Japan

This week, we delve into how Japan views the security threat from China, and how these perceptions shape Japanese policy. For this, we turn to security expert Dr. Narushige Michishita.…

In the decades following the Korean War, North Korea initiated a top-secret project to kidnap ordinary people from Japan, reeducate them, and turn them into international spies for the regime.…

      President Obama wasn’t the only leader who had to make important visits to multiple Asian countries this past April. Australia’s Prime Minister, Tony Abbott, had to make an important…

Incoming President Yoon Suk-yeol's delegation arrived in Tokyo on April 24 for meetings with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and other top officials. Building on Yoon's message of engaging in a "future-oriented" partnership with Washington and Tokyo beyond the Korean Peninsula, the engagement suggested a subtle but important shift in the focus of the trilateral…

A sculptor couple known for their comfort women statues around South Korea won a libel suit against an internet media outlet that claimed that the artists used a Japanese man as a model in one of their statues. Although this controversy does not directly involve the Japanese state, the harm that this accusation caused the…

What Happened: On February 1, Tokyo moved forward with the recommendation that a gold and silver mine on Sado Island that had used forced labor during WWII receive UNESCO heritage status. Seoul described Tokyo’s move as an attempt “to cause conflict with member states and politicize UNESCO.” In 2015, the coal mine on Hashima Island…

As 2021 began, the world was still in the depths of the pandemic and vaccines to protect against COVID-19 were only beginning to become available to the public in a small number of countries. As 2022 begins, the pandemic continues to impact lives and economies around the world but there are signs of recovery. Among…