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December 22, 2024
 

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Lionel Laurent
A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket is launched for a mission to study one of Jupiter's 95 moons from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Oct. 14.
COMMENTARY
Oct 25, 2024
In space, no one can hear Musk's rivals scream
The billionaire's gravity-defying lead is a painful one for competitors. Is it too late to catch up?
Then-U.S. President Donald Trump welcomes his visiting French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, in Washington in April 2018. European leaders, such as Macron, recognize the need to adapt to a new reality where globalization may no longer drive growth, especially if Trump wins the U.S. election.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 7, 2024
Trump-proofing Europe looks impossible
Global supply chain strengths turn into weaknesses in a fragmented world, with unreliable access to cheap energy, Chinese consumers and U.S. security.
The real significance of Brussels' case against Apple is that it will increase pressure to reform how multinationals allocate their profits globally and are taxed.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 15, 2024
Ireland struck it rich with Apple. Others struck it poor.
The Apple case highlights the need for global tax reforms to ensure multinationals pay taxes where they operate, benefiting countries beyond just Ireland.
Paris must complete its gold-medal transformation into something greater once the athletes have packed up and gone home.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 24, 2024
Paris Olympics can help unify a fractured city
As Paris prepares for the Olympics, it must also work towards a more cohesive and equitable regional future, striving to balance progress with social harmony.
President Emmanuel Macron has gone from king to kingmaker of French politics after his bloc came second in the parliamentary election.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 8, 2024
Gambler Macron wins chance to be kingmaker
Even as Macron breathes a sigh of relief after voters halted a far-right triumph, the left-leaning coalition the president will try to build faces a treacherous path.
Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried arrives at a courthouse in New York in March 2023. On Thursday, he was sentenced to 25 years in prison.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 1, 2024
Sam Bankman-Fried's 25-year sentence is a warning to crypto
The former FTX CEO's conviction to 25 years in prison sends a clear message to cryptocurrency fraudsters. The costs of misconduct outweigh the benefits.
Sam Bankman-Fried, founder of FTX, exits the federal courthouse in Manhattan in February.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 5, 2023
Sam Bankman-Fried won't be the last crypto mogul behind bars
If Sam Bankman-Fried culpability for the "pyramid of deceit” behind FTX’s collapse seemed so obvious, it’s partly because he was prosecutorial gold.
French President Emmanuel Macron (center) and deposed president Ali Bongo of Gabon (center left) at an African Union-European Union summit in 2017
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 8, 2023
A domino effect in Africa, embarrassment in Paris
A new season of military coups is sweeping over Africa, with grave implications for France and the West as they struggle to maintain influence.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 5, 2023
French riot deja vu is raising the stakes for Macron
Years of Frances unkept promises have created resentment and made the nation’s deprived suburbs a powder keg.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
May 31, 2023
The AI gold rush will take humanity to some dark places
Encoding iris scans on the blockchain shows a need to curb Silicon Valley’s savior complex.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 13, 2023
On the U.S. and China, Macron says the quiet part out loud
French President Macron has annoyed allies by saying Europeans should stand apart from the U.S. on China and Taiwan or risk becoming 'vassals.”
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 28, 2023
Blocking the Louvre won’t defuse France’s pension bomb
France’s pay-as-you-go pension system will have only 1.2 workers for every retiree by 2070 — an untenable situation.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
May 13, 2022
Crypto’s chainsaw massacre bloodies digital exchanges
The platforms that have promoted Bitcoin and other new currencies have a lot to answer for.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
May 5, 2022
When $1 billion tech unicorns start to look like ponies
In a world where every startup gallops, counting horns starts to look futile. France needs new metrics for a clearer innovation picture.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 15, 2022
French President Macron knows inflation is Le Pen’s best weapon
If there's one thing that could make French voters more receptive to the far right, it's a shake of the magic money tree.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 25, 2021
Winter is coming for Europe's pandemic optimists
The urge to abandon caution when COVID-19 cases are low, which is essentially what some European nations did this summer, is part of the problem.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 29, 2021
Even the People’s Bank of China can’t kill Bitcoin's appeal
The bulls reckon the latest attempt by Beijing to crack down on crypto — the seventh — will fail to throttle an asset that bypasses borders and banking systems.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 14, 2021
The U.K.’s bizarre $1.7 billion vaccine rug-pull
The British government abruptly canceled its supply contract, having found Valneva in breach of its obligations without specifying how — something Valneva contests.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 1, 2021
EU’s guidelines on U.S. visitors is sounding like trade war diplomacy
Europeans have been more pragmatic than the Americans. These latest travel curbs are nonbinding recommendations that will likely only affect the unvaccinated.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 3, 2021
Don’t let autocrats run the internet after COVID-19
Lukashenko's government blocked much of the internet during protests last summer with the help of technology from U.S.-based Sandvine Inc.
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.
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.
Curiosity didn’t kill the meme: Why cats still rule Japanese YouTube
A screen shot from YouTube user @lagelda shows the simplicity of going viral in Japan in 2024: A cat dancing to EDM in front of a green screen.

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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