Tag - defense

 
Menu
Search
 
July 07, 2026
 

Today's print edition

Home Delivery
Subscribe for more access

DEFENSE

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.
The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force Mogami-class stealth frigate JS Mikuma at Yokosuka naval base
JAPAN
May 7, 2026
New Zealand eyes Japan and U.K. warships as frigate replacements
New Zealand is weighing the purchase of advanced warships to modernize its aging fleet and bolster its defense capability.
U.S., Japanese and South Korean naval vessels take part in combined anti-submarine exercises in waters off South Korea's Jeju Island in April 2023.
COMMENTARY / World / Geoeconomic Briefing
May 7, 2026
Shifting costs to allies won’t ‘restore’ U.S. maritime dominance
Since the early 2020s, however, concerns about China’s dominance in the maritime sector have become widespread in the policy community.
A Japanese Type 88 surface-to-ship missile system is launched during the Balikatan military exercises in Paoay, Ilocos Norte, the Philippines, on Wednesday.
JAPAN
May 6, 2026
Japan’s SDF fires antiship missiles for first time in Philippine military drills
The launches hit a mock enemy ship about 75 kilometers off the shores of Paoay, Ilocos Norte, in the country’s northwest.
A policeman stands guard at an entrance to the Chinese Embassy in Tokyo on March 25. A man was apprehended in Tokyo March 24 after he trespassed onto the grounds of the embassy.
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
May 6, 2026
Japan-China tensions have no visible off-ramp
Tokyo lodged a protest with Beijing over the installation of structures in the East China Sea, marking the latest in a series of incidents between the two Asian rivals.
Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi and Philippine Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro Jr. shake hands after a bilateral meeting in Manila on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics
May 5, 2026
Japan eyes ‘early transfer’ of used warships and aircraft to Philippines
Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi and Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro reached a wide-ranging deal to further promote defense equipment and technology cooperation.
An Israeli soldier gestures as a tank moves onto a truck to depart from the site, on the Israeli side of the border with Lebanon, on Sunday.
WORLD / ANALYSIS
May 5, 2026
Hezbollah’s fiber-optic drones pose new challenge for Israel
The Israeli military — considered one of the most advanced in the world — has confirmed two soldiers and one civilian contractor killed in explosive drone attacks in under a week.
The presidents of Ukraine and France, Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Emmanuel Macron, and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer hold a news conference after signing a declaration on deploying a post-ceasefire force in Ukraine during the Coalition of the Willing summit in Paris on Jan. 6. 
COMMENTARY / World
May 5, 2026
The EU needs new security partners
Closer security partnerships with a wider range of states will increasingly become a source of power, allowing Europe to defend its interests wherever they are at stake.
Murakami says his novels are ‘different’ from AI literature
Haruki Murakami's first book in three years hit shelves in Japan on Friday.
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.
Thailand gets serious about chasing high-spending tourists
Chinese tourists at Wat Arun Ratchawararam Rathawaramahawihan in Bangkok
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.
Tokyo hospital baby hatch accepts 20 newborns in first year
Hitoshi Kato (left), head of San-ikukai Hospital in Tokyo's Sumida Ward, speaks during a news conference at the Tokyo Metropolitan Government building on Thursday.
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.
Japan plans to sharply raise fees for residence permits from October
Foreign tourists walk on the path leading to the Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto in May.
X Games returns to Chiba with new team format
Skateboarder Sora Shirai practices at Makuhari Messe in Chiba on Friday afternoon. X Games Chiba begins on Saturday.
NU Festival tests Takanawa Gateway City complex’s culture cred
Veteran improvisers Kazuo Imai and Atsuhiro Ito brought some unruly energy to NU Festival, a three-day multimedia event held at the Takanawa Gateway City complex.  

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