“About two-thirds of Americans trust Japan a great deal or a fair amount and three-quarters of Japanese say they trust the United States, according to a new Pew Research Center survey…” And more polling results on mutual perceptions.
“A university museum in Japan has broken a seven-decade taboo on discussing the dissection of live US prisoners of war by medical personnel towards the end of the Second World War.”
“Thousands of visitors converged Saturday on the New Mexico site where the first nuclear bomb was detonated nearly 70 years ago.”
“Nancy Pelosi called for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to apologize for the Japanese military’s coercion of young Korean and other Asian women into sexual slavery during World War II.”
“When Prime Minister Shinzo Abe addresses Japan’s wartime past in a statement marking the 70th anniversary of the end of World War Two, the reaction of ally Washington will likely be as much, if not more, on his mind than…
“”Historians may record March 2015 as the moment when China’s checkbook diplomacy came of age,” said Paul Taylor and William James at Reuters. Beijing has spent several years trying to persuade Western nations to join its Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB),…
“Japan’s military is prying open long-closed doors at university research labs, boosting Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s US-backed effort to cast off some of the country’s pacifist constraints, write Eric Pfanner and Chieko Tsuneoka for The Wall Street Journal.”
“Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said he holds the “fullest confidence” in President Obama and the U.S.-Japan alliance remains “unshakable,” providing a prelude to his state visit to Washington in April.”
“A judge has issued a tentative ruling in support of the City of Glendale, which has been sued for placing a “comfort women” monument in Central Park.”
“The U.S. government, Congress and academics have a very “solid” consensus that Japan should stop its attempts to gloss over its wartime wrongdoings, namely the issue of sex slavery, the South Korean ambassador to Washington said Thursday.”
“Chinese Embassy officials in the United States went on a phone call frenzy in November to present their spin on a planned joint statement agreed upon just hours earlier concerning Japan-China relations.”
“The US may want to edge Australia into a trilateral arrangement to support Japan in any showdown with China. Of course, this may not be a considered US strategy, or a particularly high priority. It should nonetheless be a goal…
“A bipartisan group of influential U.S. senators has called on the government to draw up a strategy aimed at halting China’s “unilateral” acts to assert control over disputed islands in the South China Sea, including land reclamation projects.”
“In advance of a visit to Washington by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, U.S. lawmakers are pushing Japan to set straight its approach to wartime history, which has frozen relations with neighboring Asian countries.”
“Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has been formally invited to address a joint session of Congress when he travels to Washington DC this April, AFP reports.”
“A Maryland state Senate joint resolution honoring the “comfort women” in Asia and Pacific Islands during World War II was adopted on Tuesday. The Senate Joint Resolution 3 stated that “the government of Japan, during its colonial and wartime occupation of…
“Finally, while this may not be a popular topic within the Japanese government, the most productive long-term investment for Japan could be an investment in improving its relations with Korea and China. Public diplomacy programs that foster cultural exchanges among…
“The Japan-South Korea rift has complicated U.S. efforts to forge a stronger security alliance against common foe North Korea and to U.S. strategy aimed at countering China’s rise. Japan and South Korea host 80,000 U.S. troops, the backbone of America’s…
“An organization for former U.S. prisoners of the Japanese and a Korean-American forum say Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe should only be invited to address the U.S. Congress during an expected visit if he acknowledges Japan’s World War Two past.”
“Rediscovered film shows attacks by US aircraft on Japanese warships, factories and military installations in dying days of WWII”
“Public confidence in China’s military is higher than ever. According to a public opinion poll, an overwhelming majority of Chinese citizens think the People’s Liberation Army is capable of facing and beating the United States if it comes to that…
“With the exception of the march across the Philippine island of Luzon, the battle of Okinawa was the only major American land campaign in the Pacific during World War II…” -Christopher Dong visits war sites, museums, and memorials in Okinawa.
“During the assault, Kim screamed a slogan in favour of reunifying the divided Korean peninsula, and later shouted his opposition to the joint US-South Korean military drills that began the same week. The annual exercises always trigger a surge in…
“A group of women in South Korea and the United States are preparing to sue the Japanese government, claiming their human rights were breached when they were forced to become “comfort women,” those who were forced to provide sex for…