The Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games in Tokyo are vying for the top-spot for the most troubled major sporting events in history. Not only did the coronavirus pandemic fall on the Japanese, due to which the Olympic Games had to be postponed for a year, but also the remaining days before the opening (July 23),…
In one of his past articles the author promised to discuss in more detail how anti-Japanese sentiments in Seoul began to diminish with Joe Biden’s accession to power. The first signs of this development were observed at the end of 2020, when there was already a concern that the Seoul-Tokyo feud might have a negative…
The tense relations between Seoul and Tokyo are a constant subject of the author’s attention, and his most recent piece on the topic addressed how the issue of forced labor has been added on top of that about Korean comfort women. After all – in comparison with fifteen grandmothers – they went through a lot…
As tensions with China continue to grow, Japan is making moves to join the “Five Eyes” intelligence-sharing alliance. This week, Japan’s ambassador to Australia, Shingo Yamagami, told The Sydney Morning Herald he was “optimistic” about his country coming on board. [I] would like to see this idea become reality in the near future. This comes…
The United Nations Security Council expressed concern in a February 4 statement about the state of emergency in Myanmar, as well as the arrest of political leaders. The statement called for the immediate release of all detainees and the safe and unobstructed access of humanitarian aid to those in need, whilst at the same time reaffirming…
COVID-19 has been ruthless in choosing winners and losers around the world. The obvious “losers” have been those countries led by right-wing nationalists: Brazil, India, Russia, the United Kingdom, and (until recently) the United States. These five countries are responsible for more than half of the world’s coronavirus infections and nearly half the deaths. Just…
