Karin Narita writes about the struggle over political interference in appointments to the governing body of the Science Council of Japan, and the importance of this event for academic freedom and the wider political climate in Japan.
In his new International Politics article, Michael Magcamit asks whether Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s desire for constitutional change is precipitated mainly by the resurgence of Japanese nationalist sentiments as what many of his critics claim, or if there are genuinely rational justifications for revising the country’s 72-year old Constitution. And if so, why has it been so elusive for many Japanese leaders?