In 1942 the U.S. War Relocation Authority hired documentary photographer Dorothea Lange to photograph the World War II internment of approximately 120,000 Japanese Americans. Lange is now a world-famous documentary photographer, best known for chronicling the Great Depression of the 1930s. Her work is the subject of more than a dozen glossy art books. Even those who do not know her name will recognize some of her pictures. One of her photographs has been called the most famous image in the U.S.

In this article Mark J. Valencia, a maritime policy analyst based in Hawaii writes, “such interdictions, without the permission of the flag state, on or over the high seas, could be considered an act of war. Some thought North Korea was bluffing when it said it would launch ballistic missiles. They thought it was bluffing when it said it had a nuclear weapon. They also thought it was bluffing when it said it would test a nuclear weapon. Now it has threatened war if its vessels or aircraft are interdicted. Given this history of miscalculation on both sides, the United States and its friends in the region need to carefully consider if they want to contribute to the cause of a possible Second Korean War.”

The nuclear test by the DPRK has led to a predictable deluge of hype and hypocrisy, amidst a dearth of informed and sensible comment. Politicians, and journalists, have reveled in the situation. North Korea is a convenient whipping boy, with few friends. It tends to be excoriated across the political spectrum. Since it is a small country targeted by the world's superpower, which, though hemorrhaging and perhaps in relative decline, still possesses such formidable political, economic and military power that no country, or international civil servant for that matter, dares openly speak up, even if they so desired. Politicians have hastened to express moral outrage even if, and perhaps especially if, they come from countries which have many nuclear weapons and have conducted tests. Journalists have been having a field day, many delighting in the opportunity to write lurid stories unencumbered by the need to check facts and qualify opinions. Under the circumstances, it is more necessary than ever before to keep a clear head and try to disentangle fact from fantasy, to unearth what has been going on, and what is likely to happen.

The trial of Charles I in 1649 secured the historic gains of the English civil war – the supremacy of parliament, the independence of judges, individual freedom guaranteed by Magna Carta and the common law. From a modern perspective, it was the first war crimes trial of a head of state. The arguments in Westminster Hall resonate today in the courtrooms at the Hague and even in the Iraqi Special Tribunal – Saddam Hussein's opening words to his judge were, in translation, a paraphrase of those of Charles I: “By what power am I called hither… I would know by what authority, lawful I mean….”

Keith Bradsher's article rightly emphasizes the rapid progress that the Vietnamese economy has made since the adoption of reform policies (doi moi) twenty years ago, and its bright future prospects. Of course, positioning Vietnam's growth rate between those of China and India does sacrifice a sense of proportion. While it is ranked fifteenth in world population, just ahead of Germany, Vietnam's GDP adjusted for purchasing power is the equivalent of Algeria or Hong Kong. China's Guangdong Province, with a similar population, has a provincial product four times the size of Vietnam's GNP, and Thailand's economy is twice the size. In 2005, moreover, the IMF ranked Vietnam 123rd in the world, with GNP per capita estimated at $3,025 (adjusted for purchasing power), just below India.

A few years ago, when Milton Minoru Takahashi first set out to improve conditions for Brazilian guest workers living in Nagoya, he thought he'd be telling Japanese about soccer, samba and Brazilian beaches. They were the sales hooks the Brazilian-Japanese Takahashi—who works for a nonprofit foundation that aids the 60,000 foreigners in Nagoya—thought could open locals' eyes to the beauties of Brazilian culture. But, he says, “the Japanese didn't want to hear about those things. They wanted to talk about noise and garbage”—problems allegedly caused by the Brazilian immigrants in their neighborhoods.

This past summer, I was delighted to discover a new “ethnic detective” character named Masuo “Mas” Arai, an elderly Japanese American gardener whose credentials include a green thumb and a nose for sniffing out criminals. The creation of Los Angeles-based journalist and author Naomi Hirahara, Arai made his literary debut in 2004 in “Summer of the BIG BACHI.” A year later he was assisting the NYPD in “Gasa-Gasa Girl.” This year, he's back cruising the L.A. freeways in his battered pickup truck in “Snakeskin Shamisen,” where a traditional Okinawan musical instrument left at the scene of the crime led him to the killer.

LONDON – “Economic reform” has been the banner slogan of Japanese governments for the last 10 years, and the new government promises more of it.

For Prime Minister Abe Shinzo, it is not quite the strident claim to fearless determination that it was for his predecessor, but there is no doubt about the general direction of economic institutional change. Abe's chief Cabinet secretary is a dedicated neoliberal, and the appointment of renowned market fundamentalists as academic members of his Economic Council is a clear sign of which way some of the long-standing controversial issues are likely to be resolved. Expect tax reforms to make it easier for foreign firms to take over Japanese firms, for instance.

Richard Weitz in “The Sino-Russian Arms Dilemma,” clarifies important elements of strategic dimensions of their deepening and expanding relationship. In previous articles, notably

Eric Johnston's two-part article examines the issues in Okinawa's gubernatorial election and the implications for the continuing US-Okinawa conflict over the transfer of the Futenma Air Base to Henoko in northern Okinawa where a strong anti-base movement has long thwarted base relocation efforts by the US and Japan.

Iwabuchi Nobuteru has visited New Guinea more than 200 times over the past 40 years –not to relax on a tropical beach but to look for human remains.

The divided East Indies island – the west half Irian, Indonesia, and the east half Papua New Guinea – saw heavy fighting between Japanese and Allied forces during World War II. Thousands of soldiers died there, and Iwabuchi's father, Keiji, was one of them.

With the worsening food crisis in North Korea in the mid-1990s, thousands of people from the food-deficit areas of the country crossed the border into China. While many returned to North Korea with food or money, some stayed in China. Several thousand of these made their way, usually through great hardship, to South Korea.

Takahashi Tetsuya's “The National Politics of the Yasukuni Shrine,” is among the most important statements to emerge from the debate over Yasukuni Shrine, historical memory and war nationalism. The article is here.

Japan Focus is pleased to present chapter seven of Naoko Shimazu, ed., Nationalisms in Japan. Philip Seaton is the translator.

Fresh from a serious setback in Iran, where it lost its controlling stake in the huge Azadegan oilfield, Japan has launched diplomatic efforts in earnest to secure petroleum in neighboring Iraq.

Recently, Tokyo invited Iraqi Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani to Japan and they issued a joint communique pledging Japanese assistance for improvements to the oil and gas infrastructure in the war-torn country. Japan specifically pledged loans of about 20 billion yen (US$170 million) to Iraq as part of the $3.5 billion aid package already committed.

Two appalling concrete structures are sprouting from the lush grass of one of the finest botanic gardens in Southeast Asia. The stench of fresh asphalt is overpowering the gentle scent of tropical flowers; heavy mobile cranes are intruding where, just a few days ago, couples and families came to spend quiet days admiring giant water lilies, as well as varieties of orchids, palms and bamboos.

The election for Governor of Okinawa on 19 November is unique among prefectural elections in Japan in its national, regional and even global implications. The Japanese state has been struggling for more than a decade to secure the compliance of Okinawan people with an agenda whose core is priority to the US alliance over the constitution and priority to military (songun) over civil or democratic principle, something that it abhors when practiced by North Korea.

In 2005, more than 62,000 ships sailed through the Straits of Malacca, one of the world's busiest and most important shipping lanes. Linking East and Southeast Asia with the world, one third of world trade and half of global oil pass through the Straits.

With projected growth in global trade and the rise of East Asian economies, financial demands can be expected to grow on the littoral states—namely Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore—to ensure navigation safety and control marine pollution. In addition, the heightened perception of risk to ships traversing the Straits due to threats of piracy and terrorism has led to increased security costs.

Considering that an estimated 80% of vessels traversing the Straits are on transit, the littoral states have called for burden sharing in various meetings and conferences over the years. However, there has been little follow-up by the stakeholders to collectively address the issue, and still less effort to come up with an acceptable and workable operating mechanism. Drawing on presentations at the recent International Maritime Organization Meeting (IMO) in Kuala Lumpur, this article presents a case for burden sharing in the Straits.

In 1995, when Chinese victims of forced labor in wartime Japan began filing compensation lawsuits in Japanese courts, the elderly plaintiffs and their supporters were well aware that the legal path to justice would be neither fast nor smooth. Eleven years on, Chinese forced labor lawsuits against the Japanese state and private corporations have resulted in four court-ordered compensation awards. All are now under appeal, and there have been two court-mediated financial settlements. Even in decisions rejecting the Chinese claims due to statutes of limitations and state immunity, moreover, Japanese judges routinely rule that brutal forced labor in fact occurred. And some suggest that the government could pass legislation establishing a national compensation fund.

The New York Times on October 12, 2006 featured an article describing fierce opposition by some US investors and employers in China to modest improvements to Chinese labor legislation. I have just visited China with labor lawyers and industrial relations experts who have worked to advance these proposed changes in China's employment law. The labor law reformers paint a vivid picture of the imbalance to the detriment of workers in Chinese industrial relations and the resulting abuses of employees, and of the urgent need to redress this imbalance if China's social and investment environment is to remain stable.