TOKYO – Whether it’s a genuine attempt to steer Japan’s foreign policy or a clever ploy to annoy political leaders in both Japan and China, Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara’s plan to buy three disputed islands in the East …
Japan
Japan Eyes Return To Atomic Bomb Base
TOKYO – It’s not clear if anyone appreciates the irony, but Japan wants to help pay for a new U.S. military base on Tinian island, a former Imperial Army stronghold from which the atomic bombings of Japan were launched in …
Support For Japan’s Military Reaches Post-War High
TOKYO – It’s been a tough year for Japan, what with the earthquake and tsunami, North Korean nukes and China’s increasingly aggressive military. But there’s a silver lining for at least one part of Japanese society – …
A Forgotten Horror: The Great Tokyo Air Raid
TOKYO – On a clear night in March 1945, more than 300 U.S. B-29 bombers launched one of the most devastating air raids in history. By dawn, more than 100,000 people were dead, a million were homeless, and 40 square kilometers …
Japan Wages War — Over What to Name the Last One
TOKYO – It’s no secret that Japan remains deeply conflicted about its role in the Second World War. A new study finds that nearly seven decades after the war ended, there’s no agreement even on what to call it.
A …
Marines on Okinawa: Time to Leave?
TOKYO – More than six decades after U.S. Marines stormed ashore on Okinawa, it may finally be time for them to go home. Japan Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda on Friday fired his defense minister, in part for missteps and verbal …
A New (and Improved) Trilateral Commission?
David Rockefeller launched the original Trilateral Commission nearly 40 years ago to bring together the world’s mercantile powers – the U.S., Europe and Japan – for the supposed betterment of all. Conspiracy theorists made …
North Korea: The View From Japan
TOKYO – Troops are not on high alert. Cities are not being evacuated. Leaders are not sprinting for fortified bunkers.
As odd and erratic as the North Koreans might be, they are not about to inaugurate new leadership by …
Pyongyang’s Proliferation
Kim Jong Il’s death leaves the Korean peninsula and the rest of East Asia in a period of great uncertainty. But one of Kim Jong Il’s most dangerous legacies has security implications well beyond the region: he leaves behind a thriving nuclear weapons export business that must now be stopped.
There has been mounting evidence in …
North Korea: Kim Jong Il’s Death “A Watershed Moment”?
The fuse that is North Korea is sputtering again with the news that King Jon Il has died. “This is a watershed moment,” says Victor Cha, a former White House Korea expert now with the Center for Strategic and International …
Remembering Pearl Harbor
Retired Navy master chief yeoman Jim Taylor talks about sending off survivors of the attack on Pearl Harbor to spend eternity with their shipmates, who perished 70 years ago Wednesday. “I think the reason that they want their ashes scattered in the harbor, in Pearl Harbor in particular, is because their shipmates, their …
Gaffes Over Old Crime Inflame Base Debate in Japan
TOKYO – Sixteen years after America’s top military commander in the Pacific was forced to resign over comments about a brutal rape in Okinawa, the incident is about to claim another top official and could complicate the …
Once More Into the Breach
TOKYO – Japanese troops are being sent once again into the heart of the Fukushima radiation zone to battle contamination from the stricken nuclear power plant.
Specially trained troops will enter the 20-kilometer (12.4 miles) exclusion zone around the plant next month to decontaminate abandoned government buildings and …