The U.S.-China trade war has escalated as both sides use economic leverage, with China asserting dominance over rare earths to retaliate against U.S. tariffs, while the U.S. seeks a collective global response and long-term strategy to reduce dependency on China's supply chains.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 21, 2025
This is what a real trade war looks like
China has leverage over trading partners every bit as powerful as what Trump seeks to wield.
Komeito chief representative Tetsuo Saito speaks during a debate with leaders of other political parties at the Japan National Press Club in Tokyo in July. His party exited the ruling coalition with the ruling-LDP after 26 years, citing concerns over political donations and transparency.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 17, 2025
Is Komeito’s split with the LDP really about political funding?
Was Komeito negotiating in good faith or looking to undermine the Takaichi administration before it even commenced?
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses a plenum session of the Knesset in June.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 17, 2025
Has Japan’s Diet finally begun its ‘Knessetization’?
My focus is entirely on whether Japan's parliament will finally begin to “Knessetize” (referring to Israel's parliament, and by extension, unstable coalition politics.)
Jon Heese (second left) takes part in a 2024 New Year's nihonshu barrel opening ceremony.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 17, 2025
Why I chose Japanese citizenship over permanent residency
It may be adequate for some residents’ purposes, but when the chips are down, many will be shocked at just how few protections it offers.
Refugees and migrants, mostly from Syria and Afghanistan, crowd a platform at a train station in Budapest in September 2015. Hungary's focus on pro-natalist policies and minimal immigration has led to a significant improvement in its fertility rate compared to Japan.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 15, 2025
Asia can learn from Europe’s immigration mistakes
The result is dangerous confusion where legitimate policy debates about labor shortages become entangled with xenophobic fears about cultural invasion.
Yuichiro Tamaki, leader of the Democratic Party for the People, holds a news conference at the Diet on Oct. 7. The collapse of the LDP-Komeito coalition highlights the risks of an opposition more focused on obstruction than solutions. 
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 14, 2025
Japan’s opposition coalition is a recipe for paralysis, not progress
The collapse of the LDP-Komeito coalition highlights the risks of an opposition more focused on obstruction than solutions.
Amid the election of Sanae Takaichi as Liberal Democratic Party president, and possibly the next prime minister, Japan's economy shows signs of recovery, but weak wages, a conservative corporate culture and currency issues raise doubts about a true economic thaw.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 13, 2025
Hypothermia in the land of the rising Sanae
Of late, the country has suddenly given every impression of heat. There are good reasons to believe hypothermia is over.

Longform

The byzantine process for converting a foreign driver’s license into a Japanese one entails mountains of paperwork and significant stamina — unless you're a lucky license holder from a country or region where these requirements are waived.
Driving in Japan isn’t hard. Getting the license is.