Japanese Art and Saburosuke Okada: Historical Change and Power of Paris Lee Jay Walker Modern Tokyo Times Saburosuke Okada (1869-1939) was born one year after the Meiji Restoration of 1868 and he would witness many changes throughout his life. This applies to the Meiji Era, Taisho Era, and the early part of the Showa period…
Circassians Divided Over Turkish Coup Attempt and Its Aftermath Publication: North Caucasus By: Valery Dzutsati The Jamestown Foundation Many from Turkey’s North Caucasian diaspora supported President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan during the failed July 15 coup. At least some North Caucasians, however, have doubts about extending their support to the Turkish president. The Circassian activists are…
First Female Elected Governor of Tokyo: Yuriko Koike Promises to Reinvigorate Tokyo Kanako Itamae and Hiroshi Saito Modern Tokyo Times A very chaotic Tokyo election resulted with Yuriko Koike emerging victorious. This reality happened despite her own party, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), refusing to support her. Therefore, Koike appealed directly to all Tokyoites…
Visegrad Unity is Essential for Europe: Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania, and Slovenia need Embedding Sawako Uchida and Lee Jay Walker Modern Tokyo Times The continent of Europe is once more beset by major convulsions of which many are self-induced. Once, it appeared that the European Union was based on the interests of the respective citizens…
Japanese Tourism and History: Negoro-ji and Buddhism in Stunning Wakayama Tomoko Hara and Sarah Deschamps Modern Tokyo Times Japan is blessed with amazing nature and the cultural reality of this unique nation means that you have so many stunning places to visit. Wakayama prefecture is located in the Kansai region and throughout this part of…
Zimbabwe’s Threadbare Theatre of Reform Piers Pigou Senior Consultant, Southern Africa International Crisis Group Zimbabweans are slowing rediscovering the courage to speak out as Zimbabwe’s much-vaunted reform process is consumed by insincerity, slow-burn crisis, and infighting over the succession to 92-year-old President Robert Mugabe. Complementing growing opposition activity, recent weeks have seen a rash of…
Japanese Female Warrior and Art: Tomoe Gozen and the Onna-Bugeisha Lee Jay Walker Modern Tokyo Times Tomoe Gozen is a famous female warrior in Japan who highlights the reality that women played various roles in Japanese society, outside the subservient model often portrayed. Indeed, even before the emergence of the samurai, females had learnt to…
France to Form a National Guard in Order to Assist against Sunni Islamist Terrorists Walter Sebastian, Michiyo Tanabe, and Lee Jay Walker Modern Tokyo Times President Francois Hollande of France is clearly feeling the pressure internally because the flow of Sunni Islamist terrorism isn’t ending. At the same time, the security forces and central government…
Nice Holiday for Merkel during Death and Terror in Germany, then says No Refugee Change Murad Makhmudov, Sawako Uchida, and Lee Jay Walker Modern Tokyo Times Chancellor Merkel had a delightful holiday while Germany was beset by several barbaric attacks that killed many people. Like usual, just like other political correct politicians who reside in…
Japan in ¥28 Trillion Economic Package and a Ridiculously Small Increase in Hourly Rate for the Poor Noriko Watanabe and Lee Jay Walker Modern Tokyo Times Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan announced yet another mega-stimulus package. Yet, in all truth, these endless packages appear to be assisting corporate Japan, construction companies, major shareholders, and…
Buddhist Warrior Monk Benkei (1155-1189) in Japanese Art: Buddhism to Yamabushi Lee Jay Walker Modern Tokyo Times The legendary Saito no Musashibo Benkei (1155-1189) is a sublime Japanese warrior monk who remained loyal to the very end. He served the historically famous Minamoto no Yoshitsune during a period of changing dynamics in the land of…
Militarization of the Caspian Sea: A Zero-Sum Game? Publication: Eurasia Daily Monitor By: Azad Garibov The Jamestown Foundation On July 13, in the capital city of Astana, Kazakhstan hosted a meeting of the foreign ministers of the five Caspian littoral states. The officials gathered to discuss a draft convention on the legal status of the…
Sunni Islamists butcher Christian Priest in France: Hungary and Visegrad Needed Nawal Soueif, Sawako Uchida, and Lee Jay Walker Modern Tokyo Times Sunni Islamist barbarians who behead and butcher Alawites, Christians, Yazidis, and the Shia in countless nations, are now turning to Belgium, France, and Germany, to spread fear. The latest Sunni Islamist Takfiri attack…
Male in his 20s Kills at Least 15 People in a Disabled Residential Care Center in Japan Kanako Itamae and Lee Jay Walker Modern Tokyo Times In Japan, it is known that a deranged male has killed at least 15 people, with the likelihood of the death total increasing. At the moment, no real motives…
Israel Seeks to Create an Islamist and Sectarian Free Zone in Southern Syria: Independent Syria Ramazan Khalidov, Noriko Watanabe, and Lee Jay Walker Modern Tokyo Times Gulf and NATO nations have collectively conspired to defeat the central government of Syria. This includes democratic and feudal monarchies siding with Sunni Islamist sectarians against the mosaic of…
Japanese Art and Buddhism: Sengai Gibon, Individualism, and Rinzai Buddhism Lee Jay Walker Modern Tokyo Times Sengai Gibon (1750-1837) is a famous individual in Japanese art and history. This is based on his art, spirituality, and unique approach to life. He belongs to the Rinzai School of Buddhism and true to the nature of this…
Pakistan’s LeJ Baluchistan Operations Ready for Resurgence Publication: Terrorism Monitor Volume: 14 Issue: 15 By: Farhan Zahid The Jamestown Foundation Sectarian violence in Pakistan’s troubled Baluchistan province dropped dramatically with the death of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi’s (LeJ) leader Usman Saifullah Kurd in 2015. Attacks, however, have continued under the group’s new leader, Dawood Badini, and LeJ appears…
Sunni Islamists Target the Shia in Afghanistan: ISIS Kill at least 80 Shia Muslims Ramazan Khalidov and Lee Jay Walker Modern Tokyo Times The mainly Shia Hazara had gathered in the thousands in Kabul to demonstrate about the rerouting of a power line based on the poverty-stricken reality of Bamiyan province. However, the gathering enabled…
Germany in Shock: Many People Killed in Munich Attack but Motives Remain Unclear Helmet Joachim Schmidt, Michiyo Tanabe, and Lee Jay Walker Modern Tokyo Times Tragedy hit Munich after a young adult, believed to be a German-Iranian individual, killed nine people. The lone gunman shot randomly at people before seemingly killing himself but an…
Edgar Degas Adored Japanese Art: Ideas of Distance, Impressionism, and art of the Renaissance Lee Jay Walker Modern Tokyo Times Ukiyo-e inspired many artists in distant lands and this includes Edgar Degas, who came to admire this Japanese art form. Edgar Degas (1834-1917) was born in Paris into a wealthy family and he was blessed…
Venezuela: Edge of the Precipice International Crisis Group The full briefing is also available in: español OVERVIEW In December 2015, President Nicolás Maduro immediately recognised the opposition Democratic Unity (MUD) coalition’s resounding legislative election victory. For the first time in over sixteen years, the prospect arose of political cohabitation between the alliance led by the ruling…
Nichiren in Japanese Art: Exile to Sado Island of Buddhist Holy Man in Art Lee Jay Walker Modern Tokyo Times Nichiren (1222-1282) was born during a very unstable period in Japan because of internal political convulsions, the devastation of nature, and belief that the world was entering a bleak period based on growing backwardness. Debates…
United Kingdom should stop Softbank from Buying ARM: Mass Debt and National Interests Sawako Uchida and Lee Jay Walker Modern Tokyo Times The United Kingdom government should step-in in order to protect ARM Holdings being sold to highly indebted Softbank. Not only is the debt ratio of Softbank alarming, but more important the national…
President Erdogan of Turkey Declares a State of Emergency Salma Zribi, Noriko Watanabe, and Lee Jay Walker Modern Tokyo Times President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey announced a three-month state of emergency, in response to the failed coup that took place last week. Erdogan also praised demonstrators who came out onto the streets during the…
Moscow ‘Bypassing’ Armenia to Reach Azerbaijan, Iran and India Publication: Eurasia Daily By: Paul Goble The Jamestown Foundation Perhaps the most important geopolitical development of mid-July 2016 was not the continuing conflict in the South China Sea, the failed coup in Turkey, or terrorist violence in France—all of which attracted considerable international attention—but rather the…
Modern Japanese Artist and Utrillo: Seasonal Change of Notre-Dame de Clignantcourt Lee Jay Walker Modern Tokyo Times Notre-Dame de Clignantcourt in the life of Maurice Utrillo (1883-1955) wasn’t a particular historical and famous Christian church in Paris. However, this Catholic place of worship certainly hit a right chord with Utrillo because he painted this scene,…
Gulf and Western-Backed Terrorists in Syria Behead a Palestinian Boy after Taunting Him Murad Makhmudov and Lee Jay Walker Modern Tokyo Times Gulf and Western-backed sectarians in Syria captured a terrified young Palestinian boy in Aleppo, then shortly afterwards they taunt and behead him without one ounce of compassion. On the contrary, just like other…
Turkey under Despotic President Erdogan: Coup Plotters Rushed on Fear of Immediate Arrests Nuray Lydia Oglu, Noriko Watanabe, and Lee Jay Walker Modern Tokyo Times The botched coup against President Erdogan appears to be based on bringing plans forward because of knowing about imminent arrests. According to internal sources in Turkey, at least 300 prominent…
Nagorno-Karabakh: New Opening, or More Peril? Europe Report N°239 4 Jul 2016 International Crisis Group EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS The pattern of military escalation on the Armenia-Azerbaijan border and Line of Contact (LoC) around Nagorno-Karabakh (NK) since at least 2011 meant it should not have been the surprise it was when major fighting broke out…
Japanese Artist and Maurice Utrillo: The Mundane Becomes Illuminated Lee Jay Walker Modern Tokyo Times The French artist Maurice Utrillo (1883-1955), just like the British artist L.S. Lowry (1887-1976), are two of the most predominant artists to hail from France and the United Kingdom in the twentieth century. Of course, internationally, Utrillo is more famously…
Military Coup in Turkey: President Erdogan and Divided Nation Nuray Lydia Oglu, Takeshi Hasegawa, and Lee Jay Walker Modern Tokyo Times President Erdogan of Turkey is hiding behind security officials while a minor coup is taking place. Various images showing a rattled Erdogan are far from the Ottoman strongman that he likes to play in…
Japanese Buddhism, Kukai (774-835), and Koyasan: A lone cloud has no place to settle Lee Jay Walker Modern Tokyo Times Japanese Buddhism, just like Christianity and Islam internationally, is divided into various sects and thought patterns. One of the great Buddhist spiritual teachers of old Japan is Kukai (774-835). This is based on the teachings…
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