Japan News

The Daily Signal provides Japan news with coverage and conservative analysis of the critical U.S.-Japan alliance, military base agreements, defense spending increases, economic trade, and Tokyo’s vital role in containing Chinese aggression and maintaining Indo-Pacific stability.
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    • Opinion

    South Korea–Japan Relationship: Time to Move Forward

    After Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s successful trip to America, South Korean media and its people were up in arms. Seoul criticized Abe for not making unambiguous apologies for Japanese wartime brutalities during his speech to the U.S. Congress and critiqued his use of the term “human trafficking” in reference to Japanese soldier’s abuse of…
    Eunjoong Kim
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    • Opinion

    Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe Addresses Joint Meeting of Congress

    Wednesday, Prime Minster Shinzo Abe was the first Japanese Prime Minister to address a joint meeting of Congress. During his week-long visit to the U.S., Prime Minister Abe emphasized the strong relationship between the U.S. and Japan and pushed for completion of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade agreement. Abe began his address remembering his…
    Riley Walters
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    • Opinion

    What Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe Said About World War II, U.S.-Japan Defense Cooperation

    Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe hit the ball out of the park during his trip to America, but stumbled while rounding third base. Whether one highlights the success or shortcoming reflects the assessor’s focus either on the present or on Japan’s past. While most attention was focused on Abe’s historic speech to a joint meeting…
    Bruce Klingner
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    • Opinion

    Foreign Ministers of South Korea, Japan, and China Finally Meet

    Saturday, the Foreign Ministers of East Asia’s largest economies met for the first trilateral meeting in three years. The ministers have met on the sidelines of regional meetings before, but the hope is that this first three-way meeting between Ministers Yun Byung-se, Fumio Kishida, and Wang Yi is a step toward stabilizing relations amongst the…
    Riley Walters
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    • Opinion

    2015 Economic Freedom of Japan

    Japan’s economic freedom score is tied for the second highest it’s ever been since the Index of Economic Freedom was first published more than 20 years ago. Scoring a 73.3, Japan ranks 20th in the world for economic freedom, an improvement over the previous year’s rank of 25. It continues to rank sixth among countries…
    Riley Walters
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    • Opinion

    The U.S.–Japan Global Alliance in a Troubled World

    The taking of Japanese hostages by ISIS this week is a reminder of what a dangerous place the world is, even for a nation as committed to peace as Japan has been for the past 70 years. Since taking office in 2012, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has implemented several improvements to Japan’s defense, including a…
    Riley Walters
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    • Opinion

    Pushing Reforms in 2015 for Japan’s Economy

    This year will be important for Japan’s economic growth as the country continues to struggle to control its debt problem. In the coming months, observers should watch several key indicators of Japan’s economic performance. Given Japan’s economic troubles, it is important that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe push ahead with his “third arrow” reforms, including continued…
    Riley Walters
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    • Opinion

    How Hiking Taxes Is Working Out for Japan (Hint: Not Great)

    Japan is suffering another economic free fall. Following a second quarter GDP decline of an annualized 7.3 percent, this last quarter the economy in Tokyo sank again by another 1.6 percent.  The land of the rising sun is looking a lot like the land of the setting sun.  There are lessons here for U.S. policymakers…
    Stephen Moore
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    • Opinion

    Japan Falls into Recession

    Japan’s economy contracted by 1.6 percent annually between July and September, according to preliminary results released Sunday night. Following a second-quarter contraction of 7.3 percent, Japan has fallen into a recession, casting a shadow over Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s economic plan “Abenomics.” Japan should end its quantitative easing, which has increased its national debt, and…
    Riley Walters
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    • Opinion

    The Problem with Japan’s “Womenomics”

    On October 20, two female ministers in Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s cabinet, Yuko Obuchi and Midori Matsushima, resigned over alleged improper use of campaign funds. Their resignations raise questions about the viability of one of the Prime Minister’s central social and economic policies: “womenomics.” The essence of womenomics is to increase the number of…
    Arthur Oaden
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    • Opinion

    Japan’s Lousy Economy Is a Warning for U.S.

    Japan is flush with national pride this week, thanks to Kei Nishikori, the tennis phenom who knocked off seemingly indestructible Novak Djokovic to reach the U.S. Open finals and become the first Japanese to reach a grand slam final ever. If only Japan's economy could perform half as well. For also this week, Tokyo announced…
    Stephen Moore
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    • Opinion

    Japan: Abe Needs to Take Diplomatic Hippocratic Oath

    Upon graduating from medical school, physicians typically take the Hippocratic Oath. Though the oath doesn’t actually contain the phrase “first do no harm” that is so prevalently linked to it, the underlying premise is there. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe would do well to adopt such a code for his foreign policy. Abe’s needless and…
    Bruce Klingner
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    • Opinion

    Japan in a Virtuous Cycle to Nowhere

    Preliminary data from Japan show a 6.8 percent drop in quarterly gross domestic product. Although a drop in consumption was expected after Tokyo raised the consumption tax rate from 5 percent to 8 percent in April, the decrease is more than experts had expected. And while the government of Japan sees increasing the consumption tax…
    Riley Walters
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    • Opinion

    Collective Self-Defense Is Good for the U.S.-Japan Alliance

    On July 1, a prime-minister-appointed security advisory panel determined that Japan has the right to collective self-defense, a right guaranteed to all nations under the U.N. charter but previously not exercised under Japan’s pacifist constitution. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s decision to implement collective self-defense will strengthen the U.S.–Japan alliance, but he faces strong opposition domestically…
    Riley Walters
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    • Opinion

    Japan’s Robot Revolution

    Japan is one of the few countries in the world likely to experience something that popular movies have predicted for years: a robot revolution. That isn’t to say that the human race is at risk of extinction from Skynet taking command of a robot army (The Terminator, 1984), or needs Will Smith to shut down…
    Riley Walters
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    • Opinion

    Japan’s Last Shot: Abenomic’s Third Arrow

    Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan has finally released details of the long-awaited third arrow in his economic reform commonly known as “Abenomics.” As with each of the first two arrows, there is debate as to whether the third arrow, also known as the Japan Revitalization Strategy, will be enough to jumpstart Japan’s economy and…
    Riley Walters
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