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October 16, 2025
 

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Japan has effectively exited deflation, but Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s reluctance to acknowledge it reflects outdated economic fears rather than current reality.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 13, 2025

It’s time for Japan to admit victory over deflation

The last time prices declined was in July 2021, the same month the Tokyo Olympic Games took place.
Too many people die from treatable diseases in places with little access to health care. To prevent this from happening, affordability, availability and acceptability considerations must be at the core of medical products' lifecycles, starting with R & D.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 13, 2025

To stop preventable deaths, start with the fundamentals

Treatable diseases like malaria are still causing too many deaths in places with poor health care. To prevent these, accessibility must be baked into medical development.
Donald Trump’s demand for Ukrainian resources in exchange for aid may be unseemly, but Europe should accept it as the price of keeping the U.S. engaged in Ukraine and Europe's defense.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 14, 2025

Trump’s resource grab in Ukraine is a price worth paying

Europe shouldn’t complain. This is a cost of its defense failures.
The 50th ASEAN-Japan commemorative summit was held in Tokyo in December 2023. Japan has strong relations with ASEAN member countries and should continue leveraging this position to pursue its Free and Open Indo-Pacific vision.
COMMENTARY / World / Geoeconomic Briefing
Feb 14, 2025

Why ASEAN is crucial to a Free and Open Indo-Pacific

Tokyo understands ASEAN's centrality to the Free and Open Indo-Pacific vision better than Washington does and should continue leading in defending this regional order.
While Valentine’s Day in the West is traditionally associated with men giving flowers to women, in Japan the day has typically involved women giving gifts of chocolate to men.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 14, 2025

A sweet Japanese Valentine's Day tradition is nearly dead

The custom of giri-choco, loosely meaning "obligatory chocolate,” was once commonplace in offices around the country.
China frequently shifts between warming and freezing relations with Japan, driven by its domestic issues, often using softer rhetoric while masking aggressive actions.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 14, 2025

Are China-Japan relations truly 'warming,' or is this just fool’s gold again?

As the trade war between the U.S. and China heats up, Beijing is turning to its familiar playbook, using softer language to court American allies and partners while offering things like greater cooperation and more dialogue — part of its ongoing divide-and-conquer strategy.
U.S. President Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi embrace as they attend a joint press conference at the White House on Thursday. While the leaders emphasized close ties, mounting trade tensions overshadowed the meeting.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 15, 2025

Despite the hugs, Trump-Modi meeting was mostly transactional

The Modi-Trump bromance was on full display at the White House summit, but substantive issues where India and the U.S. diverge, including trade, lurked nearby.
Edmonton Oilers forward Connor McDavid (97) and Detroit Red Wings defenseman Moritz Seider (53) battle along the boards for a loose puck during a game in Edmonton, Alberta, on Jan. 30.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 16, 2025

The NHL could’ve had a good year if not for tariffs

In 2016, the league denied an expansion franchise to Quebec, citing the "state and volatility of the Canadian dollar.”
One-third of elementary school students in Japan do not like learning English, according to a 2021 poll, an 8% rise since 2013. The pressure of taking proficiency tests is eroding children's engagement with studying English and its benefits.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 17, 2025

Japan’s English-language education doesn’t pass the test

An excessive focus on testing students' English ability is turning language learning into a chore, depriving children of the joy and opportunities of intercultural communication.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine Oleksiy Chernyshov (center left), German Head of the Federal Chancellery and Minister for Special Tasks Wolfgang Schmidt and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz attend the Munich Security Conference in Munich on Saturday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 18, 2025

Security demands cast new shadow on Europe's finances

Some fear a political backlash if governments simply slash social spending to buy more soldiers and guns.
While DeepSeek's low-cost AI has attracted businesses, security experts warn that patching these vulnerabilities can be expensive and still less secure than Silicon Valley's more expensive models.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 18, 2025

The DeepSeek AI revolution has a security problem

The AI model that shocked Silicon Valley by doing more with less might be doing too little on safety. That could hurt its business prospects.
U.S. President Donald Trump's Gaza proposal is a reckless plan that would forcibly displace Palestinians, destabilize neighboring countries, empower Iran and and hinder any long-term peace efforts.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 18, 2025

Trump’s Gaza plan is a crazy answer to a valid question

It is a propsal that will love Israel to death, revive Iran to life and destabilize every American friend.
America's leading spokesperson on matters of public health, the surgeon general, has issued an advisory linking alcohol consumption to cancer, urging greater awareness and policy changes.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 18, 2025

It's time to rethink how safe alcohol is

Raising awareness about the risks is key to helping people make decisions about drinking.
Canada faces a tough decision on how to respond to U.S. President Donald Trump's economic threats, particularly regarding energy exports, with options ranging from strategic energy cuts to export taxes.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 18, 2025

Weaponizing Canadian oil would rattle Trump

Reducing crude output has the potential to inflict real pain on U.S. refiners and consumers.
Netflix reality series “Offline Love” follows five men and five women as they spend 10 days in Nice, France, finding romance.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Feb 18, 2025

‘Offline Love’ ditches digital dating and puts old-school romance to the test

Netflix Japan's new reality series whisks its participants to a picturesque seaside city in France and leans into nostalgia for a simpler time.
Serbian demonstrators block the main boulevard in the central Serbian city of Kragujevac on Saturday, continuing months long calls for government accountability and reforms.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 19, 2025

The new face of global protests

Young Serbs understand that neither justice nor democracy is possible until the tables have been cleared.
U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer pledged troops for a Ukraine peacekeeping force, but Britain and its military lack the resources to deliver.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 19, 2025

Starmer offers Ukraine a defense check it can't cash

Under Starmer’s leadership, there has been no sign that the U.K. is ready to expand its armed forces to the numbers that could sustain such a campaign.
The rapid advance of artificial intelligence and technology threatens traditional human life and values, but finding a balance between innovation and preserving human connection may offer a path forward for humanity's future.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 19, 2025

Does humanity have a future in the virtual and AI age?

The virtual age and artificial intelligence are making traditional ways of life seem increasingly obsolete, and this will only grow with AI's spread.
Taiwan worries that Donald Trump’s dealmaking with Vladimir Putin over Ukraine signals uncertainty for its own security, and the island democracy is boosting efforts to strengthen U.S. ties and defense spending.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 19, 2025

Trump’s phone call with Putin is causing a stir in Taiwan

Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te’s government should consider what it can offer Trump to avoid becoming a pawn in the U.S.-China rivalry.
The poet and essayist Kamo no Chomei wrote “Hojoki” in 1212 after bearing witness to a series of natural and man-made disasters. His experiences caused him to withdraw into a hermetic lifestyle.
LIFE / Language
Feb 20, 2025

Attempting the classics: Deciphering impermanence in ‘Hojoki’

With modern-day aids, this 13th-century piece of text isn't as challenging as you may think.
Rebel fighters with the Rwanda-backed M23 militia secure Congolese soldiers who had surrendered in Goma, Congo, on Jan. 30.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 18, 2025

Sanctions on Rwanda alone won't stop war in DRC

Past peace efforts collapsed as Rwanda accused the DRC of sheltering the FDLR, a Hutu militia tied to the 1994 Tutsi genocide.
Donald Trump, the then-Republican presidential nominee and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy meet at Trump Tower in New York City in September. REUTERS
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 20, 2025

What is Trump’s foreign policy strategy, if there is one?

The rapid succession of policy changes and the speed at which implementation has taken place in the second Donald Trump administration has left many pundits in Tokyo dumbfounded.
U.S. President Donald Trump is seen on a TV screen in Kabul. Trump’s first term resulted in talks that eventually led to the Taliban’s return to power, but this time around, Afghans hope that the president will take a tough stance against the brutal regime.  
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 21, 2025

What Trump’s return could mean for Afghanistan

Despite Afghan refugees being denied admission to the U.S., at least for now, there is hope that the new Trump administration will undermine the brutal Taliban regime in Kabul.
Many Japanese companies like Toto have quietly shifted from consumer-facing products like toilets to specialized, high-value industries such as semiconductor materials, proving that Japan's innovation remains strong despite its lower global visibility.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 21, 2025

Japan’s toilet jokes are on you. Innovation is flourishing.

One of the most surprising stories in corporate Japan in recent months has been the emergence of semiconductor materials as a significant profit driver at Toto.
The panic over Nvidia’s stock drop following China's DeepSeek AI breakthrough has subsided. Nvidia’s stock has rebounded, fueled by Elon Musk’s xAI and its latest chatbot, Grok-3, which benefits from an enormous Nvidia GPU stockpile.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 19, 2025

Nvidia revival marks the end of the great DeepSeek AI panic

Despite competition from other chipmakers and concerns over U.S. export restrictions, Nvidia remains central to AI development due to its CUDA software platform.
People demonstrate in support of Ukraine ahead of the third anniversary of the war with Russia, at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Feb 23, 2025

Trump shakes transatlantic alliance with Russia pivot

Fears are growing in European capitals that the bond forged from the ruins of World War II is on the verge of collapse.
Ancient trees and animals play crucial roles in ecosystems, carbon storage and even human health, yet their populations are dwindling due to deforestation, fishing and climate change.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 23, 2025

Who will speak for the trees?

A slew of scientific discoveries shows why we should protect not just 1,000-year-old trees but also 200-year-old whales, 400-year-old fish and 10,000-year-old sea sponges.
A makeshift memorial for Ukrainian soldiers who died fighting invading Russian forces and the Monument to Independence in Kyiv on Feb. 14
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 23, 2025

Ukraine can survive with the ‘least worst’ peace deal

Clearly the main issue and unfortunately it looks like Trump’s idea of ending the war fast means doing very little for the people who were actually invaded.
Demonstrators rally in support of USAID in Boston on Feb 17. Women and children are the main beneficiaries of humanitarian assistance, so they are the biggest victims of what is unfolding with the agency’s closure.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 20, 2025

Mr. President, foreign aid does put America first

Women and children are the main beneficiaries of humanitarian assistance, so they are the biggest victims of what is unfolding with USAID's closure .
A rally in support of South Korea's impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol on Jan. 18. Young men have emerged as a key demographic that has come out in support of Yoon, in contrast to the many young women participating in protests opposing him.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 24, 2025

Men, media and MAGA deepen South Korea’s split

Political polarization in South Korea is evermore extreme, with many young men rallying around impeached President Yoon, fueled by online media and a MAGA-inspired movement.
Hypothermia in the land of the rising Sanae
Amid the election of Sanae Takaichi as Liberal Democratic Party president, and possibly the next prime minister, Japan's economy shows signs of recovery, but weak wages, a conservative corporate culture and currency issues raise doubts about a true economic thaw.
Number of scenarios now on the table for who might be Japan’s next prime minister
Newly-elected leader of Japan's Liberal Democratic Party Sanae Takaichi (right) celebrates with Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba after winning the LDP leadership election in Tokyo on October 4.
Could an opposition candidate become Japan's next prime minister?
The lawmaker that secures a majority of votes in the Lower House will become prime minister. If no one gets a majority, the two top contenders will enter a runoff in which the person with the highest number of votes gets elected.
Coalition talks could bring Takaichi closer to being PM
Nippon Ishin no Kai leader and Osaka Gov. Hirofumi Yoshimura meets with Liberal Democratic Party President Sanae Takaichi in Tokyo on Wednesday.
As temperatures drop in Japan, bear attacks shoot up to historic highs
Bear warning signs at the Akita Prefectural Government building
Number of scenarios now on the table for who might be Japan’s next prime minister
Newly-elected leader of Japan's Liberal Democratic Party Sanae Takaichi (right) celebrates with Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba after winning the LDP leadership election in Tokyo on October 4.
Pace eyes great strides for Japan’s art market
Pace Japan Vice President Kyoko Hattori, the de facto head of the nation’s business, believes a larger, more lucrative art market will allow Japan to be more attractive for collectors.
A frenetic diplomatic schedule looms for Japan’s next leader — whomever that may be
As horse-trading and speculation surge over who will be elected the next prime minister in parliament — the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's Sanae Takaichi or a possible candidate put forward by a unified opposition — Japan’s next leader will be confronted with a quick succession of key diplomatic events.
Ghost of Yotei’s bloodstained fun sidesteps Ainu identity
Ghost of Yotei, the follow-up to 2020's smash hit Ghost of Tsushima, is a violent, vengeful and engaging romp through 17th-century Hokkaido that fails to stick the landing on its most sensitive cultural material.
At Osaka Expo, gas giants promote a greener future. But is it a lot of hot air?
The Gas Pavilion had welcomed around 500,000 visitors by the end of August, making it one of the most popular exhibits at the Osaka Expo.

Podcast

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

Longform

Rock group The Yellow Monkey played K-Arena Yokohama in June as part of a nationwide tour. Concerts are increasingly popular in the age of social media as users value in-person experiences.
Inside Japan’s arena boom: Sports, sound and city-building
By Patrick St. Michel

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