Topic in Focus
The Abe administration's plans to strengthen the SDF with the goal of becoming a "normal state" are not entirely incomprehensible when one considers Japan's international standing. Yet, Abe’s remarks on wartime history and visits by Cabinet members to Yasukuni Shrine indicate an insensitive attitude and complete disregard by the Japanese government and the Japanese people concerning their country's past offenses.
May 24, 2013
Chinese nationalists are seeking leverage for the Senkaku/Diaoyu dispute. Japan shouldn’t play into their hands, writes Taylor Washburn, a lawyer studying at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.
May 20, 2013
It is almost unthinkable that Toro Hashimoto, mayor of Osaka--Japan’s second largest city after Tokyo--has no sense of shame in repeating the irresponsible habits of several ultranationalist or right wing politicians who continue to irritate Japan’s neighbors, which suffered at the hands of Japanese military occupation before and during World War II.
May 15, 2013
