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COMMENTARY

Wall Street banks, under political pressure and tempted by short-term gains, are abandoning climate commitments and pouring billions into fossil fuels, risking both environmental catastrophe and massive future economic losses.

COMMENTARY / World

Wall Street will regret helping the world burn

By Mark Gongloff

For an industry in the business of money, it sure has a funny way of ensuring its destruction.

Beards, once symbols of rebellion and counterculture, are making a comeback among elites, reflecting shifting cultural norms even as biases persist in professional settings.

COMMENTARY / World

What does your beard say about you?

By Stephen L. Carter

During the 19th century, the European monarchies associated beards with dangerous radicals. So did the dangerous radicals.

To sustain growth, emerging and developing economies must boost productivity, increase labor-force participation (especially among women) and build stronger social support systems.

COMMENTARY / World

Emerging economies must get rich before they get old

By Anu Madgavkar and Marc Canal Noguer

To sustain growth, emerging economies must boost productivity, increase labor-force participation — especially among women — and build stronger social support systems.

As the 80th anniversary of the end of the Pacific War approaches, the U.S.-Japan alliance faces a new turning point, with both Japan Society and the International House of Japan ready to play crucial roles in strengthening cultural and diplomatic ties amid global geopolitical shifts.

Japan

How the U.S. and Japan can keep partnering for the future

By Joshua W. Walker and James Kondo

Today, we are at another turning point. The world confronts another major season of geopolitical changes — not seen since the 1950s or the 1920s.

Japan / Geoeconomic Briefing

Identifying choke points in the semiconductor supply chain

By Eiki Tagami

Japan

The DOGE solution? 'No thanks,' says Japan, with reason

By Brad Glosserman

Japan

For a brief moment, everything was Ghibli

By Gearoid Reidy

Japan

Ford is as American as apple pie. Or is that Honda?

By Liam Denning

Japan

Use of wartime powers revives internment camp memories

By Erika D. Smith

Japan

Japan-Europe: The security alliance the world needs now

By Lionel Laurent and Gearoid Reidy

Hong Kong's real estate sector is slumping, putting the government's development plans at risk and signaling a wider economic malaise that may become a spanner in the works of Beijing's plans to transform the territory's economy.

World / Geoeconomic Briefing

Will China succeed in remaking Hong Kong in its own image?

By Toru Kurata

Beijing can control Hong Kong politically, but to impose its economic vision on the territory it needs businesses to get on board as these face an economic and real estate plunge.

World

Europe must set the terms for postwar Russia engagement now

By Thomas O. Falk

World

Europe’s VAT hurts the U.S.? Retaliate with a VAT.

By Clive Crook

World

Will the real Pete Hegseth please stand up?

By Kuni Miyake

World

Nintendo's Switch 2 reveal had a big surprise: The price

By Gearoid Reidy

World

Le Pen’s MAGA-style martyrdom is new risk in France

By Lionel Laurent

World

Cleaning up a giant coal and gas port isn’t easy

By David Fickling

Read more COMMENTARY stories

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

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

An ongoing shortage of rice has resulted in rising prices for Japan's main food staple.

Why Japan is running out of rice — and farmers to grow it

By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

BOARDING & INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL DAY 2025 (Sunday, April 20)

BOARDING & INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL DAY 2025 (Sunday, April 20)

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