Commentary | COUNTERPOINT Sep 23, 2017
In Japan under Shinzo Abe, more power to the PM, but to what end?
by Jeff Kingston
In his final Counterpoint column, Jeff Kingston considers where Japan is heading under scandal-hit Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
Editorials Oct 18, 2016
Lawmakers in the Diet should once again scrutinize how far the administration intends to expand the SDF's overseas missions under Abe's call for "proactive contribution to peace" and how that should be controlled.
National Sep 14, 2016
Defense Minister Tomomi Inada will visit the United States to hold talks with her U.S. counterpart Ashton Carter on Thursday, the Defense Ministry said Wednesday. The meeting that comes as the two countries eye closer cooperation under Japan's new security legislation. The talks between Inada and ...
Editorials Mar 29, 2016
Japan's postwar defense posture underwent a major change this week as new security legislation took effect, but how the government plans to implement the laws remains unclear.
National / Crime & Legal Mar 8, 2016
by Shusuke Murai
The Tokyo District Court on Tuesday dismissed a retrial request over a 1959 Supreme Court ruling that found the U.S. military's presence in Japan constitutional. The 1959 ruling is often referenced by proponents of security policy reforms to justify the use of the right to ...
National / Politics Mar 1, 2016
Abe cites need for Japan to fully exercise right to collective self-defense
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe suggests that the Constitution should be amended to give Japan the power to fully exercise the right to collective self-defense.
Commentary / Japan | SENTAKU MAGAZINE Feb 25, 2016
The Supreme Court is locked in a war with the Abe administration over the independence of the judicial branch.
Commentary / Japan Oct 30, 2015
Japanese pacifism is not the moral choice
by Yukari Easton
Only in Japan is unilateral pacifism considered viable, but in a world of new threats a policy of sympathetic indifference is morally questionable.
Commentary / Japan Oct 30, 2015
Gauging Abe's 'proactive contributions to peace'
by Jeffrey W. Hornung
While Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has talked a good game about Japan playing a bigger international role, his track record so far shows little has changed.
National / Politics Oct 19, 2015
Expanding SDF's role in South Sudan likely to wait until late 2016
The Abe administration is considering waiting until November 2016 or later to expand the role of the Self-Defense Forces in the U.N. peacekeeping operation in South Sudan under the controversial security legislation passed last month, according to a government source. The current plan is to ...
Commentary / Japan Oct 15, 2015
The Abe government versus the Emperor on history issues
by Yukihisa Fujita
Shinzo Abe and the Foreign Ministry have been mincing words when it comes to Japan's war responsibility, in stark contrast with Emperor Akihito's forthright statements of remorse and apology.
Editorials Oct 6, 2015
The Cabinet Legislation Bureau's failure to keep records of its internal discussions leading up to the Abe administration's reinterpretation of Article 9 only deepens suspicions about the legal legitimacy of the Cabinet decision and the subsequent security legislation.