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July 07, 2026
 

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COMMENTARY

World

World
Japan
King Charles just got a lot more treasure
COMMENTARY / World
King Charles just got a lot more treasure
Charles’ mother Queen Elizabeth II began paying tax only after a public outcry at the government’s decision to pay for expensive repairs to Windsor Castle after a fire in 1992.
COMMENTARY / World
NATO needs to create its own defense market
Strengthening defense capabilities is not only about security policy. It is also industrial policy.
COMMENTARY / World
Beyond Brexit — and back to Europe
Those who follow only intergovernmental debates in the media might think that nothing has changed in the decade since British voters decided to leave the European Union.
Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko meets with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing on June 29.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 3, 2026
Ukraine’s Zelenskyy calls Russia’s bluff in Belarus
By Sergey Maidukov
An ultimatum on drone relay stations exposed the limits of Moscow’s power – and the reach of Beijing’s.
China's trade surplus used to be absorbed largely by the central bank and channeled into official reserves. It is now being redeployed by private actors in search of yield.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 3, 2026
Where is China’s trillion-dollar trade surplus going?
By Miao Yanliang
This growing role of private actors in deploying China’s trade surplus reflects financial deepening and underscores the expanding role of markets in the economy.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has strengthened its grip on power by manipulating the electoral process itself.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 3, 2026
Modi is rigging Indian democracy
By Jayati Ghosh
The result of voter purging is an electoral system increasingly designed to favor India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.
The 12th-century painting The Temptation of Christ by the Devil depicts Satan tempting Jesus in the wilderness. The work is part of The Cloisters Collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 2, 2026
When the other side is framed as the antichrist
By Nina L. Khrushcheva
When rivals become mortal enemies, the instruments of politics and diplomacy cannot work.
Former Chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve Alan Greenspan's long era of economic stability masked decisions that helped fuel the financial excesses leading to the 2008 crisis.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 1, 2026
Greenspan deflated one bubble — his own authority
By John Authers
Years of economic success under Alan Greenspan ultimately gave way to financial turmoil that critics say his policies helped create.
Smoke rises over Gazprom Neft’s Moscow oil refinery on the southeastern outskirts of Moscow on June 18 after a Ukrainian drone attack.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 30, 2026
Is the tide turning against Russia in Ukraine?
By Sergei Guriev
There is no guarantee that Putin will seek a negotiated freeze in the Ukraine conflict, not least because he might not grasp the situation Russia is in.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney attends a news conference with his Japanese counterpart, Sanae Takaichi, in Tokyo on March 6.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 30, 2026
Mark Carney has given Canadians something to celebrate
By Stephen R. Nagy
Carney has improved Canada’s global reputation, but economic weakness, domestic political challenges and relations with the U.S. will determine whether his early gains endure.

Murakami says his novels are ‘different’ from AI literature
Haruki Murakami's first book in three years hit shelves in Japan on Friday.
Suspected Asian fraud ring exec served fresh warrant in Japan
The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department and Osaka Prefectural Police have issued arrest warrants for three people, including a suspected fraud network leader, over alleged immigration and residency violations.
Thailand gets serious about chasing high-spending tourists
Chinese tourists at Wat Arun Ratchawararam Rathawaramahawihan in Bangkok
Japan needs caregivers. Young Indians are answering the call.
Young people in India's northeast are increasingly studying Japanese in hopes of building new lives and careers in Japan.
Tokyo hospital baby hatch accepts 20 newborns in first year
Hitoshi Kato (left), head of San-ikukai Hospital in Tokyo's Sumida Ward, speaks during a news conference at the Tokyo Metropolitan Government building on Thursday.
Okinawa’s prized seaweed under threat as oceans warm
Local harvesters gather <i>mozuku</i> during low tide at Hyakuna Beach in the city of Nanjo, Okinawa Prefecture. As the planet warms, rising ocean temperatures are placing increasing pressure on the seaweed industry.
‘Defense,’ not ‘warfare,’ stressed as pacifist Japan beefs up capabilities
Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi attends an annual training session near Mount Fuji at Higashifuji Training Field in Gotemba, Shizuoka Prefecture, on June 7.
Japan plans to sharply raise fees for residence permits from October
Foreign tourists walk on the path leading to the Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto in May.
X Games returns to Chiba with new team format
Skateboarder Sora Shirai practices at Makuhari Messe in Chiba on Friday afternoon. X Games Chiba begins on Saturday.
NU Festival tests Takanawa Gateway City complex’s culture cred
Veteran improvisers Kazuo Imai and Atsuhiro Ito brought some unruly energy to NU Festival, a three-day multimedia event held at the Takanawa Gateway City complex.  

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

The Terasaka Rice Terraces are seen with Mount Buko in the background.
What Yokoze can teach Japan about rural revival
By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

New Logistics Consortium baton to accelerate trucking efficiency
New Logistics Consortium baton to accelerate trucking efficiency

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