March 2024
Kishida likely casualty in Japan’s political slush fund scandal
Japan’s prime minister is unlikely to survive beyond the end of his term as LDP leader in September.
February 2022
With borders shut, Japan risks alienating allies
Business leaders and academics have urged Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to open the borders to foreigners, as Japan records 100,000 daily cases of the omicron variant.
January 2022
No signs of policy reform or creativity under Kishida
When inspiration is needed, Japan’s PM seems more likely to avoid rocking the boat and to co-operate with the LDP’s conservative nationalist faction bosses.
July 2021
Crude comments cruel South Korea-Japan detente hopes
A Japanese diplomat’s suggestion the South Korean President was playing with himself were the last straw in hopes the Olympics could warm ties between the countries.
June 2021
Going ahead with the Games comes down to money
Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga is gambling that Japan can get through the Games without it becoming a global superspreader event, so he can call a snap election.
April 2021
What Biden and Suga will talk about this week
The top-level summit provides an important opportunity to get US-Japan co-operation back on track after four years of work just preventing a Trump-induced disaster in alliance relations.
January 2021
Biden’s North Korea problem
If the Biden administration is to make any progress on the denuclearisation of North Korea, it will need to seek better co-ordination not just with allies South Korea and Japan, but also China.
November 2020
Australia-Japan pact is about US
Australia and Japan are ill-placed to strike a security alliance, but moves towards an agreement mark an advance in middle-power co-operation aimed at keeping the US engaged in the Asia-Pacific as China's influence grows.
August 2020
Shinzo Abe's legacy is mixed
The sudden resignation of Japan's longest-serving PM was probably triggered by the realisation that COVID-19 spelt the end for his cherished objective to lift the post-WWII constraints on Japan's role in the world.