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July 08, 2026
 

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OIL

The Yehliu headland in northern Taiwan has long served as both a fishing ground and a strategically defended area, with natural rock formations and coastal cliffs historically used to monitor maritime routes approaching Taipei.
ASIA PACIFIC
Apr 13, 2026
Taiwan plans drills to break potential Chinese energy blockade
A blockage would not be just Taiwan’s problem but that of the entire region, the island’s deputy interior minister says.
A Chinese-flagged oil tanker is moored at an oil terminal at Tsing Yi port in Hong Kong on March 19.
BUSINESS
Apr 13, 2026
China’s energy strategy pays off as Mideast war cramps supplies, analysts say
China is a net importer of oil, and more than half of its seaborne crude came from the Middle East last year.
People walk past a wall mural along the roadside in Tehran on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 13, 2026
Trump vows to blockade Hormuz after U.S.-Iran peace talks fail
The blockade will be enforced “impartially against vessels of all nations entering or departing Iranian ports and coastal areas,” the U.S. military said.
A map showing the Strait of Hormuz. U.S. Central Command claimed that two of its warships transited the Strait of Hormuz to begin clearing Iranian-laid mines — a claim Tehran has denied.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 12, 2026
U.S. says warships transit Strait of Hormuz in mine clearance op
Trump called the operation “a favor” to countries such as China, Japan and France that “don’t have the Courage or Will to do this work themselves.”
International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank Spring meetings signage outside the IMF headquarters in Washington on April 9.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 12, 2026
World finance chiefs head to IMF with a sense of deja vu
Ahead of the meetings IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva warned that the international community is becoming less able to respond to shocks.
Pedestrians cross Enghelab Square in Tehran, near a billboard showing Mojtaba Khamenei, Iran's new supreme leader, in the Iranian capital on Saturday.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 12, 2026
The Indo-Pacific price of a hasty war with Tehran
The allies are not abandoning the U.S.; they are recoiling from a war that lacks a defined strategy.
An oil tanker off the shore of Singapore on March 17.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 12, 2026
Australia turns to Asia for fuel and security as U.S. distracted
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and his ministers have been in close contact with key Asian trading partners in order to maintain fuel shipments amid global supply disruptions.
Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda holds at news conferece in Tokyo on March 19.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 11, 2026
Bank of Japan wary of inflation pressure amid war in Middle East
The BOJ is expected to face difficulties steering its monetary policy, as raising interest rates to contain inflation could cool the economy.
U.S. Vice President JD Vance walks alongside Pakistani Chief of Defence Forces Asim Munir and Pakistani Deputy Prime Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar after arriving for talks with Iranian officials in Islamabad on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 11, 2026
U.S. and Iran teams in Pakistan for peace talks amid doubts over possible deal
The effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz and continued fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon threatened to complicate negotiations.
Iran cannot locate all of the mines it laid in the Strait of Hormuz and lacks the capability to remove them, the U.S. says, one reason Tehran has not been able to quickly comply with the Trump administration’s admonitions to let more traffic pass through the waterway.
WORLD
Apr 11, 2026
Iran unable to find mines in Strait of Hormuz, U.S. says
The development is one reason Iran has not been able to quickly comply with the Trump administration’s admonitions to let more traffic pass through the strait.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to the media before boarding Air Force One on his way to Virginia, at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, on Friday.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 11, 2026
U.S. asks allies for quick plans to secure Hormuz after pact
A U.K.-led coalition of more than 40 countries, which includes many European nations, Japan and Canada, has pledged to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
A worker harvests rice in Vietnam's Dong Thap province on March 25.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 11, 2026
Fuel shortages from Iran war threaten Asia’s biggest food staple
Across Southeast Asia, tens of millions are struggling to find affordable crop nutrients as well as the diesel needed for operating machinery.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi raises her hand to answer questions regarding the situation in the Middle East at an Upper House Budget Committee session at parliament in Tokyo on Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 11, 2026
Confusion over naphtha supply hits industries and households
Japan relies on the Middle East for about 40% of its naphtha consumption. Additionally, about 40% of domestically produced naphtha is refined from crude oil mainly from the region.
Cargo ships in the Persian Gulf, near the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from northern Ras al-Khaimah, near the border with Oman’s Musandam governance, amid the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran, in the United Arab Emirates, on March 11
WORLD / ANALYSIS
Apr 11, 2026
Iran’s chokehold on Hormuz Strait has White House on defensive
Allies, military analysts and skeptics of the U.S. strategy have been asking how Iran was allowed to seize and maintain control of the passage in the first place.
Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, dressed in an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps uniform, chairs a session in Tehran on Feb. 1.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Apr 11, 2026
Revamped Iranian leadership wary as U.S. peace talks set to begin
The upgraded seniority in each side’s delegation is a signal that they both mean business, analysts say.
U.S. Vice President JD Vance speaks to reporters before boarding Air Force Two at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on Friday, as he departs for Pakistan for talks on Iran.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Apr 11, 2026
Vance emerges as Trump’s Iran closer, a task fraught with risk
The talks’ outcome could determine whether a tenuous two-week ceasefire turns into a lasting peace or ultimately unravels and plunges the region into further conflict.
The impact of the Middle East crisis on producer prices has begun to show itself in Japan as gasoline prices are on the rise amid higher crude oil prices.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 10, 2026
Producer prices in Japan rise 2.6% in March
The impact of the Middle East crisis on producer prices has begun to appear as gasoline prices are on the rise amid higher crude oil prices.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi speaks at a ministerial meeting on the situation in the Middle East, on Friday at the Prime Minister’s Office.
JAPAN
Apr 10, 2026
Takaichi confirms release of more oil reserves next month
Japan began tapping its stockpiles, the world’s largest, in March as the government looked to temper a spike in prices caused by the hit to supply from the Middle East war.
Cargo ships near the Strait of Hormuz on March 11. The stakes for the peace talks are high, given that a fifth of the world's oil as well as vast quantities of natural gas and fertilizer pass through the key waterway in peacetime.
WORLD / FOCUS
Apr 10, 2026
Shipping toll for Hormuz passage sharply divides nations
While Iran agreed to reopen the strait during the two-week truce with the U.S., it has also spoken of a toll system to fund reconstruction following U.S.-Israeli attacks.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi speaks to reporters at the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 9, 2026
Anxiety rises in Tokyo as uncertainties hang over fragile Iran war truce
Japan, eight other countries and the EU have said they “will contribute to ensuring freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz,” but it is unclear exactly what this could mean.
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.

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
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