[Daniel Moss] One dirty word is driving economic change in Japan

Workers born outside Japan are playing an increasingly important role in the world’s third-largest economy. Just don’t call it immigration.The country is often said to pride itself on homogeneity and an aversion to outsiders. But as Japan’s population declines and ages, employers are becoming aware of their constraints. The number of employees from overseas has more than doubled since 2012 to about 1.5 million, says Bank of America Merrill Lynch.In recent conversations with loc

Oct. 1, 2019

[Jonathan Bernstein] Is that the sound of Trump’s spell over Republicans breaking?

The fate of President Donald Trump rests with Republicans. So the hearing in the House of Representatives on Thursday about a whistleblower’s allegation of impropriety involving Trump’s interaction with the president of Ukraine provided a good chance to see what GOP lawmakers are thinking.　The answer is: They’re all over the place. And that’s bad news for the White House.There are plenty of good questions about how Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee grilled the

Sept. 30, 2019

[Daniel Moss] Where you eat your bento box now matters for Japan

Japan’s consumption-tax hike doesn’t look like it’s going to sink the economy, as a similar increase did five years ago. That’s the good news.　The bad news is that the bump, to 10 percent from 8 percent, is still happening at an inauspicious time. While a recession isn’t in the cards for Japan, the last thing any major economy needs is a fiscal brake.Twice Prime Minister Shinzo Abe shied away from the increase. No wonder: A jump in the tax was widely blamed for a re

Sept. 30, 2019

[James Gibney] Impeachment comes with a foreign policy silver lining

Even before House Speaker Nancy Pelosi pulled the trigger on an investigation into President Donald Trump’s dealings with Ukraine, there were fears and complaints that impeachment proceedings would dangerously compromise US foreign policy. Beyond just stifling the president’s communications with foreign leaders, wrote former Justice Department official John Yoo, Congress “would seize the upper hand in foreign affairs, which has produced disasters.”But there’s anothe

Sept. 29, 2019

[Leonid Bershidsky] Ukraine holds more surprises for Biden

US presidential candidate Joe Biden is about to learn an unpleasant lesson about Ukraine: Once you’ve stepped into the country’s politics, there’s no way to emerge unsullied. Recent developments suggest he’ll be fielding questions about a lot more than what President Donald Trump has already slung his way.Consider the case of Ukrainian billionaire Dmytro Firtash, which could play into one of the conservative blogosphere’s favorite obsessions: the idea that Ukraine p

Sept. 29, 2019

[Noah Feldman] UK top court’s Brexit ruling will have wide-ranging impact

The UK Supreme Court’s ruling voiding Boris Johnson’s suspension of Parliament is one for the ages -- a landmark in British constitutional law of the kind that comes around only once every few centuries.The court’s judgment tried to downplay how astonishing its decision was. But the reality is that the unanimous court broke new ground in making the judiciary, not Parliament, the ultimate arbiter of constitutional legality in the UK. Although, the court said this case was a &ldq

Sept. 26, 2019

[David Ignatius] Trump compromised national security for personal gain

If you’re wondering why it matters that US President Donald Trump withheld military aid to Ukraine while he was requesting political favors from its new president, think about the Ukrainian soldiers who are fighting a nasty proxy war against Russian-backed separatists. America is Ukraine’s ally in this fight. Ukrainian commanders, battling to hold their country together against a five-year onslaught by Russia, have been depending on US promises of military assistance. In life or deat

Sept. 26, 2019

[Kim Myong-sik] Moon slides deeper into hot water embracing Cho Kuk

The fall of President Moon Jae-in’s approval rating down to the 40 percent mark made headlines last week. The Korea Gallup figure was the lowest since the May 2017 election, which he won with 41 percent support in a five-way race with two conservative contenders, one centrist and one progressive. The rating had been over 60 percent after the dramatic summit talks with North Korean chief Kim Jong-un in the border village of Panmunjom and the North’s capital of Pyongyang last year. A s

Sept. 25, 2019

[Kent Harrington] When US president can’t be trusted

The White House is trying to prevent the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence from viewing a whistleblower complaint detailing President Donald Trump’s repeated attempts to pressure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate the son of former Vice President Joe Biden, a leading Democratic contender to challenge his presidency in 2020. Given Trump’s refusal to cooperate with nearly a dozen other congressional investigations, this episode will most likely end in

Sept. 25, 2019

[Kim Seong-kon] Experiencing deja vu, standing at a cul-de-sac

When I returned to Seoul from New York City to join the faculty of Seoul National University in the early 1980s, South Korea was sharply divided into two mutually antagonizing factions: anti-government left-wing political activists and pro-government right-wing supporters, radicals and conservatives, socialists and. capitalists. In academia and the literary community, scholars and writers were also divided into two factions: national literature and world literature, socially engaged literature a

Sept. 24, 2019

[Robert J. Fouser] Democratizing development in Korean cities

Population density remains one of the most controversial topics when discussing cities. The problems of crowded and empty cities are well known, but the problems are different. Crowded cities face the challenge of providing basic services to residents, who live in cramped and often uncomfortable housing. Empty cities, in contrast, face declining economic fortunes and lack the energetic vibe that defines a city.Global hubs, such as New York, London, and Paris, remain highly dense cities with a ho

Sept. 24, 2019

[Leonid Bershidsky] Germany’s green new deal doesn’t do much for the climate

The German government’s 54 billion euro ($60 billion) climate deal, approved Friday after about 20 hours of overnight negotiations, is a typical product of the reluctant coalition run by Chancellor Angela Merkel: It achieves a balance of interests and little more. If German voters want a more ambitious plan, and there are indications that they do, they’ll have to wait until after the 2021 election.The package is an exercise in evenhandedness. It’s neutral from the budgetary poi

Sept. 23, 2019

[David Ignatius] Crisis of Trump’s own making

It’s a good rule never to start a fight you’re not eager to finish. But the Trump administration and its Arab allies now seem caught in a version of that dilemma with Iran, which is proving to be a tougher adversary than Washington expected. Iran’s alleged attack On Sept. 14 on Saudi oil facilities caught US analysts by surprise. It was a major strike, using a combined force of 25 Iranian ballistic missiles and drones, according to Saudi officials, against assets that were supp

Sept. 23, 2019

[Go, Munir, Vishwanath] Asia’s multilateral balancing act

After World War II, Asia emerged from years of conflict and centuries of colonialism. The United States quickly became the main guarantor of regional security, signing bilateral defense treaties and establishing preferential trade and investment relationships with its Asian allies -- in particular the Philippines, Australia, Japan, South Korea and Pakistan. In the decades since, Asia has reaped substantial development gains from open trade, investment, and multilateral cooperation, enabling the

Sept. 22, 2019

[Leonid Bershidsky] Europe’s last land frontier is opening up

Ukraine has almost as much agricultural land as France and Germany combined and will finally start allowing it to be bought and sold next year. This is Europe’s last farmland frontier, and the fight over it is going to be messy.About 17 percent of Ukraine’s gross domestic product comes from agriculture, the one sector where Ukraine punches above its weight on the global stage. It’s the world’s sixth-biggest wheat exporter, a top 10 supplier of corn and barley, the global

Sept. 22, 2019

[David Ignatius] What will come of HK's protests?

As tens of thousands of protesters marched down Hennessy Road toward government headquarters Sunday afternoon, chanting pro-democracy slogans and waving American flags, it was an exuberant celebration of this territory’s yearning for freedom.The protesters seemed mindless of the danger: Men and women, young and old, ninja-clad teenagers and moms with their kids, all joined in the 15th straight weekend of protest. A doctor at a local hospital, a 56-year-old schoolteacher and a 19-year-old g

Sept. 19, 2019

[Michael R. Strain] Populism will probably just go away soon, so relax

Populism has become a defining feature of public life. It embraces a narrative of victimhood and grievance, pitting “people” against “elites.” US President Donald Trump’s protectionism and hostility toward immigrants are fueled by populist frustration on the political right. On the left, populism appears as resentment of the wealthy, and the Democratic Party’s presidential primary field is marked by proposals to penalize the rich. Compromise has become a dirty

Sept. 19, 2019

[Timothy L. O’Brien] Trump is cornered by the Saudi drone attacks

A small squadron of drones -- and possibly cruise missiles -- penetrated Saudi Arabia’s air defenses on Saturday, laying waste to a significant, valuable portion of two of the world’s most essential oil processing facilities. Amid worries about the impact of the strikes on global oil markets and fears about broader military confrontations upending a region perennially vexed by crossed swords, ancient religious rifts, geopolitical maneuvering and greed, facts and conjecture began jock

Sept. 18, 2019

[Noah Smith] Too much rent control is asking for trouble

For years, thriving cities in coastal regions of the US have become increasingly expensive to live in. As cities such as San Francisco, New York City, Los Angeles and Seattle became more attractive, thanks to booming knowledge industries and falling crime, rents soared.And for almost as long, people have been hotly debating what to do about the problem. Many have called for an increase in housing construction, especially by loosening zoning laws and reducing the ability of legal challenges to ha

Sept. 18, 2019

[Kim Seong-kon] Anti-virus software can be a virus, too

Many people enjoy the “Terminator” film series because the action-packed futuristic science fiction films are fun to watch, thanks to breathtaking action, time travel and enthralling cutting-edge technologies. But there is much more to the series than such visual pleasures. “The Terminator” and its sequels also provide valuable lessons and “post-humanist” hindsight in this era of nuclear weapons that can annihilate human civilization in a flash. The movie espe

Sept. 17, 2019