Rebel with a cause

The soundtrack to Japanese politics was once “quiet, calm, ambient”, says The Economist. No longer. New prime minister Sanae Takaichi, a one-time heavy-metal drummer, is setting a new beat that is “br

Japan’s politics are unstable (see page 4), the yen is trading at multi-decade lows against most major currencies, long-term government bond yields have soared, and inflation is picking up again. Yet

The good times are rolling again in Tokyo, where the Japanese stock exchange has extended its record rally, fuelled by what UBS calls the “Takaichi trade”, says MarketWatch. But if new PM Sanae Takaic

Issue of the week: Trump’s Asian tour Markets ...

“History is just one f**king thing after another,” declares a vulgar schoolboy in Alan Bennett’s play The History Boys. Surveying the past 25 years can feel the same way. From Iraq to the euro crisis

There are policies that seem to work and some that don’t. But the policy that always works best is no policy at all. That is, left alone, people do the best they can with what they have. Only they kno