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Japan’s defense strategy assumes stable energy access—but what if that assumption fails? Helen Cecile argues that upcoming NSS revisions under PM Takaichi must integrate energy security to ensure Japan’s defense plans are operational, not aspirational.

The Energy Blind Spot in Japan’s National Security Strategy

Following her decisive Lower House victory, Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae signaled plans to devote greater resources to strengthening Japan’s defense posture. Given the Liberal Democratic Party’s newf...

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Omission of special-needs graduates from official Japanese government data about the country's "18-year-old population" does not appear to reflect deliberate exclusion, but it nevertheless carries negative symbolic and practical consequences.

The invisible 18-year-olds: Special-needs graduates in Japan

A December 2025 report by the Mainichi Shimbun revealed that Japan’s Ministry of Education had not included graduates of special-needs schools in its official count of the “18-year-old population,” a ...

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The idea of a unified opposition may have run its course. If so, what remains to be seen is whether or not the predicted defeat of the CRA will be a moment of creative destruction. www.tokyoreview.net/2026/02/is-t...

Is this the end of a unified opposition?

The biggest surprise in an already difficult-to-predict election has been the merger of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDP) and the ruling party’s former coalition partner Komeito into ...

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Peter Chai and Charles Crabtree write about how Japan can face the unfolding child safety crisis as the sources of harm diversify and spill out of the classrooms

Japan faces child safety crisis amid rising school bullying and child abuse

Japan is confronting mounting concerns over child safety, as data from education and police authorities point to record levels of school refusal, a rise in serious bullying cases, continued disciplina...

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Tokyo Review @tokyoreview.net · 7mo ago

We have started our Election 2026 coverage, beginning with a piece by editor Nishimura Rintaro about the challenges PM Takaichi faces this year

Takaichi faces major stress test in 2026

The new year has kicked off with Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi calling a general election to “ask the sovereign people to decide” whether to support her and the new Liberal Democratic Party (LDP)-Japa...

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Japan does not have a "foreigner problem" in any sense of the word, but the topic has dominated recent political discussions. Stefan Aichholzer carefully deconstructs the myth to reveal that there is not much of substance behind the rhetoric.

Rhetoric over reality: The myth of rising foreign crime

Recent public debate in Japan has grown markedly more heated around foreign crime, driven in part by political rhetoric, rising arrests of non-Japanese individuals, and proposals by governing party fa...

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Tokyo Review @tokyoreview.net · 7mo ago

What happens when a bold U.S.-Japan policy proposal meets 30 years of history? In a new essay, Amb. Kurt Tong, Managing Partner at The Asia Group, revisits his 1995 call to “revolutionize” America’s Japan policy—and how the relationship evolved since.

A 1995 Vision for U.S.–Japan Relations, Revisited

Tokyo Review invited me to take a critical look at an essay I published in Foreign Policy thirty years ago, when I was a junior diplomat at the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo. In that piece, ambitiously titled...

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Tokyo Review @tokyoreview.net · 7mo ago

In Japan, entering a PhD program can be a big gamble. Ryo Konishi and Stefan Aichholzer explain how the current state of graduate education and research funding is leading to steady declines in Japan's research workforce.

The price of a PhD in Japan: Prestige without security

As Japan faces demographic decline and a shrinking research workforce, securing the next generation of researchers has become a matter of national urgency. Financially stable doctoral programs are ess...

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Kentucky’s first female governor helped secure one of the most enduring pillars of the U.S.–Japan relationship—far from Washington. In a moving new essay, Duncan J. Barron reflects on Martha Layne Collins and the quiet power of subnational diplomacy.

Remembering Martha Layne Collins: A Force for U.S.–Japan Subnational Diplomacy

“Without a doubt.” When I asked my father whether Toyota had changed our hometown, he was unequivocal. A day-one employee at what became Toyota’s largest global manufacturing hub, he spent more than 2...

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"Japan’s low levels of street protest have not produced disengagement; participation has migrated online", Rina Komiya writes, as she explains how digital outrage increasingly manages to derail local inclusion policies in Japan.

How online outrage undermines local inclusion efforts in Japan

A specter is haunting local governance in Japan—the specter of the attention economy. Municipal officials, whose daily work usually revolves around routine community services, now find themselves conf...

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Heidi Lee returns with a review of Left-Handed Girl, a Sean Baker-produced Taiwanese film directed by Shih-Ching Tsou that offers "a penetrative character study of girlhood in Chinese cultures."

“Left-Handed Girl” review

The adult world glimpsed through—or better yet, juxtaposed with—children’s eyes is brutally honest. What is it about grandparent-grandchild relationships? They might be affectionate together but barel...

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"For many farmers, long hours and tough work have been a steady reality. Now, what lies ahead remains uncertain, even with growing help from migrant laborers." Matthew Myles writes about his experience working on a dairy farm in Hokkaido.

Migrant labor in an aging agricultural sector

Just last year, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) published a report that indicated a decrease in “core agricultural workers,” falling by over half to a new low of 1.1 million...

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Japan’s labor market and social welfare challenges demand foreign labor, yet the current political framing from Takaichi's new government treats foreigners as a social problem, writes Stefan Aichholzer in his analysis:

Foreigner fatigue and Japan’s new populism

Japan’s new government under Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), and its partnership with the populist Japan Innovation Party (Nippon Ishin no Kai), raises significant...

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This new film review by Heidi Lee of the upcoming film "Bring Him Down to a Portable Size" asks timely questions about the moral failings of masculinity

“Bring Him Down to a Portable Size” review

The question of ego might be best answered in the portrayal of one’s (imaginary) nemesis. During their stage greeting at the 38th Tokyo International Film Festival, director Nakano Ryōta lauded actor ...

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Taiwan is back at the center of Sino-Japanese tensions. PM Takaichi’s remarks on a “survival-threatening” Taiwan scenario sparked fury in Beijing—but the audience that matters most is in Taipei.

Taipei is watching Takaichi’s standoff with Beijing

Taiwan is back at the center of Sino-Japanese relations after Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae told the Diet last week that a Chinese attack on Taiwan could pose a “survival-threatening situation” for Ja...

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Tamaki Yūichirō is dealing with forces that cannot be controlled. Can he—and those learning from his recent success—avoid being changed by the worst impulses of contemporary politics?

The center’s self-defeating politics

As Japan’s far-right gains political and ideological force, can the center hold? It is a familiar question, one that is now rapidly gaining salience after Takaichi Sanae was elected leader of the Libe...

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Writing about Japan's declining suicides, Peter Chai from Waseda University argues that the numbers obscure the unequal distribution of risk www.tokyoreview.net/2025/11/japa...

Japan’s suicide rates decline, but risks persist for youth and women

For much of the late 20th and early 21st centuries, Japan faced persistently high suicide rates. According to the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare, annual suicides exceeded 30,000 for 14 consecu...

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Rintaro Nishimura offers a timely and vital analysis of the LDP's fragile, new alliance with Nippon Ishin no Kai. Will the partnership serve both parties equally, as the LDP-Komeito coalition once did? Or has it already started teetering on the edge?

The future of the LDP-Ishin partnership

Japanese politics has hit a major inflection point. Takaichi Sanae has become the first woman to be named prime minister. The ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s (LDP) over two decades-long coalition w...

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In this film review, Heidi Ka-Sin Lee discusses "Black Box Diaries" by Itō Shiori, a pathbreaking documentary detailing the director's own civil case against her assaulter, but which has yet to be released in her home country.

“Black Box Diaries” review

Itō Shiori, the Japanese #MeToo trailblazer who regrettably never was A conspiracy-thriller-adjacent documentary of her 8-year journey as a sexual assault survivor, Itō Shiori’s Black Box Diaries (202...

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Ten years ago, two municipalities in Tokyo wrote history by commencing Japan’s first so-called “partnership systems” to provide some level of recognition to LGBTQ+ couples’ relationships. In the years that followed, the policy has spread tremendously and paved the way for further change.

A decade of LGBT partnership systems in Japan

Ten years ago, two municipalities in Tokyo wrote history by commencing Japan’s first so-called “partnership systems” (パートナーシップ制度) to recognize LGBTQ+ couples’ relationships. In the years that followed...

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@rmarcantuoni.bsky.social provides a summary of his recent research article on the far-right conspiracy party Sanseitō. Responding to the media's portrayal of the party as a catch-up moment for Japanese politics, he instead argues that its conspiracy ideology is a novel form of political action.

What far-right conspiracy party Sanseitō tells us about a nascent ideology

In July 2025, Sanseitō (a.k.a. The Party of DIY !!) became the first far-right political party in postwar history to establish a stable presence in both Houses of the National Diet. With the party’s f...

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"If the United States hopes to rely on Japan as a pillar of the Indo-Pacific order, it must match Japan’s sense of urgency with sustained capacity, clarity of direction, and alignment of strategic intent", Jada Fraser writes in her analysis on the changing dynamics of the US-Japan security alliance.

Why Japan’s accelerated defense timeline is not just about security threats

Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae’s decision to move Japan’s defense-spending target of two percent of GDP two years earlier—from fiscal 2027 to the current fiscal year—is more than a headline. It reflect...

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