Japan

Prime Minister Abe: Japan and NATO Are ‘Natural Partners’

By Shinzo Abe, Office of the Prime Minister of Japan

Why Japan and NATO?

Japan Strengthens Its Partnership with NATO

By NATO

NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Tuesday (06 May 2014) signed a roadmap detailing areas where the Alliance and Japan will work to widen and deepen their longstanding partnership.

Manning and Przystup: Obama-Abe Summit should Overcome Dangerous ‘Mirror-Image Trust Gap’

By Robert A. Manning and James Przystup

As U.S. President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe gear up for a timely summit, a festering sense of uncertainty and unease stalks the U.S.-Japan alliance as it approaches a critical juncture. After an exciting first year marked by renewed economic dynamism and impressive efforts to enhance Japan’s global strategic posture, Abe’s pragmatic streak […]

Gates: US Response to Russia’s Use of Force Likely to Lead to ‘More Crises and Conflict’

By Robert Gates, Stars and Stripes

I think an actual invasion would be a very critical matter and a source of great concern. But I think — I think it’s a concern for the same reason that the invasion of Crimea or the seizure of Crimea is a concern.

Strengthening the US-Japan Alliance

On February 26, 2014, the Atlantic Council’s Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security held a not-for-attribution roundtable briefing on the US-Japan alliance and what it portends for US extended deterrence in Asia. The briefing featured Mira Rapp-Hooper, Stanton nuclear security fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, and was presided over by project co-chair Richard […]

Overblown Rhetoric Exaggerates Proliferation Risks of Japan-Turkey Nuclear Cooperation

By Jessica Varnum

The international community faces many grave nuclear proliferation challenges. Possible nuclear energy cooperation between Japan and Turkey is not one of them, although a January 8th editorial in Japan’s second most widely read newspaper, the Asahi Shimbun, suggested otherwise. It  called for an “urgent rethink” of the bilateral nuclear cooperation agreement currently under consideration by […]

China Ascendant: Is Conflict Inevitable?

By Rajan Menon

Thucydides’ purpose in his great epic was to account for “what led to this great war falling upon the Hellenes.” He acknowledged that what we know as the Peloponnesian War was produced by many different disputes and depicted them masterfully, laying bare their specificities. But, in the opening pages, he warns us that dwelling on […]

The Case for Japanese Militarization

By Kathryn Alexeeff

The ongoing dispute between China and Japan in the South China Seas has led to increased focus on the future of Japanese security. Since the end of World War II, Japan’s constitution has forbidden it from developing a military, but Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has indicated his desire to develop a more active security role for Japan. As the United […]