James Gannon is executive director of the Japan Center for International Exchange (JCIE)/USA, and Ryo Sahashi is associate professor at Kanagawa University and research fellow at the JCIE. Barely …

Last week, campaigning began for this year’s parliamentary election on July 21.  433 candidates have registered to contend for the 121 open slots in Japan’s 242-seat Upper House.  The ruling coalitio…

Charles T. McClean is a Research Associate for Japan Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. Headlines in Tokyo today are focused on who will win Japan’s next election, but very little attentio…

A Japan Self-Defense Forces officer smiles as he holds a four-month-old baby girl who was rescued along with her family members from their home in Ishimaki City, Miyagi Prefecture in northern Japan, …

Japan’s prime minister Yoshihiko Noda suddenly announced this Wednesday that he would dissolve the Lower House of parliament, and today marks the end of the Democratic Party of Japan’s (DPJ) majority…