March 18, 2024 The Bank of Japan seems highly inclined to end its negative interest rate policy at its monetary policy meeting on March 18 and 19. As the average wage increase through spring labor...
【#1128】Is Kishida Likely to Visit North Korea?
March 11, 2024 In this column on February 19, I wrote, “(Japanese Prime Minister Fumio) Kishida may visit North Korea soon.” My comment was in reaction to a statement by North Korea’s de facto No....
【#1127】Be Alert to China’s Overseas Expansion Spurred by Economic Decline
March 11, 2024 At China’s National People’s Congress (a pseudo-parliament led by the Communist Party) that ended on March 11, the Xi Jinping government couldn’t present any effective policy to dea...
【#1126】Hoping for Early U.S. Additional Support for Ukraine
March 11, 2024 U.S. President Joe Biden in his State of the Union address on March 7 warned that freedom and democracy are “under attack both at home and abroad at the very same time,” making a st...
【#1125】Japan Should Not Shy Away from Nuclear Discussion
March 11, 2024 Following Russian President Vladimir Putin’s statement that he would make nuclear weapons “combat-ready” shortly after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, BBC reported that this raised th...
【#1124】Kishida Should Complete Dissolution of LDP Factions
March 4, 2024 The governance of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party has been dysfunctional. In order to make a breakthrough in a dispute between ruling and opposition parties over who to at...
【#1123】Japan Should Not Cap 5-year Defense Spending at 43 Trillion Yen
March 4, 2024 The yen’s depreciation and price hikes have boosted defense equipment procurement cost, endangering Japan’s planned “fundamental reinforcement of defense capabilities.” “Given ex...
【#1122】Reality of the Rule of Law in South Korea: President Yoon’s Sin
February 26, 2024 South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and the ruling People Power Party’s leader and Emergency Committee Chairman Han Dong Hoon have original sins. Both had been special investiga...
February 26, 2024 Education Minister Masahito Moriyama has emphasized his denial of connection with the Unification Church despite past support for his election campaigns from an affiliate of the ...
【#1120】Separation of Abduction from Nuclear Issue Has Moved Pyongyang
February 19, 2024 “The day of the prime minister’s Pyongyang visit might come,” said North Korea’s de facto No.2 Kim Yo Jong in a statement on February 15, referring to Japanese Prime Minister Fum...