Unresolved Issues From WW-II Defeat = Brake On Revising Constitution? 22 October election for Japan’s powerful Diet Lower House —- Lots of attention on whether Japanese politics will thereafter be postured to amend the Constitution —- A key goal of PM Abe and the conservatives will be to amend Article 9 and allow the Japan […]

The world suffers from an acute case of attention deficit/obsessive compulsive disorder. When the Media is onto something- Russia, storms, crazed gunmen and mass murder, it is impossible to get them to focus on anything else. Goodness knows there is a lot to go around. The shooter himself- won’t use his name- remains an enigma. […]

I will try to cover it unemotionally in the Swamp Postcard tomorrow- short words, bullet points. Take away the urge to rail about the madness of men and the complete absence of conscience and compassion. I love the way the sun comes up down in Culpeper. The fields illuminate first, and then the golden light […]

Hello from Yokosuka, and welcome to the “retired gaijin” version of Japan-gazer, which I think will continue to morph over time, but just wanted to get it started and see where things go through what’s ahead. This short “Update” version, I hope to send once in a while, using Japanese internet news blurbs/sources to follow […]

I am going to step away from the crises de jour this morning. There are reports that Pyongyang is moving some rockets around, and China and Russia are starting to actually get serious. Who knows? Perhaps this will work out. But I recall that pinching the Japanese with sanctions on oil, steel and rubber exports […]

I had two separate conversations over the last few days that summed up a lot about what is going on and how people are reacting to it. I was working on the astonishing litany of events that have occurred over the last week for the Swamp Postcard feature I have fun with each Wednesday and […]

The hits just keep on coming. The Eastern Seaboard breathed a sigh of relief as Hurricane Maria arced to the northeast, sparing us the wind and rain. Unfortunately, Maria has linked up with Hurricane Lee and is intensifying again. Great Britain may be directly in its path. The power of nature is a poignant reminder […]

Editor’s Note: The rhetoric flying around these days contains a lot of archaic terms- “White Supremacist” seems to be a favorite, which makes me remember when such despicable creatures actually existed, attacking children of color during integration times, and “KKK,” of whom there may be a few hundred sprinkled in a population of 320 million. […]

Editor’s Note: Japan-Gazer has ended his government career, and this is the first of his retirement essays. He will stay on as an ExPat, and his observations are as keen as ever in our most important Allie in Asia: Japan. With rhetoric rising between the DPRK and DC, he will have a ringside seat for […]

Editor’s Note: It was a couple cycle of advertising slogans ago for the recruiters, but one of the ones that resonated with me long ago was “Join the Navy and see the world!” We did, in grand style. But we were also seen by the world we visited. CDR Gilmore has a thoughtful appreciation of […]