East Asia Insights | Prospects for Japan’s Domestic Politics and Implications for Its Foreign Policy
Hitoshi Tanaka explores the potential impact of a change in government. How will events play out in Japan after the July 2007 election, and what kind of regional and global role will Japan be able to undertake as Japan adopts a more proactive leadership role in East Asia?
East Asia Insights | Reinvigorating US-Japan Relations
This issue discusses the perception gap underlying US-Japan relations, which has put the relationship in crisis in the 50 years since the revised US-Japan Security Treaty was signed.
East Asia Insights | Bridging Asia and the Pacific: Japan’s Role in Reinforcing the US Pivot
This issue discusses the Obama administration’s strategy in Asia Pacific, and the importance that this strategy is developed in close collaboration with its closest ally in the region, Japan.
East Asia Insights | Challenges for the US-Japan Alliance in a Changing Asia
This issue focuses on President Obama’s upcoming visit, and hopes that it will lay the groundwork and demonstrates that the US-Japan alliance is going to increase efforts to address issues such as policy toward China and the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
East Asia Regional Cooperation on Global Health
By Susan Hubbard
East Asia is experiencing an escalation of seemingly intractable conflicts over territory and history that threaten to undo gains that have been made in building regional institutions and promoting cross-border engagement. We need another watershed moment of cooperation to help open up new avenues of communication across the region. Health is a field that is ripe for that kind of cooperation.
Secrets of “Three Brothers” of South Korea, China, Japan
By Yoshibumi Wakamiya
You probably do not know that there is the Trilateral Cooperation Secretariat (TCS) in Korea. Although it is rarely known in Japan or China, it is an international organization jointly funded by South Korea, Japan and China and established to promote peace and common prosperity among the three neighbors.
East Asia Insights | Five Factors That Could Lead to War with North Korea
What are the five factors that could lead to war with North Korea? They include the domestic turmoil in both political systems and the fact that differences between American and North Korean political systems and the absence of normal diplomatic relations increase the possibility of misunderstandings.
Japan on Missile Mission to Get 127 Million People to Hide—Fast
Natalie Andrews reports on Japan’s efforts to train its citizens how to effectively respond to a missile threat, a necessary process given looming threats from North Korea.
East Asia Insights | Confronting Uncertainty in East Asia
From a Japanese perspective, the defining characteristic of East Asia’s regional order today appears to be the high degree of uncertainty that prevails about what might come next. Geopolitical uncertainty seems to be intensifying on all fronts, whether one looks at the disarray engulfing US politics and foreign policy, the escalation of tensions with North Korea, the challenge of managing relations with China, or even Japan’s domestic politics. How can leaders around the region work to find a way to dispel this uncertainty?
East Asia Insights | Engaging North Korea after the Singapore Summit
On June 12, US President Donald Trump and North Korean Workers’ Party Chairman Kim Jong-un met for a historic US-DPRK summit. While the vagueness of their final statement left many skeptical of the results, Hitoshi Tanaka takes a more optimistic view, noting that the summit has changed the dynamics surrounding North Korea in a way that creates a rare chance to peacefully settle the nuclear threat and other pressing issues—but only if the United States, Japan, and other regional actors handle it properly.