Mimaki Seiko, Associate Professor, Doshisha University On January 20, 2025, the inauguration ceremony of the 47th President, Donald Trump, kicked off the second term of the Trump administration. President Trump’s inaugural address was full of suggestions for what the future of the United States and the world will look like. At the beginning of his inaugural address, President Trump stated, “the golden age of America begins right now,” and emphasized, “we will not allow ourselves to be taken advantage of any longer.” The implication is this. Previous American presidents have been too good-natured, and have been led astray by other countries praising the United States with words such as “the leader of the international order.” These presidents have invested huge amounts of money and resources to protect the safety and prosperity of other countries, even at the expense of their own national interests. Such ... ... [Read more]

With the inauguration of the second Donald Trump administration, there are concerns about “vacuums,” especially those in security frameworks and economic order, which will increase the risks. How will the regional powers of the Indo-Pacific, that is, the Global South, try to change the international order with their own hands? And how can Japan cooperate with them? Ishii Masafumi (Special Adjunct Professor, Gakushuin University), Ito Toru (Professor, National Defense Academy), Oba Mie (Professor, Kanagawa University) —— The second Trump administration has shown great interest in China, Ukraine, the situation in Gaza, and other areas. But it hasn’t announced much about the Indo-Pacific. Ishii Masafumi: With the exception of India, the Trump administration has not paid much attention to the Indo-Pacific region The decline in America’s desire to engage abroad began with President Obama’s statement in 2013 that “America is not the world’s policeman,” a ... ... [Read more]

The impact of Ishiba’s “Hudson Paper” Ishiba Shigeru, who became the 102nd Prime Minister of Japan, is a self-recognized expert on defense issues, having served as Director-General of the Japan Defense Agency in the Koizumi Junichiro Cabinet and Minister of Defense in the Fukuda Yasuo Cabinet. He has described “national defense as my life’s work,” and is a heavyweight on the Liberal Democratic Party’s National Defense Division and the Security Research Commission, as well as a noted policy wonk in the political world as an expert on foreign affairs and security. He has not only participated in debates in the Diet, but has also actively published books and essays on defense issues, and is unique in having raised such issues in depth as a Diet member, particularly regarding Japan’s post-Cold War defense policy and the government’s interpretation of the defense-related Constitution. Since Ishiba retired ... ... [Read more]

  The murder of a boy attending a Japanese school in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, China in September 2024 has had a great impact on Japanese society, especially on Japanese people with ties to China. Along with the school bus attack incident in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, in June of the same year, I, who have lived in Beijing and Shanghai as a correspondent for The Aasahi Shimbun (Japanese daily newspaper) and have covered China for a quarter of a century, cannot help but feel strong anger, indignation, and sadness. What is the pathology lurking in Chinese society behind this incident? Why is it directed against Japan? I would like to discuss the current state and future of Japan-China relations that the incident has highlighted. A series of random killings “Xianzhong.” This refers to Zhang Xianzhong (1606–1647), one of the leaders of the peasant rebellion at ... ... [Read more]

  Key Points: Aid based on the “request” of the recipient country needs to be reexamined. We must build trust on the ground. Dr. Nakamura Tetsu can be a role model. We should shift to identifying problems together with local people. How has Official Development Assistance (ODA) identified problems and formulated projects in the past? The answer to this question will be an important starting point for predicting the future of ODA. After WW2, Japan came up with the idea of including economic reconstruction in postwar reparations and economic cooperation. Economic cooperation eventually became ODA, and the purpose of maintaining the US-led free economic zone was added. The scope of activities also expanded beyond economic infrastructure such as roads and ports to include health, education, the environment, and peace-building. In recent years, there has been interest in the role of ODA in peace and ... ... [Read more]

  Key Points: The Development Cooperation Charter is part of the national security strategy. Offer-type cooperation is more binding than the tied aid. The Japanese people also value “honor in the international community.”   “We desire to occupy an honored place in an international society.” These words from the preamble of the Japanese Constitution seemed to the author, as a student in the 1980s, to be a natural purpose for Japanese development aid. In the late 1980s, Japan was the world’s second-largest economy in terms of gross national product and was on the verge of becoming the world’s largest donor of official development assistance (ODA). Many “Japan in the World” events were held, and there was a growing momentum that “Japanese people should not only think about Japan, but act as members of the world.” The first ODA Charter, established the following year, embodied ... ... [Read more]

  Looking back on the three years of the Kishida Fumio administration, there have been major diplomatic achievements, including support for Ukraine, the three national security documents, the G7 Hiroshima Summit and Japan-Korea relations. As the new prime minister moves to the next stage, he must have a strategy for the new era where diplomacy and economics intersect.   Editor’s note: This article was written before the LDP presidential election vote on September 27 and first published in Japanese in the Sept./Oct. 2024 issue of Gaiko (Diplomacy). On August 14, 2024, Prime Minister Kishida announced his intention not to run in the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) presidential election next month, and his nearly three-year tenure as president of the LDP and prime minister is coming to an end. The reason for Kishida’s resignation is likely to be his inability to withstand growing criticism over ... ... [Read more]

  The United States and Israel There is no one who looks at the current Palestinian situation and is not heartbroken by the reports coming out of Gaza. Regardless of how one interprets the origins and responsibility for the current clashes, Israel’s overwhelming use of military force is inhumane. However, Western nations remain beholden to Israel, and there has been little change in their official position. At this year’s Nagasaki Peace Memorial Ceremony in August 2024, representatives of Western nations refrained from attending in solidarity with Israel’s Ambassador to Japan, who was not invited.     The US government has not been swayed by student protests or the outcome of the presidential election, and both the Democratic and Republican parties have been consistent in their official support for Israel. Why is this the case? It is well known that the proportion of Jewish influence ... ... [Read more]

Postwar Japan lacked a multifaceted and realistic “war theory.” In the 1990s, Japan was faced with the “history recognition problem” with China, South Korea, and other countries. Why has the problem become so complicated? How should we face the “Greater East Asia War” in the first place? The real understanding of war that failed to develop in the shadow of “pacifism” Fukuda Tsuneari (1912–1994), the late critic, once remarked, “The true collapse of Japan did not lie in its defeat, […] but rather began when it mistakenly believed that a new dawn would come by denying its own past.” How to interpret the last war has been an important issue for postwar Japan. Looking back at the history of this debate, in the 1950s, the “aggressive war theory” and the “defensive war theory” were discussed in a binary opposition. At that time, the Tokyo ... ... [Read more]

  Women, Peace and Security (WPS) is in the spotlight a quarter of a century after it was first proposed. This is because there is a growing recognition that understanding problems from women’s perspectives and promoting their resolution is the essence of conflict resolution. The author will explain WPS through the events in Thailand’s Deep South, where the author has been involved, and consider the significance of deepening WPS in the world and in Japan.   In September 2023, for the first time in 19 years, a female foreign minister was appointed in Japan: Foreign Minister Kamikawa Yoko. Since taking office, she has been proactive in promoting the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda. She has spoken at bilateral foreign ministers’ meetings and international conferences on promoting the WPS agenda and strengthening cooperation on WPS. She has received high praise from UN agencies and ... ... [Read more]