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July 05, 2026
 

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COMMENTARY

Japan

World
Japan
Tradition vs. change: Japan’s imperial succession debate intensifies
COMMENTARY / Japan
Tradition vs. change: Japan’s imperial succession debate intensifies
For decades, the government has postponed action. This week, however, Prime Minister Takaichi’s administration submitted a bill to the Diet to revise the Imperial House Law.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Japanese-language education is at a turning point
Once volunteer-based, the system is shifting toward shared responsibility between local governments and trained professionals.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Soccer’s Asian century is still just a distant dream
Asian teams’ underwhelming World Cup showings have raised questions about the region’s potential, driven by a nascent soccer culture compared to Europe’s more competitive systems.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, U.S. President Donald Trump and other leaders gather during the Group of Seven summit in Evian-les-Bains, France, on June 16.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 1, 2026
China’s export controls target Japan to split the Group of Seven
By Christopher Nye and Charles Sun
Why Japan and why now? Tokyo raised the first question itself: Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara protested that controls singling out Japan depart from international practice.
Chinese warships and fighter jets take part in a military display in the South China Sea in April 2018.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 26, 2026
The world should reject China’s latest maritime power grab
By Robert D. Eldridge and Carl O. Schuster
The U.S. and international community must immediately reject that claim. Otherwise, Beijing will interpret the silence as tacit acceptance.
A ship lays undersea fiber-optic cable off a beach near Bilbao, Spain, linking Europe and the U.S.
COMMENTARY / Japan / Geoeconomic Briefing
Jun 24, 2026
Japan lays the groundwork for submarine cable resilience
By Anna Oriishi
Fiber-optic cables carry nearly all the world’s data between continents.
A GMO AI and Robotics humanoid robot performs a dance at an international exhibition at Tokyo Big Sight in December.  REUTERS
COMMENTARY / Japan / Geoeconomic Briefing
Jun 24, 2026
Japan’s manufacturing sector and the race for physical AI
By Makoto Shiono
Turning industrial strength into leadership in the next AI frontier.
Visitors at a park in Budapest watch a traditional Japanese fencing demonstration by a classical samurai sword school during Japanese Cultural Program Day in July 2021.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 22, 2026
Is Cool Japan really the secret to soft-power success?
By Waka Ikeda
The part of Europe where Japanese culture is growing fastest is also where Japan has invested least.
A concept model of the Global Combat Air Program fighter jet is displayed during a security trade exhibition in Chiba in May 2025.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 19, 2026
Japan’s GCAP push signals a new security role beyond the U.S. alliance
By Maria Mezzetti
The renewed GCAP backing comes less than a week after the apparent failure of the Future Combat Air System — a program led by France, Germany and later Spain.
A monument to Japanese immigrants stands in the port city of Santos in southeastern Brazil.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 17, 2026
Brazil’s Nikkei fishers offer lessons for ocean governance
By Danilla C. Azevedo
Japanese immigrants and their descendants did not simply copy Japanese coastal practices but adapted them to local environments and social conditions.

‘My dream is broken’: Japan visa rules push out foreign residents
A man orders from a kebab shop in the Okubo district in Tokyo.
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.
Japan’s princesses face life-altering legal revisions
Princess Aiko, the daughter of Emperor Naruhito, said in a 2022 news conference upon coming of age that she hopes to “spend a long time together” with her parents.
Japanese police arrest nine over Sierra Leone-based special fraud
Japanese police have arrested nine individuals for their alleged involvement in a special fraud case using Sierra Leone as a base.
Japanese-language education is at a turning point
The country is gradually transforming Japanese-language education from a volunteer-driven system into a professional, government-supported network to better serve its growing foreign population. 
Iran war exposed, but hasn’t changed, Japan’s reliance on imported oil
Wind turbines generate energy from strong easterly winds on the Shonai Plain in Yamagata Prefecture. Despite the oil crisis caused by conflict near the Strait of Hormuz, and concerns instability in the region could continue to impact supply and the price of imports, the administration of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi does not seem to be drawing on the war as a pretext to hasten progress toward Japan's renewable goals.
Six of the best: rikishi of note in each sumo division
Kazuma (right) faces off against future <i>yokozuna</i> Onosato during the All Japan Amateur Sumo Championships at the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo in December 2020.
Some startups see opportunity in an aging Japan
Yasmin Baba, CTO of Amilis, wins the Grand Prize at the Pitch2Tokyo Grand Final on Feb. 19.
Japan’s fertility system offers few safe paths for same-sex couples
A Tokyo Pride parade participant holds a sign that says "we want to be a married couple, not a couple."
Life inside Japan’s largest prison for women
Western-style rooms spanning the size of four tatami mats with hardwood floors, a toilet and soft mattresses on bed frames are designated for foreign nationals and those with health conditions at Tochigi Prison.

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

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