The wages of uncertainty

The exchange of fire between the North and South Korean militaries that left two ROK Marines dead and at least a dozen wounded (s…

The 2006 roadmap's impasses

In the wake of its defeat the Kan government has made it patently clear that the Hatoyama government's "ratification&quo…

Facing constraints in the alliance

Prime Minister Kan Naoto had his debut on the world stage at the G20 meeting in Toronto this week. While in Toronto he had his fi…

Mr. Kan's Third Way

The Third Way has, belatedly, arrived in Japan. The style of politics popular in advanced industrial democracies during the 1990s…

Hatoyama accommodates the US on Futenma

It may have taken a few months longer than I expected , but it appears that the Hatoyama government may have finally accommodated…

The "losing Japan" narrative

In different ways, two articles published in Western media outlets this week suggest the emergence of a new narrative concerning …

Open diplomacy

Within a week of the formation of the first Bolshevik government, Leon Trotsky, the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs, w…

"Our Far East Partner"

The title of this post is the name of a propaganda film produced by the US Army sometime after the end of the occupation that I f…