https://www.scmp.com/rss/326188/feed Jeff Kingston is director of Asian Studies at Temple University, Japan. Most recently, he co-edited "Japan’s Foreign Relations with Asia" (2018) and edited "Press Freedom in Contemporary Japan" (2017). His latest monograph is "Nationalism in Asia: A History Since 1945". en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com President-elect Joe Biden’s administration has a lot to prove but inherits a relatively strong US-Japan relationship. He will also find Japan is ready to move beyond US President Donald Trump’s “America first” transactional approach to diplomacy. One can imagine Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga’s quiet fist pump when he learned of Trump’s defeat. Tokyo hopes Biden will revive US multilateral engagement and provide greater coherence in Washington’s diplomacy but fears Biden might be soft on... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3110154/japan-welcomes-end-trump-era-has-its-doubts-over-biden-led-us?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3110154/japan-welcomes-end-trump-era-has-its-doubts-over-biden-led-us?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 17 Nov 2020 17:00:07 +0000 A new era has dawned. The Japanese government has announced that the name of the reign (gengo) of Japan’s next emperor Naruhito will be “Reiwa” (auspicious calm), a term that draws on the 8th century Japanese classical poetry anthology Manyoshu (collection of myriad leaves). This is the first time a gengo has not been based on Chinese sources. According to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the word reiwa “implies the people’s hearts coming together in beauty to create and develop culture”. Yes, but it... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/3004304/when-japans-emperor-akihito-steps-down-will-his-pacifist?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/3004304/when-japans-emperor-akihito-steps-down-will-his-pacifist?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 03 Apr 2019 02:00:07 +0000 Japan’s decision to quit the International Whaling Commission is not surprising, though it represents a potentially grave threat to whales and the national brand. In the first place, there is no self-sustaining whaling industry in Japan and the annual whale hunts have been underwritten by taxpayers. Without government support, whaling would collapse. Whale meat consumption as a culinary pillar and talismanic symbol of Japanese identity is an invented tradition. Whale was traditionally eaten in... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/united-states/article/2180138/how-japans-return-commercial-whaling-could?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/united-states/article/2180138/how-japans-return-commercial-whaling-could?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 01 Jan 2019 02:30:30 +0000 A quarter century ago on August 4, 1993, the Japanese government issued the Kono Statement acknowledging state responsibility for the coercive recruitment of “comfort women” on the Korean peninsula. Yohei Kono, the chief cabinet secretary, affirmed that “the then Japanese military was, directly or indirectly, involved in the establishment and management of the comfort stations and the transfer of comfort women. The government study has revealed that in many cases they were recruited against... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/asia/article/2157956/comfort-women-and-japans-war-history-abes-historical?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/asia/article/2157956/comfort-women-and-japans-war-history-abes-historical?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 04 Aug 2018 05:30:00 +0000 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is alarmed by diplomatic developments related to the denuclearisation of North Korea and is desperate to get involved in the talks so he can sabotage them. Whatever happened to regime change? From Abe’s perspective, treating Kim Jong-un as an equal is rewarding bad behaviour in ways that might imperil Japan’s security. He might find support for his hardline stance from John Bolton, President Donald Trump’s new national security adviser, who has advocated... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2141580/shut-out-north-korea-summit-talks-shinzo-abe-may-move-shut?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2141580/shut-out-north-korea-summit-talks-shinzo-abe-may-move-shut?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 15 Apr 2018 02:48:26 +0000 In February, many Christian countries celebrate “carnival”, and the Chinese the Lunar New Year. But, in Japan, this is patriotism month. The festivities got off to an early start, on January 25, when the government opened a museum in Tokyo on territorial disputes, making the case for Japanese sovereignty over Takeshima, the rocky islets South Korea administers as Dokdo, and the Senkaku islets Tokyo administers that are claimed as the Diaoyus by China and the Diaoyutai by Taiwan. The museum... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2131207/patriotism-air-japan-most-citizens-ignore-nationalistic?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2131207/patriotism-air-japan-most-citizens-ignore-nationalistic?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 31 Jan 2018 04:44:27 +0000 Japan should agree to reopen the bilateral 2015 agreement on “comfort women” and work with South Korea to engage in a victim-centred public process. This agreement, concluded with the impeached former South Korean president, Park Geun-hye, is exceptionally one-sided, never had any legitimacy among South Koreans and thus could never live up to its billing as “final and irreversible”. The 2015 accord perpetuates the “averted eyes” approach that has persisted for too long and forced women in war to... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2127256/why-japan-needs-revisit-2015-comfort-women-deal-south-korea?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2127256/why-japan-needs-revisit-2015-comfort-women-deal-south-korea?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 08 Jan 2018 06:04:20 +0000