Trump’s Venezuela operation marks a move towards ‘Donroeism’ as the United States seeks to assert dominance over the Western Hemisphere. While this shift may create strategic space for China by reducing the likelihood of direct US–China confrontation, it is unlikely to directly trigger Chinese military action over Taiwan. Instead, a key determinant will be the credibility of the US response to a Taiwan contingency — which appears increasingly uncertain. While Japan remains dependent on the United States for its security, it could bolster regional stability by pursuing a more autonomous…
Posts published in “Opinion”
In Brief. Japan’s February 2026 snap election reflects a political system increasingly shaped by tactical dissolutions rather than policy performance. While Takaichi’s high approval ratings explain their timing, frequent elections have entrenched perpetual campaigning, weakened democratic accountability and encouraged populist spending. Agendas like Sanaenomics risk failing if institutional instability continues to prevent sustained reform and long-term policy implementation. Japan’s general election has been called for 8 February 2026, just months after Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi took office in October 2025. While Takaichi’s remarkably high cabinet approval ratings provide the tactical…
While the elections mark a policy shift, many see that as just another spectacle. While the rise of social media and the resulting surge of populism are global trends, in Japan, this phenomenon takes on a unique and troubling form, as populist politics is intertwined with a silent democratic crisis of political apathy. Japanese culture has long valued the aesthetic of silence. We are a society that prides itself on 空気を読む, directly translated as “reading the air” or reticence and reserve, which is a form of high-context communication that prioritizes…
The cocaine market exploded between 2014 and 2023. Production in Colombia increased more than sevenfold to nearly 2,700 tonnes, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). Behind the scenes, drug traffickers find equally illicit ways to pay their suppliers and foot soldiers, or to spend the proceeds of their criminal trade. Their solution? Money laundering. It is estimated that 25% of the funds collected is laundered. Criminals generally launder money in three stages: firstly, they inject it into the financial system; secondly, they layer it with…
Japan is spending five weeks mining the seafloor. It is a technological milestone — and a stress test for how nations balance geopolitics, clean energy demand, and environmental risk. The year 2010 was a reckoning for Japan’s economic security. On September 7, the Chinese fishing trawler Minjinyu 5179 refused an order by Japan’s coast guard to leave disputed waters near the Senkaku Islands, which are known in China as Diaoyu. The vessel then rammed two patrol boats, escalating a decades-long territorial feud. apan responded by arresting the captain, Zhan Qixiong,…