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November 11, 2025
 

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DEFENSE

U.S. Marines at Air Station Iwakuni in Yamaguchi Prefecture demonstrate the Typhon ground-launched missile system in September. Capable of launching land-based Tomahawks, it has already been deployed in global exercises, proving that the technical challenges often cited as an excuse to withhold Tomahawks from Ukraine are unfounded.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 27, 2025
Sanctions or Tomahawks? Only credible threats will convince Putin.
A lack of resolve and realism in the West has encouraged Putin to believe he need only wait until Ukraine’s backers fail it and he’ll be able to achieve his maximalist goals.
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks at the White House in Washington last week. He is scheduled to hold talks with Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi in Japan on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 27, 2025
U.S. defense chief to make Japan stop in Indo-Pacific visit
Pete Hegseth will meet Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi for talks on Wednesday.
Russian President Vladimir Putin listens to Chief of the General Staff of Russian Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov at an unidentified location in this still image taken from video and released on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 26, 2025
Putin says Russia tested new nuclear-powered cruise missile
Putin called the new weapon "unique,” and said the missile’s class needed to be determined and infrastructure prepared so that it can be deployed.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi reacts as East Timor Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao greets her during the ASEAN-Japan summit in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Oct 26, 2025
Takaichi’s ‘Trump card’ for meeting U.S. leader? Her relationship with Abe.
Sanae Takaichi’s ties to slain former leader Shinzo Abe are expected to get her off on the right foot with Donald Trump as she aims to navigate defense and trade pressure.
Sanae Takaichi’s selection as Japan’s first female prime minister marks a historic breakthrough for women in politics, but her leadership faces significant challenges from political fragility and critics, both at home and abroad.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 26, 2025
Takaichi’s rise to power and the ‘glass cliff’
Her appointment could prove to be a “glass cliff” as she encounters hypercriticism and the inherent challenges of a shaky coalition.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi departs Tokyo for an Association of Southeast Asian Nations' leaders' summit in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 26, 2025
Takaichi says boosting Japan-U.S. alliance ‘top priority’ in first call with Trump
Potentially contentious defense and economic issues are expected to top the agenda of the prime minister’s meeting with Trump on Tuesday.
U.S. director Kathryn Bigelow attends the Los Angeles special screening of her Netflix film "A House of Dynamite" at The Egyptian Theater in Hollywood, California, on Oct. 9.
WORLD
Oct 26, 2025
Pentagon frets over ‘A House of Dynamite’ nuclear doomsday film
The Pentagon agency responsible for the more than $50 billion system of ground-based interceptors designed to avoid just such a scenario isn’t happy about it.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi arrives for an extraordinary session of parliament in Tokyo on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 25, 2025
Takaichi to make diplomatic debut at ASEAN summit in Malaysia
Japan's new leader will also hold a high-profile summit with U.S. President Donald Trump in Tokyo and then travel to South Korea for APEC meetings.
A ground crew member guides a Russian Tu-95 nuclear-capable strategic bomber performing a flight over the Sea of Japan, in this still image taken from a video released on Friday.
JAPAN
Oct 25, 2025
Japan scrambles jets after nuclear-capable Russian bombers fly nearby
The incident took place hours before Japan's new prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, pledged in her first speech to parliament since taking office to accelerate a defense buildup.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi delivers her first policy speech in the Lower House in Tokyo on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 24, 2025
Takaichi focuses on economic and security concerns in first policy speech
Over half of the new prime minister's speech was dedicated to economic policies, and she described the fight against inflation as the top priority for her administration.
Leaders from EU countries at a European Council meeting in Brussels on Thursday
WORLD
Oct 24, 2025
EU leaders defer decision on Russian assets as Belgium balks
Ukraine’s European allies increasingly see using frozen Russian central bank assets as the only viable way to keep financing Kyiv in its fight against Moscow’s full-scale invasion.
Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force personnel march during the joint multinational exercise Garuda Shield 2025 at the Baturaja combat training center in Lampung, Indonesia, last month.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Oct 23, 2025
Takaichi to put defense push in spotlight in bid to satiate Trump demands
She is expected to raise Japan’s defense spending to 2% of gross domestic product by the end of this fiscal year, a move that could pave the way for further hikes.
Hamas conducts a public hostage handover ceremony in Nuseirat, in the central Gaza Strip, in February.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 23, 2025
The Gaza peace plan will fail without American troops
Trump has been clear that he is not enthusiastic about overseas troop deployments in general — and the use of U.S. boots on the ground in Gaza may be a bridge too far.
Despite enduring nearly four years of war, the Ukrainian people continue to live their lives with resilience, showing strength, endurance and the ability to maintain humanity in the face of ongoing hardship.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 23, 2025
In Ukraine, we’re learning to live with the war within
We live with the symptoms of collective post-traumatic stress: a nation holding its breath, waking from nightmares.
The Taiwanese flag waves on a hilltop facing China's Xiamen city, on Dadan Island, in Kinmen, Taiwan, on Oct. 18.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Oct 23, 2025
Taiwan wary China's new economic plan could include front-line islands
Taiwanese officials fear China could seek to gain de facto jurisdiction over Kinmen islands if it includes them in its economic development plan.
Shinjiro Koizumi — son of a former prime minister and rival to the current one — was appointed defense chief after falling short in his bid for the Liberal Democratic Party presidency earlier this month.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Oct 22, 2025
For three key Cabinet posts, Takaichi turns to an eclectic trio
The prime minister’s picks for Japan’s new defense, foreign and economic security ministers are not your typical stodgy line-up.
Keiichi Ichikawa, who served as assistant chief cabinet secretary in charge of diplomacy under former Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, has been appointed as secretary-general of the National Security Secretariat.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 22, 2025
Keiichi Ichikawa named head of Japan's National Security Secretariat
The former assistant chief cabinet secretary replaces Masataka Okano who assumed the post in January.
People watch a TV news report about North Korean short-range ballistic missile launches, at the main railway station in Seoul on Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Oct 22, 2025
North Korea fires off ballistic missiles one day after Takaichi named PM
Pyongyang's launch of several short-range ballistic missiles provided new Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi with an early test just a day after she took office.
Liberal Democratic Party President Sanae Takaichi, who was elected prime minister on Tuesday, holds up a policy agreement with Japan Innovation Party leader Hirofumi Yoshimura after signing the deal at parliament in Tokyo a day earlier.
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Oct 21, 2025
On defense policy, Japan's new ruling bloc packs a lot of punch
The LDP and Japan Innovation Party aim to revise key security documents while eliminating curbs on exporting lethal defense gear and building up Japan’s defense industrial base.
Liberal Democratic Party President Sanae Takaichi and other lawmakers prepare to cast their votes for Japan's new prime minister in the Lower House of parliament on Tuesday.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 21, 2025
Takaichi’s choice: revolution, reform or regression
Japan’s new Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi stands at a crossroads. Her choices will define not only her legacy but the nation’s trajectory.
Tsunami threat passes following magnitude 6.9 quake off Iwate
A tsunami advisory was issued for Iwate Prefecture on Sunday evening following a strong earthquake. The advisory was later called off, after waves measuring 20 centimeters were recorded in some areas.
Japan to subsidize demolition of abandoned inns
Abandoned Japanese-style inns in the Kinugawa hot springs resort in Nikko, Tochigi Prefecture, in March 2023
Japan’s bears have been on their killing spree for more than 100 years
Bear attacks have dominated Japanese news headlines in recent months, with 13 people so far having been killed by the animals.
Takaichi stands firm on controversial Taiwan contingency remarks
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi responds to questions during a session of the House of Representatives' Budget Committee in parliament in Tokyo on Monday.
From France to Mali, a deportee's struggle far from home
Moussa Sacko, a Malian deported from France — where he had lived since he was a young child — stands on a street in Bamako, Mali, in December. Compared with his home in France, Bamako feels like a different planet, Sacko said.
Jenson Button brings end to an illustrious racing career intertwined with Japan
Jenson Button races for Honda during the Singapore Grand Prix in September 2008.
Cleanliness gets competitive at Tokyo’s Spogomi world cup
On Oct. 29, teams from 33 qualifying countries scoured the streets of Shibuya for all manners of trash as part of the Spogomi litter-picking competition.
Jon Homewood: ‘There’s beauty in what we throw away’
After a peripatetic childhood around the world, teacher and artist Jon Homewood ended up coming to Japan in 2012 for a professional opportunity.
Yokozuna duo Onosato and Hoshoryu poised for another clash of titans
Yokozuna duo Onosato (right) and Hoshoryu clash for the title on the final day of the Autumn Grand Sumo Tournament on Sept. 28 at Ryogoku Kokugikan.
High-speed rail is expensive and difficult, but seen as a key to growth
Achal Khare, former managing director at India’s National High Speed Rail Corporation, gives a presentation during the IHRA Forum 2025 in Tokyo on Oct. 23.

Podcast

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

Longform

Bear attacks have dominated Japanese news headlines in recent months, with 13 people so far having been killed by the animals.
Japan’s bears have been on their killing spree for more than 100 years
By Yukana Inoue

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Foreign wrestlers have a long history in sumo
Foreign wrestlers have a long history in sumo

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