Sheila Smith argues that while recent tensions between Japan and South Korea over territorial issues are deeply worrisome for the U.S. government and for regional stability, the reality is that a stronger bilateral relationship can only come about if it is the Japanese and Korean people that lead the effort on reconciliation.

One year after the Fukushima nuclear crisis, Japan is facing a dilemma of how to clean up the disaster and how to meet current and future energy needs, says expert Charles D. Ferguson, even as the global nuclear industry continues to face the accident's aftershocks.

Nuclear expert John Ahearne says critics should be careful about drawing conclusions when so much remains unknown, but regulators will need to proceed with safety reviews to bolster public confidence.

The U.S. Navy's maritime strategy, in which humanitarian missions play a prominent role, is based on a debatable assumption that credible enemies have largely disappeared and that competition of the seas is something of the past, says defense expert Seth Cropsey.

Despite turbulence in financial markets, Japan's multiple disasters will likely not have a major global economic impact, and reconstruction will provide a boost to the Japanese economy in the long term, says CFR's Sebastian Mallaby.

An extraordinary series of events has caused Japan’s nuclear crisis but it appears backup safety systems were flawed, says nuclear expert Charles Ferguson. He expects the disaster to slow some nuclear projects elsewhere but not cause a wholesale stoppage.

With Tuesday's military promotions, North Korea's Kim Jong-Il created a triumvirate to succeed him. But this "collective leadership" will not change relations with the United States anytime soon, says  CFR expert Sue M. Terry.

Sheila A. Smith, a CFR adjunct senior fellow who lives in Tokyo, says Yasuo Fukuda, the new Japanese prime minister, is likely to be a moderate force in Japanese politics.

Smith, a Japan political expert living in Tokyo, says even though Prime Minister Shinzo Abe does not have to resign, there is “intense pressure” on him to do so from within his own party.

Sheila A. Smith, a leading expert on Japanese politics, says the mood in Japan just ahead of parliamentary elections is “disgruntlement” with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Almost a year after the Fukushima disaster, fifty-two of Japan's fifty-four nuclear power plants have been shut down. The reactor explosion destroyed the population's trust in nuclear energy. But the atomic lobby--and the country's industrial needs--could block a possible phase-out, writes Wieland Wagner at Der Spiegel.

The thirteenth Geneva Report on the World Economy addresses fiscal consolidation policy.

Before a historic earthquake-tsunami combination killed thousands and triggered a partial meltdown at one of its nuclear power plants, Japan won a reputation around the world for being extraordinarily prepared for disaster. In the aftermath of Fukushima Daiichi, Washington must now evaluate if the United States could do any better than – or even as well as – Japan in similar circumstance.

Christian Parenti of The Nation believes that the message out of Fukushima is clear: our own fleet of leaky old nuclear plants should be decommissioned now.

Tom Zeller Jr. explains the system of a Mark 1 nuclear reactor, like the one currently failing at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. He reveals that experts had long cautioned about the weak design of these reactors and predicted a possible nuclear disaster.

Clive Cookson breaks down the situation at Japan's Fukushima plant and the implications for the future of the nuclear industry.

David Ropeik takes a realistic look at nuclear energy in the wake of Japan's Fukushima disaster.

Joseph S. Nye Jr. discusses the U.S. military base in Okinawa and the U.S. alliance with Japan.