For decades, mining has occupied a complicated place in the national conversation, caught in a tug-of-war between the promise of economic growth and the cost of environmental degradation.

War spares none, and forgives few... Japan learned this the hard way after Emperor Hirohito announced the country’s surrender in August 1945. Atomic bombs turned the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki into virtual wastelands, as darkness enveloped the entire archipelago. The years following World War II were a...

It is fashionable these days—both in and outside Japan—to argue that Japan is in the process of “re-Asianization.” This view is part of the larger argument that all of Asia, including Japan, is asserting a distinct Asian identity in economic affairs, security arrangements and social and cultural values. The...