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July 02, 2026
 

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Brad Glosserman

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Brad Glosserman
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney delivers a speech during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 20. He was widely lauded for a speech in which he bluntly warned of a rupture in the global order and urged middle powers to act collectively.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 28, 2026
The age of ‘middle powers,’ hegemons and hypocrites
The future of global liberalism is dependent upon those countries that have sheltered under the U.S. security umbrella.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a press briefing at the White House on the one-year mark into his second term in office on Tuesday.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 22, 2026
R-E-S-P-E-C-T – What does it mean to Trump?
Europe’s animus is easy to understand and it’s likely to harden as Trump threatens NATO solidarity — if not its existence — with his insistence on taking control of Greenland.
China’s export restrictions on dual-use items to Japan illustrate how trade controls can be used as a coercive tool, putting dependent countries at risk.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 18, 2026
China proves skeptics right about export controls
The argument of the developing world, that trade controls are tools to suppress economic opportunity, has been legitimated in recent months.
Supporters of ousted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro hold a protest on Monday in Buenos Aires following the U.S. attack on Venezuela that led to his capture days earlier.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 7, 2026
When trying to understand Venezuela, all answers are unsatisfying
The first question is, why did U.S. President Donald Trump take action against Venezuela?
China is turning its homegrown Kunming dog into a symbol and tool of its internal and international security strategy, using the breed to project control and shape security practices and norms in other countries.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 31, 2025
Chinese diplomacy goes to the dogs — literally
China is using its homegrown Kunming dog as a symbol to project control and influence security practices at home and abroad.
Masakazu Tokura, the current chairman of Keidanren, or the Japan Business Federation, addresses a news conference in May 2021. The organization and others have underscored that economic security requires sustained public-private collaboration to align profit-driven business decisions with national security priorities.  
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 24, 2025
A new era requires new public-private partnerships
Governments need an accurate understanding of the realities of business operations,
Japan is currently seeking to strengthen its economic security, including institutional frameworks and policies, to safeguard critical technologies and promote international economic security cooperation.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 17, 2025
Japan continues to set the pace for economic security
Tokyo is a great place to discuss these issues since Japan has been the pacesetter for economic security policy for nearly a decade.
U.S. President Donald Trump meets with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Busan, South Korea, on Oct. 30. Trump’s new National Security Strategy changes the country’s focus, prioritizing business deals and reducing migration while avoiding passing judgment on authoritarian regimes like China.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 9, 2025
Trump’s unapologetically ‘America First’ National Security Strategy
The U.S. stands taller, yet smaller, in the new National Security Strategy.
Japan must be wary of antagonizing China while not irritating the U.S. The difficulty is finding the “just right” sweet spot.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 2, 2025
Japan navigates the ‘Goldilocks’ challenge
It’s hard to appreciate the importance of U.S. policy toward China in shaping Japan’s decision-making.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and U.S. President Donald Trump hold a signing ceremony on the implementation of the Japan-U.S. trade deal in Tokyo on Oct. 28.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 25, 2025
Takaichi finds herself with a window of opportunity
Japan can expand its Indo-Pacific role as U.S. focus narrows, but faces political and public constraints.
Protesters in Makati City, Metro Manila, hold a rally over the Philippines' territorial disputes with China outside the Chinese Consulate in June 2015. ASEAN, despite five of its members claiming parts of the South China Sea, doesn’t back Manila in its standoff with Beijing.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 13, 2025
ASEAN hedges as the South China Sea bubbles over
One would think ASEAN, with five of its members claiming parts of the South China Sea, would support the Philippines’ quest for a peaceful, legal resolution. You’d be wrong.
A news program in Taipei shows the meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Busan, South Korea, on Oct. 30.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 6, 2025
‘Stability’ in U.S.-China competition isn’t surrender
A recent Rand report urges a stable rivalry between the U.S. and China, emphasizing managed competition and the need for mutual recognition of each other’s political legitimacy.
U.S. President Donald Trump meets with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other European leaders at the White House in Washington in August. A new study found that national security officials often overestimate their knowledge, with statements they rated as 90% likely to be true actually true only 57% of the time.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 28, 2025
Feeling confident? Think again — you’re probably wrong.
A study finds that overconfidence by many national security experts “was so extreme that it essentially canceled out the knowledge that these individuals possessed.”
The U.S.-China trade war has escalated as both sides use economic leverage, with China asserting dominance over rare earths to retaliate against U.S. tariffs, while the U.S. seeks a collective global response and long-term strategy to reduce dependency on China's supply chains.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 21, 2025
This is what a real trade war looks like
China has leverage over trading partners every bit as powerful as what Trump seeks to wield.
The oil tanker Eagle S sails alongside a Finnish border guard ship and tugboat in the Gulf of Finland on Dec. 28. The vessel was seized by Finland on suspicion of damaging underwater cables in the area at the time.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 7, 2025
Russia’s hybrid war looks increasingly like the real thing
European officials are warning that Moscow appears to be “at war” with countries it hasn’t invaded yet.
U.S. President Donald Trump hosts Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba at the White House in February. The next prime minister faces the dual challenge of managing a volatile U.S. relationship under Trump while addressing trade and national security concerns.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 1, 2025
Could the Trump factor be a wild card in the LDP race?
The ability to handle the Americans has been a core element of the prime minister’s portfolio.
Soldiers participate in a military exercise in Miaoli County, Taiwan, in July 2022. While China may desire to unify the island, military, geographic, political and economic factors make a successful invasion unlikely.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 23, 2025
Taiwan isn’t as susceptible to invasion as one would think
The island’s coastline is remarkably unsuited for amphibious operations and an invasion would demand a fleet comparable in size to that used by the Allies on D-Day.
Japan’s high-tech toilets, from bidets to innovative public lavatories, offer a unique lens through which to explore the country’s culture, technology and even soft power.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 16, 2025
‘Perfect Days’ spent pondering the Japanese potty
The Japanese toilet is an engineering and technological marvel that transforms daily ablutions.
Chinese DF-61 intercontinental ballistic nuclear missiles are displayed during a military parade in Beijing, marking the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II on Sept. 3. 
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 10, 2025
The global nuclear picture grows darker and darker
It’s hard, if not impossible, to escape the conclusion that the world is in a grim place when measured by nuclear metrics.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping attend the BRICS Summit plenary session in Kazan, Russia, on Oct. 23.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 2, 2025
Realism and realpolitik rule Indian foreign policy
A decade from now, there is likely to be heated debate in the United States over “who lost India,” an accounting that may rival the “who lost China?”
More facilities in Japan placing sanitary bins in men’s restrooms
A sanitary bin with an awareness sticker placed in a men's restroom in the Nagasaki Municipal Government building
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.
Life inside Japan’s largest prison for women
Western-style rooms spanning the size of four tatami mats with hardwood floors, a toilet and soft mattresses on bed frames are designated for foreign nationals and those with health conditions at Tochigi Prison.
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.
Reform panel calls for easing data center building standards
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi emphasized that the government will promote reforms of regulations and systems that fit the artificial intelligence era.
Japan’s fertility system offers few safe paths for same-sex couples
A Tokyo Pride parade participant holds a sign that says "we want to be a married couple, not a couple."
Life inside Japan’s largest prison for women
Western-style rooms spanning the size of four tatami mats with hardwood floors, a toilet and soft mattresses on bed frames are designated for foreign nationals and those with health conditions at Tochigi Prison.
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.
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.

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

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