This blog post is co-authored with Ayumi Teraoka, research associate for Japan studies at the Council on Foreign Relations and is part of a series entitled Will the Japanese Change Their Constitution…

Photo courtesy of REUTERS/Issei Kato On June 4, the national legislators of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) gathered to select Naoto Kan as their party’s new leader, and thus as Japan’s new Prim…

Photo courtesy of REUTERS/Yuriko Nakao Kan has quickly nipped in the bud speculation about the role of those who made Yukio Hatoyama’s effort to lead difficult. Right after being elected, Kan spoke …

No two candidates could present such a different image for the identity of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ). The citizen activist-turned-bureaucratic reformer-turned-party president has been cha…

As Washington discusses the Obama Asia tour, Tokyo remains consumed with the politics of the Senkaku incident. Last week, I reported on the unauthorized release of video clips of the Chinese trawle…