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November 22, 2024
 

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Robert J. Samuelson
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 14, 2013
The untamed health care monster
Is the United States finally controlling health spending?
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 8, 2013
Unneeded farm subsidies off table as U.S. debates budget cuts
FOCUS
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 3, 2013
Globalization is on the ropes
One fateful question for 2013 is this: What happens to globalization? For decades, growing volumes of cross-border trade and money flows have fueled strong economic growth. But something remarkable is happening; trade and international money flows are slowing and, in some cases, declining. David Smick,...
COMMENTARY
Dec 19, 2012
Will the second time be a charm for the Fed?
It was big news last week when the Federal Reserve announced that it wants to maintain its current low-interest rate policy until unemployment, now 7.7 percent, drops to at least 6.5 percent. The Fed was correctly portrayed as favoring job creation over fighting inflation, though it also set an inflation...
COMMENTARY
Dec 12, 2012
U.S. economy creating a lost generation
This is not a good time to be starting out in life. Jobs are scarce, and those that exist often pay unexpectedly low wages. Beginning a family — always stressful and uncertain — is increasingly a stretch. The weak economy begets weak family formation. We instinctively know this; several new studies...
COMMENTARY
Dec 3, 2012
An open road ahead for soaking America's rich
As a practical matter, the debate over higher taxes is finished. If there's an agreement to avoid the "fiscal cliff," it will almost certainly contain large tax increases mostly or entirely on the wealthy.
COMMENTARY
Sep 24, 2012
Gaffe calls welfare of candidacy into question
It is a measure of Mitt Romney's inadequacies as a candidate that he has not been able to turn his latest gaffe — his dismissive reference to the 47 percent of Americans who "are dependent upon government" — into a teachable moment and a campaign advantage.
COMMENTARY
Sep 5, 2012
Obama earns mediocre marks on economy
President Barack Obama's economic report card is at best mediocre. I'd give him a C+, while acknowledging that presidents usually don't much influence the economy. It's too big and subject to too many complex forces, from new technologies to global conditions.
COMMENTARY
Aug 29, 2012
Political pandering to America's middle class
Republicans and Democrats don't agree on much, but they do agree on this: the middle class. At their conventions, the two parties will compete fiercely for its support.
COMMENTARY
Aug 28, 2012
Lockdown on expert candor
Larry Summers knows better. In a column for the Washington Post (which ran Monday in The Japan Times under the headline "The unlikely chance of shrinking government"), the Treasury secretary under President Bill Clinton and former economic adviser to President Barack Obama shows why the federal government...
COMMENTARY
Aug 17, 2012
Ryan invites a 'conversation'
The selection of Paul Ryan — chairman of the House Budget Committee — as Mitt Romney's vice presidential candidate has the potential to turn this dreary presidential campaign into a meaningful debate over the size and role of the federal government.
COMMENTARY
Aug 8, 2012
The reasons for America's Generation Squeezed
I worry about the future — not mine but that of my three children, all in their 20s. It is an axiom of American folklore that every generation should live better than its predecessors. But this is not a constitutional right or even an entitlement, and I am skeptical that today's young will do so. Nor...
COMMENTARY
Jul 23, 2012
America's surprisingly good score on mobility
In America, we believe that anyone can grow up to be anything. You want to be president? Go for it. Among recent presidents, Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Lyndon Johnson and Dwight Eisenhower all came from modest backgrounds.
COMMENTARY
Jul 19, 2012
Character assassination on the campaign trail
It's getting down and dirty in election land. Last week, President Barack Obama's campaign suggested Mitt Romney might be guilty of a felony for filing misleading papers with the Securities and Exchange Commission (a charge The Washington Post discounted); and Romney's team aired a new ad portraying...
COMMENTARY
Jul 12, 2012
Why America's economic policy is paralyzed
Wondering why government can't restart the sluggish economy? Well, one reason is that we are still paying the price for the greatest blunder in domestic policy since World War II. This occurred a half-century ago and helps explain today's policy paralysis. The story — largely unrecognized — is worth...
COMMENTARY
Jul 2, 2012
Entering uncharted territory of broken models
We live in a world of broken models. To understand why world leaders can't easily fix the global economy, you have to realize that the economic models on which the United States, Europe and China relied are collapsing. The models differ, but the breakdowns are occurring simultaneously and feed on each...
COMMENTARY
Jun 6, 2012
Europe faces a grim choice
Europe is at the abyss — again. Its turmoil is rattling global stock markets and stoking fear and bewilderment. The obvious question is, what's the solution? The answer is, there is no solution. Europe faces choices, some bad and others worse.
COMMENTARY
Nov 2, 2011
U.S. military spending cuts have gone too far
We shouldn't gut defense. A central question of our budget debates is how much we allow growing social spending to crowd out the military and, in effect, force the United States into a dangerous, slow-motion disarmament.
COMMENTARY
Oct 19, 2011
Our children's future no longer looks so bright
A specter haunts America: downward mobility. Every generation, we believe, should live better than its predecessor. By and large, Americans still embrace that promise. A Pew survey earlier this year found that 48 percent of respondents felt that their children's living standards would exceed their own....
COMMENTARY
Oct 14, 2011
Why the sudden backlash against the wealthy?
The context for Occupy Wall Street and proposals to tax the rich — "rich" being constantly redefined — is the broader issue of economic inequality. For years, liberal politicians, academics and pundits have complained about growing inequality, but their protests barely resonated with the public....
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

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