In Japan’s ancient cultural city of Nara, a rather surreal event unfolded in mid-January. A stage usually reserved for rather mundane diplomatic events, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi invited South Korean President Lee Jae-myung to play drums with her. As the two Asian leaders hammered out a lively cover of “Golden” from K-Pop Demon Hunters, […]
Tag: Japan
Zen Buddhism In The Name Of Corporate America
The road on Tiananmen Square is gray, but every once in a while, it will turn green. And if you are attentive, you will notice the rifle carried by each forest-camouflaged soldier: identical across the thousands of men and women participating in the parade. That rifle is the Type 95, which serves as the standard […]
Japanese Military Expansion: A Story of War Amnesia
In late December of last year, the Japanese parliament approved a 112.07 trillion yen ($787 billion) draft budget for the 2024 fiscal year. Although the aggregate budget is lower than that of the previous year, the defense budget increased by around 16%, with the parliament voting to allocate almost eight trillion yen to defense spending. […]
Japan’s Little North Korea
Every morning, in a school located in the heart of Tokyo, high school students change into traditional uniforms, file into their classrooms, and gather under portraits of North Korea’s former leaders Kim Jong-il and Kim Il-sung. Most have never set foot on the Korean peninsula. This is a school for Koreans in Japan; specifically, those […]
Japan’s Forgotten Children
I don’t have any dreams [for the future]. —Nozomi M., living in an institution, Osaka, December 2011 Without Dreams: Children in Alternative Care in Japan In a country with falling birth rates, an aging society, and an alarming population crisis, thousands of children are slipping through the cracks. Japan’s failing foster care system creates a […]
Japan and South Korea Seek Reconciliation Amidst North Korean Missile Threats
Following a North Korean missile launch on the 14th of April, the U.S., Japan, and South Korea have agreed to increase the frequency of missile defense exercises and discussed resuming joint training. While the U.S. has maintained its presence in East Asia as well as its good relationships with both Japan and South Korea, this […]
Japanese menstrual leave policy: The road to menstrual equity?
In 2016, Alisha Coleman, a Georgia woman working as a 911 operator, was fired from her job after leaving menstrual blood on her office chair twice due to her menopause. As a result of the incident, Coleman and the ACLU sued her former employer for unlawful workplace discrimination. Currently, there is no federal law in […]
Confronting China: The Best Deterrence Lies in a Multilateral Alliance
In my last article, I detailed some of the strategic and technological changes that the U.S. needs to make to its military strategy to successfully deter China from military action in East Asia. Though maintaining our military edge is important, China is a rising power while the U.S. is in relative decline. China has both […]
Under New Management: The Resignation of Japan’s Longest-Serving Prime Minister
Japan’s longest tenured prime minister, Shinzo Abe, announced his resignation due to complications with a chronic health condition on August 28th. The sudden departure of Abe, one of Japan’s most consequential post-war prime ministers, has created yet another layer of uncertainty in a region currently mired in tension with China. Additionally, Japan has been devastated […]
Korea and Japan Struggle for an Escape from Another Quagmire of History
Present a map of East Asia to Koreans and then to the Japanese and you will soon find that they each use different names for the same territory. What Koreans call the “East Sea” is the “Sea of Japan” for the Japanese; the Japanese will refer to a tiny island in that sea as “Dakeshima,” […]