Japan Archives - Page 11 of 25 - Foreign Policy In Focus

Playing the Hawk With North Korea

by John Feffer | Jul 1, 2009

SEOUL – If the Obama administration needed a rogue nation to demonstrate its foreign policy resolve, Central Casting couldn’t have supplied a better candidate than North Korea. The government in Pyongyang routinely promises to unleash destruction of biblical proportions on its enemies. It has pulled out of international agreements, such as the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). It has sentenced two U.S. journalists to 12 years of hard labor on the charge of violating its borders. And after conducting two nuclear tests, it now declares itself a nuclear power.

A More Expensive Bill for North Korea

by Brent (Won-Ki) Choi, Jennifer Doak, Joowoon Jung | May 22, 2009

This essay is part of a strategic dialogue on North Korea that includes this article by John Feffer. The authors respond to each other here.

Thinking Big in Crisis Time

by John Feffer | Mar 12, 2009

It might seem like the worst possible time for Tokyo to think big. The global economic crisis is hitting Japan hard. The current government of Taro Aso is scraping the bottom of public opinion polls.

Aiming for Middle Power Status?

by John Feffer | Nov 24, 2008

Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) is nosediving in the polls, its gaffe-prone prime minister Taro Aso has acquired a reputation as his party’s funeral director, and a pivotal election may transform the Japanese political landscape before September.

East Asia’s History Wars Rage On

by John Feffer | Sep 18, 2008

“Right now seems to be a relatively quiet moment in East Asia regarding historical controversies,” observes Daqing Yang, a professor of Asian history at George Washington University and a participant in a Sep.15 seminar on historical dialogue and reconciliation sponsored by the Sasakawa Peace Foundation and the university’s Sigur Centre. “But just a few years back, heads of state canceled their summit meetings because of a visit to a particular shrine in Tokyo or because of history textbooks.”

The Abduction Narrative of Charles Robert Jenkins

by John Feffer | Jul 2, 2008

This essay originally appeared in Japan Focus.

North Korea, Japan and the Abduction Narrative of Charles Robert Jenkins

by John Feffer | Jul 2, 2008

In the 1960s, a subculture of Americans became obsessed with alien abductions. Their ur-narrative revolved around the experience of Betty and Barney Hill, a sober, middle-aged, interracial couple who told of being taken from their car one night in 1961 and subjected to medical investigation by extraterrestrials with small bodies and large foreheads. They were not the type to fabulize simply to draw attention to themselves, so their story attracted interest beyond the usual UFO fans. Gradually others came forward with similar tales.

Japan and the Future of Nuclear Disarmament

by John Feffer, Masako Toki | Jul 2, 2008

Australia’s Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s entry in the visitors’ book at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum last month may not sound so astonishing or dramatic. His words — “Let the world resolve afresh, from the ashes of this city, to work together for the common mission of peace for this Asia-Pacific century, and for a world where nuclear weapons are no more” — sound like many other entries written in the visitors’ book after people learned the truth of the effect of the use of nuclear weapons against humanity.

New Deal’s Unsung Japanese Victory

by Sam Pizzigati, Emily Schwartz Greco | Apr 18, 2008

Seventy-five years ago, major media outlets have reminded us over recent weeks, Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal had its American debut. But when exactly did the New Deal end? The American Journal of Public Health has just published a fascinating article that suggests a surprising answer.

Talking Peace, Preparing for War

by John Feffer | Apr 14, 2008

Northeast Asia heaved a sigh of relief at the latest news of a breakthrough in the nuclear negotiations with North Korea. The prospects of integrating North Korea into the international community and constructing a peace and security structure for the region have never been rosier.