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September 04, 2025
 

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SOVIET UNION

During a survey to collect the remains of victims from the Taito Maru, one of the vessels involved in the Three Ships Incident, a metal helmet was found near the stern of the vessel on Aug. 5, 1984, at Rumoi Port. No human remains were discovered.
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Hokkaido
Sep 1, 2025
Why Stalin didn’t invade Hokkaido still largely unknown, 80 years after WWII
Declassified cables between U.S. President Harry Truman and Soviet leader Josef Stalin reveal the Soviets had advanced plans to invade Hokkaido and occupy half of it.
Kunitake Toriya, a former corporal in the Imperial Japanese Army who had trained for a suicide attack mission, speaks about his wartime experiences in front of the photographs of his comrades at Tachiarai Peace Memorial Museum in Chikuzen, Fukuoka Prefecture, in June.
JAPAN
Aug 27, 2025
Destined for death, former kamikaze pilot recalls wanting to live
Kunitake Toriya yelled "Banzai" in his heart when his suicide mission was called off. Now, 80 years on, he is determined to share his story.
Nuclear weapons may have prevented global war through deterrence, but today’s shifting threats require adaptable strategies and strong leadership to avoid catastrophe.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 26, 2025
How humanity can avoid starting World War III
As a new nuclear age dawns, the U.S. must once again adjust its policies with foresight and flexibility, resisting both technological determinism and political destabilization.
Daiki Hama, lecturer at Tama University in Tokyo, shows his creation of a virtual Siberian internment camp and a virtual reality headset in April.
JAPAN
Aug 26, 2025
Japanese lecturer digitally re-creates post-WWII Siberian detention camp
The virtual camp has been used for hands-on events for children at a museum and training sessions for student storytellers at the Maizuru Repatriation Memorial Museum.
Hiroyoshi Takizawa looks at pictures from his days in wartime Manchuria as a child during an interview in Nagano in June.
JAPAN
Aug 21, 2025
A life upended by wartime mass suicides
Hiroyoshi Takizawa's life in Manchuria was comfortable at first. But when the Soviet Union invaded, his father, fearing the worst, chose mass suicide.
Shoichi Takahashi holds a photo of himself when he was younger, in Otaru, Hokkaido, on May 17.
JAPAN
Aug 18, 2025
103-year-old remembers Soviet attack right after WWII
"Since we had been fighting Americans, it was beyond my imagination that Soviets launched an attack on us three days after the end of WWII," Takahashi said.
U.S. President Donald Trump meets with Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba at the White House in Washington on Feb. 7.
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 14, 2025
After serving as bulwark for 80 years, Japan's U.S. ties continue to evolve
Under the U.S. security alliance, Japan has contained potential expansion of the Soviet communist bloc and China's hegemonic ambitions since the end of World War II.
Vladimir Putin has been rehabilitating Josef Stalin for more than two decades — and reviving some of the worst elements of the Soviet era in the process.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 3, 2025
Glory to Stalin and the whitewashing of history
Russia’s Communist Party recently asserted that, in Stalin’s “deeds and works,” Russians can seek “answers to the fateful challenges of our time.”
Kyoko Miura presenting a kamishibai picture story about her escape back to Japan from former Manchuria as a young girl after the end of the war, on June 27 in the city of Higashimatsushima, Miyagi Prefecture.
JAPAN
Jul 31, 2025
A girl’s life during wartime, told one picture at a time
Kyoko Miura heads a civic group based in the city of Higashimatsushima, Miyagi Prefecture, that is working on passing down stories of World War II to future generations.
An activist holds a portrait of Josef Stalin during a rally in Moscow on April 22, 2024.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 23, 2025
Stalin makes a comeback in Putin’s wartime crackdown on dissent
The Kremlin is reviving Soviet-era practices of censorship and prison sentences to suppress dissent and present Russian society as united behind Putin and the war.
Kunashiri, one of the four islands seized by Russia in the last days of World War II, is visible from the Shiretoko Peninsula in northeastern Hokkaido.
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Hokkaido
Jul 22, 2025
Ex-residents of Russian-controlled islands off Hokkaido want grave-site visits resumed
Now in their advanced years, the former residents want the visits to be restored for them to honor their ancestors whose grave sites are located on the four islands.
Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako pay tribute at a memorial to commemorate Japanese nationals who died while being detained in Mongolia after the end of World War II, in Dambadarjaa, on the outskirts of Ulaanbaatar, on Tuesday.
JAPAN
Jul 9, 2025
Emperor and empress mourn Japanese who died in Mongolia
It is the first time that a Japanese emperor has mourned at a site where Japanese people were detained abroad, according to the Imperial Household Agency.
Emperor Naruhito speaks during a news conference at the Imperial Palace on Wednesday ahead of his visit to Mongolia together with Empress Masako from Sunday.
JAPAN
Jul 3, 2025
Emperor to mourn Japanese detainees who died in Mongolia
The Emperor last visited Mongolia in 2007, when he was Crown Prince.
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.
Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with North Korean servicemen on Red Square after the Victory Day military parade in central Moscow on Friday.
WORLD / Politics
May 10, 2025
Putin hails troops in Ukraine as allies attend WWII parade
President Vladimir Putin vowed on Friday that Russia would win in Ukraine as the Soviet Union had in World War II.
Protesters march in Tokyo's upscale Ginza district Saturday, demanding relief for those who suffered during World War II.
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 20, 2025
Protesters march for WWII relief for civilians and others who were overlooked
Participants accuse the government of discriminating against civilian victims and people from the former Japanese colonies when it comes to state compensation for war damage.
The Pentagon's disbandment of the Office of Net Assessment ends a key institution that provided long-term strategic analysis, leaving the U.S. vulnerable to future geopolitical challenges.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 20, 2025
A sad day for U.S. strategic analysis as the Office of Net Assessment is disbanded
While most focused on the military, ONA was the only group to conclude that winning the Cold War relied on economic means, not troop numbers.
Documents related to the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy are displayed after they were released following an order from U.S. President Donald Trump, in Washington on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 19, 2025
Trump releases JFK assassination documents
Many of the documents reflected the work by investigators to learn more about assassin Lee Harvey Oswald's time in the Soviet Union.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s public humiliation tactics, such as belittling foreign leaders and political opponents, mirror those of dictators like Stalin and Mao, reflecting his authoritarian tendencies.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 14, 2025
Fear and loathing in the Oval Office
Trump should be thought of as a dilettante despot, the Roman emperor of reality TV.
The Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk, Russia on July 1, 2016
WORLD
Feb 20, 2025
In Russia, dozens of dissenters are held as psychiatric patients
The practice carries echoes of a method of control used widely in the Soviet Union and known as "punitive psychiatry."
Surrounded by Chinese bases, a tiny Philippine island stands firm
A Philippine Navy sailor looks at a China Coast Guard vessel just off the coast of Pag-asa Island in the disputed South China Sea last month.
Anger in Japan after Instagrammer drinks burial site offering
Foreign tourists visit a park near the Imperial Palace in Tokyo in August.
Musk voices support for anti-immigration rally in Japan
Elon Musk has voiced support for anti-immigration protest in Japan, where a "Japanese First" party saw gains in recent elections.
Suntory CEO Takeshi Niinami resigns over alleged possession of illegal drugs
Takeshi Niinami, then-chief executive officer of Suntory Holdings, in May 2024
‘Mount Fuji Lawson’ becomes a symbol of Japan’s overtourism problem
A couple poses for a wedding photo in front of a Lawson in the town of Kawaguchiko, Yamanashi Prefecture, on Aug. 25.
Xi — joined by Kim and Putin — delivers stark warning at military parade
Chinese leader Xi Jinping walks with Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un before a military parade marking the 80th anniversary of victory over Japan and the end of World War II, in Beijing on Wednesday.
Tamagotchi hatches 100 million shipments worldwide thanks to ’90s nostalgia
The latest version of Tamagotchi, called Tamagotchi Paradise, is awarded the best digital toy at Tokyo Toy Show on Aug. 28.
Why Stalin didn’t invade Hokkaido still largely unknown, 80 years after WWII
During a survey to collect the remains of victims from the Taito Maru, one of the vessels involved in the Three Ships Incident, a metal helmet was found near the stern of the vessel on Aug. 5, 1984, at Rumoi Port. No human remains were discovered.
More sweltering days forecast for September after hottest summer on record
By the end of August, 8,341 people had been transported by ambulance for heatstroke in Tokyo alone.
Surrounded by Chinese bases, a tiny Philippine island stands firm
A Philippine Navy sailor looks at a China Coast Guard vessel just off the coast of Pag-asa Island in the disputed South China Sea last month.

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

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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