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December 22, 2024
 

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Noah Smith
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 22, 2021
Imagine the COVID-19 economy before Amazon and Zoom
Online services such as Zoom and Amazon have proven their worth during the pandemic. And COVID-19 may ultimately push our society to learn new ways of using digital technologies.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 4, 2021
Heat domes are a red-hot warning on climate costs
The true cost of global warming should include weather problems that we haven't even thought about yet — 'unknown unknowns,” in the parlance of the late Donald Rumsfeld.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 7, 2021
FDR had the Great Depression, but Biden has big data
But the similarities end there. The economic challenges Biden is facing are very different from the ones FDR grappled with, and his approach is necessarily unique.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 23, 2021
COVID-19 gives America a chance to fix welfare
The COVID-19 relief effort has finally helped Americans to realize that the government can just send them cash, and that this makes their life better.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 30, 2020
America can't compete with Chinese tech by walling itself off
As China approaches technological parity with the U.S. in a variety of high-value industries, the U.S. has acted to maintain supremacy.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 4, 2020
What Africa needs now is its own Japan or Singapore
What Africa might need is its own Japan — a pioneering country that can industrialize first, and then invest in the rest of the continent.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 18, 2020
In the U.S., socialism isn't the way to win the working class
Unions and infrastructure don't fulfill the Republican's small-government dreams of previous decades, but they could represent a centrist alternative to the growing popularity of socialism.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 24, 2020
Aging is the next global economic threat
Falling in living standards in some countries, such as Japan, can be blamed in part on a smaller workforce having to prop up a growing pool of retirees.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 17, 2020
Working from home is here to stay, so let’s get it right
The new normal has its benefits, but some of these won't be felt until after the COVID-19 pandemic has passed.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 1, 2020
Trump's trade war failed. Can Biden do better?
Despite a massive slate of tariffs that mostly began in the second half of 2018, the U.S.-China bilateral trade deficit barely budged, if at all.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 31, 2020
How to end America's loneliness epidemic
Making people more economically secure is the first step to ending the 'intimacy apocalypse.'
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 23, 2020
U.S. college admissions are about to get even more unfair
The pandemic will make institutions even more eager to admit wealthy legacy students.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 7, 2020
Balkanization is bad for Facebook’s business
Social networks suffer when there are fewer people to network with.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 22, 2020
Japan’s work culture gets a needed COVID-19 shock
Remote work may have finally persuaded the nation's corporate leaders that endless hours at the office are a waste.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 11, 2020
America’s great(er) recession will last for years
The upbeat employment numbers for May probably don't point to a quick recovery.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 24, 2020
Personal stress, not laziness, perpetuates the poverty rut
Many believe lifestyles are due to low effort, but economists are starting to accumulate evidence that the stress of living in poverty drives people to subpar decisions.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 13, 2020
'Parasite' Oscars say a lot about South Korea
The nation's carefully planned economic rise has been matched by its cultural reach.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 10, 2020
Japan goes into reverse on going green
The country abandoned nuclear energy and is building coal plants that will spew as much CO2 as all the cars in the U.S.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 28, 2019
Worst case for climate change isn't realistic
In recent years, much of the commentary about climate change has gone from sternly serious to wildly despairing.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 16, 2019
Millennials missed their own boom times
Too many economic forces were against them when they came of age.
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.
Ride-hailing restrictions to be eased during 2025 Osaka Expo
A venue for the 2025 Osaka Expo in the city of Osaka
Foxconn's interest in Nissan said to be on hold amid Honda merger talks
Foxconn’s pause in its pursuit of Nissan is the latest development in the unexpected emergence of two suitors for the ailing Japanese carmaker.
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’

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The quake that shook Noto's sake brewing tradition
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