Brad Glosserman - The Japan Times

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Brad Glosserman

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Brad Glosserman

Increased reliance on AI and digital technology is weakening cognitive skills, such as critical thinking and problem-solving, as people depend more on machines for tasks that once required mental effort.

COMMENTARY / World

Mar 25, 2025

‘Use it or lose it’ — a grim mantra for the AI age

In sum, “excessive dependence on AI without concurrent cultivation of fundamental cognitive skills may lead to underutilization and subsequent loss of cognitive abilities.”

The evolving national security landscape demands a shift in focus from traditional military power to economic resilience, technological leadership and the growing risks posed by both adversaries and allies.

COMMENTARY / World

Mar 19, 2025

Trump's actions and the ‘new national security economy’

Soft power is poorly understood and it is no substitute for situations when brute force is required, but it has genuine influence in subtle ways.

Many in Japan are increasingly concerned that under the Trump administration's shifting policies, the U.S. may no longer be a reliable ally, raising fears of a weakened security partnership amid rising threats from China and Russia.

COMMENTARY / Japan

Mar 11, 2025

Japan reels from — and steels for — U.S. policy shifts

“What Japan has learned from the Ukraine war is that the era where we could rely entirely on the U.S. is over.”

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe meets with Russia's President Vladimir Putin after the Group of 20 Summit in Osaka in June 2019. Putin managed to pocket every concession made by Abe over the years and demanded more.

COMMENTARY / World

Mar 4, 2025

Abe’s Russia outreach flopped — Trump should take note

Supporters of Trump’s policy argue that China is the bigger threat and the U.S. should steer Moscow away from Beijing.

Amid rising global defense spending, U.S. President Donald Trump's push for 5% of GDP on military budgets poses a challenge for American allies, including Japan, which is already struggling to meet its 2% target.

COMMENTARY / Japan

Feb 25, 2025

U.S. defense spending demands could transform global security

The level of spending the U.S. is demanding could spark an arms race as adversaries try to match NATO and America's Asian allies.

Japanese companies face mounting pressure as U.S.-China tensions grow, forcing them to navigate security concerns, economic dependencies and shifting trade policies.

COMMENTARY / Japan

Feb 12, 2025

For Japanese firms, the China dilemma is set to intensify

“America First” and “Make America Great Again” are simple slogans that can be fitted to any outcome. All that ultimately matters is the final say of the president.

DeepSeek’s AI breakthrough has shaken assumptions about China’s innovation, highlighted weaknesses in U.S. tech restrictions, and reinforced China’s push for self-sufficiency despite export controls.

COMMENTARY / World

Feb 4, 2025

DeepSeek forces a rethink of China’s ability to innovate

The Trump administration hasn’t outlined a policy toward technology flows yet, but it ordered a review of export controls on day one.

Economic coercion has become a prominent tool in global geopolitics, with both China and the U.S. relying on it to pursue their policy goals, and more so with Donald Trump now in office.

COMMENTARY / World

Jan 28, 2025

When big countries wave their big economic sticks

There is no agreed definition of economic coercion under international law; like pornography, we know it when we see it.

As Donald Trump begins his second term, the U.S. holds a strong position in the Indo-Pacific. However, missteps, economic policies and shifting alliances could undermine the Biden administration's progress in strengthening partnerships and countering China.

COMMENTARY / World

Jan 21, 2025

Will Trump sustain or squander Biden's Indo-Pacific gains?

The legacy of the Joe Biden administration could prove fleeting, however, the result of missteps by Washington or developments in allied states.

The "madman theory" in foreign policy, which some apply to Donald Trump, relies on perceived irrationality to intimidate adversaries and generally fails to achieve its goals, leading to dangerous miscalculations.

COMMENTARY / World

Jan 15, 2025

There is no place for ‘madmen’ in international diplomacy

Historians root the madman theory in Machiavelli, who wrote that “at times it is a very wise thing to simulate madness.”

A Tesla showroom in Beijing in January 2024. In today's world, the car isn’t the biggest moneymaker for automakers; instead, it is the services attached to the connected vehicle.

COMMENTARY / World

Jan 7, 2025

China’s EVs may change the world in unimaginable ways

China has about 100 EV brands and they claim about 80% of the new electric vehicle market.

A voter casts a ballot at a polling station in Tokyo on Oct. 27. Last year, incumbents in every major country that held a national election lost that vote, the first time that has happened in almost 120 years.

COMMENTARY / World

Dec 31, 2024

The world is ever more angry. That is not good.

Hostility toward existing leadership stems from the belief that lives aren't improving and future generations will have fewer opportunities than previous ones.

U.S. President Donald Trump welcomes Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at the White House in October 2017. Canada, like other nations in the president-elect's crosshairs, is scrambling to blunt the impact of his threat to implement steep tariffs once he re-takes office.

COMMENTARY / World

Dec 24, 2024

The creep of national security threatens the WTO

In Trump's mind, tariffs are the cure-all for virtually everything that ails the United States.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Papua New Guinea leader James Marape address a news conference in Sydney on Dec. 12.

COMMENTARY / World

Dec 17, 2024

Australia shows how smart diplomacy is done

Recent deals reflect the laser focus the Australian government is devoting to its closest neighbors and a bureaucratic reorganization that translates into action.

Yutaka Mataebara (second from left) dines with his managerial colleagues at an event celebrating the 100th anniversary of The Japan Times.

COMMENTARY / Japan

Dec 13, 2024

Here's to Yutaka Mataebara, the 'iron man' of The Japan Times

Mataebara was a pillar of the JT: During his 44 years at the paper until he retired in 2006, he worked in a variety of departments, including as the editor in chief.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Peruvian counterpart, Dina Boluarte, meet on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Lima on Nov. 14.

COMMENTARY / World

Dec 10, 2024

U.S. wakes up to China’s growing presence in its ‘backyard’

China has long eyed Latin America’s food and mineral resources, using them to build business connections for over two decades.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un welcomes Russian President Vladimir Putin at a ceremony in Pyongyang in June. If North Korean troops sent to the war in Ukraine under an agreement between the two nations are used for anything other than cannon fodder, they may gain experience that could improve the communist nation's military.

COMMENTARY / World

Nov 27, 2024

Autocrats challenge traditional geopolitics and strategic boundaries

Emerging "common market of autocracies" are enabling regimes like Russia and North Korea to evade Western sanctions through unconventional networks and barter systems.

The Philippines is countering Chinese aggression with a strategy of exposing coercive actions through media, embedding journalists with its military and leveraging visual evidence to gain domestic and international support.

COMMENTARY / World

Nov 19, 2024

Philippines uses the media spotlight to fight back against China

Manila is promoting “assertive transparency” to shape the media landscape, putting Beijing on the defensive.

Donald Trump believes the U.S. should prioritize its own national interests like other countries rather than maintaining its traditional role as a global leader, signaling a dramatic shift in how the United States may engage with the world.

COMMENTARY / World

Nov 12, 2024

Who will step up if Trump steps back?

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump is indifferent to the global order and may adopt a foreign policy approach that reshapes the global balance of power.

There will be considerable consistency in U.S. policy regardless of who wins the presidential election, however, and, unfortunately, many of them will trouble allies and partners.

COMMENTARY / World

Nov 5, 2024

Regardless of election results, U.S. foreign policy is sure to trouble allies

“Strategic competition between the United States and China is poised to intensify no matter who assumes the U.S. presidency in January 2025.”

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

The sun shines from behind a waving Philippine flag at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial.

Eighty years after the Battle of Manila, old foes forge new ties

By Anton L. Delgado

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