Russia, Japan and North Korea’s Nuclear Test

On January 6, 2016, North Korea’s state media announced that the DPRK had successfully tested a hydrogen bomb. North Korea’s nuclear test resulted in a predictable array of international condemnations, but Russia’s harsh response to the DPRK’s belligerent action was especially intriguing.

Image Credit: Presidential Press and Information Office, Kremlin

Russia’s permanent representative to the United Nations, Vladimir Voronkov described North Korea’s nuclear test as a clear violation of international law and a national security threat. Admiral Vladimir Komoyedov, the head of the Russian State Duma’s defense committee echoed Voronkov’s statement, calling North Korea’s nuclear test “frightening” and urging the international community to contain the DPRK’s growing nuclear potential. Following from this rhetoric, Russian diplomats have engaged with their counterparts in the United States, Japan and South Korea. Russia has also not ruled out supporting tougher international sanctions against Kim Jong-un’s regime.

Reconciliation or Revisionism?: What (Not) to Expect From Shinzo Abe

Image Credit: Chatham House

More than two years after the return of Shinzo Abe and his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) to government, few doubts remain that Japan is witnessing a profound shift in the parameters of its postwar security and defense posture. Abe and his LDP have pushed vigorously for the restoration of a “strong Japan” unconstrained by the institutions of its “postwar regime.” The reinterpretation of Japan’s constitution on July 1, 2014 marked the climax of this initiative, permitting Tokyo to exercise its right to collective self-defense in support of its security allies. The consecutive policy measures proposed to readjust the legal framework of Japan’s security system in line with the new constitutional reading have dramatically increased the stakes for Abe and his administration.

Prelude to a Japanese Revival

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has arrived in Washington, the third stop on his maiden voyage to the United States since assuming office in 2012. Over the next two days, he will hold a summit with U.S. President Barack Obama on U.S.-Japanese defense and trade cooperation, attend a state dinner in his honor and address a joint session of the U.S. Congress. In his speech before Congress, Abe will reaffirm Japan's commitment to promoting peace and security in East Asia and extol the virtues of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a 12-country free trade agreement that spans the Pacific Ocean Basin and pointedly excludes China.

The Legacy of WWII on Japan's Intelligence Apparatus

When the Allies defeated Japan at the end of World War II, they dismantled the Japanese security apparatus and deliberately left the country dependent on outside powers. This entailed not only taking apart the military but also the extensive imperial intelligence apparatus that had facilitated Japanese expansion in Asia. As it reconstituted itself, postwar Japan opted for a decentralized intelligence system as an alternative to its prewar model. The result was more a fragment of an intelligence apparatus than a full system, with Tokyo outsourcing the missing components to its allies. This system worked through the Cold War, when Japan was more essential to U.S. anti-Soviet strategy. Since then, however, Japan has found itself unable to count on its allies to provide vital intelligence in a timely manner. The Islamic State hostage crisis in January, during which Japan depended on Jordanian and Turkish intelligence, reinforced this lesson.

In response to the incident, Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party has started drafting a proposal to create a new agency specializing in foreign intelligence. To address Japanese dependence on outsiders, the new system will shift away from a decentralized model with limited collection capacity to a centralized system with in-house capabilities. The plan would support Japan's slow normalization of its overall military capabilities in order to face new threats.

Japan's Intelligence Reform Inches Forward

When the Allies defeated Japan at the end of World War II, they dismantled the Japanese security apparatus and deliberately left the country dependent on outside powers. This entailed not only taking apart the military but also the extensive imperial intelligence apparatus that had facilitated Japanese expansion in Asia. As it reconstituted itself, postwar Japan opted for a decentralized intelligence system as an alternative to its prewar model. The result was more a fragment of an intelligence apparatus than a full system, with Tokyo outsourcing the missing components to its allies. This system worked through the Cold War, when Japan was more essential to U.S. anti-Soviet strategy. Since then, however, Japan has found itself unable to count on its allies to provide vital intelligence in a timely manner. The Islamic State hostage crisis in January, during which Japan depended on Jordanian and Turkish intelligence, reinforced this lesson.

In response to the recent incident, Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party has started drafting a proposal to create a new agency specializing in foreign intelligence. To address Japanese dependence on outsiders, the new system will shift away from a decentralized model with limited collection capacity to a centralized system with in-house capabilities. The plan would support Japan's slow normalization of its overall military capabilities in order to face new threats.

Japan Reconsiders Military Engagement Overseas

In one of the most significant changes to Tokyo's foreign aid charter in more than a decade, the Japanese Cabinet has modified the rules for its overseas assistance fund to allow support for foreign militaries engaged in non-combat activities. The evolution of the Official Development Assistance fund (ODA), now known as the Development Cooperation Charter, means that Japan can expand the scope of its activities abroad, previously limited to grants, aid, technical cooperation and infrastructure development.

Tokyo is attempting to redefine itself internationally in response to evolving regional, economic and security threats. As a result, Japan must take increasing responsibility for its overseas activities and manage the risk associated with its maturing foreign policy. The expanded charter is not completely groundbreaking, but it is one of many steps reflecting Japan's 21st century aspirations. The biggest question, though, is not the extent of Japan's transformation from a post-war model, but whether Tokyo can afford it.

Japan wrestles with wartime legacy as it starts selling weapons

Seventy years after the end of World War II, talk about any kind of military expansion remains highly sensitive here in Japan.

Just consider the position of Akifumi Arai, president of the Tamagawa Trading Company, a relatively small Nagano-based business that supplies sensors and gyroscopes used to guide torpedoes and missiles for Japan’s self-defense forces.

LNG-Dependent Japan Tries To Gain Leverage Over Pricing

Japan’s record purchases of liquefied natural gas (LNG) show no sign of slowing as the country continues to try and fill the energy shortfall created when it took its nuclear plants offline three years ago.

With its lack of substantial domestic sources of fossil fuel, Japan is cripplingly dependent on imported oil, coal, and natural gas. Before the 2011 meltdown of the Fukushima nuclear plant, Japan was the third largest nuclear generator in the world, behind the United States and France, with 54 reactors.

Russia and Japan’s Pipeline Dilemma

Despite Russia’s worsening relationship with Western Europe and the U.S. over the Ukrainian crisis, its ties with Japan have tended to be more flexible, even as Tokyo has followed its Western allies by imposing sanctions on Moscow. It was confirmed last week that President Vladimir Putin will meet with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on the sidelines of the APEC Summit in Beijing next month. Now, it appears an agenda for those talks may be forming.

Image Credit: Natural gas pipeline via Shutterstock

On Wednesday, the Nikkei reported that Russia is interested in restarting talks to build a natural gas pipelinebetween its Sakhalin Island and Japan’s far northern island of Hokkaido, according to a senior Japanese foreign ministry official. The source said that Russia brought up the plan last month, while also saying “Construction of a pipeline will depend on the Ukraine issue and negotiations over the Northern Territories.”

Japan’s Quest for a New Normal

Shinzo Abe’s quest to transform Japan into a ‘normal’ sovereign state is a risky and dubious proposition, warns Samir Tata. What he should be focusing on is becoming a better neighbor – i.e., on resolving Tokyo’s ongoing territorial disputes and improving its relations with Indonesia and North Korea. 

Japan as the crisis next time

Which major economy is most likely to disappoint expectations this year, and perhaps even cause a financial crisis big enough to break the momentum of global economic recovery? The usual suspects are China and southern Europe. But in my view the most likely culprit will be Japan.

This Week in Energy: At the Crossroads of Japan’s Energy Future

Japan’s 9 February gubernatorial elections are being billed largely as a referendum on the fate of the country’s nuclear energy future—an election that will shape the debate on whether Japan should continue its reliance on nuclear energy, at least for the next two decades.




The gubernatorial elections come as Abe administration is hoping to restart some nuclear power plants once the Nuclear Regulation Authority confirms that they are safe.  Challenging this plan is an alliance between former prime minister Morihiro Hosokawa and former prime minister Junichiro Koizumi, who are pushing an influential zero nuclear platform.

Japan Govt Likely to Drop Word “Deflation” from Report

Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (L) addresses a meeting of the economy and fiscal policy council, next to Finance Minister Taro Aso (R).

Amid growing signs that the Japanese economy is escaping years of price declines, the word “deflation” is falling out of favor.

Starting with its December monthly economic report due on Dec. 24, the government will likely refrain from using the word–a staple in its monthly reports in recent years–in its description of the economy, officials say.

A Growing Chill Between South Korea and Japan Creates Problems for the U.S.

In the courtly world of diplomacy, the meeting between Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and President Park Geun-hye of South Korea was something of a shock.

Mr. Hagel was in the region to try to revitalize America’s faltering “pivot” to Asia and had one especially pressing request for Ms. Park: to try to get along better with Japan. The steely Ms. Park instead delivered a lecture about Japan’s “total absence of sincerity” over the suffering that imperial Japan caused Korea in the last century and finished with a request of her own: that Washington force Tokyo to behave.

China, Japan escalate Senkaku Islands conflict

The contested Senkaku Islands are sparking conflict again between two nations that claim the uninhabited land masses. 

Four China Coast Guard ships came close to the 12 mile territorial range of the islands in the East China Sea – shortly before a Chinese military aircraft passed through international airspace between Okinawa and the islands – in July. Japan immediately scrambled fighter jets. 

Japan growth data revision adds to recovery hopes

Japan has revised up its growth numbers for the first three months of the year, adding to hopes of a recovery in the world's third-largest economy.

The economy grew 1% between January and March, compared to the previous three months, indicating an annualised growth of 4.1%, the cabinet office said.

Japan vows tighter nuclear safety after accident at research facility doses 33 with radiation

Japan is pledging tighter nuclear safety after an accident at an atomic research facility exposed 33 people to minor excess radiation, though none were injured.

Education Minister Hakubun Shimomura, whose agency oversees such research, said Tuesday the government will tighten oversight of such research. He criticized a “low level of safety awareness” at the facility in Tokaimura, north of Tokyo.

UN expert says Japan government, nuclear plant operator evading responsibility for disaster

A United Nations expert who investigated the aftermath of Japan’s 2011 nuclear power plant disaster says the government and the operator of the facility should do more to help those affected by the catastrophe.

A report by special rapporteur Anand Grover, posted on the U.N. Human Rights Council’s website, says the government’s takeover of Tokyo Electric Power Co. allowed the utility to evade full responsibility for the nuclear disaster, the worst since Chernobyl.

Japanese ministers’ war shrine visits angers South Korea; Tokyo defends them as private

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe made donations and three Cabinet ministers prayed at a militarist Japanese shrine over the weekend, sparking South Korean anger. Japan on Monday defended their actions as private.

Top government spokesman Yoshihide Suga said that Abe didn’t visit the Yasukuni Shrine but donated religious ornaments marking the shrine’s spring festival. The finance minister and two other Cabinet ministers prayed at the shrine.

US, Japan ready to talk if North Korea starts denuclearizing; North rejects South’s offer

The United States and Japan opened the door Sunday to new nuclear talks with North Korea if the saber-rattling country lowered tensions and honored past agreements, even as it rejected South Korea’s latest offer of dialogue as a “crafty trick.”

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry told reporters in Tokyo that North Korea would find “ready partners” in the United States if it began abandoning its nuclear program.