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July 12, 2025
 

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Masahiro Matsumura
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 6, 2018
Brace for the rise of the 'Japan question'
Whether or not North Korea denuclearizes, in the future Japan will be pushed to become more self-reliant on defense.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 17, 2017
The time for 'nuclear sharing' with Japan is drawing near
Japan is facing an existential threat and needs to respond accordingly.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 9, 2017
Japanese arms exports can boost regional stability
With the proper policy, calibrated Japanese arms export to Southeast Asian countries can be an effective policy instrument for preserving regional stability.
COMMENTARY / World
May 13, 2016
For Taiwan, the best defense is a good offense
Taipei needs to develop an approach aimed at deterring Beijing from initiating diplomatic offensives or, once they get under way, at least rolling them back.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 4, 2015
The veiled cause of Abe's legislative predicament
The national debate over the security bills as been limited to constitutional issues but it should also focus on Japan's significantly enhanced responsibilities in the U.S. defense guidelines.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 25, 2015
A bellicose China only for the foreseeable future
Careful analysis of China's coming demographic changes — rapid graying unprecedented in human history — shows that Beijing's seemingly unstoppable rise is heading for a brick wall.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 20, 2015
The AIIB has little to offer Japan and the U.S.
Japan is wise not to join China's Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, which could end up merely as a policy instrument for Beijing.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 9, 2015
Why Beijing is giving Hong Kong less respect
The crux of Beijing's declining respect for Hong Kong is Britain's apparent efforts to enhance its economic relationship with China amid U.S. hegemonic decline.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 24, 2014
Abe's security strategy lacks strategic thinking
The Abe administration's first National Security Strategy basically continues the longtime status quo policy, indicating that the prime minister remains trapped in the ongoing domestic polemics of peace vs. self-defense.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 29, 2014
Beijing's struggle to control a military district
China's ability to bring North Korea into line may depend on the outcome of an epochal struggle to bring the Shenyang Military District, which borders North Korea, under central authority.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 18, 2014
SDF should utilize Shimoji airport
A political professor assserts that Japan's air power would have a better chance of survival against possible Chinese salvos of ballistic and cruise missiles if Shimoji airport in Okinawa Prefecture were transformed into a military or dual-use facility.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 13, 2014
China waging psychological warfare in the East China Sea
Japanese and Western news reports suggest that the U.S. bombers and routine Japanese patrol fighters that flew into China's air-defense identification zone right after the ADIZ was proclaimed did not encounter any Chinese interceptors or radar beams.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 13, 2013
San Francisco Treaty and the South China Sea
All parties to the South China Sea island disputes can cite geographic and historical connections to back their claims, but none has solid legal title under the San Francisco Treaty.
COMMENTARY / World
May 6, 2013
Beware China's civilian-military relationship
Do China's rulers have full civilian control of their country's military? The U.S. and Japan should ask that question as Beijing hardens its stance on its maritime claims.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 8, 2012
Revenge of the Japanese mandarins
Ever since the huge earthquake that hit Japan's Tohoku-Pacific coast on March 11, 2011, the country's mass media have obsessively focused on the magnitude of the physical damage and the loss of life. Repeated broadcasts of traumatic video images of the great tsunami and the damaged reactors at the Fukushima...
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 22, 2010
Dim outlook for Japan's muddled leadership
OSAKA — Having seen a new prime minister every year for five consecutive years, Japan has just narrowly avoided having its third in 2010. Prime Minister Naoto Kan has been elected president of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), surviving a challenge from Ichiro Ozawa, the DPJ's most potent...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 27, 2010
Sumos and the yakuza
OSAKA — Perhaps no other sport is pursued as religiously as sumo wrestling. Before a match, referees — who double as Shinto priests — purify the seaweed, salt and sake. Wrestlers wash their faces, mouths and armpits before entering the dohyo (ring), on whose sacred sand neither shoes nor women...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 4, 2010
Ozawa: Japan's secret shogun
OSAKA — With the post-general election honeymoon over, the Japanese public has become increasingly aware that Ichiro Ozawa, secretary general of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), is the puppet-master behind Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's Cabinet.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 16, 2009
What does Japan want from Washington?
OSAKA — Three months after the Democratic Party of Japan's landslide general election victory, the new administration's foreign and security policy appears to be increasingly at odds with that of the United States. Indeed, there is growing concern on both sides of the Pacific that Prime Minister Yukio...
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 2, 2009
Japanese metamorphosis
OSAKA — Sunday's landslide general-election victory by the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) terminated the one-party- dominated system that the catch-all Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has controlled almost without interruption since 1955.
Tokyo hit by torrential rainfall at rush hour
People line up at Shibuya Station in Tokyo as they try to avoid the heavy rain on Thursday.
Foreign drivers in Japan to face tougher license conversion rules from October
According to the National Police Agency, there were 75,905 people who converted their foreign driver’s license to a Japanese one in 2024, up from 48,885 in 2019.
Chinese fighters came within 30 meters of Japanese spy aircraft, Tokyo says
A Chinese JH-7 fighter jet makes an near an Air Self-Defense Force YS-11EB surveillance aircraft over the East China Sea this week in this image released Thursday.
Air India crash report to offer peek into last seconds
Members of the Indian Army's engineering arm prepare to remove the wreckage of an Air India aircraft in Ahmedabad on June 14.
What Japanese politics could look like after Upper House election
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who heads the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (center) waves to attendees as he departs after delivering a campaign speech in Yokohama on Sunday.
New IG Arena set to dial down temperature at Nagoya Basho, in a good way
With IG Arena getting glowing early reviews as the Nagoya Basho’s replacement venue, it may be a while before fans wax nostalgic about the Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium.
Once a niche, anime is now mainstream content for Netflix and other streaming services
Though Netflix remains the dominant choice globally for anime viewers, Amazon Prime Video has also invested heavily in anime, steadily adding titles to their catalogue.
NGOs condemn rise in anti-immigrant rhetoric ahead of Upper House vote
Sanseito head Sohei Kamiya holds a board that reads "Japanese First" in Tokyo on July 2. In a joint statement on Tuesday, eight human rights nongovernmental organizations described the far-right party's stance as "hate speech."
Japanese dancers find a home abroad at Houston Ballet
“Giselle” lead Yuriko Kajiya (center), performing with Connor Walsh as Albrecht, is one of six Japanese dancers at Houston Ballet.
From the Abes to the Ohtanis: How siblings shape athletic development
Olympic judoka Uta Abe (second from left) and Hifumi Abe (second from right) with their brother Yuichiro (center) and their parents. “I’m always consciously trying to be a good older brother,” Yuichiro said.

Podcast

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

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji
By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Muji has been sustainable from the beginning
Muji has been sustainable from the beginning

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