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September 13, 2025
 

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Protesters hold a “Stand Up for Science” march in Sacramento, California, on March 7. Faced with deep budget cuts and political threats, scientists in the U.S. and Japan are realizing they must step out of the lab to defend science’s place in society.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 21, 2025

Scientists can’t stay in their ivory tower

Now is the time for scientists to return to society — not just as experts, but as engaged members of the public.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba attends a news conference at Liberal Democratic Party headquarters in Tokyo on Monday, a day after his coalition lost its Upper House majority.
COMMENTARY
Jul 22, 2025

Ishiba loses his ‘mandate from heaven’

After Sunday’s humiliation at the polls, whatever mandate from heaven Ishiba once commanded is lost.
In an era of fierce technological and geopolitical competition, especially in AI, true scale combining size, efficiency and cooperation with allies has become an urgent strategic necessity the U.S. and the West must master to counter China’s growing advantages.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 22, 2025

The AI arms race with China demands scale. The West must think bigger.

The race to create scale is critical amid the sizzling geopolitical competition over leadership in new technologies.
Sohei Kamiya, founder of the Sanseito, which campaigned on a “Japanese first” message and tough immigration rhetoric, speaks at a rally in Gunma Prefecture on July 6.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 23, 2025

Ignore the election hype, foreign residents are here to stay

While the number of foreign residents reached a record high last year, it’s still barely over 3% of the total population, low by international standards.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s aggressive tariff threats seemed effective at first because markets expected him to back down, but as investors grow numb, the risk rises he’ll follow through, triggering the very economic harm his threats were meant to avoid.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 23, 2025

Why markets may soon call America’s tariff bluff

Complacency brings new risk: If markets tune out Trump’s tariff threats, they may stop checking harmful policies.
French President Emmanuel Macron’s state visit to London earlier this month to meet with U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer shows how a changing Europe and shifting global threats could let Britain move past Brexit and help shape a new European security order.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 23, 2025

Britain and Europe are changing together

Britain can help shape the continent’s new security order, so long as it banishes the Brexit mindset.
U.S. President Donald Trump, who is unable to satisfy his supporters’ demands for answers he can’t deliver, is now trapped by the very Jeffrey Epstein conspiracy he once promoted.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 22, 2025

Trump can’t put the Epstein genie back in the bottle

Trump now finds himself in the unusual position of trying to stuff the Epstein genie back into a bottle that he helped uncork.
London’s worsening disorder — from soaring petty crime to reckless delivery riders and rising drug use — reflects a decades-old pattern of authorities and citizens normalizing lawlessness.
COMMENTARY
Jul 23, 2025

What turning a blind eye to deviant behavior is doing to London

The city’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, needs to take growing disorder on the streets more seriously.
Wakana, a Japanese fan of Thai BL, visits a temple in Thon Buri, Bangkok featured in the Thai adaptation of the Japanese series “Cherry Magic.” Her media consumption kindled an interest in Thai culture and language, and ultimately led her to relocate to Thailand. “I fell in love with the whole country,” she says.
COMMUNITY / Issues / The Foreign Element
Jul 28, 2025

Boys’ love dramas from Thailand make waves in Japan

Thailand has become a top producer of BL (boys’ love) dramas — and audiences in Japan are among the most ardent consumers.
U.S. President Donald Trump delivers remarks on tariffs with U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick at the White House on April 2.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 23, 2025

Trump’s tariffs undermine America's security, business and credibility

Donald Trump may have given up on free trade, but the American people have not.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade deal opening Japan to U.S. auto exports sounds big but means little in practice because American carmakers don’t make what Japanese consumers want, such as the Honda N-Box, the nation's best-selling model.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 24, 2025

Japan trade deal offers U.S. automakers relief, not new markets

The peculiar tastes of America’s consumers put its vehicles at a disadvantage overseas that tariffs won’t fix.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s last-minute trade deal with the U.S. may calm tariff fears but has cost him politically, leaving Japan’s ruling party divided and his leadership on the brink.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 24, 2025

‘Mr. Japan’ bends the knee — and falls on his sword

Shigeru Ishiba’s trade deal with Donald Trump will be his last act as leader
The Liberal Democratic Party’s historic Upper House defeat leaves the party fragmented and searching for a capable leader who can reunite conservatives, modernize its appeal, deliver real policies and rebuild its internal power structure.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 25, 2025

Who will save the Liberal Democratic Party?

The LDP is now faced with two fundamental questions: what tasks must it accomplish to restore its political dominance and who is actually capable of accomplishing them?
Japan’s ruling coalition is weakening as rising populist parties like Sanseito gain support, raising concerns that Japan could shift toward unstable multiparty coalition politics similar to Israel’s fragmented Knesset.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 25, 2025

Is Japan drifting toward fragmented and ineffective politics?

In a system with many small parties, even minor players can hold the balance of power in forming coalitions.
Senate Republicans must undo their reckless confirmation of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as health secretary, whose anti-vaccine crusade is fueling a deadly measles outbreak and putting more Americans at risk.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 25, 2025

RFK Jr. is making America sick again. Republicans need a cure.

Kennedy, who has no training in medicine or health, has long been the nation’s foremost peddler of junk science and the crackpot conspiracy theories that flow from it.
Climate action is uneven worldwide, with capacity gaps and rising challenges in climate-risk disclosure underscoring the need for inclusive minimum standards that all companies and countries — especially smaller firms and developing nations — can realistically meet to ensure an effective global response.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 27, 2025

Climate disclosure is advancing — but who’s being left behind?

Global momentum for standardized climate-related disclosure remains strong, reflecting a desire to balance regulatory ambition with economic competitiveness.
Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee for New York City mayor, promises a rent freeze that’s easy to deliver but it remains to be seen if it will solve the city’s deeper housing problems.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 28, 2025

Freezing rent is easy. Making NYC housing affordable isn’t.

Zohran Mamdani’s campaign pledge would be simple to put into effect but wouldn’t do much to solve the underlying problem.
A woman casts her vote during parliamentary elections in Qom, Iran, in March 2012. Regime change in the Islamic country is harder than many think, but it has the institutions needed for democracy if it happens.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 28, 2025

Iran is more prepared for democracy than many realize

Some commentators, like the economist Nouriel Roubini and the Stanford political scientist Abbas Milani, see regime change as plausible or imminent.
Sanseito supporters celebrate at a rally in Tokyo on July 21, a day after the party’s strong showing in the Upper House election.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 28, 2025

Japan’s neighbors anxiously assess Upper House election results

Most notably, the far-right, anti-immigrant Sanseito won 14 seats, increasing its total seats from one to 15.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat to punish Brazil with tariffs to protect former President Jair Bolsonaro is just one sign that the far right is shifting from rhetoric to real cross-border solidarity that undermines democratic norms.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 28, 2025

Trump is trying to build a far-right international alliance

There has been a lack of concrete solidarity among populist leaders. But Trump is changing that in his second term.
Sanseito leader Sohei Kamiya speaks at a rally in Tokyo on July 21, a day after the Upper House election.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 29, 2025

A fringe party or political force: Will the real Sanseito stand up?

There were a few things that might raise eyebrows, but nothing especially scary. Sanseito's published policy platform is relatively benign.
Who will buy the cars, SUVs, and trucks like the F-150 Donald Trump has promised to sell in Japan? Who will purchase 100 Boeing jets? And what will the $550 billion Tokyo-backed fund actually look like?
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 29, 2025

Who buys the F-150s, and more Japan deal mysteries

The long-awaited trade deal between the U.S. and Japan has investors celebrating after months of uncertainty. But as the song goes, nagging questions always remain.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba addresses a news conference in Tokyo on Monday. He repeated his pledge to stay on to prevent a political vacuum from forming after his party's poor performance in the Upper House election.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 29, 2025

The LDP struggles to define its future after election flub

The public doesn’t know what it wants — other than “not this” — so indecision by the LDP and other parties is understandable.
Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya and Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar meet with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong in Washington in January.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 30, 2025

As China advances and the U.S. retreats, Japan-India ties grow stronger

Located on two ends of the Indo-Pacific region, India and Japan anchor a stable counterweight to China and a mercurial Trump.
Amid global uncertainty and U.S. trade tensions, ASEAN+3 must deepen regional integration and reform to sustain growth and resilience against rising protectionism, demographic pressures and climate risks.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 30, 2025

ASEAN+3 in an age of global uncertainty

As the international economic order continues to fragment, ASEAN+3 countries must build collective resilience by fostering regional integration.
A Magic Bot Z1 by Magiclab is displayed at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference at the Shanghai World Expo and Convention Center on Tuesday.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 30, 2025

China’s AI strategy relies on frenzy and frenemies

China’s current AI frenzy represents the best and worst of classic capitalism: The competition propels innovation at a rapid clip, but not all of the companies will survive.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba meets with Hungarian President Tamas Sulyok in Tokyo on May 22.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 31, 2025

Japan’s strategic blind spot in the heart of Europe

Central Europe may hold the key to increased strategic autonomy without the geopolitical baggage of the superpowers.
Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te has been weakened by domestic setbacks and uncertain U.S. support as he tries to balance pressure from Beijing and political opposition at home.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 31, 2025

Taiwan’s president is running out of options

Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te is battling internal strife while navigating an unpredictable trade war with Washington.
Despite topping physical health rankings, Japan’s children face a worsening mental health crisis due to limited early education, inconsistent counseling support and poor awareness of their rights.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 3, 2025

It’s time to take children’s mental health seriously

Given these disparities, it is clear the government needs to build a consistent school system with appropriate emotional support mechanisms
U.S. President Donald Trump celebrates after signing executive orders on artificial intelligence at the “Winning the AI Race” Summit in Washington on July 23.
COMMENTARY / World / Geoeconomic Briefing
Aug 1, 2025

Will Trump’s tech policies propel U.S. success against China?

As China mobilizes all its resources for an all-out contest for technological supremacy, the U.S. cannot afford economic inefficiencies and to push its closest partners away.
Japan's cutting-edge railgun successfully strikes target vessel
The Defense Ministry’s Acquisition, Technology & Logistics Agency (ATLA) conducted a ship-board railgun shooting test from June to early July this year with the support of the Maritime Self-Defense Force.
Thousands without power in Tokyo as heavy rain batters Kanto region
Heavy rain hit Tokyo and surrounding areas Thursday afternoon, causing thousands to lose power, prompting flood warnings, grounding flights and causing transportation issues.
Why more hotels in Japan are offering room-only service
Nipponia Hotel Ise Kawasaki Merchant Town in Ise, Mie Prefecture
JAL reprimand over drunken pilots adds to airline’s woes
Japan Airlines President Mitsuko Tottori (right) bows in apology Wednesday in Tokyo over the company's pilots causing flight delays due to drinking alcohol.
‘Fairytale’ Shirakawago ranked one of the world’s most beautiful villages
Forbes and Unforgettable Travel Company have ranked Shirakawago in Gifu Prefecture as Asia's most beautiful village.
‘Fairytale’ Shirakawago ranked one of the world’s most beautiful villages
Forbes and Unforgettable Travel Company have ranked Shirakawago in Gifu Prefecture as Asia's most beautiful village.
Aging Japan’s centenarian population nears 100,000
Shigeko Kagawa, Japan's oldest person at 114, in Yamatokoriyama, Nara Prefecture, on July 30
Niinami’s ouster quick but not unusual as corporations protect reputation
Takeshi Niinami resigns as chairman and CEO of Suntory Holdings.
As Manila modernizes its military, new opportunities emerge for Tokyo
A Brahmos missile system is displayed during a rehearsal for a military parade in New Delhi in January. The Philippines will soon receive its second batch of the supersonic cruise missiles from India.
Shizuoka farmers fight to preserve sustainable tea method that’s steeped in tradition
As of August 2024, the number of confirmed chagusaba farmers had fallen to 302, just over half the 582 reported in 2015, according to the Shizuoka Chagusaba Farming Method Promotion Council.

Podcast

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

Longform

Figure skater Akiko Suzuki was once told her ideal weight should be 47 kilograms, a number she now admits she “naively believed.” This led to her have a relationship with food that resulted in her suffering from anorexia.
The silent battle Japanese athletes fight with weight
By Mai Yoshikawa

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Maruhachi never sleeps in quest for better futons
Maruhachi never sleeps in quest for better futons

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