author

 
Menu
Search
 
June 30, 2026
 

Today's print edition

Home Delivery
Subscribe for more access
Michael MacArthur Bosack

Meta

Michael MacArthur Bosack
A Self-Defense Forces transport plane departs for the Maldives at Komaki Air Base in Aichi Prefecture early Sunday.
JAPAN / ANALYSIS
Mar 9, 2026
In Iran conflict, Japan shows improved evacuation readiness
Japan’s response underscores both Tokyo’s growing security role overseas and the diplomatic balancing act between Washington and Gulf states hosting Japanese nationals.
U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un cross the Military Demarcation Line that divides North and South Korea after Trump briefly stepped over to the northern side on June 30, 2019.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 1, 2026
Takaichi, Trump and Japan-North Korea relations
North Korea has given no space for engagement on the issues most relevant to Japan — that is, the abductee issue and denuclearization.
Claims by China that Japan is returning to militarism are misleading because legal and institutional constraints make such a shift unlikely and current defense reforms reflect practical responses to changing regional threats.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 20, 2026
Debunking the myth of Japanese militarism
It is necessary to be clear on this point: Japan in 2026 is not the Japan of 1936.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s landslide win gives her power but risks internal strife unless she builds alliances and new party structures to manage rivals within the Liberal Democratic Party’s ranks.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 17, 2026
The trouble with winning big for Takaichi and the LDP
Landslide victories in Japanese politics can conceal fragility within the ruling party.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi at Liberal Democratic Party headquarters in Tokyo on Sunday. The party secured a fresh mandate and a supermajority in the Lower House in an election the same day.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 9, 2026
Five key takeaways from Takaichi’s landslide victory
The LDP secured a supermajority on its own, giving Takaichi the golden opportunity to implement her policy agenda.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi joins Japan Innovation Party leaders Fumitake Fujita (right) and Hirofumi Yoshimura at an election event in Tokyo on Jan. 27, the first day of campaigning for the Feb. 8 snap election.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 4, 2026
A cheat sheet to Takaichi’s snap election
Parties with traditional vote-generating architectures in place before Japan’s snap election have a significant advantage.
Yoshihiko Noda (left) and Tetsuo Saito, co-chairs of the new Centrist Reform Alliance, shake hands at the party's founding convention in Tokyo on Thursday.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 27, 2026
Japan’s new ‘Centrist Reform Alliance’ is a misnomer
The Centrist Reform Alliance is asking voters to embrace a brand label rather than a fully formed policy platform and a partnership of convenience.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi addresses a news conference at the Prime Minister's Office on Monday, where she explained her plans to dissolve parliament ahead of a snap election on Feb. 8.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 20, 2026
Prime Minister Takaichi’s gambit: A test of leadership
Takaichi is seeking a fresh start, setting the conditions for her administration to lead the country effectively with a direct mandate from the people.
A supporter of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol waits for his arrival for final arguments in his insurrection trial at a court in Seoul on Jan. 13.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 19, 2026
The cautionary tale of Yoon Suk Yeol and the ‘abuse of power’
South Koreans use the strength of their democracy to impose checks against executive overreach.
Liberal Democratic Party leader and the current prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, meets with Hirofumi Yoshimura, leader of the Japan Innovation Party, at the national Diet building in Tokyo in late October.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 13, 2026
Why Takaichi would call a snap election
Takaichi may dissolving the Lower House of the parliament upon its mandatory convocation later this month, which would prompt a general election sometime in February.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi speaks during a ceremony marking the last trading day of the year at the Tokyo Stock Exchange on Dec. 30.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 7, 2026
Takaichi’s political landscape for 2026
Unlike her predecessors who were consistently forced to address turmoil over the past two years, Prime Minister Takaichi will have time and capital to tackle real policy issues.
Keiji Minatoya, from Kitaakita, Akita Prefecture, reenacts the time he was attacked by a black bear in 2023. Japan’s recent battle with bears has revealed issues that will continue to present challenges for the Japanese government going forward.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 26, 2025
Japan’s growing bear crisis reveals deeper issues
Currently, there are only around 220,000 licensed hunters in Japan, substantially lower than the 532,265 registered in 1970.
A Chinese H6 nuclear-capable strategic bomber flies over the Miyako Strait on Dec. 9.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 23, 2025
China’s recklessness risks a security crisis with Japan
China’s normalization of reckless and bullying behavior presents major risks to peace and security.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi chats with Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara during a plenary session of the House of Representatives at the National Diet in Tokyo on Dec. 8.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 14, 2025
What will Japan’s planned intelligence bureau look like?
Ultimately, this is an evolutionary measure that seeks to break down government intelligence silos and improve the information being provided to the highest levels of government.
Soldiers stand guard at a gate of the Yonaguni military base in October 2021. The Self-Defense Forces plan to deploy Chu-SAM missiles to strengthen the air defenses around the island, which lies just 110 kilometers from Taiwan.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 28, 2025
Koizumi’s significant (and insignificant) Yonaguni visit
The timing of Koizumi’s visit amid the ongoing China-Japan tension made this stop there much more interesting than it otherwise would have been.
Japan is deploying two officers to Lithuania for demining training in support of Ukraine, marking a key step in its evolving security strategy and the maturation of its defense policy.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 31, 2025
Japan’s demining deployment is a security milestone
This deployment is the latest in demining support that Japan has delivered to Ukraine since Russia’s full scale invasion began in February 2022.
Sanae Takaichi's new Cabinet poses for a group photo at the Prime Minister's Office on Tuesday.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 22, 2025
Breaking down Sanae Takaichi’s Cabinet picks
Takaichi only appointed two women in the Cabinet, which was identical to the previous Shigeru Ishiba administration.
Liberal Democratic Party President Sanae Takaichi meets with Japan Innovation Party leader Hirofumi Yoshimura after signing a coalition agreement in Tokyo on Monday.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 21, 2025
The winners and losers after Japan’s political shakeup
The country’s ruling coalition has many issues to overcome before proving its long-term viability, but they have time before any national level elections to work through them.
Japan's political center is in turmoil, with the ruling party losing its long-held dominance and a series of complex negotiations ahead. The country’s leadership future is now uncertain.
COMMENTARY
Oct 15, 2025
A negotiator’s nightmare in Nagatacho
The LDP has since pushed back the date to vote for the next prime minister to Oct. 21.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba announces his intention to resign during a news conference at the Prime Minister’s Office in Tokyo on Sept. 7. The Japanese leader decided to step down following weeks of calls for his departure in the aftermath of a second national election setback. 
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 16, 2025
Can anyone save the fracturing Liberal Democratic Party?
This is shaping up to be an even less predictable race than the last one, when Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba pulled off a surprise victory.
Uruguay federation reportedly cancels charter flight after World Cup exit
Uruguay's Jose Maria Gimenez reacts after the team's loss against Spain at the 2026 FIFA World Cup on Friday.
Inside Japan’s rigid adoption system, a British family finds a way
James Benstead, his wife, Jesse, and their three children. Their adopted son is in the rear stroller.
India’s gig workers pay the price for exposure to New Delhi’s hazardous air
Rohit Kushwaha waits for a customer as he delivers his last parcel of the day, in New Delhi in January. His work as a delivery driver has helped pay the family’s bills, but has had a significant impact on his health.
Chinese and Russian bombers and fighter jets stage joint patrol near Japan
A Chinese Air Force H-6 bomber is seen during a joint patrol with Russian military aircraft on Saturday.
U.S. missile moves in Japan send China clear message: A new era has arrived
Soldiers conduct the first Typhon midrange capability live-fire exercise outside of the continental United States, firing an SM-6 missile in July last year in Australia's Northern Territory during Exercise Talisman Sabre.
Inside Japan’s rigid adoption system, a British family finds a way
James Benstead, his wife, Jesse, and their three children. Their adopted son is in the rear stroller.
A French ship with close ties to Japan combines arts and sciences on the high seas
Romain Troublé, the executive director of Tara Ocean Foundation, speaks to visitors aboard the Tara during a rare port call in Tokyo in April.
LGBTQ+ families are building lives Japanese lawmakers still struggle to see
Haru Ono founded Nijiiro Kazoku in 2010 after forming a same-sex stepfamily. She said the impetus for founding the organization was that she couldn’t find much reliable information out there for families such as hers in Japan.
In Kyushu’s far south, Senti.U sparks a culinary destination
Chef Yasuhiko Uchida was born in Saga Prefecture but has made his home in Kanoya, Kagoshima Prefecture, since 2012.
‘The colors speak for themselves’: How Japan’s chroma bible went global
“A Dictionary of Color Combinations” is meant to function as a quick-reference guide for artists, designers and anyone with a passing interest in aesthetics as a quantifiable pursuit.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

The Terasaka Rice Terraces are seen with Mount Buko in the background.
What Yokoze can teach Japan about rural revival
By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

New Logistics Consortium baton to accelerate trucking efficiency
New Logistics Consortium baton to accelerate trucking efficiency

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS note

Read more

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER