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A U.S. Marine Corps MV-22 Osprey aircraft flies over the island of Okinawa in March 2018.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 14, 2025

Precautionary Osprey landings signal safety, not alarm

Two precautionary V-22 Osprey landings in northern Honshu demonstrated the aircraft’s safety and its role in enhancing Japan’s rapid-deployment and island-defense capabilities.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick suggested that an agreement between the U.S. and Japan will be made public soon.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 26, 2025

Agreement on Japan’s $550 billion investment pledge to be released this week

The U.S. commerce secretary continues to insist that the U.S. president will control the funds.
An ICE agent speaks to people lined up to enter the U.S. Immigration Court, in Manhattan, New York City, in June.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Aug 26, 2025

Inside ICE, Trump's migrant crackdown is taking a toll on officers

Some current and former ICE officials say the agency is grappling with burnout as staff try to keep pace with the aggressive enforcement agenda.
Eddie Laiche (right) speaks next to Konstantine Anthony, mayor of Burbank, California, in the city in December 2023.
JAPAN
Aug 27, 2025

U.S. public growing critical of nuclear weapons 80 years after atomic bombings

A poll conducted this year showed that only 35% of adults in the U.S. viewed the atomic bombings as justified, while 31% said they were not justified.
Jet fighters from the North American Aerospace Defense Command intercept a Chinese long-range H-6 bomber operating in the Alaska air defense identification zone in July 2024.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 27, 2025

Joint Sino-Russian patrols push Japan to rethink defense posture

Over the past two years, joint China-Russia overflights have become increasingly sophisticated and extended.
The factory of Asahi Tekko, which produces parts for Toyota vehicles, in Hekinan, Japan, on Aug. 18
BUSINESS / Markets
Aug 28, 2025

The backbone of the global auto supply chain is at risk from Trump’s tariffs

Industry experts expect a devastating effect on the dense networks of auto parts suppliers that make everything from pistons to wiring.
Japan faces a strategic dilemma between an unreliable U.S. security alliance and an assertive China, requiring it to pursue flexible, resilient and multilayered partnerships while avoiding dependence on either power.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 28, 2025

Japan must prepare for a post-American Indo-Pacific

Tokyo must confront an uncomfortable truth: The U.S.-led order that enabled Japan’s postwar success is dead and no one knows what comes next.
A man reads The Times of India newspaper in Delhi on Wednesday. Donald Trump’s tariffs on India expose New Delhi’s overreliance on U.S. exports but also create an opening for India to pivot toward Asia.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 27, 2025

Trump’s tariffs should spur Indo-Japan convergence

Historically, India has never been a treaty ally of the U.S., but it has maintained a strong relationship with America.
U.S. President Donald Trump wears a "Trump Was Right About Everything!" hat, as he visits The People’s House: A White House Experience museum in Washington on Aug. 22.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Aug 30, 2025

Seeking more power, Trump uses firings to test presidential limits

The actions underscored Trump's desire for influence in sectors normally seen as independent from overt political control.
The U.S. Navy warship USS Sampson docks at the Amador International Cruise Terminal in Panama City on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 31, 2025

Trump taunting Maduro on Venezuela coast spurs questions on goal

The U.S. president has labeled Nicolas Maduro a terrorist and on Aug. 7 Trump's administration put a $50 million bounty on the Venezuelan leader's head.
The TSMC logo at its fabrication plant in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, on June 7. Compared with Samsung and SK Hynix, TSMC’s manufacturing footprint in China is relatively small.
BUSINESS / Tech
Sep 3, 2025

U.S. pulls TSMC’s waiver for China shipments of chip supplies

TSMC suppliers will have to apply for individual approvals when they want to ship semiconductor equipment and other gear covered by U.S. export controls to its Nanjing facility.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping attends a military parade in Beijing on Wednesday to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 4, 2025

China’s military parade shows who’s calling the shots

Beijing is sending a signal on defense modernization and international clout.
China’s massive parade in Beijing on Wednesday showcased military power, historical revisionism and calls for a new world order, signaling Xi Jinping’s ambition to elevate China’s global leadership.
EDITORIALS
Sep 5, 2025

China looks to the past to signal its future

At last weekend’s SCO summit, Xi urged members to oppose hegemonism and embrace true multilateralism.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Ryosei Akazawa, Japan’s chief tariff negotiator, sign trade agreements on Thursday in Washington.
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 5, 2025

Japan's $550 billion investment pledge outlined in MOU

U.S. President Donald Trump will direct the investments and the projects funded by Japan will be controlled by the United States.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping attends a military parade marking the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, in Beijing on Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / ANALYSIS
Sep 6, 2025

With diplomatic tour de force, China's Xi shows he's 'totally in charge'

The recent display of geopolitical ambition has helped quell concerns about the 72-year-old president's vitality and so-far-unknown succession plans.
U.S. President Donald Trump visits the USS Wasp aircraft carrier in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, in May 2019 during his first term as president. Trump is expected to demand that Japan boost its host-nation support spending for U.S. military when the current plan expires in March 2027.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Sep 7, 2025

Japan braces for Trump push on U.S. troop funding

The financial support covers the salaries of workers at U.S. military bases, utilities costs and facility maintenance expenses.
U.S. President Donald Trump (right) and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba at the White House. Trade deals between Japan and the United States are expected to be respected by Japan's next prime minister.
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 8, 2025

Japan-U.S. trade deal expected to hold up post-Ishiba

Inertia and fear of Trump's fury work in the agreement’s favor.
U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick argues that U.S. President Donald Trump has sole authority to invest Japan's promised $550 billion.
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 8, 2025

Search is on for loopholes in Japan’s $550 billion investment pledge

The pledge was described over the weekend by U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick as essentially a blank checkbook for U.S. President Donald Trump.
Hitachi's dog-shaped robot, introduced at its railway vehicle plant in Maryland. The heavy machinery maker is looking to expand its investment in the United States.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 9, 2025

Hitachi to expand its investment in U.S., CEO says

The company invested more than $12 billion in the United States in the five years through 2024, its CEO said, who added the goal is to invest that or more by around 2030.
The 3rd Multi-Domain Task Force conducts the first Typhon midrange missile system live-fire exercise outside of the continental United States on July 16, successfully sinking a maritime target during the Talisman Sabre exercises in Australia's Northern Territory.
JAPAN / ANALYSIS
Sep 10, 2025

High-tech U.S. missile systems come to Japan amid policy shifts and China concerns

Long wary of such a move, Tokyo’s acquiescence — and its own planned missile deployments — highlights a gradual but monumental shift in defense policy.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and U.S. President Donald Trump hold a news conference at the White House in Washington on Feb. 7. Ishiba's short-lived prime ministership underscores the challenges facing the Japan and U.S. alliance.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 10, 2025

What Japan’s political drift means for U.S.-Japan relations

Decisive political leadership is missing. Ambitious reforms and bold initiatives require political capital.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping arrives at Tiananmen Square for a military parade in Beijing on Sept. 3, accompanied by his Russian and North Korean counterparts, Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un, in a scene that fueled perfunctory claims of U.S. dominance coming to an end.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 10, 2025

International relations analysis needs to grow up

We need commentators who understand budgets as well as body language, who track institutional evolution alongside summit declarations.
The Bank of Japan's wait-and-see approach is likely to continue given the political climate and the tariff situation.
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 11, 2025

Rate increase in Japan less likely following Ishiba's resignation

Political uncertainty will make a move higher in October difficult.
FBI agents inspect a rooftop on Thursday at the scene where, a day earlier, youth activist and influencer Charlie Kirk was shot during a public event at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Sep 12, 2025

Hunt for shooter of Charlie Kirk enters third day in U.S.

The manhunt for the shooter who killed Charlie Kirk stretched into a third day on Friday, after police released fresh images in an effort to crack the case.
U.S. President Donald Trump aboard Marine One on Friday. On Saturday, Trump set conditions for imposing new sanctions on Russia, saying he would do so only if all NATO member nations did the same as well as stopped buying Russian oil and imposed steep tariffs on China.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 16, 2025

Europe stumped by Trump demands over Russia sanctions

Diplomats fear it could be a ploy by the U.S. president to again stall on taking a tough stance against Moscow himself.
Proxy-shopping services — companies that ship Japanese products ranging from cosmetics and snacks to limited-edition stationery on behalf of customers abroad — are already feeling the impact of the U.S. suspending de minimis exemptions.
BUSINESS / Companies / FOCUS
Sep 17, 2025

End of U.S. de minimis exemption causes headaches for some businesses in Japan

Companies that ship to the U.S. are hoping customers will tolerate higher costs or that the de minimis treatment will be restored, but many believe it's gone for good.
A screen grab from video posted to U.S. President Donald Trump's Truth Social account shows what he said is a U.S. military strike on a boat carrying alleged drug traffickers in the Caribbean Sea on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 20, 2025

Trump says U.S. struck alleged drug vessel in latest operation

The latest strike — at least the third against alleged drug vessels — comes amid a large U.S. military buildup in the southern Caribbean.
U.S. sprinter Noah Lyles celebrates with a gesture from the "Dragon Ball" anime series after winning gold in the men's 200-meter final on Friday in Tokyo.
MORE SPORTS / Athletics
Sep 20, 2025

Noah Lyles wants athletics to stop being an ‘amateur sport’

The American sprinter has consistently voiced his frustration with the sport’s dwindling public interest in non-Olympic years.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un speaks during a meeting of the Supreme People's Assembly at the Mansudae Assembly Hall in Pyongyang in this photo released Monday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Sep 22, 2025

North Korea’s Kim open to talks with Trump, as South’s Lee backs nuke freeze

Kim said talks could reopen if the U.S. drops its denuclearization demand, remarks that came as South Korea's leader said he'd back a deal to freeze Pyongyang's nuke program.
People attend a U.S. naturalization ceremony for new citizens in Savannah, Georgia, on July 29, 2024. The new worker visa fees could mean fewer talented immigrants coming to the U.S., who often go on to launch new firms, analysts say.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 24, 2025

Trump's new visa fees spur offshoring talks and hiring turmoil

While the $100,000 fee applies only to new applicants, the confusion around its roll-out and steep cost are leading companies to pause recruitment, budgeting and workforce plans.

Longform

Once smoky, male-dominated spaces, today's net cafes, like Kaikatsu Club, are working to make their operations more attractive to women customers.
The second life of Japan's net cafes