Senior Research Fellow, Institute of Developing Economies, Japan
D. Social Sciences and Industry
Human Activities in Interactions Between Individuals or Groups
Self-Sufficiency: Henry D. Thoreau spent two years and two months in solitude on the shores of Walden Pond in Concord, and wrote Walden; or, Life in the Woods (1854), a work that invites readers to reflect on the nature of society (2014).Agriculture: Shiroyone Senmaida on the Noto Peninsula, Japan, illustrating the effort to cultivate life on limited land (2019).Agriculture: An irrigation canal in Takachiho, Japan, constructed around 1900 through the efforts of local residents to enable rice farming in this mountainous region, far from natural water sources (2023).Agriculture: Grapes in Turpan, China, cultivated using the “karez” system—a network of underground canals built and maintained to supply water in this arid region (1996).Agriculture: Tomatoes ripen sequentially, starting with those closest to the main branches, on a farm in Fujisawa, Japan (2024).Agriculture: A tea garden in Izunokuni, Japan (2024).Fishery: Chinese fishing nets, a traditional fishing method introduced from China to Kochi, a spice trading center in India, around the 14th century (2009).Manufacturing: The Boston Beer Company, a pioneering craft brewery known for its “Samuel Adams” brand (2015).Distribution: Wholesalers and intermediate wholesalers of fruits and vegetables at the Metropolitan Central Wholesale Market, Tokyo (2025).Distribution: One of the “kirana” stores, mom-and-pop stores found throughout India, in Bangalore (2009).Distribution: A Hema Xiansheng store in Hangzhou, a new Alibaba retailer aiming to integrate online and offline shopping (2018).Advertising: Skytyping over Cambridge, USA: MOHEGAN SUN (a casino) GO……? (2014)Entertainment: The Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Museum, a nostalgic tourist attraction since the 1960s on Clifton Hill in Niagara Falls, Canada (2015).Video Game: Mario’s warp pipe leading somewhere in Tokyo (2024).Offshore Finance: In the Cayman Islands (2012).Economics: Adam Smith studied at Balliol College, University of Oxford, but was dissatisfied with the study environment there (2017).Market: The price mechanism at work in gold transactions in Bangkok’s Chinatown (2019).(Cont’d) Because of its beauty and useful chemical properties, gold has been used around the world since ancient times as a medium of exchange, an asset class, and a symbol of wealth through various forms of decoration. The photo shows a native gold mineral, mined in 1904 in Kesennuma, Japan, on display at the Geological Museum in Tsukuba (2024).Market: One of the two flower auction rooms at the Metropolitan Central Wholesale Market in Tokyo (2025).Market: The rise in real estate prices has created opportunities for the construction of super-slim residential towers in New York (2015). On the left is 432 Park Avenue, which is nearly complete.Prices Surge: A receipt for the taxi fuel surcharge during the 2007–08 oil price surge in Guangzhou (2007).Entry and Exit (and back again): Isetan, a Japanese department store, entered Bangkok in 1992 but exited in 2020 due to increased competition. The closing ceremony was packed with customers and reporters (2020). However, their parent company opened a different type of store in Bangkok in 2024.Competition: Airbus launched the super-jumbo A380 in 2007 to accommodate the hub-and-spoke system. In Johannesburg (2011).(Cont’d) On the other hand, Boeing launched the more fuel-efficient B787 in 2011 to accommodate the point-to-point system. As a result, the B787 has become more popular, as it allows airlines to be more flexible in their operations. In Boston (2015).Monopoly: The Breakers, a former residence of the Vanderbilt family, in Newport, USA (2014).Business Strategy: A cafe with the unique feature of allowing customers to enjoy boating on the waterways of an orchard, at the After the Rain Coffee & Gallery in Nakhon Pathom, Thailand (2020).Externality: A cafe with a beautiful view of rice fields and a famous temple, at the Meena Cafe in Kanchanaburi, Thailand (2020).Product Differentiation: Various types of “natto” (納豆) available at a supermarket in Bangkok, where many Japanese people reside (2019).Marketing: The BTS x McDonald’s collaboration in Bangkok (2021).Brand: One of the world’s most valuable brands in Atlanta (2010).Intellectual Property: The Pikachu at a Pokémon Cafe in Tokyo, expanding the use of the rights (2018).Risk: The site of a silver refinery, built in 1895 at the Iwami Ginzan Silver Mine in Oda, Japan, which was closed within a year and a half due to unprofitability (2024).Income Inequality: 8 Mile Road, separating Detroit from its affluent suburbs (2015). It was portrayed as a socially insurmountable boundary in the movie 8 Mile (2002).Financial Crisis: South Korea implemented painful reforms with the support of the IMF during the 1997 Asian financial crisis. In Seoul (1998).Financial Crisis: The Burj Khalifa under construction in Dubai, which received financial support from Abu Dhabi following the 2008 financial crisis (2008).Development Economics: At the first UNCTAD conference in 1964, Raúl Prebisch called for a new trade policy for developing countries. At the UN ECLAC in Santiago (2013).Traditional Technology: The facility where iron was produced using the ancient Japanese “tatara” technique from 1751 to 1921, in Unnan (2024).(Cont’d) A block of iron, “kera” (鉧), produced by the technique, at Wakou Museum in Yasugi, Japan (2024).Traditional Technology: A hand-weaving experience at an association dedicated to reviving the Yanai Stripes, which declined in the early 20th century, in Yanai, Japan (2023).Industrial Revolution: Power looms in a Lowell factory that played a key role in the U.S. Industrial Revolution (2015).Trial and Error to Industrialization: The Nirayama Reverberatory Furnace (left) in Izunokuni, Japan, built in 1857 for casting cannons, based on technical books from the Netherlands and a precedent in Japan (2024).Technology Introduction: The Japanese government introduced French spinning technology and established the Tomioka Silk Mill in Tomioka in 1872. The photo shows the equipment at the factory when it closed in 1987 (2023).Structural Transformation: Biopolis in Singapore’s one-north district, an international R&D hub established to foster a new advanced industry (2016).Politics: The National Diet Building in Tokyo (2019).Revolution: The Battle of Lexington and Concord in 1775 marked the beginning of the American Revolution. View from behind the statue of Captain Parker in Lexington, facing the British army (2015).International Relations: The round table used at the 2016 G7 Summit in Shima, Japan (2018).International Cooperation: The demining equipment used in Angola, at the 2007 Global Festa Japan in Tokyo (2007).International Administration: The Danube, an international river jointly managed by the countries in its basin, in Budapest (1992).International Exhibition: The “Tree of Life” inside the “Tower of the Sun” pavilion at the 1970 Osaka World Expo in Suita, Japan (2023).Diversity: The Empire State Building on the day of the Pride March in New York (2015).Prohibition: One of the locations from the movie Once Upon a Time in America (1984), with a view of the Manhattan Bridge in New York (2015).American Dream: On the Rocky steps from the movie Rocky (1976) in Philadelphia (2015).
