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August 29, 2025
 

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DEFENSE

Ukraine's air defenses shoot down Russian drones during a strike toward Kyiv in September 2024. Experts worry how long Ukraine can fend off the nightly attacks if Russia maintains — or escalates — its strikes.
WORLD
May 31, 2025
As Russia intensifies attacks, Ukraine air defenses under strain
Experts worry how long Ukraine can fend off the nightly attacks if Russia maintains — or escalates — its strikes.
French President Emmanuel Macron gives the keynote address of the Shangri-La Dialogue summit in Singapore on Friday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 30, 2025
Macron calls for Europe and Asia to unite and resist ‘spheres of coercion’
The French president used a keynote speech at Asia’s top regional security conference to call on European and Indo-Pacific nations to avoid picking sides between China and the U.S.
A concept model of the Global Combat Air Program's fighter jet during an exhibition at Makuhari Messe in Chiba on May 21
JAPAN
May 30, 2025
Japan frets over fighter rollout target and weighs stopgap options, sources say
The joint Global Combat Air Program is falling behind schedule due to a lack of urgency from Britain and Italy, one of the sources said.
The Taiwanese military conducts its first High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) live-fire test launch at the Jiupeng base in Pingtung, Taiwan, on May 12.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 30, 2025
Trump aims to exceed first term's weapons sales to Taiwan, officials say
If U.S. arms sales to Taiwan do accelerate, it could ease worries about the extent of Trump's commitment to the island.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi (second from left) chairs a meeting of the government's cybersecurity strategy panel in Tokyo on Thursday.
JAPAN / Politics
May 29, 2025
Government to formulate new cybersecurity strategy amid rising threats
The new strategy includes a change in cryptography systems to better protect the government's internal communications against cyberattacks from quantum computers.
A KJ-500 early warning plane, along with Y-20 transport aircraft, are parked on the tarmac of an airfield on Woody Island, in the disputed Paracel archipelago in the South China Sea, on May 19.
ASIA PACIFIC
May 29, 2025
China's most advanced bombers seen on disputed South China Sea island
Some analysts described the move as Beijing's latest signalling of its growing military capabilities to rivals.
Visitors at the EdgeCortix booth during the AI Expo Tokyo event in Tokyo in May 2023
BUSINESS / Companies
May 28, 2025
Japan backs AI chip startup EdgeCortix in boost to defense tech
The startup secured government subsidies of ¥3 billion to develop energy-efficient AI chiplets for commercialization in 2027.
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth delivers remarks at the National Memorial Day Observance at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia, on Monday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / FOCUS
May 28, 2025
Hegseth to face questions on U.S. commitment at top Asian defense conference
The event comes amid growing anxiety over Washington's tariff program and uncertainties about U.S. defense policy.
A worker produces a turbine engine component at PBS Group, in Velka Bites, Czech Republic, on May 6.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 28, 2025
Booming business has Europe's defense companies scrambling for workers
Arms makers are hiking wages and benefits, and even poaching from other sectors, as governments ramp up defense spending.
German and U.S. soldiers participate in Allied Spirit 24, a multinational training exercise, in Hohenfels, Germany, in March 2024. Reforger, NATO’s massive Cold War-era exercise to rush U.S. troops to Europe, was shelved after the Soviet collapse. But with Vladimir Putin attacking neighbors, maybe it’s time to revive it.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 28, 2025
How can Europe deter Putin? Revive the ‘Reforger.’
The massive Cold War military exercise put a stop to Soviet aggression then, and it could do the same with Russia now.
A member of Pakistan armed forces takes a selfie at the International Defense Exhibition and Seminar in Karachi in November.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / FOCUS
May 27, 2025
India and Pakistan's drone battles mark new arms race in Asia
The South Asian powers are now locked in a drones arms race, according to security officials, industry executives and analysts in both countries.
A Chinese J-10B fighter jet is put on display at the China International Aviation & Aerospace Exhibition in Zhuhai, China, in October 2016. The short May conflict between India and Pakistan became a live trial for Chinese arms, exposing vulnerabilities in its fighter aircraft and air defense systems.
COMMENTARY / World
May 27, 2025
Lessons from India-Pakistan war: Were China's arms overrated?
The short May conflict between India and Pakistan became a live trial for Chinese arms, exposing vulnerabilities in its fighter aircraft and air defense systems.
Participants crouch and take cover inside the Toei Subway Higashi-Nakano Station as part of a civil protection drill simulating the launch of a ballistic missile, held on Jan. 15 in Tokyo's Nakano Ward.
JAPAN / FOCUS
May 27, 2025
Hurdles remain for securing missile shelters in Japan
Government carries out first large-scale survey to identify more potential evacuation sites.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz takes part in a discussion during the opening of the 'Re:publica 25' digital conference in Berlin on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
May 27, 2025
Ukraine's key allies no longer limiting range of weapons, Germany's Merz says
Kyiv has long pleaded for authorization to hit targets within Russian territory — and to hit weaponry used in attacks on Ukraine.
A Palestinian woman carries a toddler as she walks amid the destruction following Israeli strikes in Jabalia's Saftawi neighborhood in the northern Gaza on Thursday.
COMMENTARY / World
May 26, 2025
Nothing civilized about Netanyahu's war in Gaza
The continued razing of Palestinian enclave following the killing of Israel Embassy staffers will only perpetuate the cycle of violence.
Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party's presidential candidate, speaks during a campaign event in the city of Uijeongbu, South Korea, on May 20.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 26, 2025
South Korea's Lee pledges to restore hotline with North Korea
The front-runner in South Korea's presidential election laid out a noticeably softer approach to the nuclear-armed North than his predecessor.
A military exercise in Bali, Taiwan, on July 27, 2023. Taiwan Defense Minister Wellington Koo says the Trump administration has a shared interest in security in the region, but Taiwan must also ready its own forces for asymmetric warfare.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 26, 2025
In Trump era, Taiwan defense chief says U.S. still is a check on China
Wellington Koo says the Trump administration has a shared interest in security in the region, but Taiwan must also ready its own forces for asymmetric warfare.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks with members of the Maritime Self-Defense Force in Kyoto Prefecture on Sunday.
JAPAN
May 26, 2025
Ishiba inspects MSDF vessels in apparent bid to highlight shipbuilding prowess
Japan has offered cooperation in shipbuilding as a bargaining chip in its tariff negotiations with the United States.
Reindeer herder Ari Maununiemi feeds lichen to his reindeer at his home and farm outside Rovaniemi, Finland, on Feb. 26.
WORLD
May 26, 2025
Growing Arctic military presence worries Finland's reindeer herders
"Military activity has increased massively here since Finland joined NATO," one herder said.
The Chinese aircraft carrier Liaoning sails through the Miyako Strait in Okinawa Prefecture on its way to the Pacific in April 2021.
JAPAN
May 26, 2025
Chinese aircraft carrier conducts fighter jet operations in East China Sea
This was the first time Japan announced that the Liaoning aircraft carrier was conducting training in the area home to the disputed Senkaku Islands.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Confusion over Japan’s ‘hometown’ plan overshadows African development event
First Lady Yoshiko Ishiba (center, in white and blue dress) hosts an event on Japanese culture with the first ladies of African leaders on the sidelines of the Tokyo International Conference on African Development in Yokohama on Aug. 21.
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.
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.
Is Kishida plotting a return of the king? Or would he rather stay a kingmaker?
Former Prime Minister Fumio Kishida chairs a plenary session at the Ninth Tokyo International Conference on African Development in Yokohama on Aug. 21.

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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