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June 07, 2026
 

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COMMENTARY

World

World
Japan
The concept of the working class is evolving as traditional manual labor declines, higher-paying union jobs blur old boundaries and new economic insecurity emerges across both blue- and white-collar lines.
COMMENTARY / World
Nobody knows what ¡®working class¡¯ even means anymore
What makes someone working class was never really clear ¡ª it was something you knew when you saw it.
COMMENTARY / World / Geoeconomic Briefing
India¡¯s China dilemma: engagement vs. dependence
India's attempt to reduce dependence on China, for now, requires deeper engagement with the Asian giant. This is the central contradiction shaping the relationship.
COMMENTARY / World
Pulte will drag U.S. intelligence from bad to worse
Pulte, though, appears to be worse. He seems even less qualified for the job than Gabbard (who at least had military experience).
A giant screen shows Chinese leader Xi Jinping meeting U.S. President Donald Trump in Beijing on May 14. China distorts narratives portraying Japan as a military threat while similar dynamics in the U.S. erode truth and accountability.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 3, 2026
Defending democracy from the global war on reality
By Stephen R. Nagy
From Beijing to Washington, the very concept of objective truth feels unattainable
Critics argue the Trump administration is using foreign pollution as a justification to relax smog regulations, potentially worsening air quality and public health in U.S. cities.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 3, 2026
Blaming Asia and Mexico for U.S. pollution is absurd
By Mark Gongloff
President Donald Trump's "Environmental Protection Agency," a name growing more ironic by the day, is giving polluters some wiggle room.
The Iran war highlights how geopolitical instability can become politically useful, allowing leaders to consolidate support and exert pressure on rivals even as ordinary citizens pay the human and economic price.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 3, 2026
The politics of chaos in the Iran conflict
By Mohammad Reza Farzanegan
As long as chaos remains politically and economically rewarding, such conflicts will remain difficult to contain.
Ukrainian musicians take part in a presentation amid the Russian invasion in the city of Dnipro in April 2022.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 2, 2026
The cultural component of national security
By Tetyana Berezhna and David Stephenson
Russia's war against Ukraine has involved a deliberate campaign of cultural erasure. Since 2022, more than 1,750 cultural heritage sites have reportedly been damaged or destroyed.
Rising global temperatures, worsened by climate change, war, trade disruptions and a looming El Nino, are increasingly threatening global food production.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 2, 2026
The world¡¯s food supply is under a quadruple attack
By Mark Gongloff
Heat makes it much harder to effectively grow crops, raise livestock and harvest fish, as detailed in an extensive new United Nations climate change report.
Vietnamese President To Lam gives the keynote address during the IISS Shangri-La Dialogue security summit in Singapore on Friday.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 2, 2026
Vietnam is Asia¡¯s rising power to watch
By Karishma Vaswani
According to the Lowy Institute's 2025 Asia Power Index, Vietnam recorded the second-largest increase in overall influence in the region.
An attendee tries a robot eye-hand coordination tool at the Canton Fair in Guangzhou, China, in April.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 2, 2026
China¡¯s long march to technological supremacy
By Johan Rockstrom and Inga Strumke
No wonder the World Intellectual Property Organization now ranks China among the world's most innovative economies ¡ª especially in terms of knowledge and technology outputs.

A bleak prognosis for Japan¡¯s demographic future
Japan¡¯s population decline continues to accelerate despite some modest positive signs, highlighting the need for broader social, economic and cultural changes to raise the birth rate.
How Japan created its naphtha supply bottleneck
Japan received 93% of its oil via the Strait of Hormuz prior to the Feb. 28 start of the Iran war.
Japan likely sold Treasurys to fund yen intervention
Vice Finance Minister for International Affairs Atsushi Mimura speaks to reporters in Tokyo on May 1 following reports of Japan's possible intervention in the currency market.
Is an honorable U.S. surrender to Iran inevitable?
An F/A-18E Super Hornet launches from the USS Abraham Lincoln in the Arabian Sea on Feb. 15, shortly before the start of hostilities on Feb. 28.
J-pop group Arashi takes its final bow at Tokyo Dome
J-pop group Arashi ended its long career with a final nationwide tour and the last concert took place in Tokyo on May 31.
How Japan created its naphtha supply bottleneck
Japan received 93% of its oil via the Strait of Hormuz prior to the Feb. 28 start of the Iran war.
¡®Fujiko¡¯ transforms a mother¡¯s resilience into festival gold
¡°Fujiko¡± stars Yuki Katayama (left) as a scrappy single mother who fights for her autonomy in 1970s and ¡¯80s Japan.
Japan should prepare for an intense typhoon season this year, experts say
Elevated water levels are seen along the Tama River in Kawasaki's Tama Ward as Tropical Storm Jangmi brought heavy rain and strong winds to the Kanto region Wednesday.
The LDP wants another coalition partner. Will it happen?
Yuichiro Tamaki, leader of the Democratic Party for the People (DPP), delivers a question during a House of Representatives plenary session on May 25. Making the DPP a coalition member would make it easier for Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi (above left) to drive forward her legislative agenda.
Japan¡¯s Cannes moment signals a new global push
Tao Okamoto (left) and Virginie Efira (right) shared the Cannes Film Festival¡¯s best actress honor for their roles in Ryusuke Hamaguchi¡¯s ¡°All of a Sudden,¡± a coproduction between Japan, France, Belgium and Germany.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo¡¯s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo¡¯s ¡®stadium of desire¡¯

Longform

Community programs and tracking systems are expanding across Japan as local governments search for ways to prevent dementia-related disappearances.
He told his wife he was ¡®coming home.¡¯ Then he disappeared.
By Alex K.T. Martin

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