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Because of her comments that a Chinese attack on Taiwan would constitute an “existential threat” to Japan, the Japanese prime minister has been facing Beijing’s wrath for three weeks. Taiwan is the central issue in East Asian tensions, and Donald Trump has stepped in with characteristic ambivalence.
For declaring that a Chinese attack on Taiwan would be an “existential threat” to Tokyo, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has been the target of a hostile campaign in China. The Taiwan issue remains explosive, especially given Donald Trump’s ambiguous stance.
The pandemic has put a damper on the Japanese tourism boom. Also discouraged by international crises, they now prefer local vacations.
On Aug. 6, 1945, the first atomic bomb used in history was dropped on Hiroshima by the U.S. The evolution of media coverage of that day shows how our retelling of history has changed in 80 years.
With photographs from Gaza, Rome and Buenos Aires — among other places.
America is carrying massive debt, and half of it is financed by the rest of the world. If foreign nations and investors coordinated, they could force Trump to negotiate more reasonably on tariffs. Will they take the risk?
In Japan, people not only live long, they stay remarkably fit. The secret? Ten minutes of exercise every morning. A routine that’s been working for nearly a century.
Erdogan and Macron’s strange interaction at a recent summit in Albania is a good opportunity to look back at some of the weirdest hand-to-hand encounters between world leaders.
In Tokyo and Osaka, secondhand shops specializing in luxury goods are multiplying, attracting an international clientele in search of rare pieces. Japan has become a global hub for high-end vintage, where “secondhand” never means low-quality.
No matter how he spins it, the U.S. president has been revealed as vulnerable — and the U.S. lost something it may never get back.
From business and public administration to daily life, artificial intelligence is reshaping the world – and politics may be next.
China has conducted military exercises around Taiwan, simulating a blockade of the island that Beijing seeks to take over — a test of the Trump administration’s resolve to defend the self-governing territory. So far, the U.S. president has kept his cards close to the chest in East Asia.
The car industry is in shock, with the announcement from Washington of 25% tariffs on auto imports to the United States. Here’s what every car owner and business needs to know about how this crucial industry will be affected around the world.
Certainly things don’t work in communist Cuba, but this neither justifies the embargo that has all but strangled it for decades, nor the obsession with sweeping a singular experiment in governance and social welfare into the globalized banality of our time.
None of the major heads of state on the Asian continent has a direct link with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, who regularly calls on America’s Far Eastern allies to “pay more” for their defense. Philippe Le Corre, professor of geopolitics, explains that military risk is a major concern in a region with many hotbeds of tension.
Climate change and demographic collapse have driven bear attacks to reach a record high in Japan. In both the countryside and the cities, bears and other animals are taking back territory from humans. Should locals learn to live with them or take extreme measures?
Pyongyang has just ratified its new defense pact with Moscow. North Korean soldiers are deployed near Kursk, in an unprecedented engagement that marks a reversal of Kim Jong-un’s foreign policy.
As American fried chicken chains KFC, Popeyes and Wingstop expand in France, local fast-food entrepreneurs as well as Michelin-starred chefs are trying to nab a part of this growing market. What is behind this trend sweeping the land of the traditional Sunday roast chicken?
The global fight against climate change is essential, but the solutions are not universal. Measures must account for the local realities of the Global South, where economic development is equally important and where the imposition of strict environmental standards by the North has devastating social and economic consequences.
Long neglected in our homes, toilets are undergoing a revolution through both technological and design innovations. As we spend on average more than a year of our lives on them, consumers are increasingly looking for something more than purely functional.
After two months of war, experts in Ukraine are starting to consider what plan could work to restore the local infrastructure and economy, looking at the experience of Germany, Japan and Italy — countries that went down in history for their economic miracles after being destroyed by war.
The world’s third largest economy will see its population shrink by 40 million people by 2060. Among the root causes: millions of men in precarious employment, excluded from the marriage market, and work pressures that weigh heavily on families.
Japanese artist Takashi Murakami has unveiled a large fresco capturing the history of economics, from the Sumerians to Elon Musk, at a gallery in the suburbs of Paris. French journalist Yann Rousseau met him in his studio near Tokyo.
The weight of history, and of this geopolitical moment, is propelling the current visit of Japanese Prime Minister in South Korea. Washington is happy that its alliances are aligning, but that’s a sign of how high tensions are running in Asia right now.
Facing 14 million cubic meters of contaminated soil collected during the cleanup of fields and villages near the destroyed Fukushima nuclear power plant, the Japanese government promised residents it would remove the soil, but now finds itself in a deadlock, despite the tens of billions of dollars spent..
South Korean President, Yoon Suk-yeol, made a gesture of reconciliation towards Japan, the country’s former colonizer. It gives Washington hope that its two key Asian allies can overcome differences as they face an emboldened China and North Korea.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida promised to tackle wealth inequality and help struggling workers. But a year after he came to power, financial traders are once again the winners.
The discovery that earned Japan’s Shinya Yamanaka the 2012 Nobel Prize in Medicine has paved the way for new research proving that aging is a reversible process. Currently just being tested on lab mice, will the cellular reprogramming soon offer eternal youth?
Emerging religions and cults in Asia are deeply intertwined with politics: in China, religions need political approval, while in Japan religious groups use political platforms to assert themselves. Not even the killing of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, carried out by a member of the Unification Church, has prompted a closer look at exactly what role religion plays in society.
The “Made in Japan” label used to be a mark of progress, but Japanese manufacturing has declined rapidly. Now, the automobile industry, the last bastion of the country’s technology, has fallen behind in the transition to electric vehicles.
Over the past two months, as tensions rose in Ukraine, Russian has launched new missiles from the contested islands north of Japan. Kyiv and Tokyo have made it clear that they are firmly aligned with each other and with Washington. Moscow’s eastern flank opens major strategic questions, including China’s role.
Conceived in the early 1990s, the QR Code has spread exponentially during the pandemic. Its creator, Masahiro Hara, is one of the many continuing to innovate his most famous invention, which has changed everything from medicine to how we dine.
Even as it celebrates this year’s literature prize going to Tanzanian author Abdulrazak Gurnah, Africa is again completely absent from the list of Nobel winners in science. In research as elsewhere, money is the key.
Buddhist and Shinto temples in Japan hold “ningyo kuyo” (人形供養) funeral rites for unwanted dolls, a spiritual send off to thank dolls for their service and properly put them to rest.
Asia has become the new center of the world because of China’s growing power, which in Washington’s eyes has turned Japan from an important ally to the most important. But is Tokyo ready for the newfound responsibility?
Japan’s new prime minister is facing the twin challenges of COVID-19 and regional tensions, and some wonder whether he can even last as long as his predecessor, who was forced out after barely one year.
Though every day a new bit of bad COVID-related (and other) news arrives, the already once-delayed Summer Olympic Games must go on.
Many Japanese want to Games cancelled because of COVID risks.
In a majority of U.S. states, bills aiming to restrict who can compete in women’s sports at public institutions have either been signed into law or are working their way through state legislatures. Caught up in this political point-scoring are real people – both trans athletes who want to participate in competitive sports and those competing against them. As a professor of ethics and public policy, I spend much of my time thinking about the role of the law in protecting the rights of individuals, especially when the rights of some people appear to conflict with the rights of others. […]
The infamous (yet legal) Japanese criminal syndicate was already suffering under new laws when the pandemic hit. Now its business model is crumbling.