{"id":3250,"date":"2014-07-02T07:00:56","date_gmt":"2014-07-01T22:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.irken.jp\/gn\/?p=3250"},"modified":"2014-09-22T10:59:21","modified_gmt":"2014-09-22T01:59:21","slug":"72-issue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.irken.jp\/gn\/?p=3250","title":{"rendered":"7\/2 Issue"},"content":{"rendered":"

To act or not to act? That is the question this week.<\/span><\/p>\n

Reuters<\/span><\/a> reports that the Bank of Japan is not looking to expand its stimulus program, as it expects the drop in inflation to be temporary. In addition, unemployment hit a 16-year low in May, while some see signs of \u201cbottoming out\u201d in spending. Bloomberg<\/span><\/a>, however, offers a less optimistic perspective, noting that \u201cconsumer prices climbed at the fastest pace in 32 years.\u201d Taro Saito, director of economic research at NLI Research Institute, states, \u201cHouseholds are starting to struggle with faster inflation coupled with the sales-tax hike,\u201d adding \u201cIt\u2019s hard to imagine households are happy with Abenomics.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The <\/span>US News & World Report<\/i><\/span><\/a> praises Japan\u2019s cabinet decision to allow Japan to participate in collective self-defense and thus \u201cnormalize Japan\u2019s military posture.\u201d The changing security situation in Asia, the <\/span>Report<\/i> writes, warrants the \u201cmodest and legitimate step\u201d toward a more proactive role for the country.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

On the same subject, while noting that \u201ca majority of Japanese oppose the collective self-defense reinterpretation,\u201d the Wall Street Journal<\/i><\/span><\/a> <\/i>calls the move \u201cinevitable\u201d in light of China\u2019s \u201cbellicose rhetoric and unilateral actions,\u201d speculating that the move may prompt Beijing to \u201cconsider how its aggressive behavior\u201d led to the change.<\/span><\/p>\n

The <\/span>Washington Post<\/i><\/span><\/a>, meanwhile, urged Europe and particularly the United States to take a harder line with Russia over its continuing aggression in Ukraine, Putin\u2019s \u201cgestures suggesting de-escalation\u201d notwithstanding. \u201cThe United States is right to work for allied unity on sanctions,\u201d the <\/span>Post<\/i> asserts, \u201cBut the quest for unity cannot become an excuse for inaction.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The Los Angeles Times<\/i><\/span><\/a> describes another possible call to action for the United States, specifically the private sector, coming from a report that examines the potential economic costs of climate change. The report seeks to offer a \u201cspringboard for a serious, non-partisan discussion of the potential actions we can take.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

And despite a lack of any apparent concerted national action, The Economist <\/i><\/span><\/a>reports, suicides in China have decreased precipitously in recent years. Possible causes? Besides higher living standards and general satisfaction, urbanization and the atomization of extended families may play a part, even as they suggest challenges down the line for China\u2019s aging population.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0****<\/p>\n

To see the overseas media\u2019s takes on these and other developments, you can browse the Global News highlights in app or at <\/span>http:\/\/www.irken.jp\/gn\/<\/a>. Links to the original sources are provided above, but please note these are frequently updated. Links that were valid at publication may later be broken.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To act or not to act? That is the question this week. Reuters reports that the Bank of Japan is not looking to expand its stimulus program, as it expects the drop in inflation to be temporary. In addition, unemployment hit a 16-year low in May, while some see signs of \u201cbottoming out\u201d in spending. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3387],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3250","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-irc-weekly"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.irken.jp\/gn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3250","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.irken.jp\/gn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.irken.jp\/gn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.irken.jp\/gn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.irken.jp\/gn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3250"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/www.irken.jp\/gn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3250\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3255,"href":"http:\/\/www.irken.jp\/gn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3250\/revisions\/3255"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.irken.jp\/gn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.irken.jp\/gn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.irken.jp\/gn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}