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October 13, 2025
 

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DEFENSE

The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute says that the world's nuclear powers are "upgrading existing weapons and adding newer versions."
WORLD / Politics
Jun 16, 2025
World faces new nuclear arms race, researchers warn
Researchers warned that the trend since the Cold War of there being a decrease in the overall number of warheads was likely to be reversed in the coming years.
Guillaume Ollagnier, director general of strategic, security and disarmament affairs at the French Foreign Ministry, says that the global nonproliferation architecture should be further strengthened — lest a nuclear arms race erupt.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 15, 2025
France doubles down on opposition to new nuclear states, top official says
With Pyongyang and Beijing ramping up their nuclear capabilities, calls are growing louder in Seoul and elsewhere to develop their own nukes.
Anthony Albanese
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 15, 2025
Australia PM Albanese to meet with Trump on G7 sidelines in Canada
Australian leader Anthony Albanese will meet with U.S. President Donald Trump at the G7 summit in Canada for talks on the AUKUS defense pact and tariffs.
The Pentagon is seen from the U.S. Army Golden Knights parachute team plane on June 11, ahead of their performance as part of the Army’s 250th birthday festival in Washington.
WORLD
Jun 14, 2025
Pizza delivery monitor alerts to secret Israel attack
The timing of Israel's plan to attack Iran was top secret. But Washington pizza delivery trackers guessed something was up before the first bombs fell.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying a payload of Starlink satellites lifts off from the U.S. Space Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 14, 2025
White House reviews SpaceX contracts as Trump-Musk feud simmers
The administration ordered the agencies to scrutinize Musk’s contracts to ready possible retaliation against the businessman and his companies, sources said.
China’s expanding military presence and frequent exercises around Taiwan and Japan require Tokyo to strengthen the country’s defenses and diplomatic efforts against Beijing’s aggression.
EDITORIALS
Jun 13, 2025
A belligerent China hones its tools of intimidation
Recent exercises underscore the ability of the People’s Liberation Army to project power ever farther from the country’s shores.
U.S. President Donald Trump makes an announcement regarding the Golden Dome missile defense shield next to U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on May 20.
WORLD
Jun 13, 2025
After Trump feud, role of Musk's SpaceX in Golden Dome missile shield in question
A new framework for the U.S. missile defense system is now being considered that could reduce the role of Elon Musk's SpaceX.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his daughter Ju Ae attend the launching ceremony of a warship that had been damaged upon its first attempt to launch, in Rajin, North Korea on Thursday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jun 13, 2025
North Korea restores damaged warship and plans to build more next year
Analysts said the relatively fast restoration of the damaged warship signals North Korea’s capability to pursue a quick naval build-up.
India’s potential participation in the Japan-U.K.-Italy fighter jet project GCAP makes strategic sense but should be postponed until the core partners solidify the program to avoid delays, conflict and operational risk.
COMMENTARY
Jun 12, 2025
India should join the Global Combat Air Program — but not just yet
GCAP is more than just a weapons platform. It is a statement of strategic autonomy, industrial innovation and trilateral cooperation among democracies.
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth meets with Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles at the Pentagon in Washington in February.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 12, 2025
U.S. to review AUKUS as part of Trump’s ‘America First’ agenda
The decision to review the partnership is likely to raise eyebrows among U.S. allies and partners, but was downplayed by Canberra.
A Chinese J-15 fighter jet flies just to the side of a Maritime Self-Defense Force P-3C surveillance plane over the high seas in the Pacific Ocean on Sunday.
JAPAN
Jun 12, 2025
Chinese fighter jets in close encounters with MSDF patrol planes over Pacific
Chinese fighters made “abnormal approaches” to MSDF patrol aircraft over the Pacific Ocean in recent days that risked collisions, the Defense Ministry said.
A helicopter takes off from China's Shandong aircraft carrier in waters south of Okinawa Prefecture in April 2023.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jun 11, 2025
Chinese aircraft carriers in Pacific show Beijing's 'expansionist' aims, Taiwan says
The two Chinese aircraft carriers were spotted by Japan conducting simultaneous operations in the Pacific for the first time in recent days.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visits one of his country's nuclear material production sites in this photo released in January.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jun 11, 2025
North Korea constructing new enrichment facility for nuclear bombs, experts say
The apparent new facility could help Pyongyang follow through on pledges to continue ramping up production of fissile materials.
Visitors look at replicas of the Chinese aircraft carriers Liaoning and Shandong at the People's Liberation Navy Naval Museum on the 75th founding anniversary of the navy in Qingdao, China, in April last year.
JAPAN
Jun 10, 2025
Two Chinese aircraft carriers conduct simultaneous drills in Pacific for first time
The moves highlight the Chinese Navy’s growing ability to punch through the “second island chain,” officials say.
An honor guard performs a flag-raising ceremony at Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall in Taipei in 2023.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 10, 2025
Taiwan moves thwart foreign defense firms: American Chamber of Commerce
The American business group said Taiwan's policy change on defense cooperation may undermine its "attractiveness as a defense market.”
Gen. Jennie Carignan, Canada’s Chief of the Defense Staff, attends an interview with The Japan Times on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore.
JAPAN
Jun 10, 2025
Japan ‘priority’ as Canada eyes bigger Asian footprint, military chief says
Ottawa's concerns about what it sees as growing challenges to the current world order are driving its Asia push.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney stands alongside Chief of the Defense Staff Gen. Jennie Carignan and Minister of National Defense David McGuinty as he makes a speech about defense and security at Fort York Armory in Toronto on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 10, 2025
Canada vows to meet NATO defense budget target early
New Canadian leader Mark Carney said he will boost funding for the armed forces and hit NATO's 2% military spending target this fiscal year, five years earlier than promised.
A Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) interceptor undergoes testing at an undisclosed location. The Trump administration’s ambitious “Golden Dome” missile defense plan revives Reagan-era dreams of a high-tech shield but faces immense technical, financial and geopolitical hurdles. 
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 10, 2025
Golden Dome is a glittering gamble — and a likely mistake
Trump’s EO outlined an MD system that would use a network of hundreds of satellites to detect, track and intercept incoming missiles “to protect our homeland.”
Amid growing global tensions and military rearmament, allies in Europe and Asia increasingly fear that under Donald Trump, the U.S. has become an unreliable partner — undermining trust, unity and the foundation of the postwar international order.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 9, 2025
Whose side is the U.S. on? Doubts strain alliances
The U.S. once anchored a stable world order. Now, with rising threats from China and Russia, allies scramble to adapt as Washington sends mixed signals on defense and trade.
Officials and government leaders including Russian President Vladimir Putin (center right) and Chinese President Xi Jinping (center left) attend a ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on Victory Day, marking the 80th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two, in Moscow on May 9.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 9, 2025
Secret Russian intelligence document shows deep suspicion of China
Some officials believe Beijing is trying to recruit Russian spies and steal sensitive military tech, at times by luring disaffected Russian scientists.
University of Tokyo lands its highest spot ever in global higher education ranking
The University of Tokyo in Tokyo's Bunkyo Ward
Ghost of Yotei’s bloodstained fun sidesteps Ainu identity
Ghost of Yotei, the follow-up to 2020's smash hit Ghost of Tsushima, is a violent, vengeful and engaging romp through 17th-century Hokkaido that fails to stick the landing on its most sensitive cultural material.
After ruling bloc breakup, CDP and Komeito eye unified PM candidate
Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan leader Yoshihiko Noda speaks to reporters at the Diet in Tokyo on Friday.
As the Osaka Expo comes to a close, what will its legacy be?
After a run-up marked by apathy, organizers soon found they had the opposite problem as crowd control became a concern.
Why Japan's coalition collapsed — and what's next
Liberal Democratic Party President Sanae Takaichi enters party headquarters in Tokyo on Thursday.
Ghost of Yotei’s bloodstained fun sidesteps Ainu identity
Ghost of Yotei, the follow-up to 2020's smash hit Ghost of Tsushima, is a violent, vengeful and engaging romp through 17th-century Hokkaido that fails to stick the landing on its most sensitive cultural material.
‘Takaichi trade’ starts unwinding as political calculus upended by Komeito exit
Less than a week ago, Sanae Takaichi seemed set to become Japan's first female prime minister.
‘Save the Ring’ calls intensify as Osaka Expo’s end nears
Visitors lounge on the grassy hill on the top of the Grand Ring during the 2025 Osaka Expo in the city of Osaka in May.
A Japanese comedian walks into an Aussie bar … and stays there
Takashi “Waka” Wakasugi stopped by the Tokyo Comedy Bar in Shibuya Ward last month following his stint at Edinburgh Festival Fringe performing his show “Comedy Samurai.”
Chemistry Nobel winner Kitagawa says downtime helped him think up new material
Susumu Kitagawa speaks to reporters at Kyoto University on Wednesday after receiving the news that he had been awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry the same day.

Podcast

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

Longform

Rock group The Yellow Monkey played K-Arena Yokohama in June as part of a nationwide tour. Concerts are increasingly popular in the age of social media as users value in-person experiences.
Inside Japan’s arena boom: Sports, sound and city-building
By Patrick St. Michel

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

We are pleased to announce the winners of the 6th annual Sustainable Japan Award.
We are pleased to announce the winners of the 6th annual Sustainable Japan Award.

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