Yasukuni Shrine: History, Memory, and Japan's Unending Postwar (http://www.uhpress.hawaii.edu/p-9456-978082 4846787.aspx) (University of Hawaii Press and Studies of the Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University, 2015) examines key moments in the one-and-a-half-century history of Yasukuni Shrine, beginning with its conceptualization in the late Tokugawa years and culminating in the political turmoil of the twenty-first century. I decided to write a book on the history of the Shrine for a seemingly counter-intuitive reason: there is too much attention on this monument-political attention, that is.

The territorial dispute between Russia and Japan over the Southern Kurils/Northern Territories has long been in a state of impasse. In simple terms, while Russia has conceded to transfer the islands of Shikotan and Habomai after the conclusion of a peace treaty, Japan insists that its sovereignty over all four of the disputed islands be recognised. Despite lengthy bilateral negotiations over seven decades and numerous imaginative proposals by academics and diplomats, the two sides have been unable to break this deadlock.

Since his war legislation has failed to gain public support, Prime Minister Abe has suddenly brought up the China Threat as a last resort. However, a rational analysis of reality reveals that the theory is unfounded.

On July 21, 2015 a defence white paper was published. Unusually, it contained an addenda with a statement inserted at the end of a section on China: “China has been building new offshore platforms and other facilities on the Chinese side of the Japan-China median line in the East China Sea since June 2013. Japan has repeatedly lodged protests against China's unilateral development and demanded the termination of such works.”

Director John Junkerman’s “0kinawa: The Afterburn” is an extremely rational documentary film. This is a virtue shared by the director’s “Power and Terror: Noam Chomsky in Our Times” (2002) and “Japan’s Peace Constitution” (2005), in which, via the maker’s level-headed processing, viewers are able to face many problems and encounter many clues they are given to think through on their own. At 148 minutes, this is a long film. But it is carefully arranged in four, roughly chronological parts—1) The Battle of Okinawa; 2) Occupation; 3) Violation; and 4) To the Future—that sustain interest and can be watched through without ever feeling long. I would like to explore those four parts with particular attention to aspects of the film that deliver a strong impact.

This article reviews the Abe administration's moves to crush opposition to nuclear power and restart the first nuclear reactors since the closure of all 54 nuclear power plants following the triple meltdown of March 11, 2011. The author punctures official claims of an economic crisis resulting from post-3.11 import of fossil fuels, the basis for the Abe restart program. Likewise, claims that preserving a share of the energy mix to nuclear power is essential and inescapable in order to avert or alleviate climate crisis. Finally, the author considers the implications of government policies for the possible creation of a Japanese nuclear weapons arsenal.