2010

This article attempts to clarify the present state of China's regional security design by considering concrete policy developments. It suggests points of common interest between China’s proposals for regional security cooperation and US alliances and security cooperation led by the United States, which many in the past had viewed as mutually opposed.

Since the turn of the twenty-first century, a new and diverse security framework has emerged. This is characterized by a networking of alliances, regional frameworks like the Six-Party Talks and Shanghai Cooperation Organization to address specific issues, and ad-hoc cooperation efforts in such areas as antiterrorism and antipiracy.

What must Japan do to protect its national interests in the face of escalating tension in East Asia and the meteoric rise of China and other emerging economies? Asahi Shimbun editor-in-chief Yoichi Funabashi believes Japan must nurture global professionals and broaden its perspective to emerge as a more active contributor to the "liberal international order."

At the seventh meeting of the Valdai Discussion Club last September, the author took advantage of a rare opportunity for direct dialogue with top Russian leaders to sound out President Vladimir Putin on the state of Japan-Russia relations and the potential for bilateral cooperation on nuclear energy amid a shifting power balance in the Asia-Pacific region. (Photo: Copyright of RIA Novosti)

Ironically, the current global economic crisis has resulted in the total disappearance of pure investment banks from the United States. They have all either gone under or converted themselves into commercial banks. The Glass-Steagall Act has had its revenge.

A year and several setbacks after the election that swept the Democratic Party of Japan to power in 2009, DPJ party leaders disagree over the basic meaning of that historic change of government. Were the voters drawn to the DPJ’s commitment to clean, open government or its promise to ease people’s economic hardships? According to Tetsuya Murai, both sides have it wrong.

Traditional festivals, or matsuri, have played a crucial role over the ages—building and preserving community ties, transmitting culture, and providing a needed escape valve for pent-up emotion. The author argues that the Japanese people must find a substitute for these events in order to revive the spirit that kept Japan’s society and economy strong.

In terms of leverage over Iran, Pakistan has the Iran-Pakistan pipeline as something it can use. Pakistan is in an adversary relationship with Iran as Sunni versus Shia and as rivals for political and economic influence in Afghanistan; the two countries are also rivals as regional powers.

The Tokyo Foundation and the Center for a New American Security have released a Joint Statement that reviews the achievements of the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty since its signing five decades ago and offers policy proposals that the leaders of the two governments should pursue in the years ahead. A joint news conference announcing the release of the statement was held on October 27 at the Tokyo Foundation.

In a global economy awash in mass-produced goods, handicraft industries are apt to be treated as relics of the past with little relevance to our lives. Tokyo Foundation President Hideki Kato challenges this view as he introduces a new series that examines a vanishing way of life and explores the implications of its disappearance for society, culture, and the environment.