Economy

Since 2020, many countries have experienced their worst economic crisis in decades with the COVID-19 pandemic.  (Photo by Harue Matsushima)
Economy

Can capitalism bring happiness?

Experts prescribe Scandinavian models and attention to well-being statistics

1 January 2022
Fast Retailing CEO Tadashi Yanai spoke with Nikkei about U.S.-China tensions and how companies can navigate them. (Photo courtesy of Fast Retailing)
Interview

Uniqlo won't choose between U.S. and China, CEO says

Yanai says Japanese companies must look abroad because home market has no future

30 December 2021
Surveillance cameras in Shanghai. China has been accused of abusing surveillance technology.
Trade

Japan to weigh limits on surveillance tech exports with U.S., EU

International push to combat human rights abuses spurs Tokyo to action

24 December 2021
Xi Jinping on screen at the Museum of the Communist Party of China in Beijing, pictured on Nov. 12: the future price China's 1.4 billion people will pay for Xi's myth-building campaign rose exponentially in 2021.
Opinion

Asia's 2021 bull market in emperor-has-no-clothes moments

Xi Jinping happier than most to see this year stagger to a close

22 December 2021
The open pit mine of Molycorp's Mountain Pass rare earth facility in California, pictured in September 2009: the U.S. cannot make the same mistake again.
Opinion

Breaking China's grip on rare earths should be an AUKUS mission

Beijing has too much control over critical materials vital to advanced technology

20 December 2021
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Malaysian Foreign Affairs Minister Saifuddin Abdullah hold a joint news conference after their meeting in Putrajaya, Malaysia on Dec. 15. 
Indo-Pacific

U.S. counters China with new Indo-Pacific framework

Japan has key role to play in moderating push to decouple from Beijing

19 December 2021
A Uniqlo store in Beijing. A shipment of shirts to the U.S. was blocked earlier this year under a narrower import ban.
US-China tensions

U.S. ban on Xinjiang imports to set off supply chain scramble

Sanctions to force deep dives by manufacturers to root out forced labor

18 December 2021
U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai, left, speaks with Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi at the Iikura Guest House in Tokyo on Nov. 17: a multiagency effort is needed to achieve the right results.
Opinion

Japan and U.S. need to get serious about tech competition with China

Tokyo and Washington should do more to protect shared economic security

16 December 2021
The only answer is to find a way to tell the whole truth to everyone without triggering a panic or a feel of despair.
Opinion

Think of our businesses and families as threatened ballrooms

Most people who live in the moment refuse to see the dangers

15 December 2021
Xi Jinping will have to wait several years longer before the Chinese economy overtakes the U.S.'s, partly thanks to a big spending package Joe Biden shepherded through Congress. (Nikkei montage/AP)
Economy

China's overtaking of U.S. economy delayed to 2033, report says

South Koreans and Taiwanese to earn more than Japanese starting in 2027: JCER

15 December 2021
According to the U.S. National Weather Service, at least 50 tornadoes were confirmed across nine states. 
Natural disasters

Infographic: Tornadoes slice through U.S. South and Midwest

Satellite imagery reveals vast swathes of destruction

14 December 2021
A mailbox remains in front of where a home once stood in Earlington, Kentucky, after an outbreak of tornadoes ripped through several U.S. states
Natural disasters

U.S. tornadoes slam Amazon warehouse, but carmakers spared worst

Death toll tops 70 in hard-hit Kentucky, home to big Toyota plant

14 December 2021
Demonstrators protest against additive-containing U.S. pork in Taipei, Taiwan, on Nov. 22.
Trade

Taiwan vote on pork ban risks U.S. relations at critical time

Tsai's efforts to join CPTPP also would be set back

14 December 2021
The World Trade Organization headquarters in Geneva. China joined the body in 2001.
Trade

China's 20 years at WTO: A boon for Beijing, a beef for critics

Hopes for the Asian giant to embrace global norms go unfulfilled

11 December 2021
Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on Nov. 29: in the eyes of market participants, monetary policy asymmetry has been a notable feature of the past three decades.
Opinion

Have central banks moved to break the monetary policy vicious cycle?

More important than inflation forecasting is the policy regime itself

10 December 2021
Parag Agrawal, newly named Twitter CEO: his appointment led to both celebration and soul searching in India. (Photo courtesy of Twitter) 
Opinion

New Twitter CEO highlights struggle to halt India's brain drain

A record 600,000 citizens gave up their nationality between 2017 and 2021

8 December 2021
Yangshan Deepwater Port, the world's biggest automated container terminal, in Shanghai, pictured on Aug. 30: the trade rules that facilitated dramatic increases in global growth can no longer be taken for granted.
Opinion

Trade coercion presents a growing threat to the global economy

Nations need to go beyond expressions of solidarity

6 December 2021
Chang'e 5 probe gathers samples on the moon surface on Dec. 2, 2020: over a dozen Chinese institutes are working to extract Helium-3 from moon rock samples.
Opinion

Secret weapons technology poised to propel China ahead of the U.S.

Washington must develop its own 'Sputnik moments' to stay ahead

6 December 2021
Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2019. 
Your Week in Asia

Modi-Putin meeting, Summit for Democracy, China WTO anniversary

Your weekly lineup of Asia's biggest business and political events

5 December 2021
An AI-powered robot attempts a shot during men's basketball final match of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games: the problem is that AI systems are not governments that need to be nudged, encouraging the better angels of their nature.
Opinion

We all agree that AI needs global rules, but who will enforce them?

Regulating artificial intelligence is both too easy and too hard

3 December 2021
Chinese and U.S. flags at the 2021 China International Fair for Trade in Services in Beijing in September. U.S. tariffs appear to be inflicting "minimal" pain on China, Nazak Nikakhtar told Nikkei.
Interview

U.S. unlikely to screen investments in China: ex-Trump official

Nazak Nikakhtar says Beijing now has 'no incentive' to alter trade practices

2 December 2021
Stream article image
Datawatch

New global rules set to end race to cut corporate taxes

Move set to spark big gains in tax revenues in many countries

2 December 2021
Joe Biden participates in a virtual meeting with Xi Jinping at the White House on Nov. 15: the outcome of the rivalry should become clear in the next 10 years.
Opinion

Domestic politics, not conflict, will settle U.S.-China competition

Dangers at home the more pressing threat to each side's worldview

1 December 2021
A trader on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on Nov. 26: Investors sold off risk assets, from stocks and oil to cryptocurrencies.
Markets

New omicron COVID variant throws wrench into pandemic recovery

Investors assess impact on economic normalization and Fed tapering

28 November 2021
A maze of crude oil pipes and valves at the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in Freeport, Texas, pictured in June 2016: frustrated customers do not make for good business anywhere in the world.
Opinion

Tapping strategic oil reserves will never tame OPEC and its allies

Crude producers should nonetheless refrain from punishing buyer countries

27 November 2021