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November 19, 2025
 

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COMMENTARY

World

World
Japan
The world is experiencing something similar to the prosperity before World War I, but growing authoritarianism, environmental decline and political paralysis are threatening to turn a promising future into a catastrophe.
COMMENTARY / World
Lessons from the past: The geopolitical significance of historical precedent
Every generation believes that it is living in an unprecedented era with unique challenges. But time and again, the same patterns have weakened and even destroyed civilizations.
COMMENTARY / World
Nuclear tests and a legacy of harm in the Asia-Pacific
Understanding former nuclear experiments as “tests” is highly misleading, as each atomic explosion has released a tremendous quantity of long-lasting radioactive pollutants.
COMMENTARY / World
ASEAN’s moment of truth
The block confronts its biggest test yet: building balanced partnerships with powerhouses like China, India, Japan and the U.S.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping's global ambitions require internal unity, yet internal repression constrains the creativity that global leadership demands.
COMMENTARY / World / Geoeconomic Briefing
Nov 16, 2025
Xi’s balancing act: Competition abroad and discipline at home
By Naoko Eto
China’s global ambitions require internal unity, yet internal repression constrains the creativity that global leadership demands.
Protesters in Makati City, Metro Manila, hold a rally over the Philippines' territorial disputes with China outside the Chinese Consulate in June 2015. ASEAN, despite five of its members claiming parts of the South China Sea, doesn’t back Manila in its standoff with Beijing.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 13, 2025
ASEAN hedges as the South China Sea bubbles over
By Brad Glosserman
One would think ASEAN, with five of its members claiming parts of the South China Sea, would support the Philippines’ quest for a peaceful, legal resolution. You’d be wrong.
Early evidence suggests that mRNA COVID-19 vaccines, when given shortly before cancer immunotherapy, may significantly boost survival rates by activating the immune system.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 12, 2025
What if the COVID-19 vaccine could save cancer patients too?
By Lisa Jarvis
That something as simple as a COVID-19 vaccine might improve survival in cancer patients receiving standard immunotherapy has taken oncologists by surprise — in a good way.
Demonstrators attend the "We Are All D.C." march in Washington on Sept. 6 to protest U.S. President Trump’s order to send National Guard units to assist in crime prevention.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 12, 2025
How accurate are U.S. crime statistics?
By Justin Fox
All the numbers point to a sharp downturn in Washington and other big cities. After that it becomes a little tricky.
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham speaks at the 2023 U.S. Business Day and Taiwan-U.S. Supply Chain Partnership Forum in Taipei. Taiwan's leadership is advocating for a supply chain initiative among democratic nations that reduces reliance on China.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 11, 2025
How Taiwan’s ‘nonred’ supply chain might work
By Akhil Ramesh
Proposed as an alternative to China-dominated supply chains, the initiative urges democracies to cooperate in securing advanced manufacturing supply chains.
Hong Kong's Mong Kok wet market. China's economy is advancing, but challenges like a declining gross domestic product share, regional disparities and demographic shifts could hinder its long-term growth.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 11, 2025
Can China catch up with the U.S. economically?
By Keun Lee
With its GNI per capita having increased steadily in recent years, China has probably evaded the middle-income trap.
From surveilling and repressing Chinese citizens to firing and prosecuting potential rivals, Chinese leader Xi Jinping seems able to rule only through fear.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 11, 2025
Continued purges by Xi reveal his insecurity
By Brahma Chellaney
Xi Jinping's recent purge of top-ranking generals, like those before it, shows that he still sees enemies everywhere.

A beloved Tokyo penguin’s end presages Suica’s shift to payments giant
JR East is retiring the beloved Suica penguin as part of a rebrand to transform the contactless payment platform, used for both transit and retail, into a mobile fintech powerhouse.
Japan sends senior official to China to cool boiling tensions
A Chinese tour group in the Ginza shopping district of Tokyo on Sunday. China has advised its citizens to avoid traveling to Japan, following a diplomatic feud sparked by remarks from Tokyo's new prime minister about a hypothetical attack on Taiwan.
More Japanese firms relax rules in tussle for workers
Hinako Mori, 22, arranges products at a Don Quijote outlet in Tokyo in October. The Japanese retailer, which relaxed its rules concerning hair and nail polish three years ago, says nearly a quarter of its employees sport brightly colored hair.
What you need to know about the shift to My Number health insurance cards
With the government's integration of health insurance with My Number cards, conventional health insurance cards will no longer be accepted at clinics and hospitals across Japan from Dec. 2.
Bears attacks and sightings continue in northern Japan
A bear walks in front of a box trap set up at a park in the city of Akita on Nov. 2.
How Band-Maid brought anime energy into the hard-rock sound of ‘Scooooop’
Members of Band-Maid combine heavy riffs and maid-inspired visuals in their latest project, "Rock Is a Lady’s Modesty."
Japan uses series against South Korea to prep for World Baseball Classic title defense
Japan's Ryuhei Sotani pitches against South Korea at Tokyo Dome on Saturday night.
Who is cricket’s Shohei Ohtani?
South African cricket legend Jacques Kallis plays a shot during the final day of a cricket test match against India in Johannesburg in December 2013.
Good fortune, wrapped in fried tofu
Golden "age-fukuburo," a culinary take on Japan's new year "lucky bags," can be served on their own.
Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan celebrates 80 years at the forefront of press freedom
Located near the Imperial Palace, the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan prides itself on the accessibility of its events and the support it offers to budding and established journalists. The club is currently headed by Dan Sloan, a former reporter for Reuters.

Podcast

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

Longform

An illustration features the Japanese signs for "ganbare" (good luck) and the Deaflympics, which will be held between Nov. 15 and 26.
A century of Deaf sport finds its moment in Tokyo
By Kathryn Wortley

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