In the summer of 1985, 9-year-old Ken Miyajima boarded an airplane from Tokyo to Osaka by himself. He had a backpack packed with snacks and juice and was excited about meeting his cousins and visiting Japan's high school baseball mecca, Koshien Stadium. Ken's life ended ...

Despite assurances from the Pentagon chief, Tokyo is pressuring Washington because peace on the Korean Peninsula might benefit China and alter U.S. troop levels in Japan.

The Ground Self-Defense Force has marked a historic milestone with the launch of its first dedicated amphibious brigade, a type of unit that was long deemed too offensive to possess under Japan's postwar defensive security policy. "Our goal is to become the world's top-class amphibious ...

While debate continues on whether to amend the nation’s pacifist Constitution, less attention has been given to the referendum system under which the public will give its final say.

As Japan seeks to beef up its defenses in response to North Korea's rapidly advancing nuclear and missile program, its long-held policy of sticking to a strictly self-defensive security posture will likely come under close scrutiny in 2018. In particular, a plan to acquire long-range ...

Outgoing defense chief Tomomi Inada never seemed to understand the job, and her mentor’s rush to expedite her career may have left her out of her league, critics say.

After losing World War II, Japan decided to pursue pacifism under a war-renouncing Constitution, and its scientists vowed to avoid military research in repentance for cooperating with the military. But this long-held position is being complicated by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's policy of luring universities ...

Fulfilling Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s pledge to make Japan a “proactive contributor to peace” may not be so easy.

Every month, Harumi Sugiyama and Yumiko Hongo visit an apartment complex in Tokyo accommodating people who fled the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster, listening to the evacuees as they talk about their daily lives, frustrations and sorrows. The two are mental care specialists who have taken ...

Late last year, the government steamrolled through the construction of helipads for the U.S. military in the northern main island of Okinawa amid a local outcry over what is viewed as a further increase in the burden of hosting U.S. bases in the prefecture. The ...