Our Most Important Relationship Is at Stake in This Election
American voters consider a holistic set of factors during presidential elections. Chief among these are issues like health care, the economy, immigration, civil rights, and other domestic matters. While these are all tremendously important, Americans often overlook foreign policy when voting for the leader of the free world. But this election serves as a referendum […]
A New START for Arms Control
The New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START)—a bilateral agreement that constrains the US and Russia’s nuclear arsenals—expires in February. Despite bipartisan support for an extension, President Trump has been adamant that the US will not accept Russia’s unconditional offer for a five-year continuance. The administration is choosing instability over stability. Ambassador Marshall Billingslea, the […]
Seeking an Answer to Overconcentration in Tokyo
As COVID-19 ravaged the world, Japan’s economy shrank more than at any time since data tracking began in 1980. New Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga will undoubtedly make the recovery his top priority. But Suga should also properly address overconcentration in Tokyo, a serious problem that prolonged the pandemic. Immediately after Japan declared a state of […]
Denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula is Still a Distant Dream
Motivational speaker Simon Sinek once said, “Dream big. Start small. But most of all, start.” Washington’s North Korea policy doesn’t follow this adage, instead negotiating for total denuclearization instead of small victories. Complete, Verifiable, Irreversible Denuclearization can be the goal. The idea isn’t new; however, as President Clinton’s chief negotiator with North Korea Robert Gallucci […]
Stopping the World’s Worst Aquatic Weed
The Nile River is a contentious issue. As Ethiopia constructs a new dam along the Blue Nile, its neighbors fear this will threaten their water supply. However, the Nile faces a more imminent threat than Ethiopia’s project: water hyacinth. Water hyacinth originates from the Amazon basin but was exported to warm temperate and tropical regions […]
Israel’s Cat-astrophe and Its Impact on Wildlife
This started out as an inside joke. As I packed for my spring break trip to Israel, I asked my closest friends and family what they wanted as souvenirs. One said, “a cat that speaks Hebrew.” When I reached my first tourist spot—an ancient grave—I spotted a stray. “Do you speak?” I joked as I […]
What Global Principled Disobedience Means
In The Hunger Games, Katniss Everdeen represents a covert rebel alliance attempting to topple a repressive regime. When the series was adapted for the big screen, it became a pop culture phenomenon and helped catapult its leading actress, Jennifer Lawrence, to stardom. It also became a symbol of massive anti-government resistance in Thailand. After General […]
Saying Goodbye to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe
It was probably not the way he imagined it would go down. On August 28, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced he would step down due to health reasons. This came as a shock to many, considering it was just days after he broke the record for the longest uninterrupted tenure as the nation’s leader. […]
Can the “Okinawa Problem” Ever Be Resolved?
In the coming months, Japan and the United States will negotiate over the Special Measures Agreement (SMA), a cost-sharing arrangement for American military presence. These talks will influence the future of Indo-Pacific security and America’s role in the region. In 2019, reports suggested that the US could demand a five-fold payment increase from the current […]
Japan’s Vicious “Death by Overwork” Cycle
In July 2013, Miwa Sado logged 159 hours of overtime work and took only two days off. She then died of heart failure. Less than two years later, Matsuri Takahashi died by suicide after consistently logging more than one hundred overtime hours per month. Before her suicide, she tweeted “I want to die” and “I’m […]