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August 13, 2026
 

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SHIGERU ISHIBA

Despite months of debate, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi failed to gain consensus within the Liberal Democratic Party on a two-year reduction of the consumption tax.
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Aug 7, 2026
Will Takaichi¡¯s consumption tax cut break the LDP?
Debate on the consumption tax debate has become a test of party cohesion for the LDP under the prime minister¡¯s leadership.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi in Rome on June 15. The prime minister is entering the finals days of the current parliamentary session without a serious dent in her approval.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Jul 14, 2026
Takaichi Cabinet retains high approval ratings despite challenges
Latest polls from NHK and JNN show support declining just 1 and 5.9 percentage points, respectively, compared to polls from March.
Â鶹´«Ã½ role as a steadfast U.S. partner is reflected in its Indian Ocean support for Afghanistan?related naval operations and its reconstruction work in Iraq during the U.S.-led interventions.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 21, 2026
Tell the U.S. that Japan is America¡¯s indispensable ally
Japan in recent decades has proven itself to be a reliable U.S. ally, ready to assist when needed without being overly obtrusive.
Former Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba (left) meets with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung at the presidential office in Seoul on Wednesday.
JAPAN
Apr 8, 2026
Former prime minister Ishiba meets with South Korean president in Seoul
During their 90-minute meeting, Ishiba and Lee agreed to expand bilateral cooperation in various fields such as the economy and security.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi¡¯s landslide win gives her power but risks internal strife unless she builds alliances and new party structures to manage rivals within the Liberal Democratic Party¡¯s ranks.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 17, 2026
The trouble with winning big for Takaichi and the LDP
Landslide victories in Japanese politics can conceal fragility within the ruling party.
Nobuyasu Nikai, the Liberal Democratic Party's candidate for the October 2024 Lower House election, shakes hands with supporters in Tanabe, Wakayama Prefecture.
JAPAN / Politics / First person
Feb 13, 2026
Looking at politics from a different perspective
Three campaigns in 15 months showed how fragile support can be ¡ª and how national power begins far from Tokyo.
Sanai Takaichi and the Liberal Democratic Party¡¯s landslide victory demonstrated that when candidates find compelling issues that affect their lives, young people show up.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 10, 2026
Â鶹´«Ã½ youth are quietly securing their nation¡¯s future
Young voters didn¡¯t just express opinions in polls, they showed up at voting stations in increased numbers, many for the first time.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and other LDP leaders celebrate at the Diet after the dissolution of the House of Representatives on Jan. 23, days after calling for a snap election.
EDITORIALS
Feb 6, 2026
Takaichi and the LDP appear poised for a big win
Takaichi¡¯s performance has surprised most observers. Not only did she take office with sky-high approval ratings, but she has maintained them since October.
DF-41 nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missiles are paraded in Beijing's Tiananmen Square in October 2019. Some analysts and even lawmakers are urging Japan and other countries to consider developing their own nuclear weapons.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 5, 2026
The unthinkable is on the list of Japanese security options
In the 2016 campaign, then-candidate Trump suggested that both Japan and South Korea should consider the acquisition of nuclear weapons to counter the North Korean threat.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi holds talks with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung in Nara on Jan. 13. Once a central diplomatic actor, Japan is increasingly absent as global power rivalries intensify.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 30, 2026
The cost of silence: Â鶹´«Ã½ diminishing relevance
This diplomatic fade is more than a temporary slump. Japan is experiencing a crisis of international relevance at precisely the moment when the rules-based order is fracturing.
Sohei Kamiya, leader of the Sanseito party, delivers a campaign speech in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 29, 2026
Sanseito aims to win favor with conservative voters by aligning with Takaichi
The party plans to deliver on policy by positioning itself as an ally to the prime minister while targeting her left-leaning party colleagues at the ballot box.
Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan leader Yoshihiko Noda (left) and his Komeito counterpart, Tetsuo Saito, announce their coalition's new name, the Centrist Reform Alliance, at a joint news conference in Tokyo on Friday.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 18, 2026
Komeito and CDP form new party, but doubts linger over political viability
The new party, the Centrist Reform Alliance, has an uninspired name and logo, suggesting a rushed and unconvincing partnership.
Liberal Democratic Party leader and the current prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, meets with Hirofumi Yoshimura, leader of the Japan Innovation Party, at the national Diet building in Tokyo in late October.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 13, 2026
Why Takaichi would call a snap election
Takaichi may dissolving the Lower House of the parliament upon its mandatory convocation later this month, which would prompt a general election sometime in February.
Since leaving office, former Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba (left) has been openly critical of his successor, Sanae Takaichi.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 31, 2025
Critics within LDP hold fire on popular chief Takaichi
Few dare to openly criticize the prime minister, but this may change once her approval ratings decline.
Although the Year of the Wood Snake promised subtlety and adaptation, the U.S., China and Japan delivered strategic blundering, authoritarian overreach and geopolitical instability instead.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 26, 2025
Good riddance to the year of the serpent that roared
As 2025 comes to a close, the Indo-Pacific¡¯s three great powers have delivered the exact opposite: strategic blundering, diplomatic bombast and economic turbulence.
Â鶹´«Ã½ JS Hyuga helicopter destroyer leads the U.S. Navy destroyer USS Fitzgerald (center-right), the Indian Navy Shivalik-class frigate INS Sahyadri (center-left) and the Royal Australian Navy Anzac-class frigate HMAS Ballarat during the Malabar 2025 naval exercise off Guam last month.
COMMENTARY / Japan / Geoeconomic Briefing
Dec 9, 2025
Japan-India defense in a fragmenting Indo-Pacific
For Tokyo, sustaining India¡¯s participation is strategically vital ¡ª not only for Indo-Pacific¡¯s balance-of-power, but also ensuring China-resilient supply chains.
The navies of Japan, the U.S. and South Korea take part in a combined anti-submarine exercise in waters off South Korea's Jeju Island in April 2023. The Takaichi administration is looking to strengthen alliances to coordinate responses and mitigate regional threats under a collective deterrence approach.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 26, 2025
The argument for Indo-Pacific ¡®collective deterrence¡¯
Â鶹´«Ã½ Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is boosting defense, alliances and collective deterrence to protect Japan, support allies and maintain Indo-Pacific stability.
China is using threats, diplomatic pressure, economic measures and manufactured media narratives to attack new Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and influence Japanese politics.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 20, 2025
Seeking good relations with Xi¡¯s CCP is a fool¡¯s errand
China has a history of favoring Japanese leaders, going back at least to Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka in the 1970s, who are inclined to comply with its ¡°red lines.¡±
French President Emmanuel Macron addresses a plenary session at the COP30 U.N. Climate Change Conference in Belem, Brazil, on Thursday. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is skipping the event to focus on domestic political issues.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 10, 2025
Want to fight climate change? Fight ¡®climate fatigue¡¯
The public is concerned but disengaged in the lead up to this week¡¯s U.N. climate meeting.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi arrives in Busan, South Korea, on Thursday ahead of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 30, 2025
How is Takaichi doing after a week at the helm?
The Japanese public¡¯s reaction to her first week as prime minister has been overwhelmingly positive.
Gut bacteria may be behind many of Â鶹´«Ã½ colorectal cancer cases
A Japanese research team found that a toxin produced by certain E. coli strains, colibactin, caused genetic mutations in nearly half of colorectal cancer cases studied
¡®Total whiplash¡¯: Foreign residents react to Â鶹´«Ã½ changing permanent residency rules
The entrance to the Tokyo Immigration Bureau in Minato Ward, Tokyo, in March. For some foreign residents of Japan, tightening measures for permanent residency have become one factor in a broader calculation over whether remaining in the country makes financial sense over the long term.
She is Russia¡¯s richest woman. Her business empire is going up in flames.
Tatyana Kim, the head and co-founder of Wildberries, speaks about Ukrainian drone attacks on the company's warehouses in the course of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, at an unidentified location, in this still image from a handout video released on July 31.
Severe tropical storm Chan-hom makes landfall near Tokyo
Severe Tropical Storm Chan-hom made landfall around Ibaraki Prefecture, near Tokyo, on Tuesday night.
What Â鶹´«Ã½ language rules for permanent residency should look like
Potential health care workers hoping to find work in Japan take Japanese language instruction in Jakarta. Not all applicants for permanent residency should be expected to reach this level of proficiency.
Where do foreign residents in Japan want to die?
The Yokohama Foreign General Cemetery is one of the few cemeteries in Japan that allows burials, albeit with conditions for the deceased, including foreign nationality and permanent residency in Kanagawa Prefecture.
¡®Total whiplash¡¯: Foreign residents react to Â鶹´«Ã½ changing permanent residency rules
The entrance to the Tokyo Immigration Bureau in Minato Ward, Tokyo, in March. For some foreign residents of Japan, tightening measures for permanent residency have become one factor in a broader calculation over whether remaining in the country makes financial sense over the long term.
As Â鶹´«Ã½ concrete jungles sizzle, urban forestry offers an all-natural fix
People and birds find relief from the sun in Tokyo's Nakano Ward earlier this month. While experts agree that urban greening is crucial to mitigating the impact of climate change, trees are becoming even more scarce in Japanese cities.
Â鶹´«Ã½ brewers experiment with a secret ingredient: music
At Smoke Craft, a craft beer brewery in Tokorozawa, Saitama Prefecture, music isn't just a background to the brewing process ¡ª it's an ingredient.
As countries ban social media for children, Japan mulls a different approach
Data from NTT Docomo¡¯s Mobile Society Research Institute released in June found that 55% of respondents across all age groups said they fiddled with their phones when they had nothing to do, even when another person was in front of them.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo¡¯s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo¡¯s ¡®stadium of desire¡¯

Longform

Disaster relief workers Taichi Kato (left) and Seiji Yoshimura enter the collapsed living quarters at Kyuganji temple in Yatsushiro, Kumamoto Prefecture.
What Kumamoto revealed about Â鶹´«Ã½ earthquake readiness
By Alex K.T. Martin

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