安全保障 Japan Is Becoming the World’s Third-Largest Military Spender. How Should We Feel About That?
Japan is on course to have the world's third-largest defense budget, a transformation that would have seemed impossible ...
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安全保障 
経済 When Arguments for Rate Hikes and Against Them Balance Out: What Japan’s BOJ Faces on April 28
The case for raising interest rates and the case against it now carry almost equal weight in Japan's economic landscape....
経済 When ‘Naphtha Supply Is Secure’ Hides the Disappearance of Thinner on the Shop Floor
The government says 'naphtha supply is secured.' But something is quietly disappearing from the factory floor. In petroc...
社会 Before There Was a Word: When the Meteorological Agency Finally Named Extreme Heat
On April 18, Japan’s Meteorological Agency officially defined days with maximum temperatures of 40°C or above as ’koushu...
経済 Real Wages Up 1.4%, Yet Households Keep Wallets Shut
The spring wage negotiation numbers do not lie. A 5.09% wage increase achieved, real wages finally turned positive at 1....
地政学 36 Hours Apart: What Hormuz Strait’s Brief Opening Reveals About a Ceasefire’s Real Shelf Life
Iran closed the strait. Thirty-six hours after reopening it. If you track only the numbers, it appears to be mere politi...
English The Month ’Ryukyu Independence’ Articles Surged Twentyfold, Nobody’s Timeline Noticed
In November 2025, something unusual happened in Chinese state media. Articles containing the words ’Ryukyu’ and ’independence’ surged to roughly twenty times their volume from the same month a year earlier, as reported by the Okinawa Times.
English Every Left-Wing Party in the Developed World Embraced National Defense. Japan’s Never Did.
In July 2016, the British House of Commons voted 472 to 117 to renew the Trident nuclear submarine program.
English The Alarmingly Short Distance From Five Million Voices to Twelve Bodies
In March 2026, two voices went silent in the waters off Henoko. During a protest against the construction of a new U.S. military base in Henoko, Nago City, Okinawa, two boats capsized, killing a high school student and a pastor. They were not wielding weapons. They were not occupying buildings.
English Before Henoko Costs Hit Another Record, Consider the 3,400 Landowners Holding Futenma’s Ground
Record spending on a project barely begun.In fiscal year 2026, Japan’s Defense Ministry allocated a record ¥337.3 billion for the Henoko relocation project, according to the Okinawa Times.