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August 30, 2025
 

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The Clintons and Barack Obama engineered the disastrous situation in the 2024 election and have long dominated the Democratic Party, with Joe Biden and Kamala Harris serving as their appointees. 
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 24, 2024

How the Democrats sunk their own ship this year

The Democratic leadership would far rather lose an election or two — or even become a permanent minority party – than open the party to people it cannot control.
Alarmo and other recent products reflect Nintendo's strategy of using its iconic intellectual properties to engage users while preparing for the inevitable transition to a successor console after the Nintendo Switch.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 24, 2024

Nintendo’s latest device, the Alarmo, is a $100 wake-up call

Alarmo and other recent products reflect Nintendo's strategy of leveraging its iconic IPs to engage users as it prepares for the successor to the Nintendo Switch.
An IBM research facility in Albany, New York. Despite some continuity between the first Trump administration and Biden's policies on critical and emerging technologies, the outgoing president placed more emphasis on cooperation with allies.
COMMENTARY / World / Geoeconomic Briefing
Nov 26, 2024

Will Trump change course on critical and emerging tech?

Washington's policies to protect key tech fields have not just hurt China, but U.S. allies too, leading to a form of cooperation with friction whose future is uncertain.
Sanae Takaichi (left) celebrates Shigeru Ishiba’s victory in becoming the head of the Liberal Democratic Party along with then-Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Tokyo in September. Takaichi appears to be the only woman in any party who is close to breaking the glass ceiling to become the nation’s first female leader. 
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 26, 2024

The derailing of potential female prime ministers

Sanae Takaichi stands as the closest woman to breaking the glass ceiling and becoming Japan's first female prime minister.
At the United Nations climate conference in Baku, rich nations found that efforts to reduce their own emissions and fund climate programs elsewhere in the world bought them little favor with developing countries most at risk of global warming.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 26, 2024

Clean power must offer more hope to beat fossil fuels

Wealthy nations must treat climate change as a genuine crisis, advocating for bold financing programs to enable poor nations to industrialize with clean energy.
Although a quick resolution to the war may seem appealing, forcing Ukraine to capitulate would merely embolden Russia and its Chinese, Iranian and North Korean allies.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 26, 2024

Trump’s best hope for peace is to support Ukraine

Nearly two months before his return to the White House, Donald Trump appears intent on pressuring Ukraine to accept territorial losses in exchange for ending the war.
In developing Asia, where coal dominates and imported liquefied natural gas is expensive, natural gas remains limited in electricity grids.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 24, 2024

Gas got America off coal. Now, it's coming for Asia's oil.

It can work in concert with carbon-free energy to break the hold of the dirtiest sources of power.
Members of the Maori community and their supporters take part in a protest about indigenous rights outside of New Zealand's parliament in Wellington on Nov. 19.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 26, 2024

Shadow of the British Empire hangs over New Zealand's treaty debate

The controversy over one of the nation’s founding documents touches a raw nerve. The agreement has two versions, one in English and the other in Maori.
Global beef consumption has slowed and the carbon footprint of the global cattle herd may already be declining.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 26, 2024

Peak beef could already be here

Global beef consumption has slowed and the carbon footprint of the global cattle herd may already be declining.
Chinese police have signed cooperation agreements with countries across Asia, Latin America, the Pacific and Sub-Saharan Africa, offering embedded officers, training, joint patrols and exporting security equipment, especially to developing economies.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 13, 2024

China’s cops are coming to a city near you

When asked about covert overseas police outposts, China either denies their existence or claims they are service centers for overseas citizens.
Beijing’s long-standing line has been a commitment to keep the yuan "basically stable.” But U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s return — and his threat of tariffs — may test that.
COMMENTARY
Nov 27, 2024

China will send a weaker yuan to the Trump front

Beijing’s long-standing line has been a commitment to keep the yuan "basically stable.” But Trump’s return with his tariff threats may test that.
U.S. President Donald Trump holds a bilateral meeting with then-Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York in September 2019. Tokyo may be forced to balance its priorities in the U.S. alliance with its economic reliance on China.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 27, 2024

Trump's return heralds a new era of trade tensions for Japan

Tokyo faces a balancing act: aligning with Washington's priorities while maintaining its critical economic ties to China.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un welcomes Russian President Vladimir Putin at a ceremony in Pyongyang in June. If North Korean troops sent to the war in Ukraine under an agreement between the two nations are used for anything other than cannon fodder, they may gain experience that could improve the communist nation's military.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 27, 2024

Autocrats challenge traditional geopolitics and strategic boundaries

Emerging "common market of autocracies" are enabling regimes like Russia and North Korea to evade Western sanctions through unconventional networks and barter systems.
According to a recent survey by Child Fund Japan, a nonprofit, one in eight minors in Japan have experienced online requests from strangers to meet or for sexual photos. Despite the potential harms of social media, strong regulations are lacking.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 28, 2024

Japan doesn't need a social media ban, but it must protect children

Short of stopping minors from using social media, Japan needs to beef up its response to an evermore perilous online environment. One that adults often struggle to grasp.
It’s hard to overstate the importance of the U.S. Treasury market as it sets global stock and bond prices and shapes U.S. deficit financing costs.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 27, 2024

Bessent will have to fix America's finances. Good luck with that.

It’s hard to overstate the importance of the U.S. Treasury market as it sets global stock and bond prices and shapes U.S. deficit financing costs.
Beijing No. 2 Intermediate People's Court. Former Guangming Daily editor and journalist Dong Yuyu, 62, was detained by police in Beijing in February 2022 while having lunch with a Japanese diplomat.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Nov 29, 2024

China court sentences journalist Dong Yuyu to seven years on spy charges, family says

Former editor and journalist Dong Yuyu was detained by police in Beijing in February 2022 while having lunch with a Japanese diplomat.
While the economic benefits of Nippon Steel's acquisition of U.S. Steel are clear, concerns remain about sustaining U.S. domestic steel production, preserving national security interests and addressing union concerns.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 28, 2024

Nippon Steel endgame: Resistance or renaissance for the U.S. steel industry

The endgame for Nippon Steel’s bid for U.S. Steel appears near and the results could have a significant impact on U.S.-Japan relations, depending on the outcome.
The European Central Bank has signaled the need for coordinated fiscal and monetary efforts, with expectations for rate cuts amid rising inflation.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 27, 2024

Winter is coming for the euro in more ways than one

The European Central Bank has signaled the need for coordinated fiscal and monetary efforts, with expectations for rate cuts amid rising inflation.
Should Trump-o-phobes emulate Ellen DeGeneres, the comedian and ex-talk show host, who has apparently bolted for Britain to avoid the incoming administration?
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 27, 2024

Do you dislike Trump so much you’d quit the U.S. like Ellen?

DeGeneres’s escape from Trump may look like a political statement, but she’s not really a desperate pilgrim in reverse, risking all for new beginnings.
Brain adaptations during pregnancy may enhance efficiency rather than cause loss of function, similar to transformations seen during adolescence and menopause.
COMMENTARY
Nov 29, 2024

We’re finally starting to understand the pregnant brain

Brain adaptations during pregnancy may enhance efficiency rather than cause loss of function, similar to transformations seen during adolescence and menopause.
A resident walks past destruction caused by Israeli bombardment in a neighborhood of Beirut's southern suburbs on Thursday, a day after a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah took effect.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 1, 2024

The Lebanon ceasefire can be leveraged for a broader deal

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has already said he sees the ceasefire as a pause in which to increase pressure on Hamas in Gaza and to rearm.
Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte holds a news conference in Quezon City, in Metro Manila, on Tuesday. She denied she was plotting to kill President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., saying recent comments that sparked a government probe only reflected "consternation" with her one-time ally.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 1, 2024

Philippines politics is often mad. It just got crazier.

Manila cannot afford to be distracted by the latest round of clan rivalry and violent threats.
In the absence of a long-term revitalization strategy, the historic city of Venice will remain on the path to becoming a cultural mausoleum.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 1, 2024

Venice’s beauty curse

UNESCO’s World Heritage designation for Venice comprises the city in its entirety, rather than select buildings or neighborhoods.
If Russia insists on its nuclear doctrine, allies must adopt their own and assert that a nonnuclear country attacked by a nuclear power has the right — and duty — to receive nuclear weapons for deterrence.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 1, 2024

Should nuclear weapons for Ukraine be on the table?

The situation in Ukraine is absurd: While Ukraine's missile use is called an escalation, Russia's attacks on civilians are seen as routine.
While Donald Trump’s legacy and the future ideological direction of the country remains uncertain, the U.S. still retains a democratic future and a dynamic character.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 1, 2024

The post-cold war era is finished. Liberalism and democracy will go on.

For now, the weirder, stranger future the U.S. is entering still looks like a democratic future.
The advent of “relationship bots” will change the world’s oldest profession, but the need for human connection will persist.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 1, 2024

AI will transform sex work but not intimacy

There is already at least one relationship bot called Replika and more will surely follow. And they will only get better.
The challenge for African governments and communities is how to harness this wave of youthful talent — with all their innovation, resilience and determination — rather than lose them to developed economies.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 29, 2024

Africa must act to stem its youth brain drain

African governments must harness youthful talent or risk losing it to developed economies.
The primary motivation for potentially adding Japan to the Five Eyes alliance is the considerable intelligence contributions the country could make concerning China, North Korea, Eastern Russia and East and Southeast Asia.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 30, 2024

If ever invited, should Japan make it 'Six Eyes'?

The primary motivation for potentially adding Japan to the alliance is the considerable intelligence contributions the country could make.
U.S. President Joe Biden hugs his wife Jill Biden as his children Hunter and Ashely Biden look on during his presidential inauguration in Washington on Jan. 20, 2021.  
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 3, 2024

Hunter Biden’s pardon is understandable — but wrong

Who wouldn't try sparing a child from prison? It's still a tragedy for the republic.
The fall of Aleppo in Syria to political chaos in Tbilisi, Georgia, and even recent events in Paris, give us a glimpse of a possible post-American new world disorder.
COMMENTARY
Dec 4, 2024

Welcome to the post-American new world disorder

From Aleppo in Syria, to Tbilisi, Georgia, and even Paris, last weekend gave us a glimpse of a possible post-American new world disorder.
Most Japanese teens struggling with school find end of summer ‘painful’
Some 93.1% of Japanese teenagers who struggle with school life said they felt like they “wanted to disappear from the world" at the end of summer vacation ahead of the start of a new term, according to a recent survey released by Yokohama-based nonprofit Daisan Kazoku.
Philippine bid to acquire used Japanese warships gains steam
Tokyo is looking to transfer Abukuma-class vessels to the Philippines as part of broader efforts to boost the defense capabilities of like-minded neighbors amid growing Chinese military assertiveness in the region.
Mitsubishi’s wind-power retreat a blow to Japan's alternative-energy goals
Wind turbines in the town of Happo in Akita prefecture. Wind power is a key part of Japan's alternative energy drive.
Can anime carry the memories of World War II?
Many schools in Japan show "Grave of the Fireflies" as educational material to tell the emotionally grueling story of a boy who has no means to prevent his sister from starving to death.
Akazawa's trip to Washington for tariff talks abruptly canceled
Ryosei Akazawa, Japan's chief tariff negotiator, had been set to fly to Washington on Thursday.
Japan to launch broad review of immigration policies amid rise in foreign nationals
Foreign tourists at Narita Airport in June. A report released Friday stresses that Japan is at a turning point and that current ad-hoc measures on immigration are no longer sufficient.
Can anime carry the memories of World War II?
Many schools in Japan show "Grave of the Fireflies" as educational material to tell the emotionally grueling story of a boy who has no means to prevent his sister from starving to death.
Japan looks to build drone ‘shield’ in record defense budget request
A group of Ground Self-Defense Force service members discuss drone operations and capabilities at a joint static display during the Orient Shield 24 opening ceremony at the Yausubetsu Training Area in Hokkaido in July last year.
Jesse Kirkwood: ‘Languages are entire cultural universes with all sorts of baggage’
Jesse Kirkwood is part of a vibrant field of translators who have nurtured what might be called a “post-Murakami era of Japanese literature and translation,” one book at a time.
Mitsubishi’s wind-power retreat a blow to Japan's alternative-energy goals
Wind turbines in the town of Happo in Akita prefecture. Wind power is a key part of Japan's alternative energy drive.

Podcast

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

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past
By Alex K.T. Martin

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Tokyo Gas lights the way to carbon neutrality
Tokyo Gas lights the way to carbon neutrality

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