Breast Pocket Mountain by Karen Hill Anton tells a story of self-discovery in rural Japan, which fills the reader with hope. Karen, a New Yorker, ends up raising a bicultural family, becomes a writer for the Japan Times, a teacher of modern dance, and a Shodo calligraphy practitioner of merit.
Kurt Campbell, the Biden administration’s National Security Council Coordinator for the Indo-Pacific, is the “brain” behind much of what the Pentagon and US State Department are doing in East Asia today, but his policy approaches do not correspond with the realities of a global US empire now in rapid decline.
Visitors to Japan’s main international hub are still greeted by a sign saying “Down With Narita Airport,” a giant middle finger waved by diehards from a different era.
If progressives truly believe in our values of freedom of expression, equal opportunity, and security, we must stand in solidarity with the Okinawan people.
Given that Japan is likely to host more foreign residents and tourists in the future, it is necessary for such residents and visitors to the country to remain respectful and mindful of the fact that they are not under the jurisdiction of their home country’s more familiar legal system.
A roundup of the most significant news stories from Japan reported on July 16, 2018.
At the 93rd anniversary event of the Japan Communist Party, Chairman Kazuo Shii offered his view on how the so-called “Legislation for Peace and Security” will make future Japanese governments even less able to resist US government demands that they participate in foreign wars.
The first impression one encounters in Ho Chi Minh City is the swarms of motorbikes. I’d seen pictures of this, but nothing quite prepares you for the spectacle of thousands of the little scooters flowing along the streets and even sidewalks like an endless river. By some estimates there are five million motorbikes in Ho Chi Minh, a city of about eight million, which works out to one for practically every able-bodied adult in the city.
