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August 30, 2025
 

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Jared Isaacman (left), U.S. President Trump’s nominee to head NASA, testifies during his Senate confirmation hearing on Wednesday. Bloomberg
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 13, 2025

NASA nominee should resist Musk’s pull toward Mars

During a Senate confirmation hearing on Wednesday, Jared Isaacman, the nominee for NASA administrator, was — in a twist on the Will Smith ’90s tune — gettin’ squishy wit it.
Russian leader Vladimir Putin meets with U.S. President Donald Trump's envoy, Steve Witkoff, in St. Petersburg on Friday.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 13, 2025

The U.S. and Russia are negotiating in bad faith

For now, Trump says he is “pissed off” at Putin for not being more amenable to his administration’s ceasefire proposals and he is threatening to impose yet more sanctions.
The Trump administration has slashed LGBTQ+ health research funding, dismantling key programs and halting studies on disparities and mental health, which experts warn will reverse progress and harm vulnerable communities.
COMMENTARY
Apr 14, 2025

The very idea of LGBTQ+ health is under attack

The Trump administration is rapidly breaking down the research infrastructure for these communities and doing so in a manner that guarantees it can’t be restored.
A wave of fear is spreading in immigrant communities as ICE uses secretive, aggressive tactics, bypassing legal protections and spreading panic reminiscent of authoritarian crackdowns.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 14, 2025

Unmarked vans and secret lists. The police state has arrived.

"It’s the unmarked cars,” a friend who grew up under an Argentine dictatorship said. He had watched the video of Columbia graduate student Mahmoud Khalil’s abduction. In the video, which Khalil’s wife recorded, she asks for the names of the men in plainclothes who handcuffed her husband.
While U.S. President Donald Trump has imposed new tariffs on nearly every country in the world, China is clearly his primary target.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 14, 2025

How should Beijing respond to Trump’s tariffs?

Many are already comparing it to President Herbert Hoover’s 1930 Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act, which slashed global trade by 66% in five years and deepened the Great Depression.
U.S. President Donald Trump and his “madman theory” won’t get Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei to scrap his nuclear program.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 14, 2025

Why should Iran believe anything the U.S. threatens or promises?

The Iranians — like the Russians — are notoriously shifty negotiators. But so are the Americans, now that they’re led by Trump.
U.S. President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba hold a news conference at the White House in Washington on Feb. 7. Tokyo's focus on economic strength to promote security contrasts with Washington's current era of unpredictability.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 15, 2025

For real national security, try a Japanese perspective

Genuine national security starts from a strong economy, one that provides for its citizens, incentivizes growth, production and wealth, and invites foreign participation.
The Trump administration, in a desperate bid to cushion trade war inflation, is pushing for cheap oil, but $50-a-barrel will ultimately widen the very trade deficit the U.S. president wants to reduce.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 13, 2025

$50-a-barrel oil is a problem for the U.S. trade deficit

If oil prices fall to $50, under that scenario, total petroleum production in America will probably decline by 1 million barrels a day by the end of 2025.
The building of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia in Phnom Penh. The court, which ended proceedings in 2022, tried former Khmer Rouge officials for crimes committed during the regime, reinforcing global norms against impunity.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 16, 2025

Japan should challenge Washington in defense of justice

Japan played a key role in trying the Khmer Rouge for their crimes in Cambodia. Half a century on from the genocidal regime, Tokyo must renew its commitment to international law.
Facing a new round of U.S. tariffs, China may devalue the yuan — possibly by as much as 20% — if fiscal stimulus falls short, risking a global currency war as it fights to meet its growth target.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 16, 2025

When will China start to devalue the yuan?

One way to think about China’s currency policy is its fiscal stance. Unless Beijing brings out the stimulus bazooka, devaluing the yuan might be the most expedient option.
The trade war is ratcheting up tensions between Beijing and Washington. Taipei needs to be more prepared. 
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 15, 2025

Taiwan is under siege with or without tariffs

Taiwan must urgently strengthen defenses and unite politically to counter rising threats from China, despite Trump’s trade war.
It's not just the far right, even some liberal voices worry that Marine Le Pen's conviction and disqualification undermine France's democracy, but their arguments don’t hold up.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 15, 2025

No, Le Pen was not railroaded

Le Pen is appealing the verdict and her supporters are not the only ones finding fault with it.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has sent a delegation to Washington for high-stakes tariff talks, as other nations watch to see if Tokyo can secure favorable terms from the Trump administration.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 16, 2025

If Japan can’t get a good trade deal, can anyone?

The Asian nation is the canary in the tariff coal mine. If it can’t secure a good deal, there’s little hope for others.
Economists fail to understand that Donald Trump's tariff policy is part of a broader strategy to prepare the U.S. for long-term competition with China, driven by national security concerns rather than traditional economic or trade policy.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 17, 2025

What economists 'don’t get' about Trump tariffs

My view is that the U.S. has started to prepare seriously for a long-term competition with China for global dominance.
Donald Trump’s punitive tariffs have dealt a blow to U.S. credibility and the greenback. It’s a bigger leap to project the currency's demise.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 16, 2025

King dollar’s reign looks secure — for now

The greenback survived Trump's first term at the pinnacle and will likely endure his second.
ASEAN should use the 90-day pause on Donald Trump’s punishingly high tariffs to develop a unified position and broaden its membership by admitting East Timor and opening accession talks with Sri Lanka.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 16, 2025

ASEAN should expand to counter Trump’s tariffs

It came as no surprise that China would be the hardest hit, but the punishing duties imposed on most Asian countries were a profound shock.
Hyundai Motor vehicles bound for export are loaded aboard a cargo ship at the port in Ulsan, South Korea, in July 2015.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 17, 2025

Can Trump’s tariffs restore U.S. manufacturing?

Rather than encouraging foreign direct investment in local manufacturing, Trump’s tariffs are deterring it.
Canada is standing up to American tariffs and territorial threats. The “Buy Canadian” movement has erupted and the country is brimming with expressions of patriotic zeal that are reshuffling the deck in an upcoming election for the next prime minister.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 18, 2025

Is this Canada’s moment?

Washington's tariffs and territorial threats have ignited Canadian unity and resolve, reshaping the upcoming vote to choose who will lead Ottawa through the geopolitical storm.
An autonomous aerial vehicle designed to carry one passenger conducts a test flight in Guangzhou, China. Flying taxis and even drone-powered food delivery services are rapidly becoming realities in the country's government-backed "low-altitude economy."
COMMENTARY / World / Geoeconomic Briefing
Apr 18, 2025

Will a 'low-altitude economy' make Chinese growth soar again?

Beijing wants to repeat the economic success story of its battery and EV players by propelling companies operating in low-altitude airspace to global market dominance.
More than half of Japan's population may suffer from pollen allergies, with hay fever dubbed the nation’s "national disease" and blamed for being a drag on the economy.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 21, 2025

Did I fall victim to Japan’s stealth productivity killer?

Hay fever has been dubbed Japan’s "national disease” and blamed as a major drag on productivity.
Next year’s FIFA World Cup, co-hosted by Canada, Mexico and the U.S., will test whether America — with President Donald Trump pushing tariffs and tough immigration policies — can draw global fans or drive them away.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 21, 2025

The White House just kicked a World Cup own-goal

Next year’s FIFA World Cup will test whether the U.S. — with President Donald Trump pushing tariffs and tough immigration policies — can draw global fans or drive them away.
Global trade, energy and financial networks are increasingly being leveraged as strategic tools by nations, with supply chains, shipping routes and financial systems becoming potential points of conflict.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 21, 2025

How much 'weaponization' can the global economy take?

Global trade, energy and financial networks are increasingly being leveraged as strategic tools by nations.
Hiroshima is full of memorials to the 1945 atomic bombing. Among them, the peace museum promotes an ambiguous message: One against nuclear weapons without acknowledging the role of nuclear deterrence in preserving the postwar peace.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 21, 2025

The ambiguity of Japan’s message on nuclear weapons

It is common in Japan to be both anti-atomic weapons and anti-war. But are these positions not contradictory if nuclear deterrence actually works to preserve the peace?
A U.S. judge’s ruling against Google’s ad tech business marks a rare antitrust case with a clear remedy, threatening a key revenue stream and signaling a potential shift in the digital advertising landscape.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 21, 2025

Google’s money-printing machine can be easily dismantled

On Thursday, a district court judge handed down a ruling that threatens to dismantle part of that money-printing machine.
Tiangong Ultra, a humanoid robot, crosses the finish line after securing the first position during the E-Town Humanoid Robot Half Marathon in Beijing on Saturday.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 22, 2025

All hail the rise of the humanoid robots

Robotics is another of the critical emerging technologies, mastery of which will be central to 21st-century economic leadership.
Members of the clergy celebrate Mass in memory of Pope Francis, following the death of the pontiff, at the Metropolitan Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace, in La Paz, Bolivia, on Monday.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 22, 2025

A conclave to test Pope Francis’ legacy

Francis unraveled many knots after his elevation in March 2013, leaving the question of whether he did enough to secure his legacy now that he’s passed.
Canada’s April 28 election presents a stark choice between globalist technocrat Mark Carney (right) and populist veteran Pierre Poilievre, with the outcome likely to shape not only domestic renewal but the country’s relevance in the world.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 23, 2025

Will Canada find its path again after the election?

This election has effectively become a binary choice between Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre and the unelected Prime Minister Mark Carney of the Liberal Party.
A protest against Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Hong Kong in 2019. Beijing's United Front Work Department is charged with managing relations with overseas Chinese, including in Hong Kong, with the aim of mobilizing society to achieve the government's goals.
COMMENTARY / World / Geoeconomic Briefing
Apr 23, 2025

China’s catch-22: Rapid growth with tight social control

The Chinese government is locked in the contradictory goals of pursuing economic growth while maintaining strong social control through its United Front Work Department.
Amid trade war uncertainty, central bankers, including Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda, are leaning toward cautious policies, with some signaling potential rate cuts while awaiting the fallout from U.S. tariffs.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 22, 2025

Rate cuts anyone? Anyone? Ferris Bueller’s tariff lesson

The collective sense of "we don't know” will give way to either hiking or easing. In Asia, the bias appears to favor the latter.
The U.S., U.K. and Europe are aligning with China and Russia in their efforts to undermine the encryption tools that millions of internet users depend on.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 23, 2025

Don't let governments break encryption

To convince the public that breaking encryption is necessary, governments often rely on technical jargon and emotionally charged anecdotes.
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.
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.
Virtual singer Kaf's music becomes magic in 'Kamitsubaki City Under Construction'
Virtual singer Kaf got her start in 2018 by posting songs and covers to YouTube. Now, after having performed live shows at major venues including Tokyo’s Nippon Budokan, she is turning to voice acting and starring in the new anime series “Kamitsubaki City Under Construction.”
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.
In pictures: Koenji Awa Odori 2025
Japan Times
Koshien’s dark summer forces reckoning for high school baseball
Koryo High School players greet their cheering section after beating Hokkaido’s Asahikawa Shiho in the first round of Summer Koshien on Aug. 7. The school withdrew three days later as a bullying scandal enveloped the team.

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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