals than you think

Japan isn’t an outlier when it comes to low fertility rates, merely a front-runner.

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

The sun shines from behind a waving Philippine flag at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial.

Eighty years after the Battle of Manila, old foes forge new ties

By Anton L. Delgado

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