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November 22, 2024
 

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DEVELOPMENT

One problem with Japan’s investments in African infrastructure compared to other countries is that its projects often lack long-term sustainability and alignment with local development plans, limiting their impact. 
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 5, 2024
Is Japan’s involvement in Africa’s development outdated?
Japan's traditional aid approach is seen as too transactional and insufficiently addressing Africa's broader development challenges.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan greet the press before welcoming leaders from African countries in Beijing on Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / ANALYSIS
Sep 5, 2024
Debt woes and funding needs in focus as China hosts African leaders
Africa and its ample mineral and oil resources have become the focus of intense geopolitical competition in recent years.
Weighting the total number of medals won by each country by value — three points for gold, two for silver and one for bronze — reveals that the 12 countries with the highest medal count in Paris are all advanced economies.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 4, 2024
The geopolitics of Olympic medals
A larger population offers a broader talent pool, and economic development supports better sports infrastructure and policies.
Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa attends a new conference for the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) Ministerial Meeting in Tokyo on Aug. 25.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 3, 2024
Africa's rising importance for Japan’s Indo-Pacific goals
Africa is becoming an increasingly important element of Japanese FOIP strategy. It is a work in progress, but it is proceeding.
A building emblazoned with a Great Wall graphic in Kitwe, Zambia
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Sep 3, 2024
Xi wants bigger returns and fewer headaches from African debt deals
From Angola to Djibouti, for over a decade, China poured more than $120 billion of government-backed loans through its Belt and Road Initiative.
Jonah Ndeuludila (right) is studying at Tochigi Prefecture's Asian Rural Institute in order to bring skills back to his job at Namibia's Namib Desert Environmental Education Trust.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Sep 2, 2024
Over half a century, seeds of change grow at a Tochigi farm
Founded by Toshihiro Takami in 1973, ARI promotes organic, subsistence farming methods and the practice of servant leadership.
Frederick Go, who advises the Philippine president on the economy, says Washington, Tokyo and Manila will prioritize five major projects in the Luzon Economic Corridor plan.
JAPAN
Aug 13, 2024
U.S. and Japan reportedly keen on $15 billion Philippine projects
The Philippines is seeking to leverage stronger ties with the U.S. and its allies to help unlock economic benefits.
The shadows of workers from EKI Energy Services at a ReGen Powertech wind farm in Dewas, Madhya Pradesh, India, in 2022
ENVIRONMENT / Energy
Aug 8, 2024
Climate crisis hinges on green power for those in need, study shows
Some of the poorest nations also have the world’s best solar energy potential, the report stated.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is set to visit Kazakhstan later this month to meet with regional leaders in central Asia.
JAPAN
Aug 1, 2024
Kishida to announce Central Asia aid package
Kishida is scheduled to visit Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Mongolia from August 9 to 12.
International Monetary Fund guidance on industrial policy must balance protection with market discipline and emphasize fiscal prudence.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 25, 2024
What fiscally sound industrial policy can do
Industrial policy can help countries cope with growing economic and political uncertainty. But the details matter.
At a waste center in Kamikatsu, Tokushima Prefecture, residents separate trash into 45 different categories as the town aims to become "zero waste."
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 22, 2024
How circular economy initiatives are changing the world
From Asia to Europe to Africa, public and private entities are finding new ways to revolutionize the economic paradigm from a linear to a circular model. In Japan, too.
Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa (center-left) meets with Samoan Prime Minister Afioga Fiame Naomi Mata’afa (center-right) in Samoa in February. Like other Pacific island and Global South states, Samoa is caught in the crossfire of the U.S.-China rivalry.
COMMENTARY / Japan / Geoeconomic Briefing
Jul 11, 2024
Japan can help Global South navigate U.S.-China clash
As Washington and Beijing adopt more inward-looking foreign policies, Japan can be a bridge to Global South countries, whose main concerns are security and growth.
Delhi recorded its first death from heatstroke recently, with scorching temperatures wreaking havoc in the capital and other Indian cities.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 30, 2024
India’s scorching heat is making it unlivable
Climate change is a serious problem in India. Working conditions are becoming unbearable during heat waves and everything from agriculture to construction is affected.
High blood pressure is the world’s single biggest indicator of death risk, yet it receives little attention and even less funding.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 28, 2024
The world’s biggest killer that you never considered
One of the most dangerous health conditions, high blood pressure, could be tackled easily and cheaply across the globe. But it's getting less attention than other issues.
The total fertility rate dropped to 1.5 children per woman in 2022 from 3.3 in 1960 on average across OECD countries, a report from the organization has said.
WORLD / Science & Health
Jun 21, 2024
Birth rates halve in richer nations as costs weigh, OECD report says
Many in OECD member countries are now choosing to have children later in life or not at all, the report said.
Without stronger international cooperation and policies that advance shared prosperity, growth will remain too slow to support progress on development and poverty reduction.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 16, 2024
Getting the global economy out of the slow lane
The world economy has avoided recession despite the steepest rise in global interest rates since the 1980s.
After just 1.3 degrees Celsius of warming above preindustrial levels, the countries with the most refugees, asylum-seekers, and displaced people are already among those hardest hit by climate change.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 16, 2024
It’s far cheaper to help migrants before they leave home
As global temperatures rise, so will the frequency of heat waves, droughts, floods, pandemics, natural disasters, food and water shortages and conflicts over resources.
Doctors and staff from UNICEF treat a malnourished child in Port Sudan, Sudan, on April 17.
WORLD / Society
Jun 6, 2024
Over 1 in 4 children under age 5 live in 'severe' food poverty, UNICEF says
Malnutrition due to limited access to a variety of foods can lead to emaciation, a state of being abnormally thin that can be fatal.
The Bank Indonesia headquarters in Jakarta
BUSINESS / Markets
May 27, 2024
India and Indonesia stand out for EM investors in aging world
Both India and Indonesia had elections this year, showcasing to the world their ambition to transition into major economic powerhouses.
Ecuador has sought funding to fight the effects of climate change, including a June 2023 flood that followed heavy rains in Esmeraldas. So far, the developed world has offered the debt-strapped nation more loans than grants.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
May 23, 2024
Rich nations reap climate finance dividend, benefiting from rates and terms
Developed nations have pledged to send $100 billion a year to poorer countries to aid adaptation, but money from the deals is being funneled back into rich economies.
Ishiba delays meeting with Trump, citing legal restrictions
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba waves upon arrival for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, in Callao, Peru, on Friday.
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.
Rising sex tourism exposes loopholes in Japan's anti-prostitution law
While financial misfortunes during the COVID-19 pandemic may have driven some women to work the streets, others simply want more money to spend — or want to pay off their debts — at host clubs.
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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