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November 12, 2025
 

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COMMENTARY

Japan

World
Japan
The U.S.' recent approval of South Korea’s nuclear submarine program may set a precedent for Japan, which could consider similar nuclear capabilities amid growing regional security threats.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Japan should resist the temptation to go nuclear
Japan moving ahead on any nuclear options would be a mistake no matter what the United States, Russia or South Korea might do.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Government and bad actors are at the root of the foreign national issue
Japan has experienced an explosive increase in overseas tourists since the COVID-19 travel restrictions were lifted, and its global appeal as a travel destination has grown.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Along with Japan’s urban bears comes fur and loathing
What’s unusual is that the majority of these incidents are happening not to unlucky hikers or mountain foragers, but to people in residential areas going about their daily lives.
U.S. President Donald Trump meets with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Busan, South Korea, on Oct. 30. Tokyo's strategic positioning between Beijing and Washington is central to countering China’s economic and geopolitical influence.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 5, 2025
What the U.S.-China summit means for Japan
By Stephen R. Nagy
China’s willingness to weaponize commercial dependencies rather than projecting strength exposed the fragility of its economic statecraft.
Akio Toyoda, chairman of Toyota Motor, speaks during a media preview at the Japan Mobility Show in Tokyo on Oct. 29. Minority investors are challenging the carmaker's bid to take affiliate Toyota Industries Corp. private.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 5, 2025
The Toyota buyout is a major test for Japan’s reforms
By Juliana Liu
A letter signed by two dozen investors addressed "widespread concern” about the plan to buy out Toyota Industries Corp., also known as TICO.
The Arch of Independence in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan. Central Asia’s Turkic nations, united by shared history and culture, are emerging as a strategic counterbalance to Russia and China, offering Japan opportunities for investment and influence.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 4, 2025
Why Japan — like the U.S. — needs Central Asia
By Melik Kaylan
The C5 — Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan — concerns Japan more directly than seems immediately obvious.
Venezuelan Ambassador to the United Nations Samuel Moncada holds a printout of The Trinidad and Tobago Guardian newspaper at the U.N. headquarters in New York on Oct. 16. U.S. President Donald Trump uses false narratives to justify aggressive policies, including military strikes on alleged Venezuelan drug boats.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 4, 2025
The big lie behind Trump’s Venezuela strikes
By Timothy Snyder
This display of military power is intended to serve as political spectacle. The danger is that that it could escalate into an unwinnable, open-ended conflict.
Japan is deploying two officers to Lithuania for demining training in support of Ukraine, marking a key step in its evolving security strategy and the maturation of its defense policy.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 31, 2025
Japan’s demining deployment is a security milestone
By Michael MacArthur Bosack
This deployment is the latest in demining support that Japan has delivered to Ukraine since Russia’s full scale invasion began in February 2022.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, a self-made politician from a humble family, earned her way into Japan’s old-boys’ club through sheer determination, an achievement worth celebrating.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 31, 2025
Takaichi deserves better than gendered stereotypes
By Waka Ikeda
Takaichi’s diplomatic interactions don't strike me as “selling her womanness” to Trump, as some have claimed.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi arrives in Busan, South Korea, on Thursday ahead of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 30, 2025
How is Takaichi doing after a week at the helm?
By Edo Naito
The Japanese public's reaction to her first week as prime minister has been overwhelmingly positive.

Tokyo ranked world’s richest city by GDP, with Osaka-Kobe also rated highly
Tokyo has a gross domestic product of $2.55 trillion, just ahead of New York’s $2.49 trillion and Greater Los Angeles’ $1.62 trillion, according to CEOWorld’s global wealth index.
Takaichi stands firm on controversial Taiwan contingency remarks
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi responds to questions during a session of the House of Representatives' Budget Committee in parliament in Tokyo on Monday.
Japan’s bears have been on their killing spree for more than 100 years
Bear attacks have dominated Japanese news headlines in recent months, with 13 people so far having been killed by the animals.
Tokyo looks to keep ‘monster parents’ at bay with new protocols
New guidelines are addressing struggles by teachers to deal with the burden of parents who make irrational complaints that go beyond what is considered socially acceptable, often referred to as "monster parents," which is overwhelming their workload.
From France to Mali, a deportee's struggle far from home
Moussa Sacko, a Malian deported from France — where he had lived since he was a young child — stands on a street in Bamako, Mali, in December. Compared with his home in France, Bamako feels like a different planet, Sacko said.
Florist Nicolai Bergmann flourishes outside the box
Florist Nicolai Bergmann shops for fresh flowers at the Ota flower market in Tokyo on Friday.
Jenson Button brings end to an illustrious racing career intertwined with Japan
Jenson Button races for Honda during the Singapore Grand Prix in September 2008.
Cleanliness gets competitive at Tokyo’s Spogomi world cup
On Oct. 29, teams from 33 qualifying countries scoured the streets of Shibuya for all manners of trash as part of the Spogomi litter-picking competition.
Jon Homewood: ‘There’s beauty in what we throw away’
After a peripatetic childhood around the world, teacher and artist Jon Homewood ended up coming to Japan in 2012 for a professional opportunity.
High-speed rail is expensive and difficult, but seen as a key to growth
Achal Khare, former managing director at India’s National High Speed Rail Corporation, gives a presentation during the IHRA Forum 2025 in Tokyo on Oct. 23.

Podcast

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

Longform

Bear attacks have dominated Japanese news headlines in recent months, with 13 people so far having been killed by the animals.
Japan’s bears have been on their killing spree for more than 100 years
By Yukana Inoue

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Foreign wrestlers have a long history in sumo
Foreign wrestlers have a long history in sumo

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