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July 08, 2026
 

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DEFENSE

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi speaks during an Upper House Budget Committee meeting on Monday.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 16, 2026
Takaichi says no current plan to deploy SDF for Hormuz escort mission
The prime minister said such an operation would be legally “very difficult,” adding that Japan had not been asked to join a coalition to help secure vessels in the waterway.
Peter Thiel speaks on the final day of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio, on July 21, 2016. Thiel, an early supporter of U.S. President Donald Trump, has been exploring the concept of the Antichrist in recent years.
WORLD
Mar 16, 2026
Peter Thiel’s secretive Rome conference draws Catholic Church attention
The co-founder of artificial intelligence software firm Palantir has devoted increasing attention to religious and philosophical ideas in recent years.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi during a Lower House budget committee session last week
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 15, 2026
Tough debate ahead for Japan national intelligence council bill
The government believes that the current security environment is the most severe and complex since the end of World War II.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un presided over a drill involving 12 600mm-caliber multiple rocket launchers as Washington uses military force against governments it views as hostile.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Mar 15, 2026
North Korea fires missiles in show of force amid U.S. drills
Tensions on the Korean Peninsula come at a volatile moment with Washington using military force against Venezuela and Iran.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi speaks during the National Defense Academy's graduation ceremony in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, on Saturday.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 15, 2026
Trump’s call for Japan to send warships to Strait of Hormuz heaps pressure on Takaichi
The U.S. president’s push for a “team effort” to reopen key waterway comes less than a week before Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is due in Washington for a summit with Trump.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his daughter Kim Ju Ae observe a cruise missile test launch at an unknown location in North Korea on Tuesday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Mar 14, 2026
North Korea fires off barrage of around 10 ballistic missiles, Seoul says
The weapons traveled about 340 kilometers before landing outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone in the Sea of Japan.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi delivers an address at the graduation ceremony of the National Defense Academy of Japan in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, on Saturday
JAPAN
Mar 14, 2026
Takaichi vows to bolster Japan’s defense capabilities
The prime minister delivered an address at the graduation ceremony of the National Defense Academy of Japan on Saturday.
A U.S. Marine Corps F-35B fighter jet assigned to Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 121, 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, lands aboard the forward-deployed amphibious assault ship USS Tripoli in the Philippine Sea on Feb. 12.
JAPAN
Mar 14, 2026
U.S. sending more than 2,200 Okinawa-based marines to Middle East, reports say
The U.S. military deployment to the region comes as Iran ramps up attacks in the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial artery for oil shipping.
A Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system at a U.S. military base in Seongju on March 5.
ASIA PACIFIC / ANALYSIS
Mar 14, 2026
How the war in Iran could help China and change Asia
The war in Iran is already straining America’s promise of security in a region that U.S. military leaders have called “our priority theater.”
U.S. President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi aboard the USS George Washington aircraft carrier in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, in October last year.
JAPAN
Mar 13, 2026
Japan to join Trump’s Golden Dome project and expects missile requests
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi will announce the latest plan when she meets U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington at a summit on March 19.
An F-35C Lightning II is staged for flight operations on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, in support of Operation Epic Fury, on March 2.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Mar 13, 2026
U.S. allies near China on edge as weapons shift from Asia to Iran
Even if fighting wraps up soon, there is concern that depleted stockpiles of munitions could take years to replace, leaving Taiwan and other places vulnerable.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and U.S. President Donald Trump speak to sailors and others aboard the aircraft carrier USS George Washington during a visit to the U.S. naval base in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, in late October.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 13, 2026
Takaichi needs a new blueprint for a lasting U.S. alliance
To succeed, Takaichi must deploy a disciplined mix of flattery and hard deliverables, demonstrating to the 47th U.S. president that Tokyo is taking its own security seriously.
Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te (third from left) holds a news conference on a special defense budget in Taipei on Feb. 11.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Mar 13, 2026
Taiwan parties agree government can sign stalled agreements on U.S. arms deals
Officials had warned that Taipei would lose its place in the production and delivery queue if it missed the deadline.
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz listens to Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Vassily Nebenzia as he addresses the United Nations Security Council during a meeting on a sanctions resolution regarding the situation in Iran and the Middle East at U.N. headquarters in New York on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 13, 2026
U.S. and allies clash with Russia and China over Iran nuclear program
At a meeting of the U.N. Security Council, Russia and China moved unsuccessfully to block a discussion about a committee on U.N. sanctions on Iran.
A Ukrainian Vampire bomber drone displayed in Kyiv in February
JAPAN
Mar 13, 2026
Japan considers mass drone use for coastal defense
The SHIELD defense system will involve more than 10 types of drones, including those for attacking enemy ships, collecting information and protecting radar sites.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney speaks as service members stand behind him during his visit to the Royal Canadian Air Force 440 Transport Squadron, in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada, on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 13, 2026
Canada to boost Arctic defenses, says it can no longer rely on others
Canada has traditionally relied on the U.S. help to monitor the Canadian Arctic — an area larger than India that is almost completely uninhabited.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi attends a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics / EXPLAINER
Mar 13, 2026
Cabinet approves bill to upgrade intelligence and research office
The bill, to be submitted in the ongoing session of parliament, is aimed at strengthening Japan’s intelligence-gathering and analysis capabilities.
Members of the Taiwanese navy pose for pictures next to the Hai Kun, or Narwhal, the island's first domestically built submarine, after its launching ceremony in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, in September 2023.
ASIA PACIFIC / FOCUS
Mar 13, 2026
Troubled waters: Challenges grow for Taiwan’s homegrown submarine program
From logistical hurdles to budgetary issues and delivery delays, the ambitious project is facing a spate of tests that could determine its ultimate fate.
U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran will likely reinforce Kim Jong Un’s belief that nuclear weapons guarantee regime survival.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 12, 2026
U.S. strikes on Iran will only harden North Korea’s nuclear resolve
Kim’s lesson from the Iran strikes will be simple: Autocrats without nuclear weapons are sitting ducks, while states who develop them them have protection.
The Chinese Navy's nuclear-powered Type 094A Jin-class ballistic missile submarine sails during a military display in the South China Sea in April 2018.
JAPAN / ANALYSIS
Mar 11, 2026
China is eyeing an all-nuclear submarine fleet. Will Japan follow suit?
Tokyo must confront an array of hurdles to such a move, with personnel issues and potential redundancies standing in the way.
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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