From 1957-1960 Japan was led by the rightwing Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi, a barely reconstructed figure of the Pacific War. Kishi had gained the trust of US Cold Warriors, however, and they were rewarded when he forcefully pushed Japan into a new treaty alliance with the United States.
Unable to reconcile the demands of its US security alliance with its long-stated diplomatic position in support of international law, the Japanese government has opted to pretend that it doesn’t really know what is happening in the Gaza Strip.
Japan is beginning construction today, January 12, of a new base intended to be used primarily by the US military on the uninhabited island of Mageshima in Kagoshima Prefecture, despite years of resistance to the controversial plan and a questionable process by which the island was acquired by the government.
It was exactly a month ago today that Shinzo Abe was assassinated in Nara by 41-year-old Tetsuya Yamagami. As the passions of that event begin to settle, this is an opportune occasion to reconsider both the benefits and the costs of an administration which lasted longer than any other in Japanese history.
Recent revelations regarding the Japanese government’s purchase of US military drones underlines the East Asian nation’s unwillingness to refuse the “requests” of their US allies as they relate to the acquisition of weapons systems.
The Covid pandemic has gradually unleashed political and social forces in Japan that have lifted its underlying xenophobia to the surface, and thus transformed its culture from one of attraction into one of repulsion for many of its previous admirers.
New Diplomacy Initiative (NDI), Japan’s only progressive think tank, has issued its latest report on Japanese foreign and domestic affairs, and the challenges the world faces in the coming decades.
The list of moral and political reasons why Rahm Emanuel should not be appointed ambassador to Japan are more than a few, but at the very top of the list is that serving in Tokyo could offer him an excellent opportunity to rehabilitate his reputation, ensuring that this bad actor will return to more influential offices in the future.
A roundup of the most significant news stories from Japan reported in the last half of September 2020.
A roundup of the most significant news stories from Japan reported in the last half of July 2020.
