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July 08, 2026
 

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DEFENSE

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi greets members of the Indian contingent of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon in the Israeli coastal city of Haifa in July 2017. The country’s military modernization may be undermined by politically selected generals.
COMMENTARY / World
May 14, 2026
Is Modi ‘coup-proofing’ India’s military?
India’s effort to modernize and integrate its military through the chief of defense staff position is increasingly being undermined by politically controlled appointments.
Yasukazu Hamada (center) speaks at a meeting of the Liberal Democratic Party's Research Commission on Security on Wednesday at the party's headquarters in Tokyo.
JAPAN / Politics
May 14, 2026
Japan’s ruling LDP may consider spending up to 5% of GDP on security
A further increase in security spending is among issues set to be discussed as part of a plan to revise Japan’s three key security-related documents this year.
South Korean Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back in Seoul on Nov. 4, 2025. Ahn has stressed that no detailed discussions have taken place with the U.S. on expanding South Korean ​troop involvement to ensure safe navigation through the Strait of ​Hormuz.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 13, 2026
South Korea weighs phased Hormuz role after U.S. talks, minister says
South Korea’s Defense Minister said phased support could include expressions of political support, personnel dispatches, information-sharing and providing military assets.
Mutual overconfidence and strategic miscalculation by both the U.S. and Iran are making renewed war increasingly likely because neither side fully understands the other’s strengths, weaknesses or willingness to endure pain.
COMMENTARY / World
May 13, 2026
The risk of the Iran war restarting is irrationally high
So long as the ceasefire holds and Hormuz remains blocked, the conflict is now a test of how well each side can withstand the economic and political strain inflicted by the other.
A test launch of Russia's Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile at an unidentified location, captured in a still image taken from video released Tuesday
WORLD / Politics
May 13, 2026
Putin vows to deploy powerful Sarmat missile this year after successful test
The Russian leader unveiled the project in March 2018 speech while touting a series of new weapons that he said could render U.S. missile defenses “ineffective.”
Philippine soldiers pose for a picture in front of a Japan Ground Self-Defense Force Type 88 surface-to-ship missile launcher and other equipment during the annual Balikatan joint military exercises in Paoay, Ilocos Norte province, Philippines, on May 6.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 12, 2026
The Philippines emerges as an Indo-Pacific security pivot
The rise of China refocused attention on the sprawling archipelago, given the country’s critical location straddling Southeast Asian sea lanes.
Chinese President Xi Jinping walks past honor guard members as he arrives for a ceremony to mark Martyrs’ Day, a day ahead of the National Day on Tiananmen Square in Beijing on Sept. 30, 2025.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 12, 2026
How China’s leader lost faith in his generals
The purge Xi Jinping has inflicted on the military elite shows one of the worst political crises of his 13 years in power.
The Maritime Self-Defense Force's stealth frigate JS Mogami. Japan is trying to sell its Mogami-class warships to New Zealand.
JAPAN / Politics
May 12, 2026
Japan faces U.K. rival in race to build warships for New Zealand
A deal with New Zealand would build on an agreement Tokyo recently signed with Canberra to build the first three of 11 Mogami-class ships planned for Australia.
An unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) that resembles a football-shaped body is seen in this screenshot from video taken near Japan in 2024.
JAPAN
May 11, 2026
Tokyo analyzing Pentagon UFO file trove with sightings near Japan 
Two of the dozens of videos released by the U.S. Defense Department were taken near Japan, including one that shows an object “that resembles a football-shaped body.”
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi (left) and her Australian counterpart, Anthony Albanese, visit the Canberra Nara Peace Park in Canberra on May 4.
JAPAN / FOCUS
May 11, 2026
Takaichi’s Golden Week diplomacy: a cheat sheet
The prime minister’s administration used the lull in domestic politics to advance its “Free and Open Indo-Pacific” strategy across Southeast Asia, Africa and Australia.
The Chinese aircraft carrier Liaoning takes part in a military drill in the Western Pacific in April 2018.
JAPAN
May 10, 2026
Japan to mull whether to call China ‘threat’ in key papers
Tensions between the two Asian countries have increased markedly since Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s parliamentary remarks on a possible Taiwan contingency in November last year.
U.S. President Donald Trump arrives to speak about the Iran war at the White House last month.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
May 9, 2026
Trump’s feuds and tensions with allies likely to outlast Iran war
Allies from Europe to the Middle East to the Indo-Pacific are once again fearful that the U.S. might be unreliable in a future crisis.
Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi and Philippine Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro (second from right) speak to soldiers during the Balikatan annual military exercises in Paoay, in the Philippines' Ilocos Norte province, on Wednesday.
JAPAN / FOCUS
May 9, 2026
From observer to contributor: Japan’s growing military role in Philippine drills
Several of the drills were conducted in northern Philippine areas facing Taiwan and the South China Sea, locations increasingly seen as central to deterrence planning.
Han Kuo-yu, the speaker of Taiwan's parliament, announces the approval of a $25 billion special defense spending bill in Taipei on Friday.
ASIA PACIFIC
May 9, 2026
After months of wrangling, Taiwan lawmakers OK $25 billion defense spending bill
The spending, which opposition lawmakers say will be used for U.S. weapons, falls well short of the government’s proposed budget of nearly $40 billion.
A Vilseck military community street sign in Vilseck, Germany, on Tuesday
WORLD
May 8, 2026
A small town in Germany braces for end to decades of life with U.S. troops
The presence of ‌the U.S. military base in the small town of Vilseck produced a situation of dependence ​whose risks are now being felt, the town’s mayor said.
Koji Kano (left), vice minister of defense for international affairs, Vice Foreign Minister Takehiro Funakoshi (second from left), South Korean First Vice Foreign Minister Park Yoon-joo (second from right) and South Korean Vice Defense Minister Lee Doo-hee in Seoul on Thursday
JAPAN
May 8, 2026
Japan and South Korea hold security talks in Seoul
Representatives discussed the importance of bilateral ties and trilateral cooperation with the U.S., as well as issues related to North Korea and the Middle East.
Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi along with his Indonesian counterpart, Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin, inspect an honor guard during a welcome ceremony in Jakarta on Monday.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 8, 2026
Indonesia-Japan defense pact reshapes Indo-Pacific security
The implications for the Indo-Pacific are significant. A more capable Indonesia could strengthen deterrence and help maintain open sea lanes, reinforcing regional stability.
Then-Chinese Defense Minister Wei Fenghe reviews an honor guard before meeting with his Brazilian counterpart in Brasilia in September 2018.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 7, 2026
China gives two ex-defense ministers suspended death sentences over corruption
Former Defense Ministers Wei Fenghe and Li Shangfu were once members of China’s powerful Central Military Commission, the body that oversees the country’s military.
Members of Taiwan's navy pose next to Narwhal, Taiwan's first domestically built submarine, after its launch ceremony in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, in September 2023.
ASIA PACIFIC
May 7, 2026
Taiwan conducts first torpedo test firing from domestically made submarine
Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory, has made the indigenous submarine program ‌a ‌key part of an ambitious project to modernize its armed forces.
The West must look beyond caricatures and recognize that China’s aggressive actions are driven by insecurity, misperception and a calculated strategy to manage its rivals.
COMMENTARY / World
May 7, 2026
To counter China, the West must first understand its phobias
For a regime built on these institutional genes, the ultimate imperative is survival.
Japan needs caregivers. Young Indians are answering the call.
Young people in India's northeast are increasingly studying Japanese in hopes of building new lives and careers in Japan.
Prior to launch, Japan ‘strongly urged’ China to reconsider missile test in Pacific
A missile is fired from a Chinese Navy nuclear-powered submarine on Monday.
Suspected Asian fraud ring exec served fresh warrant in Japan
The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department and Osaka Prefectural Police have issued arrest warrants for three people, including a suspected fraud network leader, over alleged immigration and residency violations.
Japan might be giving the currency market the silent treatment
Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama has issued verbal warnings recently using the same language and the same tone, saying authorities “will take appropriate action at any time, as necessary.”
Japanese teen arrested for booting users off streaming service
The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department has arrested a 15-year-old boy for allegedly creating a malicious program and canceling subscription accounts on the Bandai Channel.
Japan bets on character IP to drive global growth
Born on social media platforms in 2022, Opanchu Usagi has become a major hit, especially among Generation Z.
Filmmaker explores history of discrimination against foreign nationals in Japan
Takashi Nishihara, the director of "Now and Then," in Tokyo on Wednesday. The director has spent 10 years traversing politically charged terrain while exploring youth-driven grassroots political movements that scrutinize the status quo.
Japanese nail salons are tourists’ new obsession
Tourists in Japan have always been interested in quintessentially Japanese approaches to modern culture, and, increasingly, visits to nail salons have become the new hot thing.
Okinawa’s prized seaweed under threat as oceans warm
Local harvesters gather <i>mozuku</i> during low tide at Hyakuna Beach in the city of Nanjo, Okinawa Prefecture. As the planet warms, rising ocean temperatures are placing increasing pressure on the seaweed industry.
‘Defense,’ not ‘warfare,’ stressed as pacifist Japan beefs up capabilities
Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi attends an annual training session near Mount Fuji at Higashifuji Training Field in Gotemba, Shizuoka Prefecture, on June 7.

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One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
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