Brad Glosserman - The Japan Times

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Brad Glosserman

U.S. President Joe Biden in the Oval Office in Washington. The idea that the U.S.-China hotline can bridge communication gaps during crises rings hollow.

COMMENTARY / World

Jul 2, 2024

If a phone rings in a forest and no one answers, is it a hotline?

Hotlines allow states to talk in crisis situations. But China often doesn't pick up when the U.S. calls, raising doubts about the utility of the communications link.

An ingot of a rare earth metal used to make components for technology products at a factory in China. The country is the world’s top exporter of rare earth elements, but that may change if deep-sea mining gains traction in nations like Japan.

COMMENTARY / Japan

Jun 25, 2024

We’ve got to get deep-sea mining right

Seabed mining could muddy the waters of critical minerals' supply chains by tapping into new sources. But will environmental and legal concerns sink the project?

Richard Katz argues in his new book that the key to Japan emerging from decades of economic sluggishness depends on stimulating companies with high energy and dynamism, over the lumbering, older firms.

CULTURE / Books

Jun 20, 2024

Hope for Japan, if the elephants get out of the way

Protecting older companies, the jobs they have produced and the political and financial relationships they have nurtured, starves newer, more innovative businesses.

Japan is shifting its defense strategy to prioritize logistics and supply chain resilience, recognizing them as critical components of its overall defense capability.

COMMENTARY / Japan

Jun 18, 2024

Real defense demands more than just being able to fight

U.S. Gen. Omar Bradley famously warned that “amateurs talk strategy and professionals talk logistics.”

Some experts believe if Beijing wants to assert its dominance on the world stage, then it is hard to see where common ground for compromise with the West can be found.

COMMENTARY / World

Jun 11, 2024

The U.S. debate over China policy intensifies

Some experts believe if Beijing wants to assert its dominance on the world, then it is hard to see where common ground for compromise with the West can be found.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin leaves a bilateral meeting with his Chinese counterpart, Dong Jun, on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore on Friday.

COMMENTARY / Japan

Jun 4, 2024

China is winning the communications competition

It's a mistake for the U.S. to take for granted that the world sees it as “the good guy” in its competition with China.

Some experts are concerned about the potential for worldwide conflict within the next few years as China, Russia, Iran and North Korea are likely preparing for major confrontation.

COMMENTARY / World

May 28, 2024

Echoes of 1962, the Berlin crisis and a world teetering on war

There is the potential for worldwide conflict within the next three years as China, Russia, Iran and North Korea are likely preparing for major confrontation.

The modernization of Japan's defense strategy is not just about military capabilities, it is also about building consensus and fostering public understanding.

COMMENTARY / Japan

May 21, 2024

The winding road to Japan's defense modernization

The government's efforts to engage the public on defense issues are crucial for building consensus and ensuring the sustainability of defense reforms.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing on Friday.

COMMENTARY / World

Apr 30, 2024

U.S.-China tensions rise as the tides begin shifting

Irritation colored last week’s visit to China by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken amid amplified Chinese anxiety.

Sudanese refugees fleeing the conflict in the country's Darfur region cross the border into Chad in August.

COMMENTARY / World

Apr 23, 2024

Humanitarian catastrophes and the world's forgotten conflicts

Tragically, there are global catastrophes that, by virtue of their longevity and their distance from us, have fallen out of sight.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida addresses a joint session of Congress in Washington on Thursday. Kishida’s recent summit with U.S. President Joe Biden is being lauded as a success.

COMMENTARY / Japan

Apr 16, 2024

Give credit where credit’s due after prime minister's outstanding U.S. summit

The Japan-U.S. summit has been rightly called historic and a big deal for Tokyo and the alliance — if its long list of deliverables is realized.

A recent near-hacking incident underscores the critical role of open-source software in the digital economy and the vulnerabilities inherent in its decentralized development process.

COMMENTARY / World

Apr 9, 2024

The world narrowly escapes a supply chain doomsday scenario

A software engineer last month stumbled on what some say would have been the most widespread and effective backdoor ever planted in any software product.

Chinese Coast Guard ships fire water cannons at a Philippine boat during a supply mission near Second Thomas Shoal in the disputed South China Sea on March 5. This incident highlights the danger that such confrontations could have for sparking a wider conflict.

COMMENTARY / World

Apr 2, 2024

Beware the steady creep toward crisis in the South China Sea

The Philippines is pushing back. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has adopted a policy of “assertive transparency” to show the world what China is doing.

While Beijing promotes a vision of a peaceful and cooperative world, its foreign policy increasingly involves coercion, military buildup and assertive actions that challenge the existing international order.

COMMENTARY / World

Mar 27, 2024

What is Beijing’s ultimate endgame? The answer is clear.

China's purported vision of equality and security for the world is belied by increasingly forceful foreign policy.

Humility, recognition of cultural blind spots and a renewed effort are needed to find common ground between China and the United States.

COMMENTARY / World

Mar 19, 2024

Addressing the 'blind spots' in U.S.-China relations

The dwindling opportunities for unofficial dialogue between scholars and experts from the U.S. and China are also driving by mutual suspicion and fear.

China insists that for meaningful negotiations to occur, the nuclear arsenals of the U.S. and Russia must be reduced to levels comparable to its own.

COMMENTARY / World

Mar 13, 2024

China’s ‘minimum’ nuclear deterrence is still a threat

Estimates of the number of Chinese warheads range from 400 to 500, a striking contrast to the several thousand that the U.S and Russia possess.

The U.S and Japan are working together to secure a stable semiconductor supply chain and maintain their leading position in this critical technology amid concerns over China.

COMMENTARY / Japan

Mar 5, 2024

Semiconductors are back to center stage in the Japan-U.S. alliance

It is impossible to overestimate the importance of semiconductors to the 21st century. They’re everywhere and in every digital item.

There is a global trend toward economic bifurcation with the U.S. and China leading the charge — and multinational solutions are needed to address the new challenges.

COMMENTARY

Feb 28, 2024

The inexorable movement toward a divided global economy

Efforts to protect national economies from threats require multinational solutions. Chains are only as strong as their weakest link.

Japan's fall to No. 4 in the global economic rankings reflects an aging population and declining resources.

COMMENTARY / Japan

Feb 20, 2024

Japan slips in the global economic rankings: So what’s next?

The IMF has forecast that India will overtake Japan economically in 2026 and Germany in 2027.

“The Rise and Fall of the EAST” author Yasheng Huang blames the “keju,” the imperial national civil service exam, for the decline in China’s technological innovation. Its influence continues in the “gaokao,” the annual university entrance exam that high school students take in June.

CULTURE / Books

Feb 19, 2024

‘The Rise and Fall of the EAST’: China’s ancient successes paint worrying picture of its future

Economist Yasheng Huang delves into the impact of the "keju" imperial national civil service exam on the ebb and flow of China’s technological innovation.

You can often see generations of families enjoying performances together at Fuji Rock Festival.

Japan’s summer music festivals are feeling the heat in more ways than one

Akiko Trush says her experience with the neurological disorder dystonia left her feeling like she wanted to chop her own hand off.

The neurological disorder that 'kills culture'

By Tomoko Otake

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