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November 22, 2024
 

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Ralph Cossa
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 13, 2017
Dealing with Pyongyang
Any new U.S. policy approaches or initiatives must await the selection of a new South Korean president, and must then be closely coordinated with Seoul and Tokyo.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 29, 2016
Divining the new U.S. Asia policy
Experience tells us to discount at least half of what is said during presidential campaigns. The challenge is predicting correctly which half to discount.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 1, 2016
Here we go again with North Korea
The international community should agree upon the consequences of the next North Korean provocation, so that the next action brings it together rather than provides yet another opportunity for Pyongyang to divide and conquer.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 9, 2015
Weighing Japan's options in the South China Sea
Rather than send Japanese ships to conduct freedom of navigation patrols in the South China Sea, Japan should continue to focus its efforts on maritime capacity building in Southeast Asia.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 1, 2015
Abe and history: What's next?
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe needs to dramatically and definitively address the 'comfort women' issue head on.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 19, 2013
Hope for reform in North Korea may have died
The chances of Deng Xiaoping-styled reform in North Korea may have just died along with the regimes No. 2 leader, Jang Song Thaek.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 8, 2013
Breaking past the tired old plot with Pyongyang
Stop me if you've heard this one before. North Korea decides, for whatever reason, that it is time to once again challenge the international community by conducting missile and nuclear tests. It announces a "satellite launch" and proceeds, despite international condemnation and warnings of dire consequences,...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 23, 2013
Kim's second test is Xi's first
North Korea's new supreme leader Kim Jong Un conducted two missile tests last year. The first, in April, failed. The second, in December, was by all accounts a huge success. But it was not just a test of North Korea's ability to put an object into space. Kim's second test was also the first test of the...
COMMENTARY
Sep 8, 2012
Tokyo-Seoul: enough is enough!
Enough is enough! Obviously, the political leadership in Tokyo and Seoul never learned about the First Rule of Holes: When you find yourself in one, stop digging. Each side seems to be going out of its way to make a bad situation worse, even while providing private assurances that it won't let the situation...
COMMENTARY
Aug 3, 2012
Pushing Seoul-Tokyo forward
There is an old Russian proverb that applies to current Japan-South Korea (ROK) relations: "Forget the past and lose an eye; dwell on the past and lose both eyes!"
COMMENTARY
Mar 24, 2012
China must rein in N. Korea
Now what? Just when we thought things were getting better, North Korea pulled the rug out from under everyone, including itself, by announcing a planned satellite launch to commemorate Great Leader Kim Il Sung's 100th birthday celebration.
COMMENTARY
Mar 9, 2012
Breakthrough is close, again
The recent "food for freeze" agreement between the United States and North Korea has been described accurately by the State Department as reflecting "important, if limited, progress" and inaccurately by the media as constituting a "breakthrough" in the seemingly endless march toward Korean Peninsula...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 27, 2011
U.S. nukes to South Korea?
Support for the U.S.-South Korea alliance has never seemed stronger in South Korea. The two countries appear to be in lock step when it comes to dealing with the North and their two presidents seem to genuinely like and respect one another, thus permitting an unprecedented level of trust and cooperation....
COMMENTARY
Sep 1, 2010
Not China's coastal waters
Would someone please provide the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) spokesman with a map! Over the last few months, since it was rumored, then denied, and then confirmed that the George Washington aircraft carrier would be involved in naval "show of force" maneuvers off the west coast of South Korea,...
COMMENTARY
Apr 20, 2010
Between the lines of U.S. nuclear policy
HONOLULU — I have attended a number of discussions in recent years about U.S. nuclear weapons strategy and policy. All invariably begin with a presentation by a U.S. official or expert who proclaims that the United States, in the past decade, has significantly reduced the role and importance of nuclear...
COMMENTARY
Jan 7, 2010
Obama on track in Asia
With one exception, U.S. relations with East Asian countries are better today than when the Obama administration took office. This is no small accomplishment since the Bush administration left Asia in good shape.
COMMENTARY
Dec 21, 2009
Taiwan poll's weight overhyped
HONOLULU — Voters in Taiwan went to the polls in 17 counties and cities recently to elect mayors and magistrates. The ruling Kuomintang (KMT) party won 12 of the 17 seats and enjoyed an overwhelming victory in elections of county and city councilors and township chiefs. The opposition Democratic Progressive...
COMMENTARY
Sep 12, 2009
DPP scoring political points at Taiwan's expense
What's going on in Taiwan? A year ago, there were serious concerns about the viability of Taiwan democracy. The Nationalist Party (KMT) had achieved an overwhelming majority with a sweeping victory in Legislative Yuan elections and had regained the presidency as a result of a landslide victory by its...
COMMENTARY
Jun 4, 2009
The path with North Korea
What is North Korea up to? Is it trying to undermine the six-party talks in order to force Washington to deal with Pyongyang directly, as some experts claim? Or, as others maintain with equal certainty, is it sending a signal that it is not interested in talks at all, given current domestic political...
COMMENTARY
Apr 22, 2009
Nuclear disarmament: too much, too soon?
There is no country on Earth more committed to global nuclear disarmament than Japan. Ever since experiencing firsthand the horrors of nuclear weapons at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Japanese government and people have been steadfast in calling for the total elimination of nuclear weapons from the planet....
Two of America’s biggest debt holders are dumping Treasurys
The U.S. Treasury building in Washington. Investors in Japan and China sold a pile of U.S. debt in the last quarter, just before the U.S. presidential election.
Ishiba aggravates his own political failures with diplomatic faux pas
Prime Minster Shigeru Ishiba is greeted at the APEC summit in Lima by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday. The Japanese leader was criticized for remaining seated while meeting several world leaders at the event.
Japan's 3.31 million visitors in October set monthly record
Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto in December 2023. Famous autumn leaf colors contributed to increased tourism demand last month from many markets across Asia, Europe and North America, the Japan National Tourism Organization has said.
Japan ranks last in romance satisfaction for second straight year
In a survey of 31 countries, Japan ranked last in terms of those who felt loved, with just 51% of respondents saying so.
Ruling coalition and DPP strike last-minute deal over economic policy
DPP policy chief Makoto Mahaguchi speaks at the party's policy gathering in Tokyo on Wednesday.
Japan, U.K. and Italy discuss inviting more countries to joint fighter project
A new concept model of a next-generation fighter jet to be jointly developed by Japan, Britain and Italy is on display in Farnborough, Hampshire, in July.
Haruki Murakami's 'The City and Its Uncertain Walls' gives deep deja vu
For “The City and Its Uncertain Walls,” translated into English by Philip Gabriel, Haruki Murakami confronts the ghosts who won't leave him alone.
Japanese expats in Asia find community through rugby
The Taiwan Fivewoods celebrate their victory at the 2023 Asian Japanese Rugby Cup in December of last year.
In Fukushima, a weekend of prose, poetry and translation
Aomori-based writer JJ Carter presented on tabletop gaming as creative inspiration for building characters and narratives.
For Dr. Nakamats, aging is just experience in action
Though he didn't win the recent gubernatorial election in Tokyo, the 96-year-old Dr. Nakamats' run was seen as inspirational in Japan's aging society.

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