Feb. 22, 2015 – Korean Foreign Ministry blasts Japan’s Dokdo event (Korea Herald)
“Seoul on Sunday slammed the Japanese government’s dispatch of a high-level official to a local event designed to stress its claim to the Korean islets of Dokdo.”
Feb. 22, 2015 – “Tokyo, Washington arranging for Abe to address U.S. Congress in spring” (Japan Times)
“Tokyo and Washington are in final preparations for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to address Congress during a visit to the United States this spring, a Japanese government official said Saturday. Arrangements are well underway for Abe to speak before a joint…
Feb. 21, 2015 – “Kyoto craftsman deploys hard-glass pens in campaign for peace” (Asahi)
Seifu Kan, a 94-year-old resident of Kyoto whose hand was injured in a U.S. wartime air raid, sends his handcrafted glass pens to “people who are committed to world peace and make progress for the cause.”
Feb. 14, 2015 – “Toshihiro Nikai a man to watch: Influential LDP politician has inside track with S. Korea” (Asahi)
“Toshihiro Nikai, a top executive in the ruling party, has so much political clout he was recently able to pull off something that has eluded even Prime Minister Shinzo Abe: a formal one-on-one meeting with South Korean President Park Geun-hye.”
Feb. 17, 2015 – “High-ranking official to attend Takeshima Day ceremony” (Japan Times)
“The [Japanese] government is sending a high-ranking official to the ceremony this Sunday commemorating the day of Japan’s incorporation of the Takeshima islets, despite the organizer’s request for a Cabinet member…”
Feb. 17, 2015 – “Abe’s View of History Clouds U.S.-Japan Ties” (WSJ)
“Prime Minister Shinzo Abe ’s view of the past is the biggest cloud hanging over the future of U.S.-Japan ties, according to U.S. lawmakers visiting Tokyo this week…”
Feb. 19, 2015 – “At ‘Comfort Women’ Shelter in South Korea, a Japanese Volunteer Helps Out” (WSJ/Korea Real Time)
A Japanese language teacher living in Seoul has been volunteering at a shelter for elderly women survivors, known as the “House of Sharing” and located in southeast Seoul.
Feb. 16, 2015 – “Enmity Between South Korea, Japan Worries U.S.” (WSJ)
“Seoul’s demand for new apology over WWII ‘comfort women’ complicates regional security ties… …Polling data show that South Koreans dislike Mr. Abe as much as they do North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un. In Japan, polls show that views of South…
Feb. 14, 2015 – “Japan didn’t meddle with U.S. ‘comfort women’ textbook, envoy claims” (Japan Times)
“Ambassador to the United States Kenichiro Sasae has rejected criticism by U.S.-based historians that Japan tried to meddle with descriptions in an American textbook over the use of “comfort women” at wartime Japanese military brothels…”
Feb. 14, 2015 – “Japan’s public diplomacy is expensive and errant” (Opinion, Japan Times)
By Jeff Kingston, director of Asian Studies, Temple University Japan “Global understanding does not come cheaply. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government has budgeted ¥70 billion — yes, that’s more than $500 million — to help get the word out about…
Feb. 15, 2015 – Chinese Patrol Ships Enter Disputed Waters (Sputnik)
“Japanese officials cried alarm on Sunday as Chinese patrol ships entered the waters of the Japanese-controlled Senkaku Islands, and Chinese officials vowed to increase their presence in the area.”
Feb. 14, 2015 – “Possible subs snub seen as a blow to Japan’s shifting military posture” (The Australian)
“The confusion Tony Abbott has injected into the future submarine issue is undermining Japan’s efforts to sell a more assertive new security policy to the region.”
Feb. 11, 2015 – “‘Discordant harmony’ of Asian art” (Korea Herald)
“Contemporary art has become borderless, with visual presentations coming to focus less on national identity and more on individuality. In what appears to be an attempt to go against this trend, Art Sonje Center is seeking to explore the national…
Feb. 11, 2015 – “How Two Small Rocks Stop Japan and South Korea Getting Along” (Bloomberg Business)
“Once a source of fortune for Japanese fishermen hunting sea lions and abalone, a pair of remote rocks is stopping the U.S.’ two biggest allies in Asia from getting along…”
Feb. 9, 2015 – “Japan to Open Military Aid Channel” (The Diplomat)
“Japan’s new Development Cooperation Charter will allow for non-combat military aid and prioritize Southeast Asia.”
Feb. 6, 2015 – “NHK Chief’s ‘Comfort Women’ Stance Reignites Debate Over Neutrality” (WSJ)
“The head of Japan’s national broadcaster said the station will be “very careful” about covering the issue of forced prostitution at Japan’s wartime military brothels due to what he said was a lack of clarity on the government’s “official stance”…
Feb. 5, 2015 – 19 U.S. Historians Unite to Condemn Abe’s Efforts to Revise History of ‘Comfort Women’ in U.S. Texbook
19 U.S.-based Historians, members of the American Historical Association, issued a collective statement entitled “Standing with Historians of Japan,” strongly condemning PM Abe’s recent efforts to revise depictions of ‘comfort women’ in a history textbook published by McGraw-Hill (“Tradition & Encounters:…
Feb. 3, 2015 – “Bread mimicking shape of Dokdo Appears in Korea” (Korea Bizwire)
“’Dokdo Bread’ made by a baker in his 40’s is the talk of town in Pohang, a southeastern port city in South Korea. Kim Ki-seon, the baker, began baking the bread last year to protect Dokdo from Japan, after the news…
Jan. 31, 2015 – “Japan, China agree to launch maritime, aerial crisis management mechanism” (Want China Times)
“The Chinese defense ministry said on Thursday that China and Japan have agreed to launch a maritime and aerial crisis management mechanism at an early date.”
Jan. 30 & Feb. 3, 2015 – U.S.-backed Japanese Operations in South China Sea?
In response to a comment to Reuters made by senior U.S. Navy officer Admiral Robert Thomas, commander of the Seventh Fleet and the top U.S. navy officer in Asia, that “the United States would welcome operations conducted by the Japanese Self-Defense…
Jan. 30, 2015 – “Japan, South Korea (were) about to agree on ‘comfort women’ issue, reveals memoir” (Malay Mail)
“A memoir of South Korea’s previous president Lee Myung-bak reveals Japan and South Korea were about to agree on terms for settling the issue of “comfort women” serving Japanese troops before and during World War II.”
Jan. 29, 2015 – “U.S. Textbook Skews History, Prime Minister of Japan Says” (NYT)
“Speaking in Parliament, Mr. Abe pledged to increase efforts to fight what he called mistaken views abroad concerning Japan’s wartime actions, when the Japanese military conquered much of Asia.”
Jan. 29, 2015 – Reminder: voices from a conservative Japanese newspaper
Conservative/Center-right newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun calls to end “misunderstanding due to ‘comfort women’ in textbooks.” The article closes by making two assertions: first, “doubts have been raised about the conventionally accepted theory that the overwhelming majority of comfort women were Korean,” and there…
Jan. 26, 2015 – “Japan Takes Soft-Power Push to U.S. Campus” (Wall Street Journal)
Japanese government’s new budget includes a $5 million grant to Columbia University in New York to fund a position for a professor of Japanese politics and foreign policy, position presently occupied by Professor Gerald Curtis who is to retire this year.