In Dublin, Ireland, where I have lived in recent years, many observers view East Asian economics as a remote issue of little interest in Western Europe. As I discovered the other day, it is an attitude shared even by some … Continue reading →
If you click through on the headings below, you can get to the articles concerned. Most of them focus on international trade or American decline or both. For my first item, however, I chose something different — partly because it … Continue reading →
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Continue reading →This article was first published in the January-February 2014 issue of The American Conservative. At a welcoming banquet in Japan in the 1980s, Ford Motor chairman Philip Caldwell received a memorably double-edged compliment. “There is no secret about how we … Continue reading →
Why do Americans keep misunderstanding Japan? Much of the blame must be placed at the door of the State Department. And that is why last week I extended an unusual offer to the current U.S. ambassador to Tokyo. As part … Continue reading →
A message for Richard Katz and other Japan declinists: Look at the big picture. Probably no commentator has been more outspoken in proclaiming the demise of the Japanese economic model than Richard Katz, author of The System that Soured. While many … Continue reading →
As usual the American press missed the real story. The American press has made much of news that Japan last year recorded a deficit of $32 billion on its visible trade. Supposedly this is the beginning of the end for … Continue reading →
My article in today’s New York Times Sunday Review has been generating heat as well as light. An article I have written on Japan for the January 8 New York Times Sunday Review went live at the nytimes.com website yesterday … Continue reading →
People have asked me what happened to the Fingleton Invitation. The answer is nothing. Some months ago I invited Ed Lincoln, a former Tokyo-based economic adviser to the U.S. government, to join me for a public discussion of the Japanese … Continue reading →
I have just published the article below in the American Conservative. TOKYO—In the mid 1990s, I published a book entitled Blindside: Why Japan Is Still on Track to Overtake the U.S. By the Year 2000. The prediction in the subtitle … Continue reading →