Back in the 1980s or 1990s, few would have predicted that Japan would become the standard-bearer of free trade. This is, after all, the country that once tried to ban foreign-made skis by claiming that Japanese snow was different from snow in other countries.How times have changed. As the US sinks into protectionism, the Land of the Rising Sun is one of the few countries still pushing for trade agreements. Japan recently made a free trade deal with the European Union and is trying to keep the Tr

After Las Vegas, it’s nice to see that some Republicans are willing to consider banning bump stocks, the devices Stephen Paddock apparently used to make a dozen semiautomatic assault weapons mimic the firing rate of a fully automatic machine gun. Several top Republican senators and House members who -- it goes without saying -- are normally opposed to anything resembling gun control have said they are open to the possibility. Even the National Rifle Association says it supports additional restri

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson insists that he’s staying at Foggy Bottom following reports that, after one humiliation on top of another from President Donald Trump, he threatened to quit. On PredictIt, a prediction market for politics, people who think Tillerson will be in his present job at year’s end could have put down 71 cents on Thursday morning for a chance to win a buck; a 30-cent wager could win the same dollar if they’re wrong.Go for the bigger payout.Despite Tillerson’s ineptitude a

When the Minnesota Timberwolves tip off in a sold-out game against the Golden State Warriors in Shenzhen next Thursday, the most popular jersey worn into the stadium won’t belong to Stephen Curry, Karl-Anthony Towns or even Yao Ming; it’ll be Kobe Bryant’s. The players shouldn’t be miffed, however. The enthusiasm for Bryant -- still the most popular athlete in China, despite his recent retirement -- is evidence of something that’s rarely acknowledged: Basketball, not the soccer so loved by Chine

If Shinzo Abe wins the snap election he’s just called for next month, he could become Japan’s longest-serving postwar prime minister. A better legacy would be as the man who reshaped the world’s third-biggest economy.Abe came into office pledging first and foremost to transform the economy. He’s made some progress -- bringing more women into the Japanese workforce, improving corporate governance, negotiating (and now, keeping alive) the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement and welcoming mor

When discussing Japan’s debt, most people get caught up in the issue of fiscal solvency. As everyone by now knows, Japan has a very high level of debt versus gross domestic product:This attention-grabbing number -- about twice the level of the US -- often gets people asking whether Japan will default. Some believe a default is likely when the country runs out of domestic buyers for government bonds, causing interest rates to rise. Others think the Bank of Japan can simply print money and buy gov

Last week, the Commercial Aviation Corp. of China (Comac) announced that the C919, China’s first homemade large passenger jet, had chalked up its 730th preorder. Those numbers won’t necessarily make the Boeing or Airbus SE quake; Boeing estimates Chinese airlines alone will require 5,420 new single-aisle planes by 2036. Ultimately, though, they could herald the end of global aviation’s great duopoly.Most of the C919’s orders come from state-owned Chinese companies, some of whom probably wouldn’t

I am the Canadian owner and director of an English hagwon near Suwon. I’ve lived in Korea for 17 years now, been married to my lovely Korean wife for 15, and been running a hagwon for about 10.Much has happened in my time here since the year 2000. I’ve watched the stellar rise of Samsung, LG, Hyundai, and others. I’ve seen Korea reach the final four in the World Cup, and I’ve learned very much to respect the hard-working attitude of Korean workers and students. It is with great pride that I tell

I felt my first real twinge of regret about not being a US citizen in 2008, when Barack Obama was elected president.An American university where my father once worked as a professor had helped secure green cards for my whole family, in 1992. (I was 11 at the time.) I had renewed my green card twice since then. People often asked why I hadn’t applied for citizenship. This is the life I’m used to, I’d say: smugly returning jury notices, watching elections from a safe distance, standing in endless