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August 31, 2025
 

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DEFENSE

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy meets with NATO’s leaders at the bloc’s summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, on July 12. 
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 10, 2023
How Russia could benefit from Ukraine’s NATO membership
While Russian leaders have cited NATO enlargement as a justification for invading Ukraine, ordinary Russians have much to gain from Ukrainian membership.
The Pentagon on Tuesday looked to soften the blow of an explosive report that Chinese hackers had infiltrated Japan's most sensitive defense networks, saying that it was "confident” about sharing intelligence with Tokyo.
JAPAN
Aug 9, 2023
U.S. ‘confident’ in Japan intel sharing, but Taiwan concerns linger
The Pentagon has moved to soften the blow of a report that said that “shockingly bad” hacking had been uncovered by the U.S. in the fall of 2020.
A ship passes through the Bosporus Straits near Istanbul.
WORLD
Aug 9, 2023
Turbulent waters: How the Black Sea became a hot spot in the war
For centuries, the Black Sea has been at the center of Russia’s efforts to extend its geopolitical and economic influence.
Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada speaks during a joint news conference with U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin at the Defense Ministry in Tokyo in June.
JAPAN
Aug 8, 2023
China hacked sensitive Japanese defense networks, report says
Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada said Tuesday that Tokyo has not confirmed that top secret information was leaked.
Bradley Fighting Vehicles on Jan. 25 at the Transportation Core Dock in North Charleston, South Carolina, ahead of shipment as part of a U.S. military aid package to Ukraine.
COMMENTARY / World / Geoeconomic Briefing
Aug 8, 2023
Is China going unchecked while the West supports Ukraine?
Some have criticized Washington's efforts to help Kyiv as having a negative impact on its ability to deter a possible contingency from Beijing.
JAPAN
Aug 8, 2023
Nuke ban treaty still out of reach as Japan marks atomic bombings
Japan, which is positioned under the "nuclear umbrella" of the U.S., has refrained from joining the treaty, citing its own “tough security environment.”
Taro Aso, a former prime minister and current vice president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, speaks during the Ketagalan Forum in Taipei on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 8, 2023
Taiwan situation ‘tilting toward emergency,’ former Japan PM says
Taro Aso said this shift was “definitely not out of the blue” but was now “more evident,” pointing to military exercises by China around Taiwan.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russia's Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu visit an exhibition of military equipment on July 27.
ASIA PACIFIC
Aug 8, 2023
North Korean hackers breached top Russian missile-maker
Experts say the incident shows how the isolated country will even target its allies in a bid to acquire critical technologies.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and other leaders of the Group of Seven, as well as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, meet during their summit in Hiroshima on May 21. 
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 7, 2023
The G7 leaders’ vision on nuclear disarmament
Geopolitical rivalries and the failure to address the complicity of G7 members in perpetuating a nuclearized world are stymieing nonproliferation efforts.
An Air Self-Defense Force Kawasaki C-2 military transport aircraft is put on display at the Dubai Air Show in November 2019.
JAPAN
Aug 6, 2023
Japan mulls mounting long-range missiles on C-2 transporters
The missiles could be used for operations to attack enemy bases such as missile launch sites in counterstrike operations.
Indian border security force soldiers stand guard at a checkpoint along a highway leading to Ladakh in Kashmir's Ganderbal district in June 2020.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 6, 2023
China-India border conflict holds lessons for Japan, too
India has learned that bilateral ties and economic interdependence do not constrain China's territorial ambitions. That is a lesson Japan should heed.
Four Italian Air Force F-35 fighter jets are lined up next to an Air Self-Defense Force F-15 fighter shortly after arriving at Komatsu Air Base in Ishikawa Prefecture on Friday evening in this image posted to the base's official X social media account.
JAPAN
Aug 4, 2023
Japan and Italy to elevate ties with first joint fighter drills
The drills highlight how Rome and Tokyo are expanding defense and security ties as their strategic interests in the Indo-Pacific converge.
Children play on a beach near a Taiwan Navy supply ship on Nangan Island, which is part of the Matsu Archipelago that is controlled by Taipei and located close to the coast of mainland China.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 4, 2023
A year after Nancy Pelosi’s historic visit, is Taiwan more secure?
Though both U.S. and broader international support for Taipei has accelerated, the Chinese military is regularly operating closer to the island than ever.
The government may sell stakes in some major firms, including NTT, to fund its growing defense spending.
BUSINESS
Aug 3, 2023
Raising the stakes: Japan may sell shares to fund defense spending
Selling government stakes in some of Japan's biggest firms won't be straightforward, given the need for consensus and changes to laws.
A local resident stands next to a car in front of a residential building heavily damaged in the course of the Russia-Ukraine war, in the settlement of Toshkivka, in the Luhansk province of Russian-controlled Ukraine on March 24.
COMMENTARY / World / Geoeconomic Briefing
Aug 1, 2023
Mission impossible: How to get Kyiv and Moscow to talk
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's 10-point plan for peace has found some backers, but parts of it have failed to land with everyone.
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin stands for the U.S. national anthem before a meeting with his Australian counterpart ahead of the Australia-U.S. Ministerial Consultations in Brisbane on Friday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jul 31, 2023
U.S. defense tieup efforts pay dividends with Australia deals
The agreements will mean not only more U.S. troops in Australia, but also the integration of Japan into more military initiatives between the two.
From left: Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin hold a news conference in Brisbane on Saturday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jul 29, 2023
U.S. to expand military footprint in Australia
Changes include frequent visits of U.S. submarines to Australia, rotation of U.S. Army watercraft and collaborating on guided missile production.
A screen displays Chinese leader Xi Jinping, at the Military Museum of the Chinese People's Revolution in Beijing last October.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 28, 2023
China eyes accelerated plan for ‘world-class military,’ Japan says
An annual defense white paper said the world was facing its greatest test since World War II amid China's military buildup and the Ukraine war.
Two F-15 fighter aircraft from the ASDF fly alongside two Rafale jets and an A400M transport aircraft from the French Air and Space Force as the two forces kicked off Wednesday their first-ever joint fighter exercise in Japan
JAPAN
Jul 26, 2023
France and Japan expand defense ties with first joint fighter jet drills
The drills are scheduled to run from Wednesday to Saturday in the airspace around the Kanto region and the ASDF’s Nyutabaru Air Base in Miyazaki Prefecture.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un walks in front of an intercontinental ballistic missile in this undated photo released in March 2022.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jul 25, 2023
From 'Young General' to 'Supreme Leader': The evolution of Kim Jong Un
North Korea's thinking on its relations with the U.S. has undergone dramatic changes, and Kim Jong Un's past evolution offers indications of where the country might be headed.
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.
Japan to launch broad review of immigration policies amid rise in foreign nationals
Foreign tourists at Narita Airport in June. A report released Friday stresses that Japan is at a turning point and that current ad-hoc measures on immigration are no longer sufficient.
Top Japan trade negotiator canceled U.S. trip over rice, report says
Ryosei Akazawa
Most Japanese teens struggling with school find end of summer ‘painful’
Some 93.1% of Japanese teenagers who struggle with school life said they felt like they “wanted to disappear from the world" at the end of summer vacation ahead of the start of a new term, according to a recent survey released by Yokohama-based nonprofit Daisan Kazoku.
Most Trump tariffs are not legal, U.S. appeals court rules
Workers hang a large poster of U.S. President Donald Trump on the facade of the Department of Labor headquarters building in Washington on Wednesday.
Japan to launch broad review of immigration policies amid rise in foreign nationals
Foreign tourists at Narita Airport in June. A report released Friday stresses that Japan is at a turning point and that current ad-hoc measures on immigration are no longer sufficient.
YouTube Music Weekend is where Japan’s internet-born performers go global
Headlining the second day of YouTube Music Weekend is Vocaloid artist Kikuo, who, with 1.46 million YouTube subscribers, is one of the most popular artists in the genre.
Japan looks to build drone ‘shield’ in record defense budget request
A group of Ground Self-Defense Force service members discuss drone operations and capabilities at a joint static display during the Orient Shield 24 opening ceremony at the Yausubetsu Training Area in Hokkaido in July last year.
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.
Jesse Kirkwood: ‘Languages are entire cultural universes with all sorts of baggage’
Jesse Kirkwood is part of a vibrant field of translators who have nurtured what might be called a “post-Murakami era of Japanese literature and translation,” one book at a time.

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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