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November 01, 2024
 

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COMMENTARY

Japan

World
Japan
With the next prime minister needing to be selected soon after the recent election, there are questions about whether the Democratic Party For the People and Nippon Ishin no Kai will support Shigeru Ishiba in his bid to remain Japan’s leader.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Ishiba's future in question as support from allies wavers
The question now is whether the DPP and Ishin will support the LDP nominee to ensure victory, or if they will nominate their own candidates.
COMMENTARY / Japan
'Peak Japan' is now, so seize the moment, Japan
Japan has never been hotter! Japan is the number one country in the world right now, as voted on by everyone else except for the Japanese.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Masayoshi Son inflates the AI bubble even more
Masayoshi Son last month invested $500 million in OpenAI through his Vision Fund, having missed out on the AI company’s previous funding rounds.
NATO and the so-called Indo-Pacific Four nations of Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand have largely focused on security matters in Europe.
COMMENTARY / Japan / Geoeconomic Briefing
Oct 29, 2024
Why the security of Asia and Europe are inseparable
By Rintaro Inoue
Cooperation between Europe and the Indo-Pacific, including Japan, has never been more important as their defense depends not only on the U.S., but on each other.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba bows to Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers during a news conference at the party's headquarters in Tokyo on Monday, a day after the party recorded disappointing results in the Lower House election.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 29, 2024
A disastrous poll puts Japan politics on shaky path
By Gearoid Reidy
The Japanese public was crying out for change, but Ishiba entirely failed to offer it, instead using warmed-over catchphrases from Kishida.
Yoshihiko Noda, head of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, walks past a monitor displaying Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba of the Liberal Democratic Party. Neither party gained a majority in Sunday's general election.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 28, 2024
A general-election postmortem
By Edo Naito
The LDP is left to pick up the pieces of Ishiba's disastrous decision to call a snap election, putting him at risk of becoming Japan's shortest-lived prime minister.
On Sunday, voters delivered the LDP its biggest electoral setback since 2009, showing their dissatisfaction with recent scandals that have ravaged the party and fundamental issues in its makeup.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 28, 2024
Japan's October surprise
By Kuni Miyake
The debacle facing the LDP may be the immediate result of recent scandals, but there are deeper, structural reasons why voters have lost confidence in the party.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba at the Liberal Democratic Party's headquarters on Sunday, the day of a general election in which his party failed to secure even a simple majority together with its junior coalition party, Komeito.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 28, 2024
Breaking down the LDP’s punishing defeat
By Michael MacArthur Bosack
The LDP has been delivered a crushing electoral setback. How did this happen? What comes next? What does this mean for policymaking? Some of the key questions answered.
In Japan, terms like "progressive," "liberal," "conservative," and "nationalist" may sound familiar but do not align with their meanings in other democracies.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 25, 2024
How to understand labels in Japanese politics
By Edo Naito
The issues that define political labels are often unique to Japan. As a result, quite a few Western authors will pick them up and use them.
The ruling Liberal Democratic Party looks set for a bruising election night. The question for its leader, Shigeru Ishiba, is how bad the damage will be.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 23, 2024
Ishiba and the LDP race to stem the electoral bleeding
By Gearoid Reidy
Weeks into Shigeru Ishiba's premiership and mere days out from a general election, red alert signals are sounding in Tokyo’s corridors of power.

North Korea fires off ICBM with longest flight time yet
A man at a rail station in Seoul watches a news broadcast on Thursday with file footage of a North Korean missile test.
Taiwan battens down for Super Typhoon Kong-rey
People ride scooters in heavy rain as Typhoon Kong-rey approaches Taiwan, in Yilan County on Wednesday.
Tokyo High Court rules same-sex marriage ban is unconstitutional
Plaintiffs seeking the right for same-sex couples to marry react Wednesday to the Tokyo High Court's ruling that Japan's ban on such marriages is unconstitutional.
Japan's rail fans disapprove of new Seishun 18 tickets
A man waits for a train at Ebisu Station in Tokyo on Oct. 4.
Miyagi Prefecture to introduce four-day workweek for all employees
The Miyagi Prefectural Government Building in Sendai. The prefecture plans to expand the option for a four-day workweek to all prefectural employees from fiscal 2026.
All eyes on DPP ahead of prime minister vote in Lower House
DPP head Yuichiro Tamaki speaks to reporters in Tokyo on Tuesday. Tamaki has reportedly rejected a request for a meeting with Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan leader Yoshihiko Noda.
Trader's $10,000 spoofing profit haunts Nomura as the fallout widens
Nomura Holdings CEO Kentaro Okuda. In addition to the financial penalties for market manipulation, Nomura is suffering a fresh blow to its reputation following various scandals over recent years including several data leaks.
Onosato hogs spotlight, but there are big changes in latest sumo ranks
Onosato pushes out Hoshoryu during the Autumn Grand Sumo Tournament in Tokyo last month.
North Korean troops in Russia could have dangerous ramifications for Asia
North Korean special forces soldiers march and shout slogans during a military parade marking the 105th anniversary of the birth of the country's founding father, Kim Il Sung, in Pyongyang in April 2017.
Take a Halloween stroll through Tokyo’s dark history
Located in the Otemachi neighborhood, the 'skull mound' of Taira no Masakado is said to be the source of ills and misfortunes of any who would disturb the site.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

When Italy’s Cavour aircraft carrier visited Japan in August, it was the latest in a string of other ports of call by European nations such as Britain, Germany and France, all of whom are engaging in military and defense industry partnerships in East Asia.
Will Europe's pivot to Asia have any teeth?
By Gabriel Dominguez

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