A video allegedly shot by a Chinese drone flying over Japan’s largest warship since World War II, JS Izumo, has been spreading on social media platforms in China and elsewhere, prompting the Japanese Defense Ministry and the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) to start an official investigation into its authenticity. The 19-second video and accompanying … Read more
In 1956, while commenting on Japan’s ability to defend itself from attack, Japanese Prime Minister Ichiro Hatoyama said that the government should not “merely sit and wait to die.” China’s growing conventional strike and amphibious assault forces are pushing Japan’s Ministry of Defense to reshape the Japan Self-Defense Forces (JSDF). Long-range strike munitions and launchers … Read more
In March 2024, the Bank of Japan (BOJ) ended its years-long experiment with negative interest rates to try and stem the country’s economic stagflation. This decision came after Rengo, Japan’s largest labor union, negotiated a deal that saw some of the countries’ largest companies – including Honda, Nippon Steel, and ANA Holdings – provide their … Read more
Indonesia’s president-elect Prabowo Subianto said today that he wants to deepen security and economic cooperation with Japan, just days after stating the same thing with regard to China. Prabowo, who currently serves as Indonesia’s defense minister, arrived in Japan last night from China, where he made his first foreign trip since winning a significant victory … Read more
The Philippines is set to launch joint naval patrols in the South China Sea with Japan and the United States later this year, in a bid to counter China’s increasingly assertive behavior in disputed waters. The news was reported on Friday by the U.S.-based outlet Politico, which cited “a U.S. official and a foreign diplomat … Read more
As geopolitical tensions remain high, U.S. capital has been moving out of China and into Japan. President Joe Biden’s restrictions on certain U.S. investments in China’s biotech, AI, and any sectors that could be deemed as “civil-military fusion” have caused concerns for many global financers investing in the second largest economy since mid-2023. The U.S. … Read more
Japanese post-war pacifism reached its pinnacle in 1976. That year, the Miki Takeo administration adopted two measures representing the tide of the moment: a 1 percent cap on the annual defense budget per GNP, and a de facto ban on arms exports that applied to both allies and enemies alike. For a long time, both … Read more
Japanese pacifism runs deep. It is embedded in the Japanese Constitution. War-renouncing Article 9 is perhaps the best-known example, but pacifism is present from the outset of the document. The very first sentence of the preamble castigates “the horrors of war” and espouses the benefits of “peaceful cooperation with all nations.” Depending on the perspective, … Read more
In an epoch-making move, South Korea’s major daily newspaper The JoongAng announced on March 27 that it has hired a former Japanese Mainichi Shimbun newspaper reporter, Onuki Tomoko, 48, as its Tokyo correspondent. It said it’s the first time that any South Korean newspaper has employed a Japanese reporter as a staff writer. It has … Read more
North Korea said Monday that Japan’s prime minister has offered to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, but stressed that prospects for their countries’ first summit in about 20 years would depend on Tokyo tolerating the North’s weapons program and agreeing to close the book on its past abductions of Japanese nationals. Japan … Read more