March 2, 2015 – “Japan’s Intelligence Reform Inches Forward” (Stratfor)
Analysis by Stratfor Enterprises, LLC, of the evolution of postwar Japan’s intelligence apparatus.
Feb. 22, 2015 – “US art museum to return likely stolen artifact to Germany” (Associated Press)
“450-year-old German artifact that was used to tell time and to make astronomical calculations will be returned to a German museum from which it was likely stolen after World War II, according to the Toledo Museum of Art.”
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. 17, 2015 – Former ‘comfort women’ from House of Sharing shelter thank U.S. historians (Korea Herald)
“A group of Korean victims of Japan’s wartime sexual enslavement on Monday expressed their gratitude to 19 U.S. historians who criticized Tokyo’s attempts to whitewash the dark side of its history in a joint statement earlier this month… …“Should the…
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. 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. 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:…
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…