Politics & Security
Defending Japan: The Mageshima Rorschach Test
Japanese defense initiatives can seem like Rorschach tests — meaning very different things to different people. Take
Author Archives for Grant Newsham
Grant Newsham is a retired United States Marine Officer and a former U.S. diplomat with many years’ experience in Japan. He was the first US Marine liaison officer to the Japan Ground Self Defense force and was instrumental in promoting the JSDF’s initial moves towards an amphibious capability.
Politics & Security
Trump Scares Japan with Talk of ‘Ending’ the U.S.-Japan Defense Alliance – Crazy as it Sounds?
U.S. President Donald Trump’s recent musings that maybe America should exit the ‘unfair’ U.S.-Japan defense treaty sur
Politics & Security
How to Secure Japan? Put Premium on JSDF Personnel More Than Hardware
Japan can buy all the F35’s and Aegis Ashore missile defense systems it wants. It can even cobble together […]
Economy & Tech
Is the Arrest of Nissan’s Carlos Ghosn A Case of Japanese Xenophobia?
Nissan Chairman Carlos Ghosn being frog-marched from his private jet to the Tokyo Detention Center — Japan’s [&hel
Politics & Security
The British Have (Almost) Landed, and Japan Is Taking A Closer Look
By Grant Newsham When Japan takes a step forward defense-wise it often goes unnoticed. On […]
Politics & Security
Japan, China Headed for Showdown ‘Down South’
Grant Newsham It seems like every few months an article appears in the Western press claiming […]
Let Japan’s Self-Defense Forces Take Some Risk
Some controversies could only be controversies in Japan. The “rediscovery” of supposedly lost logs of the Ground Sel
Politics & Security
Japan Activates Amphibious Rapid Deployment Brigade: What Now?
Japan’s new Amphibious Rapid Deployment Brigade (ARDB) stood up on March 27, with a ceremony taking place April 7 [&he
Special Reports
Tohoku in My Memory: Recollections on Operation Tomodachi
It’s seven years since the 3/11 Great Eastern Japan earthquake and tsunami that killed over 18,000 people. It [&hell
Politics & Security
It’s Time to Ask the Question: Why Should the U.S. Defend Japan?
President Donal Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, and Defense Secretary James Mattis have all visited Tokyo to reassur
Politics & Security
Shinzo Abe’s Japan: A Threat to Nobody
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe gets called a “fascist” almost as often as does Donald Trump. Abe’s critics appear