Bonus Perspectives is a weekly column series containing my thoughts on the latest international news and Japanese news, as well as film, television, music, book, and video game recommendations. It’s free for all subscribers to this Substack, but if you enjoy my writing, consider opting for a paid subscription. Doing so will give you access to exclusive in-depth pieces and my entire backlog of work. Your support is greatly appreciated!

Ukraine says it’s ready for a 30-day ceasefire if Russia agrees

In a significant reversal from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s explosive meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House less than two weeks ago, it appears that a ceasefire with Russia is back on the menu. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and National Security Adviser Mike Waltz met with a delegation of Ukrainian officials in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday to get relations with Kyiv back on track and discuss the future of the war. This was a highly anticipated summit because it followed Zelenskyy’s attempts at mending his relationship with Trump, something that the U.S. president was receptive to during his recent address to Congress.

Speaking to reporters after Tuesday’s summit which lasted over eight hours, Rubio and Waltz revealed that Ukraine will agree to a 30-day ceasefire provided that Russia also accepts the same proposal. Framing the meeting as a productive success, the two officials announced that Washington would immediately resume aid and intelligence sharing with Kyiv. Rubio said he would convey the proposal through official channels and that the ball was now in Russia’s court. Trump seemed to be pleased with results and replied that he would be open to inviting Zelenskyy back to the White House. These are positive developments to be sure, but they only portend many more years of complex issues.

First, this summit essentially signals that the war will continue to be a stalemate without U.S. involvement. While Zelenskyy is wisely pursuing more help from European allies in the wake of his argument with Trump, his recent actions suggest that he realizes that Washington’s role cannot disappear. Second, it’s obvious that Zelenskyy had to bend the knee. This proposed 30-day ceasefire is one even more drastic than the terms the Ukrainian president initially discussed on social media. As I argued in my column last week, I don’t think that anything he said at the White House was incorrect, but publicly disagreeing with Trump was why that meeting ended the way it did. These diplomat-level talks in Saudi Arabia were the right approach because everything was conducted behind closed doors.

Third, the ball is indeed in Russia’s court as Rubio stated. At this point, Trump and Zelenskyy appear to finally be on the same page with moving forward to the next stage. It’s now up to Vladimir Putin to decide if he will accept the ceasefire terms. Neither side is making any significant progress on the battlefield, but Russia could feasibly continue to wear Ukraine down via a war of attrition. Moscow cares little about turning soldiers into meat grinders, whether their own or the thousands of North Korean troops joining the fight. Regardless, Putin likely does not want to wage a costly, indefinite war. He very well could accept the ceasefire terms out of pragmatism, and there will probably be an official response from Russia by the time you read this column.

Most importantly though, a 30-day ceasefire would not be the end of tensions between Ukraine and Russia. Rubio on Wednesday asserted that the goal is to create the conditions for actual diplomacy to happen. Points like what territory both sides will cede, what security guarantees the Trump administration will provide Kyiv, and what will happen to the Ukrainian children abducted by Russia are still up in the air. Even if these issues were to be resolved in the short-term, Ukraine’s sovereignty needs to be protected and Russia cannot be allowed to wage another invasion a few years down the line.

As I’ve alluded to previously, what is likely to happen is a frozen conflict not unlike that seen between both Koreas. Ukraine and Russia will continue to live next to each other, but in a state of constant tension. These are countries that, conceivably for the rest of the century, will always waver on the precipice of full scale war happening again. Zelenskyy, Putin, and Trump will try to reach a deal that can have them walk away from the negotiating table and tell their people that they “won.” Of course, no one will have really won. The next era of problems is just getting started.

Trump’s bashing of the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty is nonsense, but it needs to be taken seriously

Donald Trump continues to say bullshit, but then again the sky is blue, water is wet, and women have secrets. Even the U.S. president’s most ardent defenders are likely to admit that Trump doesn’t exactly come across as particularly erudite when discussing complex geopolitical issues. He instead tends to frame international relations as business deals, treating other countries like partner firms or rival companies. This was evident last week when Trump took aim at the current Japan-U.S. Security Treaty, complaining that while the U.S. is obligated to protect Japan in the event of an attack, the same does not hold true vice-versa. “Under no circumstances do they have to protect us,” he added.

The Japanese government actually did respond to these remarks, with Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi stating:

“Article 5 of the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty stipulates that Japan and the U.S. will respond jointly to armed attacks on Japan. Article 6 allows the U.S. to use Japanese facilities to contribute to Japan's security and to maintain international peace and security in the Far East.”

If an enemy country were to launch an assault against U.S. military bases stationed in Japanese territory, then under the current treaty it would be required for Japan to provide assistance. I’m assuming that this is what Trump is referring to because otherwise it would be quite ludicrous to expect Japan to come to the United States’ aid if, say, Florida was attacked by the Cubans. Given his current proposals to annex Greenland and occupy Gaza, maybe he actually is unironically complaining about such a scenario just to see what happens. I would not put it past him given the president’s tendency to fire off such blunt remarks first and sort out the details later. Art of the deal perhaps? Surprisingly, there may be something there.

In fact, this subject is nothing new for him. During his first term, Trump pretty much made the same complaint toward the Shinzo Abe administration in 2019 and reportedly told the late prime minister himself that the “unfair” security treaty needed be changed. That amounted to a whole lot of nothing, but the same year Trump demanded that Tokyo pay more to host the over 54,000 U.S. troops on Japanese soil. Washington at the time requested that Japan pony up $8 billion, up from its then budget of $2 billion. Amazingly, this ended up happening in 2022. While that was during the Biden administration, Trump was the one to push for Japan to increase its financial burden in the first place.

Will that and Japan significantly raising its defense spending be enough to appease Trump 2.0? That remains to be seen, but either way his remarks on the security treaty should not be dismissed as mere noise-making. The entire text of the Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security between the United States and Japan is available on Japan’s foreign ministry website, so I recommend checking it out if you’re interested in getting the full context of what it entails. The agreement is notable for having been signed in 1960 and receiving no further amendments since, making it the longest lasting treaty between two great powers in centuries.

Yet Article 10 is where things get complicated:

“This Treaty shall remain in force until in the opinion of the Governments of Japan and the United States of America there shall have come into force such United Nations arrangements as will satisfactorily provide for the maintenance of international peace and security in the Japan area. However, after the Treaty has been in force for ten years, either Party may give notice to the other Party of its intention to terminate the Treaty, in which case the Treaty shall terminate one year after such notice has been given.”

This treaty has stood the test of time for 65 years well past its original duration of a decade, but Trump is someone who thumbs his nose at tradition and established norms. As we saw earlier this month, his administration froze military aid and temporarily suspended information sharing with Ukraine only to reverse those decisions after Tuesday’s meeting in Saudi Arabia. Even with that resolved for the time being, Europe is now seriously reevaluating the future of its security relations with the U.S. and just approved a massive increase in defense spending, which is ironically what Washington wanted to happen in the first place. Again, a generous interpretation of Trump’s actions points to a shrewd businessman trying to put on as much pressure as possible to get a better deal.

I’m willing to bet dollars to donuts that Trump is more than aware that he could terminate the security treaty with Japan as outlined by Article 10 if he felt inclined to do so. If Tokyo displeases him, he can always threaten this endgame as leverage to get what he wants. Actually pulling out from the treaty would have massive implications for geopolitical security in East Asia and alienate U.S. relations with Japan for decades to come. Shinzo Abe was able to dissuade Trump from pursuing such overly rash actions, but he does not have that kind of close friendship with current Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba.

For the time being though, there is a low risk of anything too dangerous happening because the U.S. and Japan are still on reasonably good terms. As I outlined in my column for UnHerd about their first meeting, Ishiba is pragmatically weighing his options on how to deal with the Trump-sized hole in his pocket. Both men have ideological disagreements, but the Japanese prime minister will make appeasing Washington a major priority. I mentioned last week how I’m not a fan of Trump acting like Vito Corleone toward important allies, but that’s unfortunately how the game is going to be played for the next four years.

What I’m watching — Star Wars: Skeleton Crew is a good show no one will ever watch

Oh Star Wars, what has become of thee? You went from being the biggest film in the world ten years ago with The Force Awakens only to be reduced to the depths of television streaming hell with The Acolyte. I have a lengthy article in the works which will cover the full downfall of this once mighty franchise, but the sad reality is that Star Wars is no longer the cultural phenomenon it once was. Kids today don’t give a toss about this IP as evidenced by the abysmal toy sales, while the average viewer has long stopped caring because of how poorly the sequel trilogy was handled.

In 2025, Star Wars is more or less a niche interest only held up by Disney sycophants or people with battered spouse syndrome like me. I stick around because we occasionally get something good like Andor and I try my best to shout from the rooftops whenever that happens. Well, this is one of those rare rooftop-shouting moments. Skeleton Crew, released on Disney+ late last year and having just recently finished its run, is surprisingly enjoyable. So enjoyable that I would recommend this show to just about everyone, kids and adults alike. Yes, I am in fact talking about a modern Star Wars Disney production. No, I wasn’t drinking when I wrote this section.

What works in Skeleton Crew’s favor is that it’s a fun, low-stakes story that has no major ramifications for the existing Star Wars canon. That allowed Jon Watts and Christopher Ford of Spider-Man: Homecoming fame to create a light show that focuses around the simple premise of a bunch of kids trying to get home while dealing with space pirates along the way. The obvious inspiration for Skeleton Crew was Goonies, but it also takes great influence from traditional adventure romps like Treasure Island and The Wizard of Oz. If you took away the space setting and high-tech ships, this easily could have been a story featured in one of the pulp action film serials George Lucas watched as a kid.

The child actors do a generally good job with the material, though admittedly Wim is probably one of the weaker Star Wars protagonists. He does mature somewhat as the show goes on, but it’s definitely a far cry compared to Ezra Bridger who had a far more satisfying character arc in Star Wars: Rebels which had the benefit of being a much longer series. This is a show I now find myself hoping will get another season or two to give us those moments. That’s especially true with Jude Law’s character Jod Na Nawood, the biggest highlight of Skeleton Crew. The writers did a fantastic job giving him a nuanced backstory and motivation, but you are still left wanting to learn more about him by the end.

I was also surprised to see just how much care and attention went toward Skeleton Crew’s worldbuilding. Thanks to some exquisite artwork, practical effects, and interesting ship designs which call back to the original trilogy, the viewer is convincingly given the sense that these kids are microscopic individuals against the impossibly massive scale of the entire galaxy. It almost feels like an issue out of Marvel’s original 1970s Star Wars comic book run or an early Expanded Universe novel featuring Han Solo’s adventures to strange worlds. When was the last time Star Wars truly captured that sense of wonder and potential?

Of course, there’s the elephant in the room. For as good as Skeleton Crew is, no one is watching it. And can you really blame them? If most hadn’t dropped Star Wars completely after how poorly the sequel trilogy was handled, last year’s The Acolyte demonstrated just how badly the brand under Disney could get. I finally watched that show for the sake of completion recently and Skeleton Crew completely blew it out of the water in everything from presentation to story. Again, we’re talking about a lighthearted adventure over what was supposed to be an essential prequel with huge consequences for the entire lore. Even Disney knew how bad The Acolyte was because they swiftly canceled it.

I can wholeheartedly recommend Skeleton Crew even to people who only have a passing interest in Star Wars. It’s abundantly clear though that this franchise is in trouble. Andor Season 2 is probably going to face similar issues with viewership and the only other major project currently on the docket with a firm release date is The Mandalorian & Grogu film set for 2026. My wife and I will be attending Star Wars Celebration in Tokyo next month where more announcements are expected to happen, but Disney seriously has to pull its act together. It doesn’t matter how good something like Skeleton Crew or Andor is if no one is watching. The final episode of Skeleton Crew has a line about the cruelness of the galaxy, but it ironically is also applicable to the current state of Star Wars: “Dark, with a few pinpricks of light.”

What I’m playing — Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater gave me nostalgia for an era I didn’t grow up in

Let me take you back to 1999. The Cold War is over and 9/11 hasn’t happened yet. Everyone is optimistic about the upcoming new century. The internet is still a new thing for most and there isn’t 24/7 social media running every facet of our lives. It’s very much an analog world where you need to use landline phones to stay in touch and physically go to your friends’ houses to hang out. If you’re a kid, any video game you can get is a rare treat that you’ll spend hours tinkering with because there’s nothing else to do other than go outside. If you do go outside, perhaps you’ll take up a sport like skateboarding which is at the height of its popularity because the 1990s are the era of “extreme.” If you like both, you’ll undoubtedly be addicted to Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater out on the original Sony PlayStation and eventually every other major games console the following year.

Or at least that’s how I imagine it probably went down. As someone born in 1997, I can’t claim to be a 90s kid. Sure, I existed during less than three years of the decade, but my earliest childhood memories are squarely in the 2000s. I never grew up with Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater. While the numerous sequels did come out on other systems, I was primarily a handheld gamer with the Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS. There were scaled down Tony Hawk games for those platforms too, but that’s not what most people think of whenever the name “Pro Skater” is brought up.

It was only this month that I finally decided to get into this series with the recent announcement of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4, a complete remake of the third and fourth games done in the same vein of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2 which came out in 2020. Hype for this new remake is massive, which is a testament to just how much love and nostalgia exists for this franchise over 25 years later. Being a purist who likes to play originals before remakes, I fired up my Retroid Pocket 5 Android handheld console and loaded up the very first Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater via a PlayStation 1 emulator.

At first, it was a pretty brutal experience. It seemed that I had no control over my character and this digital version of Mr. Hawk performed about as well as I probably would if I decided to get on a skateboard today. I initially struggled to perform any of the moves that were essential for racking up points and achieving the challenges, which almost resulted in me quitting entirely. But then I stuck with it for a couple of hours and soon it all clicked. I got accustomed to the movement and I eventually realized that chaining together combos was more or less the equivalent of a rhythm game. Had I been a kid back then, I could easily imagine spending my afternoons in front of a television with Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater.

No discussion of the Tony Hawk games is complete without the incredible soundtrack. Music has always been an integral part of skateboarding culture, something the man himself wished to convey with a series bearing his name and likeness. Whether it’s the adrenaline-fueled lyrics of Goldfinger’s “Superman” which hit all the more harder as an adult or the utter strangeness of Primus’ “Jerry Was A Race Car Driver,” this is a thoroughly riveting soundscape that perfectly embodies the 1990s. I’ve proceeded to add these artists to my music library and am looking forward to listening to more of their work, some of which is likely to feature in future editions of Bonus Perspectives.

As of this writing, I’m still doing my best to get through the stages of the first Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, each of which seems to get more difficult than the last. I don’t feel any pressure to rush through any it; at this point I simply want to hone my muscle memory and become more skilled at the mechanics until they become second nature. Once I sufficiently clear the first two games, I certainly intend to challenge myself with the remakes since they’ve been significantly modernized and run on different engine physics. Being in my late 20s with a plethora of adult responsibilities, it’s probably too late for me to get into real skateboarding, but I’m perfectly satisfied losing myself in this arcadey virtual edition of the sport. Thank you for introducing me to a new world, Mr. Hawk.

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Bonus Perspectives is a weekly column series containing my thoughts on the latest international news and Japanese news, as well as film, television, music, book, and video game recommendations. It’s free for all subscribers to this Substack, but if you enjoy my writing, consider opting for a paid subscription. Doing so will give you access to exclusive in-depth pieces and my entire backlog of work. Your support is greatly appreciated!

Why Zelenskyy’s summit with Trump failed

Few could have predicted how much of a total dumpster fire Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s summit with U.S. President Donald Trump ended up being last Friday. What was supposed to be a straightforward signing of a rare earth minerals deal became one of the most explosive spats ever seen at the White House. The whole 50-minute press conference is available on YouTube via C-SPAN and through it we can see in real time how everything fell apart.

Most of the initial discussion between Zelenskyy and Trump around ending the war in Ukraine was cordial enough. There was even a moment early on when both leaders respectfully disagreed about the amount of EU funding, but it did not derail things and the conversation continued. That all went to hell at around the 40 minute mark when Vice President JD Vance began sparring with Zelenskyy over what shape potential diplomacy with Russia should take. Trump soon interjected and the whole thing quickly devolved into a meltdown that will probably be replayed for decades to come. The full transcript of the argument is here and I recommend reading it for full context, but the ultimate result was a complete breakdown in relations between Washington and Kyiv.

Zelenskyy accurately pointed out to Vance that Russian President Vladimir Putin repeatedly violated previous ceasefires, likely in reference to the Minsk agreements. Instead of acknowledging this, however, Vance instead stressed, “diplomacy that’s going to end the destruction of [Ukraine] while chiding Zelenskyy for “litigat[ing] this in front of the American media.” The vice president continued his barrage and hardly gave the Ukrainian president (who speaks English as a second language) time to respond. Incredibly, Vance later even asked “Have you said thank you once?” which Zelenskyy in fact did both during the same day of the meeting and repeatedly over the last few years.

Trump finally chimed in after Zelenskyy alluded that the United States would “feel it in the future” in reference to the war being resolved in Putin’s favor. That was apparently the last straw for the U.S. president. He angrily responded, “Don’t tell us how to feel” and proceeded to declare that Ukraine is “gambling with World War III.” That exchange is what grabbed the most headlines, but I think Trump’s response to a reporter’s question asking what would happen if Putin broke another ceasefire agreement is being overlooked. It’s utterly incomprehensible rant that brought the entire meeting to a close and Zelenskyy’s exasperated look throughout the whole thing says it all.

In the end, Zelenskyy and his entourage were ordered to leave the White House early, lunch was cancelled, and the minerals deal between both countries was left unsigned. Later in the evening, Zelenskyy sat down for a lengthy interview with Fox News. It was more or less an effort at salvaging a terrible situation and to the Ukrainian president’s credit, he did as well as could be expected given the circumstances. Bret Baier was a good host who did not interrupt, while Zelenskyy reaffirmed his gratitude toward the United States and express his hopes for a return to negotiations. Trump took to his social media platform Truth Social, criticizing Ukraine’s president for having “disrespected the United States of America in its cherished Oval Office,” and want on to say that he can “come back when he is ready for Peace.”

And that essentially brings us to where we are now — a very tense time with an unclear future ahead. First, I should unequivocally state that Trump and Vance acted completely beyond the pale for treating Zelenskyy the way they did. While I guarantee that world leaders have hated disputes with one another all the time and indeed even Biden is reported to have lost his temper with Zelenskyy in the past, the difference is that all those exchanges were in private. To turn this into a public media circus speaks very poorly on Trump and Vance’s part because they are the ones who come across as unhinged, not Zelenskyy. Putin was probably in stitches after watching the whole thing.

For as unacceptable as Trump and Vance’s behavior was, however, I will take a somewhat unpopular viewpoint which is that Zelenskyy miscalculated. Not because he was morally or factually wrong. On the contrary, everything he said about Russia breaking its promises was true. His mistake was not saving his concerns until after the cameras had stopped rolling and both sides were behind closed doors in confidence. The front-facing portion of the summit was supposed to be a photo op with handshakes and smiles, not a grilling of the details. It’s a sad reality of current U.S. geopolitics, but one cannot air out significant disagreements with Trump in public without incurring his egotistical wrath. Like it or not, that’s the biggest reason why I think Zelenskyy failed.

Recall back to 2019 when Trump held his second summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and the two men were all grins for the press. Negotiations did break down afterward and Trump left without a deal being reached around denuclearization, but there was notably no public spat with Kim in Hanoi. Many will cynically chalk that up to Trump being friendly with dictators, which perhaps has some truth to it. Yet just two years previously both sides were trading vicious insults with each other and threatening war. Knowing how much was at stake, Kim knew to be diplomatic with Trump for the cameras but blunt about his goals behind the scenes. While no agreement happened, America kept its dignity by calmly walking away and North Korea did not lose face either.

Or take Japan as another example. In a recent column, I wrote about the numerous ideological differences Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has with Trump. There is a ton that both men disagree on, but Ishiba’s recent summit at the White House ended on good terms with enough ground to establish a professional working relationship moving forward. Japan is obviously not in an existential war for its survival, but getting what it wants with things like avoiding new tariffs and maintaining the U.S. security alliance requires buttering Trump up. This does not mean Ishiba has avoided future disputes with Washington, but the difference between how his meeting went compared to Zelenskyy’s could not be starker.

Let me be clear — nothing Zelenskyy said was wrong. Trump’s behavior last week marked one of the few times in my life where I’ve been ashamed to be an American and it sends a very concerning message to our allies. Yet if the past decade of U.S. politics has proven anything, it’s that someone being correct has zero impact on how Trump operates. I do not like that the president makes foreign policy decisions like he’s Vito Corleone, but that’s his nature. World leaders are going to have to seriously learn the lessons from his first term if they are to survive negotiations with him throughout his second.

Some are suggesting that Trump and Vance planned for this to happen and that the end result was always going to be Zelenskyy being treated how he was. I believe that this is only half-true. All the evidence points to both sides fully expecting to sign the minerals deal before the summit began. Remember, it was Trump who forced Zelenskyy to exit the White House before the agreement was ever signed. The Ukrainian president did not leave of his own accord and was in fact told to leave. That does not sound like a pre-planned event and was most likely the result of legitimate frustration toward Zelenskyy after their argument ensued.

For as grim as things currently look though, I still largely stand by what I wrote last month that Ukraine will survive as a sovereign country. Despite everything that happened during the White House summit, I do believe that Washington ultimately does not want Russia to take over Ukraine. The current dispute is over what Ukraine is willing to concede in order for a ceasefire to occur, while the Ukrainians themselves are after lasting security guarantees. These are all issues that should have been discussed behind closed doors instead of in public, but all parties involved are going to have to make concessions either way.

What will happen next depends on when Trump cools down and resumes talks with Zelenskyy. Just a few days before their summit, he seemingly walked back on calling the Ukrainian president a dictator, which is just one of the many examples of his mood quickly changing. Despite their previously stated support of Ukraine, it should also not come as a surprise that everyone in his cabinet from Vance to Secretary of State Marco Rubio stands by whatever Trump says no matter what. That’s simply how U.S. politics in this day and age works. Trump and Zelenskyy are bound to meet again eventually, but one thing is for certain — what just happened won’t be easily forgotten by either side.

Update: It just goes to show how quickly analysis of the war in Ukraine can get outdated. Shortly after I wrote this section, Zelenskyy took to social media and referred to last week’s White House summit as “regrettable.” He appears to be changing his tone with being more open to concessions, but what likely happened was that he needed to act fast after the Trump administration abruptly paused military aid to Ukraine earlier this week. I think it’s quite likely that both sides will come back to the negotiating table sooner, rather than later. Stay tuned for further thoughts in later columns as new developments happen.

Japan is staying out of the Zelenskyy vs. Trump spat, but it’s still helping Ukraine

Japan’s response to the fallout between the U.S. and Ukraine can best be described as, “Let’s not piss off Trump any further.” Prime Minister Ishiba on Monday stated that Tokyo has “no intention of taking sides” while stressing continued cooperation between G7 nations. Is this somewhat of a spineless wishy-washy response? Yes, but I could not imagine even someone like the late Shinzo Abe saying anything different either. As I’ve already mentioned, Tokyo is on thin ice with the current administration in Washington. The last thing Ishiba wants is to incur Trump’s wrath and be subject to new tariffs.

That isn’t to say Japan is staying neutral on the war in Ukraine itself. Since 2022, Tokyo has been a stalwart ally of Kyiv and what it has done over the last three years is a topic that doesn’t get nearly enough global attention. The Japanese Foreign Ministry reported last year that the country has provided over $12 billion USD in financial, humanitarian, and other miscellaneous aid. That’s obviously much less than the roughly $120 billion the U.S. has contributed, but one needs to keep in mind the limited role the country can play.

Japan is the only G7 member that cannot provide lethal aid to Ukraine because of limitations on military powers put in place by Article 9 of the Constitution. I’ve discussed in other columns how politicians like Abe have tried to push for constitutional revisionism. Lawmakers attempt to skirt around these restrictions by framing aid as helping allies being subjugated to violations of international law, but this can only go so far. The best Japan has been able to do is sending Ukraine non-lethal aid like helmets and kevlar vests as well as medical supplies. Actual weapons or military vehicles, however, are still off the table.

Outside of humanitarian aid, one notable development is Japan’s hosting of Ukrainian refugees or “evacuees” as the government officially refers to them. Over 2,700 Ukrainians have been accepted by the Japanese government since 2022 and about 2,000 still remain. Again, quite paltry numbers compared to Western countries, but those figures need to be contextualized. Japan has historically been very reluctant to accept refugees and given how poorly most of Western Europe has dealt with issues around integration over the last decade, that sentiment is not unwarranted. The Japanese government sticking its neck out for Ukraine is arguably an unprecedented move of solidarity toward the people of a single country.

It should be noted, however, that most Ukrainian evacuees do not expect to stay in Japan for the rest of their lives. There is a recent surge in Ukrainians expressing interest in permanent settlement, but the majority still hope to return to their native homeland and be united with separated relatives. These people face an incredibly difficult choice between being fully committing themselves to a long-term future in Japan or holding out for the situation in Ukraine to improve, which is of course entirely dependent on what conditions a potential ceasefire would bring.

Either way, there is a very low risk of Ukrainian residents causing trouble for the people of Japan and both countries maintain a close relationship which goes back to the immediate end of the Cold War. Japanese companies have long operated in Ukraine, while the soft power of anime, video games, and J-pop is a big hit with the nation’s youth. Due to the decades-long Northern Territories dispute, Japan is fully aware of how Russia negotiates and takes future encroachment from Moscow very seriously. Choosing to side with the Western world, Japan currently places heavy sanctions on Russia.

Japan-Russia relations are unsurprisingly at an all-time low now. Ishiba recently pledged to resolve his country’s territorial disputes with Putin, but this is incredibly unlikely to happen anytime soon. While not as much of a foreign policy hardliner as predecessors Abe and Fumio Kishida, the current prime minister will have to continue a stringent tone on Russia if he is to maintain confidence both domestically and with Japan’s G7 allies. Despite the limitations that exist, Japan has gone above what anyone could have expected with assistance to Ukraine. Ishiba only has to maintain the same continuity moving forward.

What I’m watching — The Brutalist is a miracle film

The Brutalist is a film I was looking forward to ever since I first heard about it in September of last year and it’s now finally out in Japanese cinemas. I had the opportunity to see it in IMAX last month, which I’m very grateful for. This is the kind of sprawling epic that deserves to be seen on a huge screen in order to soak in all the visual splendor. The real question is if the average viewer will have the patience to do so.

In our 24/7 connected world of bite-sized social media posts and smartphone addiction destroying what little attention span we still have, sitting patiently in a cinema for over 3 1/2 hours seems like an impossible ask for most audiences. Yet director Brady Corbet is taking the risk to demand that you do sit down and pay attention to his ambitious project. The first scene of The Brutalist instantly reminded me of films like The Godfather and Once Upon a Time in America, very long epics spanning many years which were once commonplace in Hollywood.

This is a work that by all accounts should not exist in the current landscape of mid-2020s cinema. Its staggering runtime complete with a 15-minute intermission included is reminiscent of when films like Gone with the Wind and Lawrence of Arabia were treated as an event akin to a stage play or opera. It was shot on the long defunct VistaVision format which has not been widely used for a feature film since the 1960s. Despite its huge scale, it had a budget of less than $10 million. Brady Corbet is also quite young by modern Hollywood standards at 36, having previously debuted as a director at 27 with his well-received The Childhood of a Leader.

Do we finally have another Orson Welles or Stanley Kubrick on our hands? It’s too early to say, but what is clear is that Corbet is an ambitious artist trying to revive production practices and creative techniques which have long been discarded. Some will inevitably call the The Brutalist “pretentious” and perhaps it is at times, but at this moment we could use far more old-fashioned Hollywood pretentiousness as an antidote to the creative stagnation that has dominated the industry for far too long.

In a performance that rightfully nabbed him the Academy Award for Best Actor, Adrien Brody is László Tóth, a Hungarian-Jew who moves to the U.S. after surviving the Holocaust. It’s ostensibly a classic story of an immigrant after the American Dream, but Corbet smartly avoids the cliches we’ve seen before and doesn’t insult the audience’s intelligence with sentimentalism. The Brutalist paints a nuanced portrait of what it was like for a post-WWII generation of Europeans to adapt to American life, while the flaws of its protagonist are on full display. There is also a fascinating thematic layer exploring what sacrifices are necessary to create epoch-defining art. Corbet leaves the viewer with a lot to chew on after the credits are over and I anticipate that The Brutalist will be discussed for many decades.

With that said, a few quibbles prevent The Brutalist from being a perfect film. Its first half is a masterful setup for the trials and tribulations of our characters, but the story falters somewhat after the intermission. Despite its length, ironically I think more time could have been spent on developing László’s declining mental and physical health, as well as the deteriorating relationship with his family. All of it comes rather too quickly as the story jumps forward several years. Without spoilers, the final twist of what a certain character did to László was also somewhat confusing. I might pick up on more subtleties upon a rewatch, but to me it was quite unclear what initially happened to him.

Finally, there is the overblown AI controversy to address. Reports initially surfaced that artificial intelligence was used to render some buildings in the final sequence, but Corbet has flatly denied this. What is true is that Adrien Brody and Felicity Jones’ delivery of Hungarian dialogue was modified by AI Respeecher technology to add more natural pronunciation. While I am against art having overeliance on AI, a case like this to me seems understandable. Hungarian is one of the hardest languages to speak even phonetically and Hollywood films are notoriously terrible with how they depict foreign dialogue. Much of it fails to be convincing or natural. If something like this can provide a tad more realism while the overall performances of actors in their native languages remains unaltered, I think there is little cause for concern. The Brutalist has some issues, but this is not one of them. It was certainly worth dedicating an afternoon watching in full.

What I’m playing — Limbo is one of the best old-school indie games

While indie video games are a dime a dozen today, the golden age for independent development was truly the late 2000s and early 2010s. Those were the days when devs had far less resources at their disposal and far more hurdles had to be overcome. On the other hand, the lack of market oversaturation meant that there was a greater chance for individual titles to stand out. You had the creative throwbacks to retro classics like Super Meat Boy and Fez, while The Binding of Isaac and Hotline Miami presented addicting gameplay that made any budgetary limitations feel nonexistent. In short, being a successful indie dev meant that you had to think outside the box and prioritize innovation over anything else.

Among the titles of that era which have always stood out to me is Limbo from 2010. Despite being released 15 years ago, Playdead’s monochromatic puzzle-platformer remains a haunting experience and one of the best examples of how video games can tell gripping narratives as an interactive medium. Indeed, Limbo works so well because it could only have ever been a video game. Without a single word of dialogue spoken, the puzzle-focused gameplay puts players in the shoes of a nameless boy who journeys through the hellscapes of an unknown setting to find his lost sister.

The game opens with our protagonist waking up in the middle of a gloomy forest. We are just as confused about our surroundings as he is, which adds to the sense of dread and discovery. Gradually, we pick up on the fact that feral children around our age inhabit this place (but no adults ever appear), that there are dangerous hazards which can mercilessly kill in seconds, and at some point there must have been a civilization due to the decaying buildings. Yet we do not know if Limbo takes place in some kind of post-apocalyptic future or, like its title may suggest, the actual realm of limbo which exists between Heaven and Hell.

Limbo provides no clear answers and is very much a Rorschach test for players. Its black and white aesthetics complete with ambient lighting and film grain make it feel like a silent horror movie, but the minimal story is primarily told through the gameplay itself. Missing a jump or putting something in the wrong place will almost always lead to a gruesome end, but the player immediately respawns a short distance away from where they were. That’s standard stuff for video games, but if you subscribe to the belief that the protagonist of Limbo is in a literal state of limbo, then it’s an added narrative layer which shows that death is no exit from this place.

Naturally, I’m sure that some will find all of that pretentious and they won’t click with the gameplay which is admittedly slower paced than most platformers. Not to mention that the game is very short at only a few hours, which raised debates around quantity versus quality when it came out. I think all of that is perfectly fine. Limbo continues to spark endless discussion that has lasted far beyond its original release, which is a testament to its staying power. In terms of legacy, the game has certainly outlasted its contemporaries like Braid or Fez, which became irrelevant after their arrogant creators burned most bridges with their audiences.

Playdead, however, is still around. In 2016 they released Inside, a spiritual successor to Limbo. I’ve admittedly not played it, but will probably do so soon now that I’ve gone through Limbo again. It’s supposed to have very similar themes and it went on to achieve even greater success. As of this writing, they are still working on their third game, a currently unnamed sci-fi title that will shift things into a third-person perspective. Details are scarce, but it’s pretty clear that Playdead takes their time with things and are fully devoted toward providing unique experiences unlike anything else. I’m certainly looking forward to whatever they come up with next.

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Bonus Perspectives is a weekly column series containing my thoughts on the latest international news and Japanese news, as well as film, television, music, book, and video game recommendations. It’s free for all subscribers to this Substack, but if you enjoy my writing, consider opting for a paid subscription. Doing so will give you access to exclusive in-depth pieces and my entire backlog of work. Your support is greatly appreciated!

Trump’s talks with Putin are not the last the word on Ukraine’s fate

Donald Trump has finally spoken to Vladimir Putin and begun the process to tackle the war in Ukraine. The U.S. president announced last Wednesday that he had held a 90-minute conversation over the phone with his Russian counterpart, claiming that negotiations to end the war will begin “immediately.” Volodymyr Zelenskyy also reportedly spoke to Trump afterward and on Friday met with Vice President JD Vance for talks at the Munich Security Conference. Ukraine’s president stressed that “real security guarantees” for his country’s independence are needed before any in-person summit with Putin can occur.

Needless to say, it’s an increasingly uncertain time with what the future of Ukraine will be. An entourage of top officials in the Trump administration met with Russian officials in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday to discuss the next stage of the war, but it remains to be seen what will happen next as precise terms for a ceasefire are still up in the air. Ukraine not being part of those talks is raising some concerns that Zelenskyy is being sidelined, but U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is framing the meeting as a gauge to see if peace negotiations with Russia are “a real thing or whether this is an effort to buy time.” For the time being though, it seems that negotiations will continue.

It’s understandable why many across the world are sounding the alarm on what will happen to Ukraine, but I think some reality checks are in order. First, the United States is not going to abandon Ukraine. Despite some concerning isolationist voices within the Republican Party, Donald Trump himself has been consistent with his stance that aid to Kyiv will still continue. Even JD Vance, who previously stated that he “[doesn’t] really care what happens to Ukraine one way or another,” is now changing his tune. The vice president explicitly affirmed Washington’s support of Ukraine’s “sovereign independence” and sparked headlines when he referred to “military options” also being on the table. That’s the complete opposite of “not caring” to put it mildly.

Second, Trump and the majority of people in his administration are well-aware that Ukraine being taken over by Russia would be a disaster for American interests and international society. While the president himself has said flowery things toward Putin and other dictators, that means far less when one sees that his first administration consistently imposed new sanctions on Russia — and that was before the invasion of Ukraine. Rubio has been consistent with his criticisms of Putin and so has National Security Advisor Mike Waltz. It would be no stretch to say that Russian tanks rolling into Kyiv would make Trump look just as bad as Biden did when the Taliban took over Afghanistan. If there’s one thing the president famously hates, it’s appearing like a loser.

Third, and probably most controversially, Ukraine will inevitably have to give up some territory. It’s an utter travesty that Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, but the ship has sailed on that issue for the foreseeable future. Unless the international community puts boots on the ground which would turn the war in Ukraine into World War III, Kyiv is going to have to cut its losses in some areas. I have many Ukrainian friends and followers who will strongly disagree with that, but Zelenskyy himself knows that he has to consider what is realistic, not what is ideal. At this stage, it remains to be seen what shape Ukraine and Russia’s borders will take. The biggest tragedy will be for the people caught in the middle of this land-carving having to choose what side to be on, which will inevitably lead to decades of further anguish for separated families and displaced individuals, but wars rarely ever provide clean outcomes.

This brings me to my fourth point, which is more optimistic: Ukraine will survive. My friend Noah Smith recently wrote this column arguing that the future of the country will probably look something like Finland. I highly recommend reading it because it provides several insights that I agree with, but to briefly summarize, Finland fought the Winter War and the Continuation War against the Soviet Union from 1939 to 1944. On paper, it looks like Finland lost because it had to sign agreements giving up territory while abiding to other conditions that limited what geopolitical actions it could take. Yet the sovereign country known as Finland continues to exist today and no one would seriously argue it’s doing poorly. In fact, it’s one of the best places in the world to live.

Let’s be clear though, Ukraine has a long way to go before it gets there. While the details are still being ironed out, both Kyiv and Washington appear to be in lockstep that any negotiations with Russia will have to guarantee Ukraine’s long-term security. It would not be surprising if parts of the region ended up turning into some kind of demilitarized zone akin to the middle of the Korean Peninsula. That is to say “peace” will still be an illusion and Russia will continue to make loud noises about its territorial ambitions, but with the hot fighting having largely ceased and the war itself turning into a frozen conflict.

This scenario is obviously not anyone’s idea of a perfect resolution, but there is currently no viable scenario in which both sides will walk away completely happy. Yet just like Finland, South Korea also continues to exist as a successful sovereign country despite being bordered by a dangerous neighbor. Ukrainians have proven themselves to be a resilient people, while their economy is seeing surprising growth despite the trying wartime conditions over the last few years. Once its security guarantees are provided, the country will continue to develop with continued assistance from the international community. The challenges ahead will no doubt be tough and later generations will be burdened with addressing significant issues that cannot be solved today, but nothing points to Ukraine being a lost cause.

Update: Shortly before I was about to hit publish on this column, Trump made some statements claiming that Ukraine “could have made a deal” earlier and appeared to even blame them for the war happening in the first place. I obviously disagree with this framing, but I don’t think any of this really changes my central thesis. I still think that the United States will continue to support Ukraine’s sovereignty and ensure that they have viable security guarantees. It shouldn’t surprise anyone that Trump is a loudmouth who says ridiculous things. What actually matters are his administration’s actual policies, as I pointed out with his sanctions. I will provide my thoughts on future updates around Ukraine as they come.

Nintendo faces a difficult choice with the Switch 2 in Japan

With there not being too many interesting Japan-related headlines this week, I thought I’d take the time to finally weigh in on the Nintendo Switch 2, which was officially announced last month. I’m particularly interested in what the machine is going to end up costing, especially over here given how much the weak yen is making consumer electronics absurdly expensive. See my piece last year on Sony jacking up the price of the PlayStation 5 in Japan for one example.

First things first, what do I think of the name “Switch 2?” It’s fine, perfectly fine. Look, Nintendo realized with the Wii U that they can no longer take the risk of relying on gimmicky names and expecting the average consumer to understand that it’s the next generation of video game hardware. Going along the lines of “Super Nintendo Switch” or God forbid “New Nintendo Switch” like the horribly named 3DS model from 2014 would just be a repeat of bad history. Switch 2, like PlayStation 2, immediately tells people that this is the next stage. Nothing more, nothing less.

The initial reveal trailer showed that the unit itself will be bigger and that the detachable Joy-Con controllers will use magnets instead of just latches, but I have some concerns. I really hope that Nintendo will give us an OLED screen out of the box and not release yet another model with the better display technology a few years later. I doubt that this wish will be granted because it makes financial sense to hold off on more advanced features, but it would be a huge disappointment having to go from an OLED normal Switch to a far inferior LCD Switch 2 when the latter is going to have better graphical specs.

What Nintendo is more likely to improve is their approach to the controllers. The original Joy-Cons were a neat concept, but they were prone to numerous hardware failures. Their analog sticks ended up notoriously drifting and virtually every Switch owner would encounter this problem at some point, the present author included. Fans have responded by creating their own mods using better parts, but the onus is on Nintendo to avoid this problem the second time around. Also, the Switch 2 Joy-Cons should swap out the plastic buckle locks for metal ones which better prevents them from accidentally detaching.

Rumors are abound that the Switch 2 Joy-Cons will provide support for controls akin to a computer mouse. I hope this proves to be true, as this could definitely open up the system to have better PC and Wii ports while also introducing new innovative control schemes. Yet at this point we have no idea what the actual specs of the Switch 2 are. Current speculation is that the device will probably be somewhere between a PS4 and PS4 Pro. With nearly all existing Switch games set to be backwards compatible, that could make some titles like The Witcher 3 and Kingdom Come: Deliverance run much better now that they won’t be held back by hardware that was already showing its age back in 2017.

Of course, the Switch 2 being a portable PS4 will still make it feel outdated next to the PS5 and Xbox Series X on paper, but I’m not really worried. Nintendo’s first party titles are always well-optimized and hardly require the best of the best. Third party devs managed to pull miracles even on the original Switch, so having more room to breathe will allow them to update older titles and port others that were slightly too demanding. At this point, no one really expects Nintendo to have the same AAA games Sony and Microsoft have. That’s completely fine because they’re aiming to provide a different experience and given the gangbusters sales success of the Switch now, clearly they’re doing something right.

Unfortunately for Nintendo, things are not so straightforward when it comes to pricing the damn thing. A recent leak from a Canadian retailer suggested that the Switch 2 will cost $499 CAD, which converts to approximately $350 USD or €340. In Japan’s case, that’s an eye-watering ¥53,000. To be clear, this is not the final price and only a placeholder. However, we can expect the Switch 2 to be in that rough ballpark. For an idea of how unbelievably bad that would be for the average Japanese consumer, the original Nintendo Switch back in 2017 cost ¥30,000, while the upgraded OLED model was around ¥38,000 in 2021. Even if we take into account inflation and expected price increases for better hardware, it’s abundantly clear that Japan would be getting screwed over compared to the rest of the world if the Switch 2 costs over ¥50,000. And no, wages have not increased.

Nintendo of Japan now faces of a tough conundrum. If they price the Switch 2 in relation to what the yen is actually worth compared to the U.S. dollar, then it can expect lower sales within its domestic market. This in turn could possibly lead to a similar problem the PS5 also faced with slow adoption and even further sluggish sales due to the price hike. Looking at the data, the PS5 was estimated to have sold about 210,000 units in Japan in Dec. 2023. Exactly one year later and after the PS5 Pro was revealed, those numbers were down to 160,000 units. Sony doesn’t seem as bothered by this since its focus is now with the North American and European market, but Nintendo would be wary to alienate its Japanese consumers as they still represent a considerable chunk of their audience.

On the other hand, Nintendo lowering the price of the Switch 2 specifically for the Japanese market creates its own set of problems. A console at ¥40,000 or less would certainly lower the financial burden on the consumer, but also lead to a severe reduction in profits. Furthermore with the huge surge in overtourism, it would not be an unrealistic scenario if foreign tourists took advantage of the weak yen and snatched up the Switch 2 while visiting the country. This would take the Switch 2 out of Japanese consumers’ hands and encourage scalping to foreign markets. Nintendo could possibly combat this by requiring retailers to only allow purchases to residents of Japan, but such practices would inevitably spark controversy around ethics and discrimination. Given Nintendo’s squeaky clean reputation, I doubt they would want to deal with that headache.

At the end of the day, perhaps Nintendo will simply bite the bullet and ask that Japanese gamers cough up more cash. It’s not a scenario that anyone wants, but Nintendo holds enough brand loyalty where a ¥50,000 or more Switch 2 isn’t actually that unrealistic of an ask. While more consumers in the past may have been able to afford both a PlayStation and Nintendo system, we will likely reach a point where people in this country have to choose one or the other. Even with a price hike, Nintendo is still cheaper than Sony and quite frankly, they also are providing more interesting titles at the moment too.

What I’m reading — First Blood the novel is a very different Rambo

This month I had the privilege of attending a screening of First Blood at an independent cinema in Kobe. It’s been a few years since I’ve last seen the Rambo films, but I’ve always enjoyed them since I was a teenager and consider them to be quintessential American cinema. The first is obviously the best with its surprisingly moving depiction of the PTSD American soldiers went through after returning home from the Vietnam War. Sylvester Stallone turns in one of his best performances and I think Richard Crenna in particular is quite overlooked as Colonel Trautman.

Rambo: First Blood Part II (what a confusing name) and Rambo III are utterly ridiculous, but as guilty pleasures they never cease to be entertaining. Rambo (or Rambo IV, or Rambo: The Fight Continues, or Rambo: To Hell and Back, or John Rambo, or why the hell can’t this series just have normal titles?) is the only sequel which matches First Blood on an artistically mature level and should have been the last one. The less said about Rambo: Last Blood the better, though I will admit that as time goes on I do think it has a few cool moments.

I had never gone back to check out the original First Blood novel until my recent rewatch of the film, but better late than never. Like many readers only familiar with the cinematic version of the character, I was surprised to find out that Rambo in David Morrell’s book is an entirely different beast. You probably imagine John Rambo in your head as a hardened block of granite with a stone-faced expression to match, but from the opening pages of First Blood he’s basically a dirty hippie and doesn’t even have a first name. He’s much closer to what a homeless drifter in early 1970s America would probably look like compared to the stoic depiction provided by Stallone.

The novel also places much greater emphasis on police chief Wilfred Teasle. Morrell wanted Rambo to represent disaffected youth, while Teasle would provide the viewpoint of the older, more conservative generation. Given the heavily polarized social environment of the United States at the time, Morrell intended for both sides to carry equal weight. The story shifts between both of their perspectives, and as a result Teasle is a much more sympathetic character here. Rambo also kills far more people, while in the film Stallone’s John Rambo was only responsible for one death and even that can be argued as accidental.

First Blood the movie cuts out much of Teasle’s backstory. In the book he’s a Korean War veteran, while the film only briefly shows his medals in the background. Because he fought in a war most Americans have forgotten about, his dislike of Rambo is further contextualized when he finds out about his service in the more famous Vietnam conflict and being awarded the Medal of Honor. Touches like that make Teasle more of a nuanced person, but the film is more interested in focusing only on Rambo’s story. The first cut of First Blood reportedly ran at over three hours before being edited down significantly, so perhaps these details were originally going to be included.

There are other differences with the ending especially being a significant departure, but I won’t spoil them. David Morrell writes in a very concise, economical manner that’s very accessible to the average reader. In the book’s introduction, he compares the Rambo books and movies to “trains that are similar but headed in different directions.” He ended up writing novelizations of the two sequels to better match the characterization of what he depicted in First Blood, but felt that the fourth Rambo film already matched his creative vision. On the other hand, Morrell has been quite vocal with his criticisms of Rambo: Last Blood, calling it “a mess” and that he was “embarrassed to have my name associated with it.”

While I’m generally against the concept of most remakes, I would be interested in seeing a more faithful adaptation of Morrell’s novel. Quentin Tarantino floated a non-serious pitch for another version of First Blood starring Adam Driver as Rambo (making him closer to the novel’s hippie depiction) and Kurt Russell as Teasle. Given that Morrell doesn’t own the film or television rights to the character though, it’s unlikely that such a project will see the light of day anytime soon. In any case, I will definitely be checking out his novelizations of the Rambo sequels and also hope to eventually read some of his other books.

What I’m watching — Captain America: Brave New World is one of the movies of all time

Did anyone ever think this had a chance of being anything other than underwhelming? It’s easy to forget now, but Captain America: Brave New World was originally called Captain America: New World Order and supposed to hit the big screen on May 3, 2024. Everything from the SAG-AFTRA strike to the studio getting cold feet over depicting an Israeli superhero plagued development and turned what should have been a straightforward fourth Captain America movie into a production nightmare. Things were apparently so fraught with worry behind the scenes that reshoots were undertaken as late as November of last year.

With all of that in mind, it’s frankly miraculous that the final cut of Brave New World isn’t a total disaster. There have been far worse MCU projects and this is nowhere near as bad as something like The Marvels or Secret Invasion. But is it any good? Put it this way, I watched it on the first day of its premiere last Friday with a half-full audience and by the end of the weekend most of what I had seen was long gone from the recesses of my memory. In short, it’s middle of the road MCU. Perfectly serviceable for an evening to shut your brain off, but about as memorable as the popcorn you ate with it.

For one thing, it’s a sequel to the dreadful The Falcon and the Winter Soldier Disney+ miniseries that you either didn’t watch or completely forgot about because it came out way back in 2021. Given how much Marvel seems to be refocusing its content strategy as of late, Brave New World seems to want to move on from that show as quickly as possible. It summarizes what happened within a few lines to catch audiences up to speed, but the importance of who characters like Korean War veteran Isaiah Bradley are or Sam Wilson’s own conflict in living up to the original Captain America are more or less glossed over. I expect many audiences to be confused because keeping up with the MCU at this point is like doing homework.

Yet the biggest issue with Brave New World, which many recent MCU films and shows are also facing, is how insignificant it feels. It’s obviously the middle chapter to put larger events in motion, but the overall scale of the production feels closer to a second season of the aforementioned Disney+ show than it does to a theatrical film. With the stakes being quite low, by the end I was wondering what exactly the point to any of this was because everything more or less goes back to what it already was. It tries to resolve a few plot points left over from 2008’s The Incredible Hulk, but the implications for the future of the MCU seem minimal at best.

To be fair to the actors involved, the haphazard script isn’t their fault. The cast does a decent job with the material they are given and Harrison Ford is easily the standout player when his role of Thaddeus Ross could have been an easy phoned in performance for a quick paycheck. Yet when does transform into Red Hulk, he’s only on screen for a few minutes. Supposedly Ford will reprise Ross again at some point, but fans will definitely be disappointed at how brief his fight with Sam Wilson’s Captain America is. Anthony Mackie does his best to hold the film together and Danny Ramirez is a better new Falcon than I thought he would be. Giancarlo Esposito, however, is completely wasted when the trailers featured him prominently. All the reshoots made me wonder what was actually supposed to happen because these new supporting characters are hardly given enough screen time to provide the development they need.

One can’t help but get the sense that the creatives behind the MCU seem to be in a bind with just where to take this billion dollar franchise next. Yes, Secret Wars is the big event that all of this is leading to, but the hype doesn’t feel organic. A few missteps along the away notwithstanding, most of films in the Infinity Saga felt like an important piece of the puzzle. Phases 4 and 5 of the MCU in comparison have seen far more duds than hits with audience apathy being the inevitable result.

So with yet another largely forgettable MCU film, what comes next? Regarding films this year, Thunderbolts* looks ok and The Fantastic Four will probably be good. Daredevil: Born Again is the only television series that anyone seems to care about. Avengers: Doomsday and a sequel to Spider-Man: No Way Home are planned for 2026, but you can bet that the latter will get delayed given its sluggish production. Two untitled films were announced in 2024 as planned for Feb. 13, 2026 and Nov. 6, 2026. Who knows what those are or if they’ll even happen. I would also be surprised if Avengers: Secret Wars currently slated for May 7, 2027 didn’t get delayed either.

Amid all that release chaos, Captain America: Brave New World will go down like Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania as yet another completely pointless entry in the MCU that no one remembers. After Avengers: Secret Wars comes out, Disney is going to need to take a long break and seriously re-evaluate what direction to take these struggling films in. Unlike Star Wars, the MCU is still somewhat of a culturally relevant franchise and I think it can be saved within the next few years. Hopefully entries like Brave New World are just the final scraps of failed created-by-committee projects decided years ago and Marvel can get its act back together sooner rather than later.

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The Chinese Communist Party is upgrading its propaganda tools

It should come as no surprise to readers of Foreign Perspectives that I have always despised TikTok. I view it as the culmination of everything wrong with social media, from it destroying the attention spans of its millions of Gen Z users to it more or less being the left-wing equivalent of InfoWars with how much misinformation it pushes. It’s also essentially a free ticket for China to steal American users’ data and has long been recognized by the U.S. government as a major security risk, which is why federal employees are prohibited from installing it to their devices.

When I heard the news that it would be “banned” in the U.S. if Chinese holder ByteDance did not sell its American assets, I silently rejoiced that the evil was defeated. This is not a free speech debate. TikTok would have been allowed to continue operations in the United States if its connections to China were severed. The real question is if a social media platform with direct connections to the Chinese Communist Party should be allowed to operate on American soil and the answer in my mind is obvious. Well, for the time being the Trump administration has come to TikTok’s rescue and allowed it to remain online via a 75-day extension, but the future of the app remains unclear.

Yet in the interim before Trump came into office, TikTok was legitimately unusable on U.S. devices for a couple of weeks. Over half a million so-called “TikTok refugees” fled to RedNote, a social media app previously aimed exclusively at the Chinese market. What happened next was both concerning and predictable. Because Chinese social media by default is never going to feature criticism of the CCP or anything that would make China look bad, its content consists almost entirely of safe, non-offensive uploads from middle to upper class Chinese residents. As Cindy Yu writes in The Spectator:

“The app is good for beautiful pictures and well-produced reels. It also has cute animals and an excellent sample of the dry wit of Chinese millennials. I’ve probably swiped through hours, maybe days, of short videos of beautiful street scenes from Chinese cities, vlogs from people who have swapped mega-cities for rural villages, cooking videos from all corners of the country, Mandarin comedy skits and dance routines in Han dynasty costumes.”

All of that is well and good, but getting your only viewpoint of China from RedNote would be like looking to Twitter (or X) and coming away with the belief that all Americans are emotional harpies obsessed with politics and culture wars with the United States itself being an unlivable hellscape. Countries are obviously more complicated than the curated feeds we see on social media, but try explaining that to a bunch of naive American zoomers who, thanks to TikTok, unironically started sympathizing with Osama bin Laden at the end of 2023.

As a result of the great TikTok exodus to RedNote, Americans with little to no real prior knowledge of China were suddenly exposed to highly domestic social media content they were never meant to see. Cultural exchange is fine, but in a move eerily similar to Tucker Carlson heaping praise on Moscow supermarkets for cheap groceries, Americans on RedNote began expressing their admiration for China having free healthcare and ambulance rides with some even going as far to say that they would “rather be Chinese.” I bet Mao Zedong is rolling in his grave wishing that smartphones existed when he was in power.

Needless to say, Americans are being sold a false bill of goods on RedNote. Healthcare in China is indeed free, but with a population of over 1.4 billion people, resources are constantly being stretched thin. Outside major cities, millions of people in rural areas struggle with access to quality medical care, while wait times can be excruciating long. Sure, groceries are cheap by the value of the American dollar, but those numbers don’t hold the same meaning when one sees that the overall standard of living and per capita income in China is far lower than in the United States by most objective measures. As with Tucker Carlson’s Russia propaganda, one needs to view the larger picture.

Does China have some things going for it like genuinely beautiful landscapes and efficient public transport? Sure, you can find good things in most countries. Yet after the honeymoon period with their new attention span-destroying toy wore off, American RedNote users quickly learned that certain things were a definite no-no on the app. Any content showing skin, sexual themes, or even general LGBT messages would be enough grounds for removal. It’s almost as if the Chinese Communist Party is a totalitarian government with an iron grip on all ideas or something.

Given that TikTok is currently back on the menu in the U.S. for the time being, however, it seems that RedNote was just a temporary fad. It remains to be seen if the Trump administration will come to some kind of agreement with DanceByte to maintain the app’s accessibility. What is more depressing is the swift pace in which a sizable amount of Americans fled to an app with even more overt false information while having seemingly zero qualms in giving all their personal information to the CCP. It is a sobering reminder of just how lost Gen Z social media users are. Their gungho embrace of authoritarian countries as long as they put on a fancy online show should put to bed any notions that the so-called “digital native” generation is less susceptible to propaganda than their supposedly more ignorant boomer predecessors.

While RedNote may come and go, what is more concerning in the long term is China heavily investing into AI modules like DeepSeek which have far greater potential to dupe millions of people worldwide. As my Spectator colleague Ross Anderson pointed out in his recent feature, these CCP-approved tools immediately clam up whenever you ask them anything controversial about Taiwan, Tiananmen Square, or Uyghurs. The next few years will no doubt lead to a highly competitive war of artificial intelligence between the West and China. Perhaps the term “Cold War” will become superseded by “AI War,” but unlike 2001: A Space Odyssey or Billion Dollar Brain, the consequences of using this technology will not be relegated to the realm of fiction.

Japanese PM Ishiba proposes accepting Gaza refugees — but there’s little cause for worry

The biggest story related to Japan right now is obviously Shigeru Ishiba’s first summit with Donald Trump, but I’ve already written a full analysis of that for UnHerd which went up today. Check out my piece here for extended thoughts. Instead, I wanted to briefly discuss a recent proposal from the Japanese prime minister which is currently sparking considerable controversy. Earlier this month during a parliamentary session, Ishiba stated that “We’re making efforts to find ways to accept people in Japan who have fallen ill or been injured in Gaza” and that he will try to launch a program where Japanese universities can sponsor students from Gaza.

As expected, the reactions on Japanese social media ranged from skeptical at best to downright hostile at worst. To be fair to what Ishiba actually meant, his proposal was only referring to a small number of wounded and sick people. The Japanese Foreign Ministry on Feb. 4 also clarified that “The purpose is not for them to settle in Japan … The major premise is that after treatment, they will return to (Gaza).” Who knows if and when such a program will actually be implemented, but it should be clear that this is not an attempt to bring large numbers of Gaza refugees for permanent relocation to Japan.

I’ve previously stated my own views on the Israel-Hamas conflict, but my take on this story is one more of bafflement than anything else. Being over 9,000 kilometers away from Israel, it makes little sense to me why Japan should involve itself in transporting injured people when surrounding Arab countries are more than capable of accommodating them immediately. Of course, Egypt and Jordan want nothing to do with Gaza refugees. Solidarity throughout the Islamic world is almost always just for appearances and political expedience, as we saw a couple of years ago when the U.N. voted to ignore debates around the abuses of Uyghur Muslims in China.

Japan’s position on the conflict in Gaza has consistently been that of supporting a two-state solution, but that doesn’t mean this country should be compelled to take in anyone from the region. Still, I’m not particularly worried that this is going to lead to much of anything. In practice, Japan is very selective with what refugees it accepts. I direct you to this passage from my piece for The Spectator published last year on why Japanese won’t repeat the West’s mistakes on immigration:

“During the height of the Syrian refugee crisis nearly a decade ago, amid intense international criticism, Japan refused to accept asylum seekers from the Middle East. [In 2023], its government recognized only 303 refugees, still a record high. Japan has been more generous in regard to the war in Ukraine, with around 2,600 individuals classified as “evacuees” accepted as of February 2024, but most do not hold official asylum status. Roughly 2,000 currently remain in the country, with the majority hoping to eventually return to Ukraine.”

Regarding Ishiba’s proposal for allowing Palestinians to study in Japan, there is hardly much to worry about either. In 2017, Japan accepted a total of 19 Syrians as students (not asylum seekers) to study at 11 universities. Flash forward a few years and most of them eventually went back to their own country while the handful who decided to stay became well-qualified contributing members of Japanese society. This is the kind of program the Japanese government is currently considering with prospective students from Gaza, which is what most study abroad courses in this country typically aim for.

In any case, Japan is one of the many countries in the world which recognizes Hamas as a terrorist group. The government has frozen assets of individuals connected to them and takes the threat of international terrorism very seriously. Any Palestinian accepted into a Japanese university would undergo rigorous background checks. Japan has some of the strictest visa policies in the world, with people overstaying or violating their status being immediately deported.

As I outlined in my latest piece for UnHerd and previous Bonus Perspectives columns, Ishiba is walking a very fine tightrope amid significant domestic criticism. His proposal to accept Gaza refugees for medical care, while in my opinion a waste of tax dollars and government resources, is not particularly concerning nor is his idea to host a few dozens students from the region. If even a single one of them attempted to bring terrorism to Japan, the public backlash would be unimaginably severe and Ishiba’s political career would be over in a heartbeat. While Westerners may lament how lax their countries’ immigration laws have become, that is not the case over here.

What I’m reading — An intriguing look at the last Civil War veterans

When do you think the last Civil War veterans passed away? Most Americans are surprised to find out that men who fought for the blue and gray lived to extreme advanced age all the way to the mid-1950s. This would mean that after the Civil War’s conclusion in 1865, its participants who survived well into the 20th century were alive to witness the invention of radio, film, and television while the world around them rapidly changed into something none of them ever could have conceived.

As young men stormed the beaches of Normandy, a rapidly dwindling number of nonagenarian and centenarian veterans of the Civil War would have still been around to read about wars being fought with terrifying technology like napalm and atomic bombs. In his 2013 book Last of the Blue and Gray: Old Men, Stolen Glory, and The Mystery That Outlasted the Civil War, journalist Richard A. Serrano provides a deep dive into the elderly men who claimed to be the last. “Claimed” is the key word here.

As Serrano shows early into his findings, dozens of men throughout the early 20th century onward wrote to pension offices and veterans groups with vivid tales of having participated in major battles like Antietam under the command of top generals like Robert E. Lee. Yet a serious examination of census records and witness testimony revealed many of these men to be complete frauds. Some wanted money because of Great Depression-era hardship. A handful were notorious scam artists just after a quick meal and board. Others even believed their own stories of Civil War glory because they had repeated the same exaggerations for so many decades and the reverence that comes with old age provided a convenient excuse to make up for any discrepancies.

Of course, there were elderly men who legitimately served during the Civil War and provided some of the final direct links to that era of American history. The last Civil War veteran beyond a shadow of a doubt was Albert Woolson, a former drummer boy for the Union Army. He died in 1956 at the age of 106 and even President Eisenhower commented on his passing. James Hard was the last Union veteran to see combat. He passed away three years before Woolson, but lived to an astounding 109 years. The Confederate side of the Civil War saw even more imposters claiming to be veterans, but it is generally agreed that Pleasant Crump (yes, that’s actually his name) was the last verifiable one. He died in 1951 at the age of 104.

Serrano is not a Civil War historian so his book should be taken more as a piece of journalism than a textbook, but either way it’s a highly fascinating look into an understudied aspect of the conflict. Participants of all wars eventually leave this earth forever and we are sadly approaching that moment soon with World War II. With that said, Last of the Blue and Gray serves as a reminder that the Civil War really wasn’t that far away from public memory. Your grandparents and possibly even parents were likely alive when these veterans were still around. The last widow of a Civil War veteran only passed away in 2021 and incredibly there is still one man alive at the age of 100 whose father was a Union Army soldier. American history is much shorter than most realize.

What I’m watching — “The Sympathizer” is good ol’ fashioned spycraft drama with plenty to chew on

Here’s a television miniseries that unfortunately flew under most people’s radar last year. Based on the Pulitzer-prize winning novel of the same name by Viet Thanh Nguyen, The Sympathizer is a thrilling and thought-provoking spy story that tackles complex questions around the messy aftermath of the Vietnam War. Its unnamed protagonist, only referred to as “The Captain” in both the novel and show, is a half-French, half-Vietnamese spy for the South Vietnamese Army and CIA, but secretly works a dyed-in-the-wool communist agent for the North. Sound complex? That only begins to scratch the surface of what The Sympathizer gets into.

First published in 2015 (man, I seriously cannot believe that was already a decade ago), The Sympathizer was a pretty compelling novel that provided interesting twists and turns from start to finish. I enjoyed the story well enough, but its prose felt a tad overwritten at times to the point where some passages felt better suited for an academic paper than a fictional spy story. Its author Viet Thanh Nguyen is a professor of English at the University of Southern California and actually escaped from the Fall of Saigon with his family in 1975. His political worldview is very much left-wing and there is much of it I disagree with, but I still think the ideas he presents in The Sympathizer around Asian diaspora identity are worth considering.

I found myself actually liking the television adaptation of The Sympathizer more because it kept most of the novel’s themes intact while cutting down on the wordiness. Viewers are shown how the tragedy of the Vietnam War affected the millions of displaced people caught between both sides. While highly critical of the United States’ role in the conflict and overall attitude toward Asian people, it doesn’t let the North or South Vietnamese players off the hook either. I highly doubt most Americans are aware of how brutal the North Vietnamese “re-education camps” were for everyone left behind once the Southern side lost. Like Nguyen’s book, The Sympathizer points fingers at everyone, asks complicated questions around what it means to be part of a group, and throws in a good amount of social satire for good measure.

The show’s overall visual aesthetics are superb and convincingly recreate the 1970s Cold War setting. The first three episodes were directed by veteran South Korean director Park Chan-wook and unsurprisingly represent the strongest point of the series as a result. Park serves as overall showrunner so his influence never truly goes away, but I really wish he could have directed all the episodes. Despite being produced by HBO and A24, a greater budget should have been spent on the series’ CGI effects. While the setting looks great, you can clearly tell when these characters are running or driving past green and blue screens. I suppose that was the best the directors had to work with.

The most highly-publicized aspect to The Sympathizer was the involvement of Robert Downey Jr. as both producer and actor. Akin to his eccentric performance in Tropic Thunder and probably taking inspiration from Peter Sellers in Dr. Strangelove, Downey performs four main roles at the same time. Some may argue that the sheer absurdity of his presence is out of place, but I think such levity is needed amid the otherwise dower proceedings. Not to mention that Downey being the face of multiple characters later proves to be part of an important plot twist which I won’t spoil. It’s clear that he’s relishing every second of these scene-stealing roles and I couldn’t imagine anyone else doing them.

The bulk of the cast is obviously Vietnamese or Asian and I think the characters are generally well-played. Relative newcomer Hoa Xuande successfully captured the complex range of emotions required by our unnamed protagonist and I particularly liked Toan Le’s theatrical take on South Vietnamese General Trọng. The only flaw with Xuande and some of the other actors’ performances is their use of the Vietnamese language. Wisely opting for accuracy, I would say around 60 to 70% of The Sympathizer is in Vietnamese with English subtitles. The problem is that Xuande and some of the other performers are clearly diaspora Vietnamese raised outside of Vietnam, so their non-native accents end up creeping through. It’s a minor quibble for sure and I doubt that most non-Vietnamese viewers will notice, but it’s hard to unhear if you’re somewhat familiar with how these languages are supposed to sound.

The Sympathizer doesn’t quite reach the level of being a television masterpiece, but it certainly deserved to get more views than it did back in 2024. Perhaps it was because the first half of last year was overcrowded with other shows or perhaps it’s because A24 continues to be terrible at marketing their projects. Either way, I definitely think it’s worth checking out. Nguyen did write a sequel entitled The Committed which I have yet to read, but as is The Sympathizer ends on a perfectly satisfying note. You’ll be thinking about this one for a considerable time afterward.

Foreign Perspectives is a reader-supported Substack. If you like my work and have come this far as a new reader or free subscriber, consider opting for a paid subscription so I can continue writing in-depth articles such as these on a regular basis. Your support is greatly appreciated!

Bonus Perspectives is a weekly column series containing my thoughts on the latest international news and Japanese news, as well as film, television, music, book, and video game recommendations. It’s free for all subscribers to this Substack, but if you enjoy my writing, consider opting for a paid subscription. Doing so will give you access to exclusive in-depth pieces and my entire backlog of work. Your support is greatly appreciated!

Trump takes aim at birthright citizenship, but can and should he?

There are a lot of things you can say about Trump, but the man certainly tries to fulfill his promises. After taking office last month, one of his first executive orders was an attempt to end birthright citizenship. It appropriately sets the tone for what we can expect from the rest of his presidency, namely policies good or bad that are intended to tackle the problem of illegal immigration in the United States.

Birthright citizenship, or jus soli, means that someone born within the territory of a country automatically becomes a citizen of that country. Jus sanguinis, on the other hand, determines citizenship based on the nationality of one or both parents. Many countries have a mix of both legal principles. Jus soli has been enshrined in the U.S. constitution since the Fourteenth Amendment was ratified in 1868. This was part of post-Civil War efforts to address legal questions around freed slaves of African descent, but it has gone on to become the bedrock of U.S. nationality law. The United States is one of 33 countries with unconditional jus soli.

In an official White House statement, the Trump administration argued that the Fourteenth Amendment “has never been interpreted to extend citizenship universally to everyone born within the United States” and that it has “always excluded from birthright citizenship persons who were born in the United States but not ‘subject to the jurisdiction thereof.’” The key phrase here is obviously “subject to the jurisdiction thereof.” According to the Trump admin, those not in this category would be children born to mothers “unlawfully present in the United States” and fathers who are “not a United States citizen or lawful permanent resident at the time of said person’s birth.” Children from mothers who were in the United States legally, but temporarily and fathers not a citizen or lawful permanent resident are also “not subject to the jurisdiction thereof.”

Ok, that was a mouthful to explain. So can Trump actually enforce his executive order? Judges are already issuing temporary restraining orders against it and the initial reaction has unsurprisingly been extremely controversial across the political spectrum. Most legal experts seem to agree that it’s very unlikely that birthright citizenship in the United States can be halted via executive order. The Fourteenth Amendment has been rock solid for decades and any major changes would require a two-thirds majority vote from both the House of Representatives and the Senate. For my non-American readers, I can tell you that there’s essentially a snowball’s chance in hell of that happening.

The next few years will no doubt see some intense legal battles around who is considered an American citizen. While I highly doubt that anything around the Fourteenth Amendment is likely to change, for the sake of pure theoretical discussion I’ve found recently myself asking another question: Should the U.S. continue to have what is essentially a free pass to become an American citizen if you happen to be born there? To give Trump his dues, his executive order states that as long as one parent is a citizen or legal permanent resident of the United States, the child will still be born a citizen. If both parents are illegal immigrants, however, then the child will not be one.

When I was born, neither my mother nor father were U.S. citizens, but both were legal residents. I’m not entirely sure if Dad was a permanent resident by the time of my birth, but if he was that still would have given me U.S. citizenship under Trump’s proposed law. If he was not, then my nationality would have defaulted to Canada through my mother. I still maintain Canadian citizenship as Canada has both jus soli and jus sanguinis, but I do not have Chinese nationality as China does not grant it to those with foreign citizenship. Either way, the executive order in theory would not retroactively apply to anyone born before its proposed enforcement date of Feb. 19, 2025.

Children born to illegal immigrants in the United States are actually on the decline according to the Pew Research Center. The latest data points to 250,000 of these births reported in 2016, which is down from a high of 390,000 in 2007. Still, only around 30,000 births from illegal immigrants were recorded in 1980, which means that the current numbers remain considerably higher. Additional studies point to there being over 11 million unlawful residents in the United States overall, so declining birthrates among them or not, illegal immigration is a serious problem that cannot be ignored.

Regardless if he thinks his executive order can be enforced, Trump is merely capitalizing on the perceived inability of the Biden administration to deal with the border crisis. To give it some credit, the previous government did deport even more people than Trump. Last year also marked the lowest number of border crossings during the Biden era, though the Mexican side notably also took measures to prevent its people from reaching the border. Still, the American public remembers most of the Biden admin as being a time when major cities were strained spending billions to house migrants and recent polling points to most wanting to significantly curb immigration.

Over the next four years, the Democrats are going to have to prove that they too will not tolerate illegal immigration. There is a way to strike a nuanced balance between the United States enforcing its border laws while also being welcoming of legal immigrants who can contribute to American society. Trump himself has been one of the most vocal advocates of expanding H-1B visas and many of his own views toward legal immigration are not much different from centrist Democrats of the 1990s. If the Democratic Party in its current form cannot shake the image of being too permissive of illegal immigration, then it once again faces the risk of significant losses during the 2026 midterms when Americans will vote for their local representatives.

The Fuji TV scandal — why it’s a big deal

If you live outside of Japan, you’ve probably not heard about the sex scandal which has thrust one of the country’s biggest conglomerates into the spotlight. Masahiro Nakai is not a name familiar with most non-Japanese, but over here he’s one of the wealthiest and most famous television personalities. Or rather he was before he announced his retirement on Jan. 23 following serious allegations of sexual misconduct toward a female employee of the network Fuji TV which is owned by Fuji Media Holdings.

Of course, sex scandals are nothing new in Japan. As I’ve covered in previous editions of Bonus Perspectives, everyone from Japanese politicians to celebrities sees their fair share of ruin because they cheated on their spouse or didn’t keep their hands to themselves. The Fuji TV scandal, however, is quite different from others. Nakai was not some nobody. He was the leader of the hugely successful boy band SMAP and one of the few people from that world of disposable flavor-of-the-month pop music to successfully transition into something culturally lasting.

The Japanese phrase kao ga hiroi (顔が広い), literally translating as having a broad face, refers to someone who knows a lot of people and is well-connected. Nakai easily had one of the broadest faces in all of Japan, being everything from the host of several major television programs to appearing in commercials with his former bandmates advertising various products from the likes of Mitsubishi and Coca-Cola. With Fuji Media Holdings being one of the biggest conglomerates in the country, dozens of companies were quick to pull their advertisements and sponsorships from the Fuji Television network in the wake of the allegations against Nakai.

The details of what Nakai did to the unnamed Fuji TV employee in 2023 are not entirely clear, but it is known that he paid her a significant financial settlement and has apologized for causing her “trouble.” Furthermore, Fuji TV President Koichi Minato and Chairman Shuji Kanoh both announced their resignation last week. This follows a protracted press conference held in the evening of Jan. 27 to the early morning of Jan. 28 where journalists both professional and amateur grilled Fuji TV executives for over 10 hours. This being the age of social media, the entire thing was naturally commented upon by millions of people in real time. I’m sure you can only begin to imagine the mockery and snark among Japanese Twitter users.

The media circus continued after one of the magazines that originally reported on the scandal later apologized for erroneously printing that Fuji TV executives set up the meeting between Nakai and the woman in the first place. That of course does not take away from Nakai’s responsibility for his own actions and the fact that his crimes were not brought to light for almost two years suggests significant complicity on Fuji TV’s part. Between shoddy tabloid journalists and out of touch company leadership though, there appears to be no good guys in this situation.

So where does Fuji TV go from here? It has lost millions of dollars in sponsorships and its biggest star is now persona non grata. Moving forward, one can expect Japanese companies to be far more cautious with who it decides to put its business behind. It seems that the only way Fuji can begin to rebuild its destroyed reputation is with significant leadership shakeups, but what shape that will take remains to be seen.

What I’m watching — Stanley Kubrick’s final masterpieces

It was fun while it lasted, but I’ve finally reached the end of my watch of Stanley Kubrick’s filmography. For my thoughts on his early films and middle period, go back to previous editions of Bonus Perspectives here and here.

1971’s A Clockwork Orange is something you’ll either take or leave. Easily the most controversial film Kubrick ever made, to the point where he personally withdrew it from the British market over fears that the hostile reaction would lead to attempts on his life, this adaptation of Anthony Burgess’ satirical novel is perhaps the best commentary on violence provided by any film. For one thing, it could only have been made during the harder edge of the 1970s when mainstream movies starkly depicted murder and rape without any kind of whitewashing. The previous decades of censorship had finally been relaxed, leading to a brief period when practically anything was on the table.

The hardcore violence is why half of viewers are immediately turned off by A Clockwork Orange, but to dismiss it as merely sadomasochistic pornography would be missing the point. Burgess and Kubrick pose questions around if morality can be controlled by the state while sharply criticizing both sides of the political spectrum for being opportunists. The dystopian future is a visual treat in typical Kubrick fashion, while the film largely keeps the novel’s hilarious use of Burgess’ invented Nadsat language intact. It’s understandable why A Clockwork Orange isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, and indeed the author and director eventually distanced themselves from it after tiring of the controversy, but there are still plenty of deep themes to ponder on over 50 years after the film’s release.

While I doubt Kubrick cared much about what most critics had to say about his work, his next film Barry Lyndon almost feels like an answer to those who felt he had gone off the deep end with A Clockwork Orange. Long overlooked in between his other masterpieces, this 1975 adaptation of William Makepeace Thackeray’s rather obscure 1844 novel The Luck of Barry Lyndon is my personal favorite out of Kubrick’s filmography. It received respectable reviews when it first came out, but was only a moderate box office success that came and went.

In the last couple of decades, however, many have come to appreciate the sheer beauty of what Kubrick accomplished with Barry Lyndon. At this point you’ve probably heard all the online cliches about the painterly feel of each shot, the impeccable cinematography, and the gorgeous use of natural lighting, but you know what? Everyone from pretentious YouTube video essayists to first-time viewers who rave about this film are completely correct. Barry Lyndon *is* a masterpiece and it represents the pinnacle of Kubrick’s technical achievements. While some may criticize the characters for being cold and distant, there is still a ton of humanity to be found.

Barry Lyndon is quite similar to a gangster picture which follows the life of someone at the bottom of a social ladder who claws his way to the top through trickery and wit. Yet the winds of fate ultimately bring our protagonist back to a position that is more or less the same as where he started. Kubrick also uses the world of Barry Lyndon to poke fun at the absurdity and pettiness of upper class aristocrats, showing that they still have the same flaws as the people they look down upon. These compelling themes are why the film’s three-hour runtime does not feel exhausting and the sheer artistry of each sequence arguably makes this one of Kubrick’s most rewatchable works.

Perhaps hoping to produce something a bit more commercially viable, Kubrick’s next film The Shining is his most well-known among mainstream audiences. There isn’t much I have to say about it that hasn’t been repeated ad nauseam by others already, but yes, it’s well deserving of its reputation of being one of the greatest horror films of all time. Out of all the actors Kubrick worked with, Jack Nicholson probably gave the single best performance even though you can tell from the first time you see him that his character will inevitably go completely psycho. We all know that Jack Nicholson is great at what he does. He’s Jack Nicholson!

It’s more satisfying seeing that Shelley Duvall has finally gotten her dues for an incredible performance unfairly savaged by clueless critics who had no idea what they were talking about. Unlike most other contemporary horror films with female characters who simply had to scream their lungs out to look scared, you truly believe that Duvall was scared during the exhausting filming of The Shining. Much has been written about her tense relationship with Kubrick. Directors today can no longer do what the likes of Kubrick or Hitchcock did to actors because labor laws have changed and most would agree that’s for the best. At the same time, would Shelley Duvall have been able to pull off such a performance if Kubrick didn’t push her? I doubt it, but that’s a larger philosophical debate around how much actors are willing to go through for the sake of their art.

If The Shining was Kubrick’s attempt at intellectualizing horror films, then Full Metal Jacket does the same to war films. It’s interesting that while Kubrick never did the same thing twice, he did explore war as a subject matter three times throughout his career. His first film Fear and Desire did so clumsily set in a world separate from our own, but we can put that one aside as it was more of an amateur experiment. 1957’s Paths of Glory is his other war movie, but it’s definitely something much more idealistic produced by a younger man. 30 years later, any idealism that Kubrick might have had was long gone.

While it would not be accurate to suggest that Full Metal Jacket glorifies war, it does suggest that soldiers have more agency to carve their own destiny than the poor saps in Paths of Glory ever did even if war is an inevitable and permanent part of the human condition. The first act shows how men react differently to the physically and psychologically brutal training they must undergo before being shipped off to Vietnam. Some succeed, while others crack under pressure. The second act shows that whatever previous issues they might have had are small potatoes compared to the realities of actual war. Regardless of what happened before, everyone now has to rely on each other on the battlefield. By the third act, it’s simply a fight for pure survival and only those who can keep their cool will make it to see another day.

Full Metal Jacket in many ways manages to be even darker than A Clockwork Orange and The Shining with all three having themes around masculinity and violence. Eyes Wide Shut is the only work of his to seriously dive into the complicated relationships between men and women. Lolita does not count because its eponymous female character is a mere object of desire for its protagonist. It and pretty much all of Kubrick’s films are intentionally male-oriented, but Eyes Wide Shut shows how much a feminine view of the world differs from a masculine one.

Of course, the film is much more complicated and indeed most have been trying to figure just what Kubrick was trying to say with Eyes Wide Shut over 25 years later. Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman actually being married at the time adds a meta level of realism to the intriguing narrative. Scenes of their private lives carry a highly intimate, voyeresrque feel, as if Kubrick is showing us things we as the audience should not be privy to seeing behind closed doors. Taking place only over a few days, Eyes Wide Shut has a mysterious dreamlike quality to it. Viewers have poured over countless, seemingly minor details in an attempt to find hidden meanings or messages, but Kubrick does not give his secrets up that easily.

The director died of a heart attack during the hellish extended production of Eyes Wide Shut, which inevitably added to its mysterious nature given the subject matter around cults and conspiracies. Personally, I don’t think there was any kind of foul play. Kubrick was just someone completely dedicated to his work and he was always going to make films until his final breath. It would have been miraculous if he did *not* die with how much he put himself through. Kubrick only directed 13 feature films in his lifetime, but that career spans from the 1950s to the 1990s. Watching his work in order is basically seeing how the art of cinema evolved throughout the latter half of the 20th century and there’s a kind of poetic finality to that. We’re still talking about his films now and imagine we will for many generations to come.

What I’m listening to — Al Bowlly, the forgotten crooner

I tend to get introduced to composers and singers I otherwise wouldn’t have known about through the soundtracks of films I watch. In this case, I was actually re-introduced to once such singer via The Shining and I imagine many other viewers have shared my experience. Without giving away spoilers to those who have yet to see it, the film closes with the 1934 hit single “Midnight, the Stars and You” sung by Al Bowlly. The song, like most foxtrot pieces of the era, contains brief lyrics about romance and is largely carried by the smooth instrumental tempo of the orchestra. On its own, nothing too out of the ordinary. Within the horror context of The Shining though, a new level of creepy. If you’ve seen the film, you already know.

After adding the song to my music library, I wanted to learn more about the man behind the vocals. I went on to find out that Al Bowlly was actually one of the most popular singers in Britain throughout the 1930s, yet most have completely forgotten his name today. Revisiting his music now feels like opening a time capsule to a pre-World War II world when times were far simpler, as reflected by the quaint subject matter of songs like “Close Your Eyes” and “Love is the Sweetest Thing.” Keep in mind that pop music as a concept didn’t really exist back then and would not becoming a thing until around the mid-1950s.

Al Bowlly’s own life was a complicated tale of unique circumstances probably worthy of an intriguing biopic, but it would be a Hollywood movie without a happy ending. He was born in 1899 in the African country of Mozambique when it was still a colony of the Portuguese. His father was Greek and his mother was Lebanese, but Bowlly was raised in British South Africa. Following various temporary jobs, he slowly made a name for himself as a singer throughout bars and hotels in places like Rhodesia and India. After moving to Britain in 1928, he grew his stature through recording hundreds of songs and becoming one of the first truly famous singers on the radio when music for that format was still in its infancy.

Then, all of that eventually came to an abrupt halt. Bowlly traveled to the United States and saw impressive success where his songs were already being broadcast, but it hurt his domestic popularity back in Britain. He soon developed throat issues which affected his singing and by the time it looked like he could make a comeback, other crooners like Bing Crosby were already bigger names. Bowlly’s life came to a tragic end on April 16, 1941 when he was killed in a German Luftwaffe bombing attack outside of his flat in London. An unceremonious conclusion to a career that was really only just getting started.

While the name Al Bowlly carries little meaning these days, his songs appearing in popular culture have at least given him some lasting legacy. He’s one of those artists where even if you don’t know the name, chances are you’ve at least heard their work. That’s certainly better than most other singers from Bowlly’s era who long faded into obscurity. His music may be perceived as old-fashioned now and sure, most modern listeners will probably choose Bing Crosby or Frank Sinatra first, but on a rainy evening with a whiskey in one hand, I’ll happily reach for an Al Bowlly record with the other.

Recommended listening:

“Midnight, the Stars and You”

“Close Your Eyes”

“Guilty”

“Love is the Sweetest Thing”

“The Very Thought of You”

“Heartaches”

Foreign Perspectives is a reader-supported Substack. If you like my work and have come this far as a new reader or free subscriber, consider opting for a paid subscription so I can continue writing in-depth articles such as these on a regular basis. Your support is greatly appreciated!

Bonus Perspectives is a weekly column series containing my thoughts on the latest international news and Japanese news, as well as film, television, music, book, and video game recommendations. It’s free for all subscribers to this Substack, but if you enjoy my writing, consider opting for a paid subscription. Doing so will give you access to exclusive in-depth pieces and my entire backlog of work. Your support is greatly appreciated!

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A report card of Biden’s foreign policy

If you are reading this column, Donald Trump will have been inaugurated as the 47th president of the United States. For better or worse, a new era for American hegemony is now upon us. Trump has already made history as only the second president to serve non-consecutive terms, which means that when he leaves office on January 20, 2029, there will be 12 years of flip-flopping U.S. foreign policy decisions to look back upon. 16 years if you want to include Obama’s second term before Trump took over the first time. The soap opera never ends, does it?

As my field is international relations, I thought it would only be fitting to look back on the Biden administration’s foreign policy and give it a report card. To get my biases out of the way, I consider myself to be a center-right moderate and a strong supporter of U.S. hegemony, so it was a mixed bag of things I liked and didn’t like. Under the Trump admin, I hope for some level of continuity that will promote American interests abroad and maintain important alliances. But for now, I’m looking at the good, the bad, and the ugly of the last four years. So without further ado, let’s grade the outgoing administration by regions of key interest.

Afghanistan: Easily the biggest foreign policy blunder of the entire Biden administration. Yes, Afghanistan was an inherited issue. Yes, like the Vietnam War multiple administrations share blame. Yes, it was going to be a shitstorm no matter what. But there was no reason for Biden to essentially give the Taliban tens of millions of dollars in U.S. military equipment which they can both use and sell. There was no reason to leave hundreds of Afghans out to dry despite being brave allies who risked their lives to help Americans. There was no reason for 13 more American servicemen to lose their lives during the botched withdrawal. No matter how you slice it, the Biden administration dropped the ball with bringing the sad saga of the war in Afghanistan to a close while giving Republicans an easy point of attack they’ve been wise to use in political debates. It receives my lowest score on this report card, F.

China/Taiwan: Biden’s policy toward China demonstrated far more competence, but the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan gave dictators like Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin the assurance they needed to question the strength of U.S. hegemony. Luckily in practice Biden did not waver on the policies that mattered. While Trump has the reputation of being the tariff man, Americans would be well to remember that Biden largely maintained the same continuity and actually increased some rates on Chinese imports. This is perhaps one of the few foreign policy issues that Democrats and Republicans are largely united on. The CHIPS and Science Act, while not without its flaws, was also a step in the right direction toward the U.S. bringing manufacturing back home.

Biden was consistently a stalwart ally of Taiwan, pledging that U.S. forces would defend the island if mainland China were ever to attack. On the other hand, I’m not a fan of the U.S. continuing to avoid calling Taiwan a country and continuing to play the rhetoric game by Beijing’s rules in refusing to support Taiwanese independence. Former Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga showed more integrity by explicitly referring to Taiwan as a country, but Biden continued the same contradictory line of previous administrations. I get it, the U.S. has always had to walk a fine line between both sides. When is this going to end though? For how long will the world be forced to kowtow to the Chinese Communist Party? Regardless, it would not be accurate to call Biden pro-China by any stretch as Republicans are apt to. His policy gets a B+ from me.

Europe: Ukraine was perhaps the Biden administration’s most pressing foreign policy issue. Again, it can be argued that the U.S. leaving Afghanistan the way it did was a major factor that emboldened Putin to invade Ukraine, which is now reaching the end of its third year. Would a Trump presidency have prevented this? There’s no way to tell, but I will give Biden more points than Obama for finally treating Russia like the geopolitical threat it is. His administration strengthened ties with NATO allies and sent Ukraine the military aid it needed for it to have a fighting chance. These are things I strongly support and hope Trump won’t walk back on.

Biden falls short of receiving full marks for pointless restrictions placed on Kyiv regarding how far it could strike military targets in Russia which were only removed this year. Putin’s forces could have been significantly weakened by now if they were never there to begin with. Depending on how the upcoming peace negotiations go, Trump may actually prove to be even more hawkish than Biden on Ukraine since he has indicated that the aid will continue. In any case, the outgoing administration has played a key role in Ukraine’s survival until now, as well as general security throughout Europe amid increased Russian aggression. Biden’s Europe policy gets an A, which was easily his strongest area over the last four years.

Iran: This Politico article by Nahal Toosi sums up Biden’s Iran strategy accurately — he didn’t have one. While Trump showed the regime in Tehran that the U.S. would not tolerate their sponsorship of terrorism throughout the Middle East, the Biden administration unfroze $6 billion in assets which undoubtedly only helped the likes of Hamas and Hezbollah. The existing sanctions continued, but Iran continued to embolden terrorist groups with Washington seemingly doing very little to really stop them. On that front, it’s the Israel Defense Force which deserves credit for doing the hard work over the last four years in destroying Iran’s proxies.

Iran is a complicated problem for sure, but kicking the can down the road is not a foreign policy. Biden gets a D.

Israel/Gaza: I’m going to somewhat stick up for Biden with how he handled the Israel-Gaza conflict. I’ve already outlined my position on the issue here and have always been open with my support of Zionism despite not being Jewish myself. Hamas is one of the worst terrorist organizations currently operating in the world and they are directly responsible for the deaths of Palestinians. I find it utterly disgusting how much the pro-Palestine crowd across the Anglosphere ignores this fact and carries water for a gang of totalitarian theocratic fascists, but that’s been an issue between the West and radical Islam for years.

As with Taiwan and Ukraine, the Biden admin was a stalwart ally of Israel and gave the country important military aid to bolster its defenses. While Benjamin Netanyahu is hardly the most ideal man to be in charge, it is unlikely that any other prime minister would have acted much differently after the unspeakable carnage of Oct. 7, 2023. What will happen next is obviously an ongoing development that changes week to week, but as of this writing talks are currently underway between Israel and Hamas for a temporary ceasefire. This could only have happened thanks to decisive IDF victories, and the Biden admin’s support of Israel was not nothing throughout all of this. Trump too has a long history of support for Israel, so I don’t expect that to waver during his second term. Biden gets a B here.

Japan: Biden, my man, what the hell are you thinking? You started off so well by maintaining strong U.S.-Japan relations at the beginning of your term, but then had to throw all of that away in the last days of your tenure by blocking Nippon Steel’s plan to purchase U.S. steel. As outlined in this article from The Free Press, the vast majority of steelworkers from my birthplace of Pittsburgh supported this deal because it would have guaranteed them job security amid their struggling industry, resulted in better pay, and was set to be a mutual win-win for both the American and Japanese economies.

If this hadn’t happened, I was ready to give Biden a standard B+ grade for foreign policy with Japan because it’s usually quite hard for any administration either Democrat or Republican to make things tangibly worse. Washington continued its strong military alliance with Tokyo and consistently showed China it was not playing around, but the Nippon Steel affair is a colossal screw-up that could have been completely avoided. I have no choice but to lower my grade to C+ for such a bone-headed move and I never thought Rahm Emanuel was a good choice for ambassador.

The Korean Peninsula: In contrast to Trump’s (albeit very flawed) direct approach to addressing North Korea, the Biden administration essentially treated it as a back burner issue in contrast to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan. There were new sanctions sure, but the Kim regime spent the last four years expanding its nuclear arsenal. To be fair to Biden, the DPRK was never going to denuclearize under Trump admin either and Washington should abandon any such hopes moving forward. Presumptive Secretary of State Marco Rubio has more or less acknowledged this. The best case scenario is measured arms control instead of the complete eradication of nuclear weapons on the Korean Peninsula, but that too is unlikely for the foreseeable future for as long as diplomacy with North Korea is put on ice.

In terms of tangible regional policy, Biden’s focus on existing partnerships resulted in arguably the best period for the trilateral quasi-alliance between the U.S., Japan, and South Korea seen in years. It helped that former Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and (very likely soon to be ex-) ROK President Yoon Suk-yeol were more cooperative than previous leaders, but it took the U.S. to bring it all together. Some may call the Camp David Joint Statement a mere formality, but getting all three sides to be on the same page with security issues is harder than most think. Unfortunately, the changing political situation in Japan and South Korea, as well as Trump’s own personality, brings the future of this agreement into question. Within the context of when it was produced though, the Biden administration deserves full praise. I award his Korean Peninsula policy a B grade.

Overall: Here’s the Foreign Perspective report card for the foreign policy of Joseph Robinette Biden from 2021 to 2024:

• Afghanistan: F

• China/Taiwan: B+

• Europe: A

• Iran: D

• Israel/Gaza: B

• Japan: C+

• The Korean Peninsula: B

Averaged out, that’s roughly a C grade for Biden’s foreign policy overall. I’ll admit, that’s lower than where I thought it would end up. Afghanistan and Iran were his worst areas, while Japan should have been an easy win that he foolishly threw away at the eleventh hour. On the other hand, I think the Biden admin made reasonably good moves when it came to China, Israel, and the Korean Peninsula within the limitations that existed. The best foreign policy success was easily the aid to Ukraine and it will go down in history as one of his most important achievements.

Biden’s long history in foreign affairs proved to be an asset with him maintaining or expanding relationships with key U.S. allies. How the Trump administration deals with issues like Ukraine and Taiwan moving forward, however, will determine the future of these alliances. As common wisdom generally goes, one could largely predict what moves Biden would take, but Trump is a wild card who talks a big game but can act very differently. I only hope that “peace through strength” will be more than just a campaign slogan. Join me in four years time to find out.

COVID in Japan, five years on

Last Wednesday marked the fifth anniversary of Japan’s first COVID-19 case. Apart from the fact that I cannot believe that half a decade has already passed since the start of the pandemic, it reminded me how much my own life in this country has been since then. This week, I thought I’d use this space to provide some brief reflections on my experiences with the pandemic in Japan and discuss how the government addressed it.

Knock on wood, but I’ve so far been lucky to not have contracted the virus. Perhaps it’s my habit going back to childhood to wash my hands multiple times a day or perhaps it was just dumb luck. Either way, my wife and I were able to get through the pandemic without any serious health issues. We were both vaccinated twice and received cash stimulus payments from the government like millions of other Japan residents. While over 100,000 people are reported to have died from COVID-related causes here, that number should be put into context against the over 1.2 million people who died in the United States. When one considers Japan’s famously aged population, it’s extraordinary that the number was not orders of magnitude higher.

It’s easy to forget now, but the discourse around how Japan handled the pandemic lead to some truly unhinged takes from both outside observers and foreigners living in the country with an existing chip on their shoulder. Japan having a far lower death toll compared to other countries had conspiracy theorists alleging that the government was “hiding the bodies,” as my Bloomberg contributor friend Gearoid Reidy likes to repeatedly make fun of. Others accused Japan of xenophobia for locking its borders to foreigners, even though Australia took far more draconian measures, going as far as banning its own citizens from re-entering the country.

Japan did not enact mandatory lockdowns. Individual businesses were simply asked to close earlier amid a declared state of emergency and pay a fine if they chose to stay open longer. Some places took advantage of the situation by becoming the only game in town, leading to an increase in profits that greatly outweighed whatever penalty they owed. Japan did not make masks mandatory either. It was down to one’s own individual choice, but the majority ended up masking anyway due to the country’s long existing history of covering up when being sick. I personally thought most of this was security theater as wearing a mask when walking outside or exercising at a gym is mostly pointless, but then again living in Japan means accepting arbitrary rules that only exist as formalities.

While there were a minority of anti-vaccine conspiracy theorists, most Japanese people treated them like the cranks they were. Unlike in the Anglosphere, vaccines and masks were not culture war issues that tore at the fabric of society. Given the fact that Japan is already a culture that emphasizes cleanliness and generally isn’t touchy-feely, the mechanisms were already in place for this country to be prepared to handle a pandemic better than most. To be sure there were still the same concerns over the development of children’s social skills and to what extent places should stay closed, but Japan in 2025 has returned to pre-pandemic life largely unscathed.

I was lucky to have been in Japan before the borders closed to tourists. There was a brief period early in the pandemic when even permanent foreign residents were banned from re-entry, but this was reversed by Sept. 2020. From that point onward, one could freely leave and return to Japan provided that one’s paperwork and PCR tests were in order. I had to do this multiple times and while it was a headache to do, especially when I had to visit my father in the United States before he passed away of cancer, nothing that was being asked was particularly unreasonable.

While I can empathize with foreign students and others who intended to move to Japan for work or study, only to have to cancel those plans, the pandemic was a once-in-a-century kind of rare event that necessitated temporary changes to border policies and international travel. In hindsight we can look at what strategies were more effective than others, but by the end Japan was able to keep fatalities to a minimum while maintaining as much normalcy as could be expected given the circumstances. Throughout that time, tourism was not a priority and restricting who could enter the country from abroad was the right call. Keep in mind that the 2020 Olympics were held the following year and despite foreign media hysteria of it being a “super spreader event,” nothing of the sort happened.

To recap, Japan’s success with handling the pandemic comes down to several things. Society here is not divided enough for people to engage in culture wars over masks and vaccines. The majority followed the government guidelines while consideration for surrounding people’s well-being is something already inherent to existing practices like mask-wearing. That kind of mentality is anathema to many of the red states in America where fierce individuality and questioning of authority are cultural parts of life. On the other hand, strict border policies that Western progressives would call “xenophobic” were entirely reasonable and lead to a significant reduction in risk of the virus being imported from abroad. Japan was singled out for temporarily suspending tourism and new immigration visas, yet Australia is a “success” even though it employed even stricter policies in those areas.

Despite whatever screeching you may have heard from Western commentators decrying Japan as some kind of xenophobic dystopian hellhole (though they do that normally anyways), I’m glad that I spent the pandemic in a country where my life largely carried on without any huge impacts to my personal freedoms. Whatever inconveniences I encountered were always going to be temporary and it was nothing compared to what much of the Anglosphere had to go through. Many assumed that Japan would have the most severe COVID-19 policies given its tendency to be a rule-based culture, but that wasn’t the case. Existing societal pressure and norms were enough to get people through the pandemic, and now everyone has moved on with the rest of the world.

What I’m watching — How Stanley Kubrick developed his auteur style in the 1960s

As I wrote in my Bonus Perspectives column last week, I’m currently in the middle of a rewatch of Stanley Kubrick’s filmography. I covered his early period and now I’m moving on to his output of the 1960s. This is where most people start when it comes to Kubrick’s work, likely because it was the era when his distinct auteur style really became noticeable.

Spartacus released in 1960 marked what was Kubrick’s last conventional work. It stands out amid the rest of his filmography because of how relatively straightforward it is and due to the fact that he wasn’t supposed to even direct the picture. I’m not surprised that David Lean was originally considered, as Spartacus is much closer to something like Lawrence of Arabia than it is to the more cerebral films Kubrick would later become known for. I’m also not surprised that Kubrick later disowned the film as he did not have complete creative control over its narrative. Kubrick was hoping that he could explore more of the psychology of the titular character, but that was not what the studio executives were looking for with an epic action movie at the time.

That isn’t to say that Spartacus is a failure. Amid other “sword and sandal” epics of its era, Spartacus holds up as one of the best. The scale is incredible, the visuals are immaculate (especially via the 4K UHD Blu-ray put out a few years ago), it has a beautiful score, and the cast starring the likes of Kirk Douglas and Laurence Olivier makes the story compelling. The biggest issue is that one can tell Kubrick was just not as personally invested compared to other projects where he controlled every aspect of the production. If one of your lesser achievements in retrospect is something like Spartacus though, that just speaks volumes about your overall legacy. Most directors would kill to have had something like Spartacus under their belts, but Kubrick wanted to challenge himself beyond typical Hollywood standards.

Lolita, based on the novel by Vladimir Nabokov, certainly tried to be different than anything else at the time. Owing to the controversial subject matter of a man in his mid-thirties being sexually obsessed with a teenage girl, the film’s marketing made that a selling point by repeatedly asking, “How did they ever make a movie of Lolita?” Well, the answer is that Kubrick kinda sorta didn’t. Yes, the skeleton of Nabokov’s work is still there, but there was never going to be a book-accurate version of Lolita released in 1962. In that sense, Kubrick deserves credit for transforming odious content into a slickly-made film that walks the finest line between good and bad taste.

The novel’s most compelling aspect was that it was told from the first-person viewpoint of its protagonist. The unreliable narration meant that we could only see the world from his eyes, which included how Lolita herself was depicted. Film is a more “objective” media by design and given the content restrictions he was facing, Kubrick’s Lolita is closer to a black comedy that strays away from the darker psychological themes of Nabokov. That’s evident by the emphasis on Peter Sellers, whose character Quilty played a far smaller role in the book. Being a Kubrick film, Lolita is beautifully shot and well-paced. It’s still worth watching, but given how even *more* contentious the novel is in today’s world, I think most are going to have trouble getting through it.

The rest of Kubrick’s filmography from here is more or less smooth sailing. Rounding off the 1960s are Dr. Strangelove and 2001: A Space Odyssey. What do I even need to say about them that hasn’t been said already? The former is one of the greatest political satires ever made and it continues to stand the test of time as the threat of nuclear warfare has only increased in the ensuing decades. The latter, like Citizen Kane and Casablanca, is firmly in the canon of movies everyone from film school students to Letterboxd reviewers have to see. Watching 2001 in 2025 is inevitably going to be a challenging experience for modern audiences who are used to everything being explained to them, but I still can’t recommend it enough. Put aside an afternoon, turn your phone off so it isn't a distraction, and just absorb 2001: A Space Odyssey in all its slow burn glory. People have been endlessly debating it since 1968, so whether you end up liking it or not, consider it the first step toward repairing your destroyed attention span and getting into a larger world of more contemplative cinema.

Join me in two weeks when I conclude this Stanley Kubrick retrospective by looking at his final works.

What I’m reading/listening to — Stephen Fry’s wonderful Harry Potter audiobooks

And now to contradict what I just wrote in the last paragraph, sometimes you need to take a break from deep films and depressing geopolitics. Going back to the likes of Harry Potter is the perfect opportunity to lose yourself in fantastical worlds just for the sake of pure fun, which is what I’ve recently been doing via the audiobooks of the series narrated by the legendary Stephen Fry. I’ve always been a fan of the erudite British actor, comedian, and writer, but watching Blackadder and A Bit of Fry & Laurie for the first time over the last couple of years has really cemented my appreciation for his incredible talent. Reminds me that I need to get into P. G. Wodehouse and Jeeves and Wooster eventually, but that’s a column for another time.

Back to Harry Potter though. J.K. Rowling’s best-selling franchise has gone through considerable ups and downs since its inception in 1997. Being born in the same year Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone debuted in bookstores across the world, the novels and film adaptations were staples of my childhood. Of course, that isn’t saying anything new. Millions of people across the world grew up with Harry Potter and not just millennials either. While Rowling is no J.R.R. Tolkien or C.S. Lewis, her penchant for accessible writing made her books a global sensation that continues to attract new readers even now.

Rowling choosing to dip her toes into contentious social issues has lead to a considerable backlash in the last few years, while fans largely decry derivative works like Harry Potter and the Cursed Child and the Fantastic Beasts spin-off films as inferior cash-grabs. I don’t think any of that takes away from what the original seven books achieved though. Returning to Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone reminded me that Rowling, when she keeps things focused, is an incredible world-builder. Whether it’s your first time with the series or your dozenth like me, the universe of Harry Potter takes you in and compels you to want to learn more.

Hogwarts both in the books and the films fully grabbed my youthful imagination as a child. The story appropriately starts off with a tone of innocence, only to grow darker over time with the increasingly difficult challenges faced by our heroes. As Harry and his friends grew up through each year of school, so did I with my own path in life. Revisiting all of this as an adult has only increased my appreciation for what Rowling set out to do, and this time I was more aware of her subtle critiques of British class discrimination with the series’ ongoing conflict between Muggles and magical people.

As a longtime audiobook aficionado, I can tell you that a bad narrator will completely ruin the best of books. Yet Stephen Fry’s gentle delivery, superb skills with accents, and delightful cadence all make the Harry Potter audiobooks must-listens. His narration reminded me of a parent telling their child a bedtime story and it only enhances Rowling’s original text instead of taking away from it. Fry has a knack for character voices, with his Dumbledore and Hagrid impressions being particularly impressive. Even with the announcement that the Harry Potter series will be receiving new audiobooks with a full cast, music, and sound effects later this year, the Stephen Fry ones will continue to occupy a special place in my heart.

Americans will be more familiar with the audiobooks narrated by Jim Dale which were produced for U.S. audiences. While I’ve heard good things about them, my love for Fry’s work and Harry Potter being a British book series made the choice obvious for me. I already had the U.K. audiobooks on my hard drive for quite some time due, but they’re now finally available officially in the U.S. via Audible. Having breezed through Philosopher’s Stone in less than a week, I’m already on Chamber of Secrets and look forward to getting through the rest.

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My trip to Niigata, another underrated part of Japan

Welcome to the first Bonus Perspectives column of 2025! It’s good to be back and I’m excited to continue this series. Over the holiday break I went on an extended vacation with my wife throughout eastern Japan. While I normally use this space to cover some interesting developments in Japanese news, there isn’t much for me to talk about this week.

The two most notable stories at the moment are probably the controversy around the Biden administration blocking Nippon Steel Corp.’s acquisition of U.S. Steel and President-elect Donald Trump seemingly giving Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba the cold shoulder ahead of inauguration. The former is something I have little to comment on as it’s outside of my area of expertise, while for the latter I would prefer to write a more thorough analysis on the state of Japan-U.S. relations after Trump comes back to the White House. There will be plenty to talk about then, I’m sure.

Instead, I thought I’d focus on something more interesting for the time being — my voyage through Niigata Prefecture. With so much of Japan dealing with crowds of tourists around the holidays, I decided to travel to some lesser-known destinations off the beaten path. Subscribers to Foreign Perspectives will remember that I previously wrote about Yokosuka and Yamaguchi Prefecture, while I’m currently in the process of finishing that column mini-series with a third part set to be published later this month. I’ve always had an interest in going to underrated parts of Japan, so this trip to Niigata was no exception.

We actually started the initial leg of the trip back in Yokosuka, meaning that it was my second time there in 2024. I took my wife to some spots I previously wanted to see, but didn’t get to like the tomb of William Adams and a monument dedicated to Commodore Matthew C. Perry. We had planned to go to some locations in Yokohama, but ended up not having enough time. So yes, I anticipate going back to that region yet again at some point in the future. After spending Christmas in Yokosuka, we boarded the Shinkansen for Niigata and spent the latter half of our holiday there.

The first destination was a small town named Joetsu located in western Niigata. Original two separate towns named Naoetsu and Takada, both merged into Joetsu in 1954. It became even larger in 2005 after taking in several surrounding towns and villages, but the overall location appears to be quite obscure even for most Japanese people. There was nary a foreign face to be found during our short stay (apart from yours truly of course) and that was a recurring theme with Niigata as a whole. You’re unlikely to encounter many tourists for miles, which means most places worth visiting are free from large crowds.

It was unfortunately very rainy and windy when we arrived in Joetsu, so most of our activities were limited to indoor locations. Joetsu Aquarium Umigatari was one of them, being situated near the Sea of Japan. It features a nice selection of aquatic creatures, surprisingly tasty food, and is overall a pretty nice way to kill an afternoon. Shortly afterward we also went to the Naoetsu Peace Park, which is built on the remains of a POW camp that housed mostly Australian soldiers during World War II. The overlooked topic of Japan-Australian relations and their decades of reconciliation after the war is worthy of its own article, so I intend to dive into it further someday. Hopefully after I visit its counterpart site in Cowra, Australia.

After Joetsu, we moved on to Sado Island. I last visited this place back in 2017 with the purpose of meeting a very fascinating individual named Charles Robert Jenkins, so I recommend reading about my experience here. That, however, was during the summer and Sado is very different during the winter. Kyoto doesn’t get much snow, so being able to experience it throughout our time in Niigata was quite wonderful indeed. Sado, like the rest of the prefecture, is famous for seafood, rice, and sake. We had some delicious meals and took home plenty of souvenirs for friends and family.

One famous highlight is the Sado Island Gold Mines, a fascinating spot that provides insights into the ore and precious metals which were once vital to the island’s economy. The Kitazawa Flotation Plant Ruins nearby are a leftover of Sado’s mining industry, while the adjacent small town overlooking the sea provided some exquisite photos. Sado seems to have undergone considerable development compared to the last time I was there. New cafes, fast food restaurants, electronic stores, and even a Book Off could be found throughout. If you can, try to get a rental car to make navigating the island easier. Otherwise you’ll have to rely on buses that only operate during specific times or expensive taxis. Hopefully when we come back one day I’ll have my Japanese driver’s license.

We concluded our trip in Niigata City proper, which is considerably smaller than Kyoto or Osaka, but quite convenient with a plethora of restaurants and shops. This portion was more or less a time to unwind as the majority of places were closed during the New Year’s period. One of the few places open was the Senbei Kingdom, a factory outside of the city which produces the region’s famous rice crackers. We ended up making our own with unique designs drawn in soy sauce. As you can tell, I have a clear knack for drawing Kirby and should definitely consider an art career.

The good, the bad, and the ugly of Ukraine’s president on Lex Fridman’s podcast

Plenty of things are happening in the weeks leading up to Donald Trump’s inauguration and among the most pressing foreign policy issues remains Russia’s invasion of Ukraine which is about to reach the end of its third year. Trump previously boasted that he could end the war “in 24 hours” upon entering the White House, but the president-elect has unsurprisingly revised that to a six-month timeline. Regardless of what does happen, it’s abundantly clear that the path forward will be anything but straightforward or wholly satisfactory for any side.

I was reminded of these realities while watching Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s recent appearance on Lex Fridman’s podcast, which as of this writing has over 4.5 million views. It says a lot about the modern state of technology and information dissemination when the leader of a country involved in one of the most consequential wars of the 21st century can sit down for an unfiltered three-hour conversation. Yet while undoubtedly a fascinating and possibly even historically important moment, the overall podcast ironically revealed more about the host than it did Ukraine’s president.

Controversy arose before the microphones were even switched on. Fridman initially proposed to conduct the entire conversation in Russian since it’s the only language both he and Zelenskyy speak fluently. Ukraine’s president, however, was not open to this idea because of how politically and culturally contentious Russian has become in his country. Millions of Ukrainians, including those who speak Russian as their first tongue, are currently in the process of attempting to shed the “language of the oppressor” in favor of the Ukrainian language, which is completely understandable considering the last three years and overall history of cultural suppression.

Fridman, of course, is entirely aware of this. While it may seem like a minor issue to those less familiar with Russian and Ukrainian history, Zelenskyy is fully justified to be wary of speaking Putin’s language amid Putin’s invasion. The final podcast ended up being an odd mix of Fridman asking questions in Russian and English with Zelenskyy responding mostly in Ukrainian, but a few moments of Russian and English interspersed. With podcasts being an aural medium, Fridman turned to Elevenlabs to translate and dub their entire conversation purely into Russian, English, and Ukrainian each via AI. The YouTube upload features these three audio tracks, with the fourth being the original mixed audio with English subtitles.

The majority of viewers will probably listen to the dubbed AI English track, but I took the time to seriously watch the entire conversation in its original form. AI cannot convey the same emotions of a real human being and seeing how Zelenskyy reacts, at times with exasperation, to Fridman’s naive questions added even more context to the discussion. Zelenskyy choosing when to switch to Russian and English also illustrates when he wished to directly speak to Fridman without the delay of an interpreter for important points. I know that it’s asking a lot of most people to dedicated their entire focus on a three-hour podcast, but if you care about these issues as much as I do, it’s time well-spent.

Another major issue around language is translation. Fridman claims that the interpreters did a poor job conveying the nuance of both sides, but observers on social media immediately noticed his own translation of the English subtitles did not properly capture what Zelenskyy was trying to say either. Was this an intentionally malicious move on this part? I’m more inclined to believe it was more due to the pitfalls of relying on AI for translation. In his closing notes, Fridman states that the translation was “done in part by AI and a lot by human,” but as I speak neither Russian nor Ukrainian, it’s impossible for me to know how accurate the English subtitles are. While I feel vindicated with my article which went over the pitfalls of using AI for translation, I’m also very concerned around what misinterpreting the nuances of language will mean for the future of geopolitical discourse.

With those misgivings out of the way, there is also the issue of the host himself. In my piece last year about Lex Fridman’s softball conversation with Donald Trump, I wrote this:

I began to get off the Lex Fridman train after it became apparent that his naive “peace and love” attitude was utterly useless against Kanye West when the disgraced rapper appeared on his show in late 2022. Fridman (who himself is Jewish) was completely ineffective in combating West’s blatant antisemitic rants and perpetuation of conspiracy theories, making the whole conversation a waste of time. He has also been very disappointing on the war in Ukraine, preferring to platform Russia apologists like John Mearsheimer while taking the bizarre stance common in both paleoconservative and far-left circles that terrorist states like Iran wouldn’t be terrorist states if it wasn’t for the United States.

Having watched the entire conversation between Fridman and Zelenskyy, my opinion has not changed. Ukraine’s president was eloquent and skillful with his responses, while also demonstrating the patience of a saint when it came to Fridman’s naive questions and utterly asinine statements such as Vladimir Putin being someone who “loves his people.” At the same time, I do think that the podcast serves an important role in combating the contrarian anti-Ukraine sentiment that is currently being seen in MAGA Republican circles. Will it change anyone’s mind? That’s another problem entirely, but at the very least I can imagine it giving some people material to think about they otherwise would have never considered.

Whether out of genuine belief or for pragmatic reasons, Zelenskyy constantly praised Trump throughout the podcast and stated his belief that the incoming U.S. president has the will to help Ukraine end the war. Some may find this difficult to swallow, but Trump and Zelenskyy are actually quite similar to one another. Neither were politicians before they became the leaders of their respective countries and both have used knowledge of show business to their advantage with their political messaging. Zelenskyy has the more agreeable personality, but both men’s histories of being entertainers is something that could lend itself to an amicable relationship moving forward.

After the Biden administration’s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan, I don’t think Trump is going to make the same mistake with abandoning Ukraine. A Russian victory would look bad for his administration and if there’s one thing the former Celebrity Apprentice host refuses to look like, it’s a loser. As for Lex Fridman, he’s stated his intention to interview Vladimir Putin. If that does happen, no one should expect the same kind of warmness and patience Zelenskyy showed. I do expect Fridman to conduct another softball interview, which is exactly what the Kremlin would love to have.

What I’m watching — Stanley Kubrick before he was famous

I watched over 170 films last year and my goal for this year is to surpass that number while also posting a short, pithy review of everything I see to my account on Letterboxd. If movies are your thing, I recommend following as it will give you more commentary on works I don’t give a full write-up here at Foreign Perspectives.

As you can see, I’ve already reviewed quite a few Stanley Kubrick films and that’s because I’m going through his entire filmography in chronological order. My wife watches practically everything with me, so I use it as an opportunity to teach her about the history of cinema. It also gives me a refresher on stuff I watched as a teenager, but can now appreciate more as an adult. I’ve gained some new insights into Kubrick’s works, so that will be the subject of this and the next couple of columns.

For good reason, most have not seen Stanley Kubrick’s debut 1952 feature Fear and Desire. The director was just 23 years old when he transitioned from photography to filmmaking, and his lack of experience in the medium shows. While Kubrick demonstrates competence in contrasting light with shadow and there are few glimpses of his novel approach to cinematography, the haphazard editing and hammy performances give it the vibe of a student film shot in a forest with friends more than anything else.

Produced during the Korean War, Fear and Desire tries to be insightful with its themes of human conflict and savagery, but the undergraduate level script sounds like it was written by extraterrestrials who only observed human beings from afar instead of actually interacting with them. Still, it’s impressive that this film was made at all considering how nearly non-existent the independent movie scene was in the early 1950s. Kubrick tried to destroy all copies of Fear and Desire, but its existence in private collections allowed it to survive into the 21st century and anyone curious can watch the whole thing on YouTube since it’s public domain.

I doubt anyone would call Kubrick’s sophomore effort Killer’s Kiss their favorite nor does it really end up as anything too memorable, but it’s already leaps and bounds better. At a swift 67 minutes, it doesn’t waste your time and proves itself to be a decently interest film noir released during the genre’s declining years. Killer’s Kiss in many ways feels like the practice run for Kubrick’s far superior The Killing with how it works at building a slow burn setup into one satisfying denouement. To most, I would recommend starting here. Despite being released in 1956, The Killing more than holds up as a taut, methodically placed crime thriller up there with the best released in the last couple of decades. Viewers will note the similarities to Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs and I’m positive that the robbers wearing clown masks at the beginning of The Dark Knight was an intentional tribute.

The film that ends what I would consider Stanley Kubrick’s early period is 1957’s Paths of Glory. The term “anti-war” is often nebulous and ill-defined, but Paths of Glory is about as close as you can get. Kubrick fleshes out some of the ideas he began to explore in Fear and Desire, but with far more technical achievement and a stand out performance from Kirk Douglas. It’s both an unflinching portrait of World War One carnage and a dramatic depiction of a real event that occurred when four French soldiers were executed as an example to discourage cowardice.

The film’s standout sequence consists of a series of long takes depicting Kirk Douglas’ character Colonel Dax walking down the trenches before transitioning into a brutal assault against a German anthill that turns into a complete slaughter of French forces. Paths of Glory was quickly became controversial among the French for how it portrayed their soldiers, leading to a near 20-year ban in the country. Indeed, the film overall was not a great success for many decades due to its grim subject matter, but most today agree that it stands strong as a classic. How Paths of Glory depicts war is often contrasted with how Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket would later depict the same subject, but that’s a column for another day.

Join me next week when I dive into Kubrick’s eclectic 1960s filmography, which marked his transition into the auteur we know today.

What I’m listening to — Wham, bam, thank you ma’am!

Over the holidays I ended up seriously listening to the lyrics of “Last Christmas” by the British pop group Wham! for the first time. It’s obviously a classic tune at this point and I’m sure I’ve heard it many times in previous years, but for whatever reason it was never a major part of my Christmas music repertoire. While waiting for our burgers at Yokosuka’s famous local restaurant Tsunami, it happened to be one of songs playing. I subsequently added it to my Apple Music library while listening to it throughout our trip and later collected all of Wham!’s brief run of studio albums on CD.

While most holiday songs tend to be cheery and about subjects like spending time with loved ones, “Last Christmas” is almost an anti-Christmas spirit song. The story as told by the lyrics is more about a failed relationship than the Yuletide season itself, with Christmas being the starting point of a brief tryst which ends “the very next day.” Our bereaved protagonist encounters the same woman again one year later, and anyone who has been in a similar situation can relate to his conflicted feelings. I think that’s probably why “Last Christmas” resonates so much around the holidays. Many people unfortunately spend the end of the year alone or still feel lonely despite the company around them.

Enjoying the soundscape of “Last Christmas,” I decided to take a look at the rest of Wham!’s discography and was surprised to discover that they were also behind “Careless Whisper.” Yes, its opening saxophone line has been made fun of countless times and Deadpool more or less turned it into an even bigger joke, but it’s always been one of my favorites. This tends to be a reoccurring trend with me where I’ll listen to certain songs for years without knowing who was behind them or their cultural context. It all made sense though after I did further research into Wham!, finding out that they were part of the short-lived “Second British Invasion” which happened in the early 1980s.

British groups like Depeche Mode and Joy Division made their mark on both sides of the pond with their approach to catchy synth-pop tunes. Wham! was at the forefront of this movement, with the accessibility of their material pushing them to the top of the charts. The most famous acts of this era have long been in my music library, which is probably why I was instantly drawn to Wham! after going over their discography. The harder edge of pop like Michael Jackson and heavy metal like Metallica largely put an end to the Second British Invasion, but Wham! in retrospect calls back to a more innocent time for Gen X music. No need to think too deeply about their lyrical content, just kick back and have a good time.

Recommend listens:

“Love Machine”

“Wham Rap! (Enjoy What You Do?)”

“Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go”

“Everything She Wants”

“Careless Whisper”

“The Edge of Heaven”

“Last Christmas” — This music video in particular is notable for having its original film elements rediscovered, remastered in 4K, and being part of YouTube’s program to upgrade existing uploads of music in the highest quality possible. The results are quite stunning.

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Bonus Perspectives is a weekly column series containing my thoughts on the latest international news and Japanese news, as well as film, television, music, book, and video game recommendations. It’s free for all subscribers to this Substack, but if you enjoy my writing, consider opting for a paid subscription. Doing so will give you access to exclusive in-depth pieces and my entire backlog of work. Your support is greatly appreciated!

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A look back on 2024

2024 felt like the equivalent of multiple years jammed into one. Compared to any other year I’ve lived in Japan since my second move in 2019, I accomplished more than I could have ever anticipated and subsequently laid the important groundwork for a future path I’m excited to embark upon. Outside of my own life, it seemed that nearly every month gave us a once-in-a-century kind of event that completely changed the landscape for geopolitics and culture.

In a way, you could say that 2024 paradoxically went by in a flash, but that it also moved by at a methodical place because of the sheer amount of things that happened. While writing this piece and revisiting this year’s events, I nearly forgot that the Paris Olympics were held or that Oppenheimer swept the Oscars. I had to remind myself that important stuff I did during the first half of 2024 actually happened this year and not in the last couple of years because of the way my life radically changed. That should give you an idea of how much my sense of time has been warped, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

For starters, 2024 was the first full year of this Substack. I began Foreign Perspectives in May 2023, which frankly seems like a lifetime ago considering all the alterations this website has gone through since then. There was less focus of what I wanted to do in the beginning other than covering my general interests, which ranged from life in Japan to The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles. This year, however, I began my weekly column Bonus Perspectives which allows me to assemble my thoughts on various news stories and pieces of media in a more digestible way. Subscribers can read the whole thing or pick and choose what sections interest them. That column too went through its own changes, but at this point I think I’ve reached a concise format that I will continue in 2025.

I unfortunately fell short of my goal to reach 1,000 subscribers by the end of 2024, but I’m still very happy with the amount of growth among both free and paid subscribers over the last 12 months. I think the real issue of not crossing my intended milestone came down to consistency, which I apologize for not always being on top of. For most of November and December, I unexpectedly became ill which normally doesn’t happen. That in turn was the result of me taking a very demanding part-time job which requires standing outside for long hours. Given the cold temperatures and sheer amount of customers I have to interact with, it would have been surprising if I didn’t get sick.

Some are aware of what job I’m working, but strict NDAs prevent me from revealing much more at this time. Either way, I will be done with it by the end of January and will switch completely to freelance writing, so expect greater consistency and an increase in articles overall. I also accomplished more bylines than ever before, some of which have lead to exciting writing gigs. Your support of this Substack, however, is essential for keeping this whole enterprise going, so do consider a paid subscription if you enjoy my articles.

Being featured in The Japan Times, UnHerd, Quillette, and The Spectator were all major milestones for my writing career as I continued my PhD in international relations. Reaching the third year of my doctoral program marked the end of my scholarship funding, but I was able to successfully extend my student visa. Working on this thesis will become my main priority in 2025, and I now I have a concrete timeline of when I hope to graduate. If all of that wasn’t enough, I also got married. I would recommend reading my article on dating in Japan for more insights on how I reached this point, but needless to say this marks a new chapter for my life in this country.

Another moment of personal growth, or should I say shrinkage, was me dropping over 18 kg (40 lbs) of body weight. At the end of last year I weighed in at around 104 kgs (230 lbs), which was the heaviest I had ever been. I never intended to get that big, but it was the result of me attempting to “dirty bulk” while doing strength training for the first time throughout 2023. I ate more to increase my daily protein intake, but didn’t really track calories. While I learned a lot about lifting weights properly and made some tangible gains, the amount of body fat on me was not worth what little muscle I had developed. Not to mention that I had basically stopped all cardio, which was unusual for me as I had previously been a regular runner.

Looking at pictures of myself in early 2024 was enough for me to realize that a major change was needed. Unfortunately, that also coincided with me going back to the United States for the first time in over three years. People I hadn’t seen in ages could tell I had put on weight while I also had to make sure I didn’t make things even worse with how notoriously calorie dense American food is. As soon as I got back to Japan in late February, I started cutting calories and moving more. It was a slow process in the beginning, but gradually my face returned to what it once was and I’m no longer as embarrassed to be on camera anymore.

By the summer I was back to jogging regularly and I decided that I wanted to try my hand at running 5Ks. My time in August was 33 minutes, but I was able to cut it down to 27 minutes by November. I had intended to get down to 25 minutes by the end of the year, but unexpectedly becoming sick for weeks means I had to delay that goal to early 2025. I’ve realized that I prefer running to lifting weights and that a bodybuilder physique isn’t want I want. I’m aiming to get back to a runner’s body and while I still have some weight to lose, I’ve already gotten over the hard part. I intend to also reincorporate regular weight training, but this time build muscle the correct way with a clean bulk. Hopefully I can report back with my progress this time next year. My fitness journey is only just beginning.

I could continue this section with a recap of all the big world events that happened in 2024 if I wanted to, but I think I’ve gone on for long enough. This is meant to be the final entry of Bonus Perspectives for 2024 and I won’t waste any more of your time. Instead, I’ve assembled a collection of what I think is my best writing, in addition to movies I watched, music I listened to, books I read, and video games I played this year. It wouldn’t be Bonus Perspectives without some media recommendations, now would it?

I wish all my readers good times with family members and loved ones as we enter 2025. Whether you are a new or regular subscriber to Foreign Perspectives, I’m nothing but eternally grateful that you’ve chosen to have my words reach your inbox every week. Let’s continue to visit new places together.

—Oliver Jia

My ten best pieces

“AI is Not the Solution to Bad Translations of Japanese Media” — Foreign Perspectives

One of my first pieces of 2024, I did a long-form deep dive into translation and localization of Japanese media, as well as the controversy over the use of AI. Like many topics on Twitter (or X as we’re being increasingly forced to call it), this has become embroiled in a heated culture war with two sides largely talking past each other. I wanted to write something that could provide some nuance over the complicated subject of language translation, as well as why AI is a creative dead end that won’t solve the problems some seem to think it will. Even if you have no interest in video games or anime, the implications of AI on art are too serious to ignore.

“The truth about retro game hunting in a post-pandemic Japan” — Time Extension

I wrote this piece after going viral on Twitter when I posted pictures of a Surugaya store in Kyoto that previously had fully stocked shelves of reasonably priced retro video games, but is now a hollow shell of its former self. My tweets were featured on the video game enthusiast site Time Extension and ended up becoming part of larger discourse over how much the landscape for retro game collecting has changed in Japan. I reached out to the site editor Damien McFerran pitching a piece that could provide some more context and he was happy to oblige. I hope to do more work with them in the future, but in the meantime I appreciated being able to get my thoughts out to their readers.

“Why Japan won’t repeat the West’s mistakes on immigration” — The Spectator

Another contentious topic that is poorly understood by Westerners and plagued with false information on Twitter. Having been a contributor to The Spectator since 2023, I thought that they would be the perfect platform for me to write an article about immigration to Japan. The piece had to go through a couple of minor corrections after publication, but I’m ultimately glad with how it turned out because it serves as my go-to word on a complicated subject that few outside of Japan really know anything about. Writing this piece was also one factor that eventually pushed me to radically change how I used Twitter in 2024. Instead of getting into pointless online arguments, I decided to channel that energy into writing more articles. I get paid to do it and I can avoid the exhausting drama of social media. Win-win.

“The forgotten impact of 9/11 on Japan” — The Japan Times

9/11 is a topic I’ve previously discussed on Foreign Perspectives, but this was both my first time writing about it for a professional publication and my debut piece overall for The Japan Times. Much like many other things that capture my interest, I’ve dedicated so much digital ink to 9/11 because I think it’s poorly understood by the general public. Even more than that, 9/11 is now at the risk of being forgotten entirely by generations too young to have any conscious memories of it. In this case, I chose to shed light on the rarely-discussed Japanese perspective around the event. 24 Japanese nationals lost their lives in the terrorist attacks, including two victims who were on board the planes. Moving forward, I intend to continue finding these lesser-known angles when I write future pieces about 9/11. There is still plenty to cover as we approach the 25th anniversary.

“Five Years in Kyoto” — Foreign Perspectives

2024 marked five years since I first moved to Kyoto for my graduate studies, so I believed that a retrospective piece looking back on my life throughout that time was in order. Most associate the city as being a tourist trap with maddening crowds, but I chose to focus more on the quieter aspects as a full-time resident. These are the kinds of pieces that come easiest to write for me as I’m really just discussing normal daily life. But for those outside of Japan who want to learn more about the country, what’s mundane to me is a foreign perspective to others. See what I did there? Never mind.

“The return of CRT TVs” — The Spectator

Currently my last piece for The Spectator since their buyout, but I’ve been reliably informed that it won’t actually be my last despite the change in editorial leadership. We’ll see what I can get published there in 2025. Regardless, this is arguably my favorite piece I’ve written for them. You remember those old, bulky box televisions your boomer parents or grandparents stubbornly never got rid of? Well make sure they still have them because there’s a decent chance they’re sitting on gold for retro gamers and enthusiasts of esoteric technology. Why would anyone possibly want one in the age of 4K flatscreens? That’s what my piece is about and I was thrilled to have the opportunity to interview some of the few people in the world still repairing these television sets. I only wish I had gotten my own CRT years ago instead of now when the prices are being jacked up by sellers who are now aware of what they have.

“Decline and Folly” — Quillette

Why do some critically acclaimed directors fall from grace? How could the man behind The Godfather and Apocalypse Now also be responsible for Jack and this year’s disastrous release of Megalopolis? In my debut piece for the Australian magazine Quillette, I answer these questions and more while analyzing why Francis Ford Coppola’s lifelong passion project largely failed in what it set out to do. Because Quillette has such high standards and what they were asking for was quite different from what I originally submitted, this was probably the hardest piece I wrote this year. Still, we managed to work through it after a second draft and the final result captured the ideas I intended to convey. Now that I’m more familiar with their style, I hope to do future deep dives into other directors and pieces of pop culture I’m passionate about in 2025.

“North Korea is ready for war” — UnHerd

Around the same time I was drafting my Megalopolis piece for Quillette, the British magazine UnHerd reached out to me for an analysis of North Korea’s role in the ongoing war between Ukraine and Russia. It had been over a year since I last wrote any kind of North Korea-related analysis, so this was going back to what was once my bread and butter. UnHerd told me that my previous contributions for NK News were what got them interested in having me join their site, so that should tell you how important it is to build a CV of articles as soon as you can. With everything else going on in the world, North Korea has not been at the same level of public interest compared to previous years, hence why I don’t actually discuss it much despite it being the subject of my PhD. With Donald Trump set to return to the White House in 2025, however, I suspect that we will hear more from the Kim regime than usual. You can expect more analysis from me if and when that happens.

“A Personal Journey Through Japan Part 2: Yamaguchi” — Foreign Perspectives

As the title suggests, this was perhaps my most personal writing of the year. A few months after I returned from visiting the United States, I decided to revisit places in Japan that held particular significance for me. After sorting out my thoughts and working on other pieces for most of 2024, I decided that this trip would be best suited for a three-part column series. The first was about Yokosuka, while this one was about Yamaguchi Prefecture, a very underrated part of Japan and the first region of the country I ever lived in. As such, it carries a lot of importance. Going back reminded me of a time when I was younger and more naive, but also perhaps more free than I ever will be for the rest of my life. This year’s trip taught me a lot about myself and what role nostalgia plays in shaping us, but that we eventually have to move on. And speaking of which, stay tuned for Part 3 in January.

“Why Christmas Eve is date night in Japan” — UnHerd

I closed the year with my latest piece for Unherd, an essay about the history of Christmas and Christianity in Japan. Despite less than 1% of the country identifying as Christian, the Yuletide season is still a huge cultural phenomenon for the people of Japan. So if you’ve ever wanted to learn why the Japanese eat KFC on Christmas, why Christmas Eve is considered the most romantic day of the year for customers, and how a surprising amount of prime ministers have been Christians, considering reading this piece over your holiday break. After writing about heavy topics like 9/11 and North Korea, it was certainly nice to end the year with something light.

What I watched

God, what a disappointing year for cinema. While according to my Letterboxd I watched about 170 films, less than ten of them were movies actually from 2024 because there was so little of interest on offer. And out of those, the majority of them were sequels. I enjoyed Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, but as I wrote earlier this year, its failure at the box office leaves the future of George Miller’s post-apocalyptic franchise on ice for the time being. Deadpool & Wolverine was an enjoyable superhero comedy, but it’ll most likely just be a one-off instead of something that will save the MCU altogether.

Alien: Romulus was fine and probably the best film in the franchise since James Cameron’s Aliens. Its attempts at nostalgia-bait, however, represent the worst excesses of Hollywood in the 2020s pandering in order to get butts in seats. I only saw Venom: The Last Dance because my wife wanted to, but I’ll be kind and call it a guilty pleasure like the other Venom movies. You’ll forgive me for not watching Madame Web or Kraven the Hunter. Gladiator II was ok, but a pointless retread of its vastly superior predecessor. I think Megalopolis is worth watching, not because it’s good, but because nothing like it has ever been made. Read my aforementioned piece on it.

If I had to choose one film from this year that was actually my favorite, it would be Juror #2. Possibly Clint Eastwood’s swan song (the man is 94 years old!), this is an old-fashioned courtroom drama that poses thought-provoking questions around the law, jury bias, human flaws, and other themes that most films today seem to have no interest in exploring. In fact, this is a movie that doesn’t really get made anymore. In the 1990s and early 2000s long before streaming completely changed the game of commercially viable films, you would have seen a small-scale drama like this every week at the cinema. Today though, such works are perceived as no longer profitable, which is why Warner Brothers essentially killed Juror #2 by cutting its theatrical release short and putting it on streaming. Clint Eastwood deserves so much better.

As I live in Japan, film releases often get delayed here. I’m excited for The Brutalist and Nosferatu, but those won’t be out for me until later in 2025. Ironically enough, some of the best stuff I saw were films from 2023 that were given theatrical releases in Japan in 2024. Oppenheimer is of course Christopher Nolan’s latest masterpiece and fully deserving of all its acclaim. Not much more needs to be said except for the fact that I always knew it would be released in Japan and that the invented controversy around it was overblown.

I found Celine Song’s directorial debut Past Lives heartbreakingly beautiful, especially as someone who has dealt with unsuccessful long distance relationships. The Bikeriders with Austin Butler and Tom Hardy was excellent. Like Juror #2 it’s a kind of movie I’m surprised was ever made in this day and age. It has a surprisingly conservative outlook on 1960s liberal radicalism, but also good commentary on destructive masculinity that manages to not be preachy or sentimental. If there was one film from 2023 I was most looking forward to seeing, it was Michael Caine’s final role in The Great Escaper. See my review here.

Other than that, 2024 had some really slim pickings for interesting films. If I missed anything, feel free to let me know in the replies and I’ll try to get to it depending on if it’s available in my neck of the woods. The year was instead largely a time for me to catch up on my backlog of important films I had yet to see or an opportunity to revisit stuff to show to my wife, such as Quentin Tarantino’s filmography and the Lethal Weapon films. My Letterboxed shows a wide diversity of different works, so it was a productive year of cinematic education indeed. It’s impossible for me to talk about all of them, so here are my 15 favorites with a brief remark on each. I saw all of these for the first time.

True Romance (1993) — A beautiful collaboration between Tony Scott and Quentin Tarantino. Entertaining from start to finish with tight writing and stellar performances. Glad that Scott was able to get his happy ending over Tarantino’s intended dour conclusion.

Saturday Night Fever (1977) — A case where the soundtrack is vastly more popular than the film itself, but that shouldn’t dissuade you from seeing this one. John Travolta’s dance choreography is still breathtaking even today. The story is much darker than most modern viewers are probably expecting and some of the content is uncomfortable to watch, but one should go in with the mentality that this is closer to Mean Streets than it is Grease.

Where Eagles Dare (1968) — The quintessential 1960s war film that would inspire decades of cinema to come, including Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds. While showing my wife his films, I wanted to also show her his influences. This was the first time I saw it myself, but I instantly clicked with it. Richard Burton and Clint Eastwood are fantastic. Despite the limitations of the era, you still feel the scale of their mission and the coldness of the snowy Bavarian castle setting.

Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honnêamise (1987) — A Japanese animated film that should be in the same conversation as Akira and Ghost in the Shell, but unfortunately was neglected for years and is seldom seen outside of Japan. Hardcore enthusiasts for mech anime have always sung its praises and the film succeeds in being a beautiful masterpiece despite its production issues. Was lucky to later find a copy of the stirring electronic score by Ryuichi Sakamoto on vinyl.

Metropolis (1927) — Not much to say that hasn’t been said already. Without Fritz Lang’s Metropolis you don’t get Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner, Terry Gilliam’s Brazil, or any world-building piece of cinema where the city itself is a character. This film is nearly 100 years old, but you quickly forget that because of how it sucks you in with its beautiful set design and mesmerizing attention to detail. In 1927, there would have been nothing like it. Today, there arguably still is nothing like it.

The Great Silence (1968) — Another movie I saw for the first time as part of my Tarantino filmography and his inspirations marathon. This is probably one of the most underrated westerns ever made because of its troubled release history outside of Italy, but its reputation has thankfully improved over the ensuing decades. Tarantino heavily borrowed the winter setting for Django Unchained and The Hateful Eight, but he would fully admit that no one could do it better than Sergio Corbucci. With the likes of Klaus Kinski in the cast and a haunting score by Ennio Morricone, The Great Silence is truly worthy of being called a hidden masterpiece.

The Death of Stalin (2017) — Top-notch political satire which is a rarity these days. See my review here.

Get Carter (1971) — For me, 2024 was the Year of Michael Caine because I spent most of it seriously diving into his filmography from the beginning. I plan on dedicating more articles to his life and work, but for the time being I think my favorite film of his is Get Carter. Most today only associate Caine with kindly elder roles, but Mike Hodges’ 1971 British gangster picture shows him at his most brutal. It pushed the limits of what was acceptable in mainstream Anglosphere cinema at the time and later crime films owe a ton of inspiration to it. Caine is impeccable as Jack Carter, his performance being up there with Alfie and Harry Palmer. Roy Budd’s minimalistic score is constantly played in my music library.

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) —Frank Capra’s therapeutic idealistic balm we all need in today’s extremely polarized world. See my review here.

Gladiator (2000) — Yes, I know I should be crucified for not having seen Gladiator until now. I should also be hung, drawn, and quartered for it taking me until the release of Gladiator II to watch it. Now that my punishment is over, all I can say is that this is an exceptional masterpiece and one of the last great modern epics from Hollywood. The absence of Russell Crowe in the sequel really shows why the original Gladiator was lightning in a bottle and something that not even Ridley Scott himself could do again better. I look forward to rewatching this one many times over the next few years. Also, one of Hans Zimmer’s finest scores.

The Green Mile (1999) — After rewatching The Shawshank Redemption for the first time in over a decade, I decided to finally check out its spiritual successor The Green Mile, which is also based on a Stephen King story. Few films deserve to be over three hours long, but The Green Mile earns its runtime. Frank Darabont knows how to pull you in with characters you either immediately love or hate, which is why you stay invested. If Shawshank was a prison drama about the prisoners, The Green Mile is a companion piece from the guards’ perspective. It’s from the old days of Hollywood when star power and good writing were enough to draw audiences in. I wish Darabont was able to do more afterward, but that’s a topic for another day.

Death Wish (1974) — Ok, I needed to include at least one schlocky film on this list. I previously wrote about how I read Brian Garfield’s 1972 novel Death Wish in early November, but had yet to see the cinematic adaptation starring Charles Bronson. At the time I suspected that it would bear little resemblance to the book given that Bronson is completely different from Garfield’s timid accountant protagonist and boy was I right. Still, that didn’t prevent me from the Death Wish film and its sequels being among my biggest guilty pleasures of the year. Do these movies express ideological themes that would likely never work in the real world? Yes, but that’s not really the point. Given how poorly-received the 2018 Bruce Willis remake was among mainstream critics, I plan on doing an in-depth piece on the complicated legacy of Death Wish and why these films are worth watching again.

Love Actually (2003) — A sweet romantic comedy perfect for people who don’t like romantic comedies. See my review here.

Sleuth (1972) — Along with Get Carter, this is one of the best examples of Michael Caine’s incredible range. Even though it came out just one year after Mike Hodges’ film, Sleuth gives us an entirely different side of Caine via a complex role that keeps the audience in utter suspense. The other important aspect is Laurence Olivier, but it would be an utter disservice to spoil anything further. Go into this one knowing as little as possible and you’ll thank me later. Sleuth received a gorgeous HD restoration this year via a new Japanese Blu-ray, but it’s been tangled in convoluted legal issues overseas for decades. Someone has uploaded to YouTube, so give it your full attention while you still can.

Airplane (1980) — Another film that I know I deserve to be lynched for not seeing until now. I already knew many of the famous jokes of course, but watching them in full context had me grinning ear to ear the entire time. Airplane fully deserves its reputation as being one of the best comedies of the 20th century, with its pre-9/11 aviation humor serving as a reminder of why it can never be remade in this era. I’d tell you to watch it, but surely you already have. So watch it again and don’t call me Shirley.

What I listened to

As readers of my weekly column Bonus Perspectives are aware, I regularly recommend music. Here are some highlights of the best stuff I listened to this year.

Billy Joel — I don’t think I have to elaborate on what makes Billy Joel so great because he’s been an American cultural staple for the last 50+ years. Going through his entire discography in 2024 gave me a new perspective on how much he’s evolved as an artist. Everyone knows how great “Piano Man” and “Uptown Girl” are, but there really is something for all kinds of listeners due to his willingness to be flexible, but not pandering toward each passing era of music. Album-wise, The Stranger is his undisputed masterpiece, but An Innocent Man and his later output are underrated. Yes, I’m an unapologetic “We Didn’t Start the Fire” fan.

Sandy Lam — Hong Kong during the 1980s and 1990s produced some of the world’s finest films and music. An era of unprecedented creative freedom before mainland China regained control of the island colony, it was the days of John Woo, Wong Kar-wai, and Leslie Cheung. But while those names are well-known in the West, singer Sandy Lam’s popularity has largely been limited to Hong Kong and neighboring Asian countries. I first came across her work via Wong Kar-wai’s debut film As Tears Go By, which features Lam singing a gorgeous Cantonese cover of “Take My Breath Away.” From there, I began going through her discography via Apple Music and she has since become a regular fixture of my listening library.

Kookie Freedman — A very obscure German composer you’ve never heard of, but let me explain. You know those non-invasive pieces of background music you often hear in department stores and shopping centers? The kind of stuff that’s usually dismissed as “elevator music” because of how low-key it is? Well here’s the thing, I actually like that stuff. I don’t necessarily make it my first choice of listening material for the evening, but when it comes to needing an aural backdrop while I’m working or studying? I fire up Kookie Freedman’s expansive library of jazz tunes and easy listening for inspiration. Put on this playlist the next time you need to get something done and you’ll understand what I mean.

Saturday Night Fever — What got me into the aforementioned film. Come on, it’s the Bee Gees. What else do I need to say?

Starsailor — Post-Britpop group that made the kind of acoustic soft rock that was huge in the early 2000s, but is now ironically considered a breath of fresh air compared to the manufactured junk put out by music labels today. See my overview of their work here.

Atarashii Gakko! — Despite living in Japan, I don’t listen to much J-pop. I’ll add a song to my library here and there usually if it’s in a show or film I happen to come across, but I’m generally not a big fan of modern Japanese pop music largely for the same reasons I don’t care for modern American pop music. Still, Atarashii Gakko! is an exception. They’re clearly aimed at Gen Z Japanese youths and their overly perky vibe won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but I consider them a guilty pleasure. Their music videos such “Otona Blue” and “Pineapple Kryptonite” are genuinely entertaining for their impeccable choreography and good use of retro aesthetics.

Mono — Another obscure act you’ve probably never heard of, but don’t worry, they’re anything but elevator music produced by esoteric German composers. Formica Blues is the only album the short-lived English trip hop duo ever produced, but I constantly go back to it for the sheer amount of sampling on display. Nothing like it has ever been made since. See my review here.

Isaac Hayes — He’s best known for Shaft of course, but I’ve recently been going through his other work. “Walk on By” from Hot Buttered Soul is 12 minutes of pure auditory bliss and among the best examples of soul music ever made. It’s no wonder why Mono sampled it in Formica Blues.

Roy Budd — One of the most underrated film composers of the 20th century and responsible for the music in some of Michael Caine’s best films. The theme to Get Carter will never leave my head.

Classical music recommendations — See my write-ups on Prokofiev and Brahms.

What I read

I got a Kindle Paperwhite at the end of 2023 and it completely changed my approach to reading books. While I will always love the look and feel of my physical book library, having a small tablet in my backpack with dozens of books instantly accessible on a paper-like screen that doesn’t strain my eyes gave me less excuses to avoid reading in 2024. I didn’t read as much as I wanted to because of other commitments, but next year I hope to put aside at least one hour every day completely dedicated to books. Here were my favorites I read this year.

102 Minutes: The Untold Story of the Fight to Survive Inside the Twin Towers by Jim Dwyer and Kevin Flynn — I’ve read a lot of books on 9/11, but 102 Minutes is my first recommendation for anyone who wants to learn the essentials of what happened on the worst day in U.S. history. As its title implies, Jim Dwyer and Kevin Flynn provide a precise run-down of the events that occurred between the hijacked planes hitting the Twin Towers and their eventual collapse. It may not make for light reading, but everyone should be required to learn what 9/11 was so “never forget” is more than just a slogan.

Bad Man by Dathan Auerbach — A compelling thriller about a missing child that takes inspiration from the “creepypasta” stories of 2010s internet forums, but stands alone as a well-written slow burn novel. See my review here.

The Quiet American by Graham Greene — A classic novel warning of U.S. involvement in Vietnam that accurately predicted much of what would go wrong. Greene is more left-leaning than I am, but his talents for crafting a good yarn should be obvious to anyone. Few in his day were able to smoothly combine journalistic skills with fiction-writing ones. I hope to follow in his footsteps one day. Until then I look forward to reading more of his work. See my review here.

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams — One of the funniest things I read all year and an effective parody of the sci-fi genre. Best consumed via the audiobook narrated by the great Stephen Fry. See my review here.

The Ipcress File by Len Deighton — A spy novel that intentionally shows the drudgery and mundane aspects of spycraft. Deighton’s protagonist in The Ipcress File was originally unnamed, but would later be called Harry Palmer in the excellent film adaptation starring Michael Caine. While both the 1965 movie and the overlooked 2022 television mini-series remake do an admirable job in adapting the material, you really do want to read the original book to appreciate all of Deighton’s subtleties. Like Graham Greene, I hope to read more of his work in 2025. See my review here.

Death Wish by Brian Garfield — A novel that’s closer to old pulp fiction stories of guns and violence than it is high literature, but that’s likely what Brian Garfield was aiming for. Very different from the Charles Bronson series of films, but worth reading for the interesting questions around law enforcement it raises. The sequel Death Sentence is necessary to get the entire story. See my review here.

Hard Truths: Think and Lead Like a Green Beret by Mike Waltz — Regardless of your own politics, Congressman Mike Waltz’ memoir is an insightful look into the lives of Green Beret soldiers and the difficult problems they have to deal with while deployed abroad. There are a lot of controversies over Trump’s picks and nominations for his cabinet, but when it comes to the position of national security advisor, I’m confident that Waltz will be well-suited for the role. See my review here.

The Railway Man by Eric Lomax — An incredible memoir of a British Army officer who experienced horrific treatment at the hands of the Japanese as a POW during World War II. Eric Lomax writes of his journey from being an innocent train enthusiast as a boy in Scotland to ironically being forced to build the Burma Railway in one of the worst instances of Japanese war crimes. But his book is also a tale of reconciliation with how Lomax was able to overcome his hatred of Japan and make amends with one of his former torturers. As WWII gets further and further away from public memory, stories like those of Eric Lomax’s are a reminder of how much previous generations sacrificed to get us to the free societies we live in now. I didn’t cover The Railway Man in my Bonus Perspectives column because I want to give this man’s amazing story the full write-up it deserves. Yet another thing for me to get to in 2025.

The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon by David Grann — I’m a huge fan of Indiana Jones, but did you know that someone very similar actually existed in real life? The Lost City of Z is a non-fiction book that covers the life of Percy Fawcett, the last notable explorer of the 20th century who made his mark visiting the most remote places on earth. In 1925, Fawcett and his expedition disappeared into the thick jungles of South America looking for the remains of a lost civilization. What happened to him remained a total mystery and dozens of others met gruesome fates trying to find out the truth. While I normally don’t care for authors inserting themselves into the memoirs of their subjects, in this case David Grann’s own quest in going after Fawcett’s last known location is just as compelling as the man whose biography he’s writing. No spoilers from me, but this one is a page-turner.

The Sympathizer by Viet Than Nguyen — I have yet to see the HBO television adaptation starring Robert Downey Jr. because I wanted to read the original novel first. Viet Than Nguyen’s The Sympathizer dives into the complexities on both sides following the end of the Vietnam War in 1975. Told in first-person, the protagonist is a double agent working for the North Vietnamese communists. We as the readers are thus subject to every single one of his internal monologues which can make the novel feel long-winded at times, but Viet has a gift for language that makes you want to keep going. Like with Graham Greene, there’s a lot with Viet’s worldview that I disagree with, but I still found The Sympathizer to be a thought-provoking read which offered a unique perspective rarely seen in Vietnam War-related literature.

What I played

Despite being a hardcore video game enthusiast, 2024 probably marked the year when I played the least amount of titles because of everything else I had to do. I regret to report that I may possibly be starting to become a productive member of society. In any case, while my wife sunk in hundreds of hours into Elden Ring and other Soulslike games via our PlayStation 5, the system was more or less just a 4K UHD Blu-ray player when in my hands. Now that I’m about to greatly reorganize my overall life structure though, 2025 will hopefully give me more time to play. Here’s what I was able to get to in 2024.

PaRappa The Rapper, PlayStation — I sporadically played a few retro games in 2024, but I recall dedicating a decent amount of time to this one. One of the great classics on the original PlayStation, the cartoonish aesthetic is charming and the music is hilarious. I started playing it on an emulator, but I really need to get back to it via original hardware on a CRT television to avoid the input lag.

Spec Ops: The Line, Xbox 360 — A modern re-telling of Apocalypse Now in video game form. Not too special from a gameplay perspective, but the story remains unique and unlike anything other AAA military shooters have attempted in the over 10 years since its release. Wish it got a remaster, but playing it in backwards compatibility mode via the Xbox Series X worked well.

Dragon Quest III, iOS — Funny thing about this one is that I started it back in 2018 and it took until May 2024 for me to actually finish it. I have a horrible habit of starting games, putting them down, and it taking years for me to return to them. If you want to go back even further, I first played the original Dragon Quest in middle school which was over 15 years ago. Anyways, finally getting through the original trilogy of this series was a wonderful experience. I know that the remake just came out, but I don’t have much desire to play it at the moment as I’m focusing on the entries in the series I haven’t gotten to yet.

Dragon Quest IV, Nintendo DS — Not wanting for it to take until I’m senile in a retirement home to get through the rest of the Dragon Quest franchise, I immediately moved on to the fourth game after finishing the third. As of this writing I’m still playing it, but would estimate that I’m about 60 or 70 percent through. It’s become a regular part of my gaming library now and my current goal is to finish it within the next month. This is where the series started getting more complex and while there are far more in-depth RPGs now, Dragon Quest IV still holds up as a fantastic piece of video game comfort food.

Hebereke: Enjoy Edition, Nintendo Switch — Back in 1992, Sunsoft put out an obscure game called Uforia: The Saga on NES exclusively in Europe and Australia, while us Yanks in North America were left out to dry. Almost no one today has memories of this one as a result. Its original release in Japan was for the Famicom the previous year as Hebereke, which spawned a long-running series of puzzle spin-off games over the ensuing decades. A true sequel finally came out in 2024, corresponding with Sunsoft finally re-releasing the original game worldwide as Hebereke: Enjoy Edition for modern platforms. I still have to beat it (noticing a pattern yet?), but this remains an incredibly charming non-linear platformer that players of all skill levels can enjoy.

Unpacking, Nintendo Switch — One of the most relaxing games I’ve ever played. See my review here.

I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream, PC — A rare video game adapted directly from literature and even rarer for actually improving upon the original source material. See my review here.

Rocket Night Adventures: Re-Sparked, Nintendo Switch — A long-anticipated collection of platformers that I’m glad is now accessible on modern systems. Sparkster is no Mario or Sonic the Hedgehog, but his games are worth a second look. See my review here.

Untitled Goose Game, Nintendo Switch — One of the most enjoyable indie games out there with a great sense of humor and perfect for a lazy Sunday afternoon when experienced via the multiplayer. See my review here.

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, Xbox Series X — I’ve only touched a little bit of this one, but what I have played shows great reverence to the Indiana Jones films. Everyone including me was skeptical that Machine Games and Bethesda would do this franchise justice, especially after the utter travesty that was Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, but The Great Circle has defied all expectations. Really looking forward to taking my time with this one.

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My health and year-end plans

You may have noticed that things have somewhat slowed down here at Foreign Perspectives. By mid-November I came down with a fever which turned into an extended cold lasting for the better part of a month. Between cramming for a semester presentation, spending long hours at a part-time job I don’t like standing outside in the blistering cold, not getting enough sleep, and being under more stress than I would like, it’s no surprise that my immune system decided to give up the ghost.

I thought I had gotten out of it two weeks ago, but lo and behold, I came down with another fever and had to once again take things easy. I probably jumped the gun in returning to my usual jogging routine before being fully recovered. I’ve lost a lot of weight this year through diet and increased exercise, so it sucks having to dial back on my physical activity. My part-time job isn’t helping matters, but as I’m currently under an NDA I can’t really get into much more detail. Perhaps a story for another time after I quit at the end of January. While I don’t want to jinx it, fingers are crossed that I’ve gotten through the worst of my ailments.

That brings us to a housekeeping update on what shape this Substack is going to take for the rest of the year. I initially wanted to do a new entry of my column series A Bit of Film and War for November, but obviously that date has passed. There likely won’t be one this month either because of other pieces I’m late on, so expect that column to return in January. After this week, I will take another week off as I have a trip planned with my wife for the holidays. Before the year comes to a close, there will be a special edition of Bonus Perspectives going over my best pieces and personal highlights of 2024.

Regarding paid content, I once again encourage readers of Foreign Perspectives to upgrade their subscription if they can. As I’ve said before, 2025 will have me switching completely to remote work as a freelance journalist for income. That means I’ll be even more reliant on your support to keep this a viable enterprise. A paid subscription helps me keep the lights on and will give you access to exclusive, in-depth pieces. Until the end of January I’m currently running a 20% off sale, so take advantage of it while you can.

The next article for paid subscribers will be the third and final part of my column series detailing a journey I took earlier this year through key personal destinations in Japan. The first two parts covered my experiences in Yokosuka and Yamaguchi, so check them out if you haven’t already. They contain many photos and personal anecdotes while highlighting some very underrated destinations. Besides that, I have a couple of other pieces for paid subscribers that will be out in January, so stay tuned for updates. We’re in the home stretch of 2024 and I couldn’t be happier with the growth Foreign Perspectives has experienced, so once again from the bottom of my heart, thank you to everyone who has supported my work.

I appreciate your patience and understanding amid my health issues, but 2025 will be back to a regular posting schedule. Without further delay, let’s get into this week’s edition of Bonus Perspectives.

The Culture War on PhDs

I normally don’t have much interest in commenting on culture war BS that makes the rounds on Twitter (or X), but this is a topic that I’m personally familiar with. Two weeks ago, a woman named Ally Louks posted a smiling photo of her newly-completed PhD. I imagine that she thought her tweet would come and go with the expected congratulations from her peers, but it instead became embroiled in an explosion of controversy. At over 12,000 replies, 20,000 retweets, and 250,000 likes, it’s probably safe to say that Louks went viral in circles she likely never intended to.

With the thesis title being “The Politics of Smell in Modern and Contemporary Prose,” it’s the kind of esoteric dissertation you would come to expect from someone pursuing a doctorate in English literature. Whether the thesis is insightful research or just impenetrable academic gobbledygook (I haven’t read it), the niche topic sparked fierce debates over the “value” of a PhD amid the thousands of heated replies and quote retweets. To Louks’ credit, she handled the whole situation with class and did not make a scene despite numerous death threats and harassment sent her way.

Many on the right criticized Louks for dedicating years into a “useless degree” and strongly questioned the value of pursuing a PhD in the humanities. Many on the left came to Louks’ defense and expectedly turned it into a gender issue. This back-and-forth discourse went on for a couple of weeks with both sides largely talking past each other, so I decided not to weigh in until now. As someone currently pursuing a PhD, I believe that I have some relevant experience around this topic. Did Louks really waste all of her time on a useless piece of paper? Or is there “value” to what she wrote about? Expectedly, my position around the worth a PhD is the boring centrist one — which is that it’s complicated.

Let’s get the most obvious out of the way first — a PhD is not a marker of one’s intelligence. Some of the smartest people in the world never finished high school, while you can find plenty of individuals holding doctorates who will astound you with their lack of common sense. All a PhD really means is that someone dedicated multiple years toward researching a topic and that what they wrote is an original contribution to a specific field. That can be anything from challenging orthodoxy, coming up with a new analysis previous scholars never considered, or shedding light on a subject that has little existing literature around it.

The main debate is over what practical use a PhD has. By itself, Louks’ dissertation on the politics of smell is unlikely to cure cancer, provide a viable alternative to fossil fuels, or solve the conflict between Ukraine and Russia. Then again, neither are most dissertations even in STEM fields. Dissertations in topics like pure mathematics or evolutionary biology, which most on the right would probably consider to be more “useful” than English literature, are almost all theoretical and seldom read by anyone outside of those respective fields. The writing is often just as dense and might as well be written in Mandarin Chinese for the outsider layman.

This is not to say that all PhDs or academic disciplines are created equal. My Spectator colleague Douglas Murray has written many articles and multiple books on just how unhinged disciplines like critical race theory are in certain pockets of academia. The last couple of years were notable because a lot of that bunk escaped the walled gardens of university campuses and became part of real-life debates as much of the Anglosphere entered this bizarre era of over-correction in the wake of George Floyd’s death in 2020.

But I digress. The PhD I’ve been working on for the last three years is in international relations. Neither STEM nor the humanities, IR falls into the social sciences which I suppose one can consider to be somewhere in between. My dissertation is about how nationalistic rivalries between Japan and South Korea impede cooperation on North Korea, a country that has historically been the enemy of both. On paper, Tokyo and Seoul should have the same level of threat perception toward Pyongyang, but in practice this is not always the case.

I’m not writing my dissertation to change the world. Instead, I’m aiming to provide some hopefully novel insights into complex geopolitical issues which will continue to affect Northeast Asia for decades to come. A fair question to ask is how any of this will get me a job. After finishing my PhD, I intend to move on to a postdoc and eventually gain full-time employment at a Japanese university. With that providing stability, I will continue to write academic papers, articles for general audiences like the one you are currently reading, and eventually books which will hopefully allow me to take in additional income on the side.

Note that the PhD is merely one step in my overall career plans. Completing it will be a professional marker that I can move on to the next stage, but I’m also developing qualifications in other areas. I already have an audience that reads my work on this Substack and professional outlets have been commissioning me to write pieces for them which pay decently well. Whether you have a PhD in hard sciences or underwater basket-weaving, what matters the most is that you have the marketable skills which can lead to a viable living. Could I be making more money if I specialized in a STEM field? Perhaps, but as someone terrible at math, I instead chose an area that was more suitable to my interests and abilities.

Until last month, I had no idea who Ally Louks was and I frankly don’t even care about her dissertation. The only thing this controversy has done is draw even more attention to her work, which otherwise would have languished in obscurity. Those bashing her are frankly missing the forest for the trees as it seems that she’ll do fine career-wise at Cambridge. I don’t take any particular issue with the subject she chose and if people are so inclined, they can debate and critique her work like any other piece of academic writing. It’s up to the wider world of academia and public discourse to decide if it holds any worth or not.

I don’t think that Louks herself is doing a particularly good job of disproving the stereotype that academics are out of touch with normal people. On the other hand, her thesis was never really intended to be read by anyone outside of her niche circles. What we’re seeing is essentially two worlds colliding and the inhabitants of both speaking different languages, which is why they can’t get on with each other. As someone who writes about everything from geopolitics to video games, I’ve personally tried to be a bridge between both the academics and the normies. In general though, these are two very separate realms that seldom cross-pollinate. The failure to communicate should be expected.

What South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol being impeached means for Japan

This is an ongoing story that is inevitably going to require an update, and I plan on doing more in-depth analysis when further developments unfold into the new year. Earlier this month, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol declared martial law in a strange move echoing the country’s dark days of military dictatorship. His reasons were ostensibly to root out “anti-state” elements from the rival Democratic Party, which he accused of sympathizing with North Korea. Yet despite Yoon’s actions, the country’s parliament immediately voted against martial law and the order was swiftly ended hours later.

After that, the first attempt at impeaching Yoon failed due to a lack of votes, but the second attempt passed. South Korea’s Constitutional Court has 180 days to decide if Yoon will be removed from power, but I would bet dollars to doughnuts that this is going to be the most likely outcome. Following this, an election for a new president is required within 60 days, and the liberal opposition Democratic Party led by Lee Jae-myung would undoubtedly win amid the intense societal backlash against Yoon’s conservative People Power Party.

I should preface by stating that I am not an expert on domestic South Korean politics. With my field being international relations, however, I do think I’m qualified to discuss what all of this means for Japan. Despite his faults, Yoon was one of the most pro-Japan leaders South Korea had in years. For the uninitiated, conservative Korean politicians tend to be pro-Japan and pro-U.S. while being anti-North Korea and anti-China. In contrast, progressive Korean politicians stress reconciliation with North Korea, a harmonious relationship with China, and have views ranging from cooperation to outright hostility toward the U.S. and Japan. When the going gets tough though, Japan-bashing is a time-honored tradition among Korean progressives who want easy political capital to rile up parts of their constituents.

Contrary to what you may have heard, Japan has apologized to the South Korean government repeatedly for its actions during World War II. Previous Japanese administrations have acknowledged the Empire of Japan as the aggressor and worked hard to repair relations with Seoul. I recommend reading this page on Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs website which outlines the numerous apologies and financial settlements Tokyo has given in the past. There are of course occasionally individual politicians who say controversial things from both countries, but to suggest that Japan has done nothing to make amends is patently false.

Relations between Japan and South Korea reached historic lows during the Moon Jae-in administration. The former president’s attempts at reopening old wounds around historical issues lead to a serious diplomatic crisis around information sharing that threatened security in Northeast Asia. Japan and South Korea are both important military partners with the United States, but the two countries do not have an official alliance with each other. Thus, trilateral cooperation is vital amid threats from North Korea, China, and Russia. After Moon left office, Yoon Suk-yeol made a valiant attempt to improve relations with Japan.

While the previous Fumio Kishida administration was receptive to Seoul’s new overtures, the Japanese public generally remained skeptical that this period of good feelings would last in the long term. It is now all but guaranteed that Yoon’s tenure will be cut short, and the return of South Korea’s liberals to power could signal dire consequences for Japan. Moon Jae-in will look like an otaku for Japanese culture by comparison if Lee Jae-myung becomes South Korea’s next president. The Democratic Party leader has openly called Japan a “hostile state” and suggested that the country should have been the one divided after World War II instead of the Korean Peninsula. His inauguration would assuredly undo any progress Yoon made with Tokyo.

Regarding inter-Korean relations, Lee has previously stated his desire to return to the Sunshine Policy with North Korea, something that Moon and other liberal South Korean presidents attempted with little success. Given Donald Trump’s seeming willingness to meet with Kim Jong Un again, the right factors might align once more for future summits between both Koreas and the United States. Japan, however, could be left out if it does not play its cards right. As I’ve written before, Shigeru Ishiba lacks the close relationship with Trump that Shinzo Abe had — and Japan’s prime minister is now in a precarious position both domestically and with foreign policy. We are about to enter a new era of geopolitics in Northeast Asia, but perhaps it’s a movie more similar to one we’ve all seen before.

What I’m reading — Mike Waltz’s Hard Truths is compelling regardless of politics

Trump’s cabinet picks are expectedly sparking a lot of controversy, but one appointment I have little worry about is Mike Waltz in the position of national security adviser. I discussed him in my last Bonus Perspectives column, but I subsequently read his memoir Hard Truths: Think and Lead Like a Green Beret. After seeing the man himself express his own ideology and worldview, I’m now even more convinced that he will make the right foreign policy choices in regard to Ukraine, Taiwan, Israel, and other U.S. allies.

Waltz points out that far less people in Washington today have military experience, which is a major departure from previous eras. He notes that this does not necessarily make a better or worse politician, but that the camaraderie and intense experiences that come with being a combat veteran inevitably lead to a different outlook on life. Being the first Green Beret to be elected to Congress, Waltz writes about the various challenges and tough decisions he faced when deployed to dangerous battlefields in places like Afghanistan. The lessons he learned along the way would later shape his ventures as an independent businessman and congressman, but they can really be applied to people from all backgrounds.

Most Americans, myself included, know very little about the Green Berets. These guys tend to stay out of the spotlight compared to other soldiers like Navy Seals or Army Rangers, but that’s intentional. As Waltz describes them, the Green Berets are problem-solvers and require far longer training. Deployed across the world, they coordinate with U.S. allies on the ground, which requires extensive knowledge of local languages and culture. For a Green Beret, negotiation is just as important as basic combat and survival skills.

Some of the most compelling material from Waltz’s book is found in his stories from the war in Afghanistan. He writes about the often forgotten perspectives of brave Afghans who risked their lives to assist U.S. forces as fellow soldiers, interpreters, and regional guides. After the U.S. left the country in 2021, many of these individuals were left to face brutal punishment from the Taliban. Waltz’s anger at the Biden administration’s disastrous withdrawal strategy is palpable and he illustrates how the situation could have been handled far differently.

Waltz is a traditional American conservative, which may turn off some readers, but he comes across as a nuanced thinker. His experience working with people from vastly different cultural and ideological backgrounds means that he’s more than willing to break bread with his political opposition. This gives me some hope that during his tenure as national security adviser, he will work with both sides of the aisle to further foreign policy that benefits U.S. interests abroad. With a sizable amount of people on the American right embracing isolationism, which Waltz condemns as misguided and naive in his book, I’m confident that he will be an important voice of reason within the Trump administration. Given the uncertainty of what lies ahead, that’s more important than ever now.

What I’m watching — Love Actually is the perfect Christmas romantic comedy for people who don’t like romantic comedies

Time to end this column with something more lighthearted. As Christmas is just around the corner, I’ve appropriately been getting into the holiday season with some movies. Coincidentally after rewatching the Kingsman series last month, I decided that I wanted to check out more Colin Firth films as he has become one of my favorite modern actors. I will likely cover some of his work in future editions of Bonus Perspectives, but naturally I ended up coming across his role in the ensemble romantic comedy Love Actually.

If that wasn’t enough, a local cinema in Kyoto was actually screening a 4K restoration of the film. It was the perfect opportunity to watch what is often considered to be a more adult Christmas classic, and by the end I regretted that I hadn’t seen it sooner. I found it to be a hilarious, somewhat farcical take on romantic comedies and all the cliches that come with them. The film accomplishes the difficult task of being paradoxically self-aware of what it’s parodying, but also having genuine heart with its themes about human relationships.

Summarizing every single plot line in Love Actually would have us here all day, but it’s essentially an interconnecting anthology of individual short stories following over a dozen characters in London with some scenes in France. From married couples to lonely singles, no one here is truly happy with how their lives have turned out as yet another Christmas approaches. Featuring Hugh Grant, Colin Firth, Liam Neeson, Alan Rickman, and practically every major actor working in the U.K. during the early 2000s, it’s a star-studded cast that would be difficult to pull off today.

It’s astounding how much Love Actually manages to cram into its 135-minute runtime, yet somehow it largely works. The film is one of the few Richard Curtis has ever directed, but he demonstrates his top-notch writing skills with its ambitious screenplay. A flowchart even exists to explain every single relationship, making it all the more impressive how everything comes together by the end. I think that one or two stories probably could have been cut out, but that’s ultimately a minor complaint. All the characters shown are interesting in some way, and it’s clear that the actors who participated did not show up just for a quick paycheck.

Love Actually won’t be for everyone with its profanity and nudity, but it’s perfect for those who want a Christmas flick that goes off the beaten path from what most movies and television show specials do around this time of year. Watch A Charlie Brown Christmas and It’s a Wonderful Life with your family. Watch Love Actually with your significant other as a reminder of how special your relationship truly is. If you happen to be single around the holidays, Die Hard with Johnnie Walker Black is no bad alternative either.

Foreign Perspectives is a reader-supported Substack. If you like my work and have come this far as a new reader or free subscriber, consider opting for a paid subscription so I can continue writing in-depth articles such as these on a regular basis. Your support is greatly appreciated!

Take 20% off from now until the end of January.

Bonus Perspectives is a weekly column series containing my thoughts on the latest international news and Japanese news, as well as film, television, music, book, and video game recommendations. It’s free for all subscribers to this Substack, but if you enjoy my writing, consider opting for a paid subscription. Doing so will give you access to exclusive in-depth pieces and my entire backlog of work. Your support is greatly appreciated!

Some housekeeping for the rest of the year

Yes, he’s back. You’ve heard all the analysis of how and why Donald Trump won a second term in what’s probably the greatest political comeback in American history, so I won’t bore you with those details again. It’s everything the international news cycle is currently talking about and there will be plenty of Trumpy analysis from me until the end of the year.

I would recommend reading the in-depth piece I posted within a couple of days of Trump’s victory. This was sent out exclusively to paid subscribers of Foreign Perspectives. While Bonus Perspectives will always be free for all readers, I would strongly advise you consider upgrading your subscription to this Substack as there’s going to be more paid content soon. I plan on quitting my current part-time job in January to transition entirely to freelance writing, so I appreciate any support you can give. Thank you again to all those who have subscribed already.

I recently wrote my first piece for Quillette, an in-depth look at director Francis Ford Coppola’s erratic career and the failure of his lifelong passion project Megalopolis. I’ve long been a reader of their work, so it was an honor to finally become a contributor. Their editorial standards are much stricter than what I’m used to with other places I’ve written for, but I’m glad to see the final results. Since their features tend to be very long-form, I’ll likely only be writing for them on an occasional basis. Still, they pay well and I look forward to future contributions. I also wrote my first article for Unherd, a piece analyzing the role of North Korean troops in Ukraine and how the incoming Trump administration cannot afford to ignore the Kim regime. I expect to be working with them more regularly, so expect plenty of exciting articles from me in 2025.

Regarding this Substack, there are a few additional updates. First, Bonus Perspectives will be taking two weeks off. Next week would have marked my late father’s 70th birthday, so I will be writing a tribute piece in place of this usual column that will be free for all readers. The following week will mark the latest entry of A Bit of Film and War, my column series dedicated to war movies that I revived last month. It doesn’t get as many views as my other pieces, but I like doing it as a breather from the usual stuff I cover. As I’ve said before, the last week of every month will be when I post A Bit of Film and War in the place of Bonus Perspectives.

I still have a few pieces for paid subscribers that I intend on finishing before we reach the end of the year. I have shifts at my current job this month to finish, but I will intentionally be taking December easy to give me more time to write in time for the holidays. I intend on finishing the last two parts of my travelogue series on lesser known locations in Japan, which I began in October with my piece on Yokosuka. Those are the priority, but I also hope to do more op-ed style articles. Again, please do consider a paid subscription to Foreign Perspectives. It not only helps me out, but it also gives you exclusive content.

I will also being taking a week off from all writing around Christmas and New Year’s, but I will provide further details when the time draws closer. Enough about all that though, let’s get into this week’s edition of Bonus Perspectives!

Trump’s cabinet will determine the future of Ukraine

Trump is wasting no time assembling his cabinet members and signaling to the rest of the world what shape his foreign policy is likely to take. Many are raising concerns that he will pursue a more isolationist stance and even potentially abandon U.S. allies once he enters the White House. Based on what Trump said about NATO earlier this year, those fears are not entirely without merit. As someone most concerned about Ukraine, Taiwan, and my neck of the woods Japan, I’m particularly invested in what happens moving forward.

With that said, there have been some promising signs that Trump will maintain at least some continuity with the outgoing Biden administration when it comes to supporting U.S allies. Marco Rubio, current senior senator to Florida, is slated to be nominated as the next secretary of state. The son of Cuban-American immigrants, Rubio has long been a hardliner against authoritarian states like China, Iran, and North Korea. He’s a staunch advocate of NATO, which is likely to provide a significant bulwark against any inklings of Trump pulling out from the organization.

Trump’s other notable foreign policy pick is Republican Representative Mike Waltz for the position of national security adviser. A retired Green Beret, Waltz is a combat-decorated veteran with over 25 years of experience in the U.S. Army and is known for being particularly hawkish on China. A veteran of Afghanistan, he has more direct experience fighting wars than the majority of American politicians. What I’ve read about him instills some confidence that he’s well-informed about these geopolitical issues, and I think anyone worried that Trump would abandon Taiwan can rest a little easier now.

Ukraine, however, is a more complicated story. Both Rubio and Waltz have expressed reservations on continuing indefinite military aid as the war has become a drawn-out stalemate for both sides. Yet it would not be accurate or fair to call either pro-Russia either. Rubio previously slammed Vladimir Putin as “a gangster and a thug” while being consistently in favor of sanctions throughout his political career. In an op-ed for The Economist published days before the election, Waltz himself wrote:

“The next president must change course. Supporting Ukraine for ‘as long as it takes’ in a war of attrition against a larger power is a recipe for failure. The next administration should aim, as Donald Trump has argued, to ‘end the war and stop the killing.’ America can use economic leverage, including lifting the pause on exports of liquefied natural gas and cracking down on Russia’s illicit oil sales, to bring Mr Putin to the table. If he refuses to talk, Washington can, as Mr Trump argued, provide more weapons to Ukraine with fewer restrictions on their use. Faced with this pressure, Mr Putin will probably take the opportunity to wind the conflict down.”

I remain very skeptical that any kind of lasting peace agreement with Putin is sustainable, but I think fears that Trump would permanently abandon Ukraine are somewhat overblown. Waltz clearly believes that the Biden administration didn’t go far enough with supporting Kyiv. In his own words during the early months of the war, he strongly supported sending military aid and his latest op-ed also states that this should continue if Putin does not come to the negotiating table.

What seems to have changed is his belief that the U.S. can support Ukraine without a conclusion on the horizon. A recent article published in the Financial Times provides some troubling insights on just how much Kyiv’s forces are struggling to keep their recaptured territory as Moscow prepares to fight back even harder, this time with over 10,000 North Korean troops also involved. I recommend reading my latest piece on what role the DPRK will play in this conflict, but what looks likely is another extended war of attrition. Total victory still does not look likely for Russia, but the same can also be said for Ukraine.

Whatever “peace plan” Trump, Rubio, and Waltz have in mind would inevitably require both sides to give up substantial concessions, which is why the next couple of months between Kyiv and Moscow will be critical as the latter launches its counteroffensive. Still, Trump’s stance that the aid will continue if Putin refuses to negotiate gives some indication that he understands what’s at stake. I don’t like uncertainty, but that’s all we currently have at this time. Perhaps Ukraine and Russia will end up looking the DMZ between the two Koreas. An eternal stalemate that lasts into the next century. It may not be what anyone wants, but there are no easy choices in war.

Japanese opposition party leader in hot water after cheating on his wife

I’ve often said that the stale banality of Japanese politics reminds of the more quaint times of American politics when a bunch of stuffy old men held long boring sessions about taxes and defense policy, as well as when the President of the United States was accused of being a sex pest. Well I guess all of that is still happening now in modern American politics, but I digress. But who doesn’t love an old fashioned cheating scandal where the leader of a political party is in hot water? Between that and Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party losing elections because of slush fund payments, it’s like we’ve returned to the Clinton era! Ok, these analogies aren’t really working. Moving on.

If you’ve been following Foreign Perspectives, you would know that I’ve been covering the world of Japanese politics lately, which is proving to be surprisingly more eventful than usual. The LDP just lost their majority for the first time in 15 years, meaning it’s a scramble between them and the opposition Constitutional Democratic Party (CDP) to get as much support from the other minor parties as possible. One of the most interesting players in all of this has been the Democratic Party For the People (DPP), which gained 28 seats in the October general elections. Far away from becoming a majority government, but not bad for a small party that was only formed under its current leadership in 2020. Those votes will make or break important bills moving forward.

Out of the 465 seats in the House of Representatives, the LDP now only holds 221 seats, with the rest of the opposition having 242. This means that it’s going to be very difficult for the LDP under Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba to get much of what he wants done now that other parties hold sway. While both the LDP and CDP sought the help of the DPP to form a coalition, both it and the slightly larger Japan Innovation Party declined, choosing instead to vote on an issue-per-issue basis. With the DPP being formed specifically to be an alternative to the LDP, its leader Yuichiro Tamaki stated that forming an alliance with them would be against what his party stands for.

Sounds like a principled guy, right? Indeed, some of his proposed policies like cutting taxes and push to address Japan’s stagnant wages have lead to the DPP receiving more support among young people as a viable alternative to the LDP. Unfortunately for Tamaki, his image as someone with principles is now being shattered. On Nov. 11, a tabloid magazine published photos of Tamaki entering hotels in Takamatsu, Kanagawa with the city’s tourism ambassador. Reports indicate that this woman is 39-year-old ex-gravure model Miyuki Koizumi, whose attractiveness quickly spread like wildfire across Japanese social media.

Tamaki more or less confirmed that the allegations of infidelity were true and apologized for his actions. A few days later, Japanese internet users dug up an old blog that Tamaki wrote back in 2006 which asserted that politicians should “never commit adultery” and they “should be a group of people with a higher sense of ethics.” It just isn’t our guy’s week, is it? Reactions across the political world and online have ranged from fierce condemnation to more pragmatic views that Tamaki should still be allowed to carry out his duties as party leader during such a pivotal time. Fellow DPP member Takae Ito slammed her party’s leader on Twitter:

“He’s disgusting. What’s he doing wasting this once-in-a-lifetime chance for the Diet to return to policy discussions of ‘solutions over confrontation?’ Please everyone, do not downplay what Yuichiro Tamaki did with phrases like ‘Even if it was immoral of him, he should still work hard as a politician’ or ‘He’s only human after all.’ Those who betray the people closest to them and throw them into a whirlpool of grief are only worthy of appropriate punishment. But at the same time, the only person in the universe who can do that is his wife. We shouldn’t forget that everyone must abide by their duties! Never shirk your responsibilities! That’s what the picture book Swimmy teaches.”

Ito’s objections aside, it seems that the DPP is still going to stand by Tamaki as their leader. He’s currently on an apology tour that’s more or less standard for Japanese politicians who get in trouble for this sort of thing. Disgusting behavior? Sure. A betrayal of principles? Undoubtedly. Then again, we are talking about politicians, so who’s really that surprised at this point? The world of politics continues to turn and if someone like Donald Trump can be president of the United States, one cheating scandal is more or less just an embarrassing footnote these days.

Somewhat more concerning is what will happen to Miyuki Koizumi. The city of Takamatsu has stated that they’re consider dismissing her as tourism ambassador, but no decision has been finalized. Naturally, the internet has been frantically searching for any information that can be learned about her, but she appears to have deleted all of her social media. Some are speculating that she was some kind of honey pot either placed by the party or from DPP rivals to undermine Tamaki, but I think that’s really just giving him too much credit. He’s an old man with basic human urges that he failed to suppress. It happens to the best of us. Just ask Bill!

What I’m watching — Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is political idealism we need today

I tend to watch movies relevant to the current season, so what better choice around election time than Mr. Smith Goes to Washington? The only Frank Capra film I had previously seen was It’s a Wonderful Life, which in many ways works well as a fascinating double feature with this one. Mr. Smith released in 1939, while Wonderful Life was out a year after World War II ended in 1946. Both works maintain a similar sense of idealism and the belief that mankind will eventually show its good side in the end, but after the world went through so much carnage, it’s not surprising that Wonderful Life ends up going into darker territory.

America, however, was a more innocent time in 1939. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is ostensibly about U.S. politics without actually diving into the weeds of politics. The parties are not named, which was a wise move on Capra’s part. We don’t even know what state the protagonist Jefferson Smith comes from because such details are not important. What is important is the overall message that sometimes idealism is needed for men to rise about the corrupt systems they inhabit. Explicitly naming the parties as Democrat or Republican would have turned the story into a partisan one, which Capra was not interested in.

The film’s premise of a naive country boy who ends up being thrown into the cut-throat world of Washington D.C. as a senator with no experience ends up feeling closer to a fish out of water story than a narrative trying to make a greater political commentary. Jimmy Stewart turns in one of his finest performances as Smith. No one else could have played the role the same way with his distinct drawl and gee-whiz demeanor. It ends up working perfectly against the no-nonsense attitude of Claude Rains as Senator Joesph Paine — another one of the finest actors of the 20th century. You would have no idea that someone who spoke with such a posh Mid-Atlantic accent initially began life living in a poor London slum with a speech impediment.

The screenplay by Sidney Buchman and Myles Connolly features the kind of writing you wish more of modern Hollywood would have. Capra’s films even in their day were accused of being preachy, but everything from the beautifully-crafted prose of Stewart’s speeches to the fiery exchanges on the Senate floor are what allow the material to be more than just a sermon. We believe what the film has to say because there isn’t an ounce of cynicism to be found here, which is a great contrast to the conventions seen in much of present day screenwriting.

That’s a large reason why Mr. Smith Goes to Washington remains so timeless 85 years later. The exact political issues that lawmakers debate may have changed, but the reality of politics being a merciless world has not. The United States is an even more polarized country now, which is why we need a Jefferson Smith to be a reminder of what American ideals are. These are principles that go beyond liberal and conservative or Democrat and Republican. Smith himself put it best when addressing the senators:

“I wouldn't give you two cents for all your fancy rules if, behind them, they didn't have a little bit of plain, ordinary, everyday kindness and a - a little lookin' out for the other fella, too...That's pretty important, all that. It's just the blood and bone and sinew of this democracy that some great men handed down to the human race, that's all.”

What I’m playing — Untitled Goose Game is delightful waterfowl fun

I think that’s enough politics for one column, so let’s end on something light. Until recently, it had been a very long time since I properly sat down and played a video game. My part-time job and other commitments left me with very little spare time to do much else, but now that I’m currently making some major adjustments to my work-life balance, I’ve finally been able to play some titles that have been left dormant in my backlog for far too long.

Among those is Untitled Goose Game, an Australian indie puzzle stealth game which does exactly what it says on the tin. You play as a goose. Or geese if you decide to go down the multiplayer route like I did with my wife. The goal is simple: cause as much mayhem as possible for the clueless humans around you and get the items needed to progress through the stages. As you ruin the lives of the poor people who inhabit this pleasant English village, the gameplay combines a mix of puzzle solving and basic stealth sections which require a bit of good timing to pull off.

Despite having no dialogue and being somewhat akin to a slapstick silent film, the sound design is the real highlight here. Whether it’s the chatter from your geese to distract the humans or a crate of tomatoes being smashed, you can tell that the developers were really attempting to create an immersive experience despite being on a limited budget. The use of calming Claude Debussy piano pieces during specific moments only adds to the overall charming atmosphere. Certainly one of the quaintest video game worlds I’ve visited in quite awhile.

Untitled Goose Game is not a long game by any means, being clearable in only a few hours. If you want an idea of just how terrible my time management skills are though, me and my wife started it in early 2023 and didn’t get a chance to actually finish it until this month. With that said, I found the short length just right for an indie game of this genre and think that multiplayer is the way to go. If you’re into speedrunning, there’s a lot of enjoyment to be found here as well. Untitled Goose Game proves that you don’t need lavish production values or a huge scale to provide an enjoyable experience. It does everything a good independent video game should do right, and I found myself grinning ear to ear the whole time.

Foreign Perspectives is a reader-supported Substack. If you like my work and have come this far as a new reader or free subscriber, consider opting for a paid subscription so I can continue writing in-depth articles such as these on a regular basis. Your support is greatly appreciated!

Bonus Perspectives is a weekly column series containing my thoughts on the latest international news and Japanese news, as well as film, television, music, book, and video game recommendations. It’s free for all subscribers to this Substack, but if you enjoy my writing, consider opting for a paid subscription. Doing so will give you access to exclusive in-depth pieces and my entire backlog of work. Your support is greatly appreciated!

Last-minute thoughts

Here we are yet again on the eve of another U.S. presidential election. Since I wanted to get a column out before the results came in, this edition of Bonus Perspectives will be shorter than usual. As most of my readers know, I tend to get long-winded with my pieces, so I’m going to try to limit myself to around 500 words per section. A real challenge, I know. If you happen to prefer this format, feel free to chime in via the comments and I may consider it again in the future.

It probably doesn’t mean a lot coming from an American who no longer lives in America, but regardless of who takes the White House for the next four years, life will go on. Division still afflicts U.S. society, but I do think that things are marginally better in 2024 than 2020 now that the world is out of the COVID-19 pandemic. There will undoubtedly be many people unhappy over the results of this election, but again, life goes on. While I won’t downplay the importance of the time we’re living in, the U.S. has been through far worse moments in its history.

I won’t reveal who I voted for (or if I even voted at all) because I don’t want that to color the perception readers have of my work. The goal of my Substack Foreign Perspectives and indeed all pieces that I write is to inform people of topics they otherwise would never have learned about and promote more nuanced thinking. I have my biases like anyone else, but I’ve done my best to not be partisan and to weigh all sides of complicated issues. I will continue to do the same whether we get a Harris presidency or another Trump one.

I have family that survived the Chinese Cultural Revolution and the Lebanese Civil War. I’m friends and colleagues with people who live in war-torn countries like Ukraine and Israel. The United States of America in 2024 is still better off than almost any other place or era even with its many problems. In these times it’s very easy to get into cynicism or despair, but it’s better to keep a wider perspective on how much worse things could be. I wish my fellow Yanks the best and will be watching future developments closely.

Podcasts are the future of U.S. elections

Donald Trump finally appeared on The Joe Rogan Experience on Oct. 26 after months of speculation. At over 44 million views as of this writing, it’s already one of the most popular episodes of Rogan’s podcast and undoubtedly among the most-viewed videos of the year. For those who don’t listen to podcasts, Rogan’s show is huge. Being on there is a coveted opportunity that everyone from celebrities to academics hopes they can achieve one day. Reaching millions of people across the world, it’s no exaggeration to say that an appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience can make or break someone’s entire career.

Joe Rogan is a mixed bag for me. I listened to his program religiously back from around 2017 onward during my libertarian days, though I’ve long moved past those views. Back then though, I found both his anti-establishment attitude and plethora of guests to be compelling. I still think that he generally invites a good range of people and that the conversations presented are usually more compelling than not. At the same time, I think he’s blatantly wrong on a variety of important issues from Ukraine military aid to vaccines. Rogan has a long history with believing in conspiracy theories. While he has admittedly tempered those views over time, he still promotes the works of cranks like Graham Hancock because there’s a part of him that clearly wishes for some of these things to be true despite the lack of evidence.

Many of the false or incorrect statements he regularly makes on his show to millions of viewers go completely uncorrected, and when you’re as big as Rogan, there’s not much to hold your feet to the fire. It’s with that in mind that I had a lot of trepidation with Donald Trump going on his show because I knew it would be a softball interview. I’m glad an extended conversation with someone running for president did happen, but as I elucidated in my coverage of Trump’s appearance on Lex Fridman’s show, the former president is a bullshitter and you’re not going to get much out of him you haven’t heard already.

More fascinating is the drama around rival Kamala Harris skipping out on Rogan’s show. While Trump sat down for three hours in Rogan’s studio, the Harris campaign requested that Rogan come out to visit her and that she could only do one hour. Understandably, Rogan said no and the podcast is clearly not happening on the eve of the election. While both candidates are very busy, Harris not taking the time do the show under the same conditions as Trump simply looks bad for her campaign. Even Trump’s running mate J.D. Vance went on The Joe Rogan Experience, raking in over 14 million views.

It will be difficult to determine if Trump going on Joe Rogan will actually make for a tangible difference in votes, but the sheer amount of views it received makes it clear that candidates in future American elections would be wise to take advantage of this format of conversation. I haven’t been impressed with Harris’ performance in scripted interviews with networks like CNN. While that lack of genuineness isn’t everything as all politicians carry some degree of fakeness, Trump doing everything from his McDonald’s stunt to appearing on Joe Rogan can’t be dismissed as nothing either.

The LDP loses big in Japan’s general elections

Don’t worry, we’re currently dealing with our own dumpster fire in this part of the world too. While most are obviously focusing on the U.S. presidential election at the moment, Japan held a general election on Oct. 27 and the results were about as disastrous for the ruling Liberal Democratic Party as one could expect. See my column from last month shortly before the election for a brief explanation of what was at stake.

Out of the 465 seats in the House of Representatives (the lower house of Japan’s National Diet), 233 are needed for a majority. For the first time since 2009, the LDP and its coalition party Komeito lost their majority in the lower house, leaving the future of politics in this country at a major crossroads. The LDP went from winning 259 seats in the last general election in 2021 to just 191 at the end of this one, having lost a staggering 68 seats. Komeito won 32 seats in 2021 to just 24 this time around, with its leader Keiichi Ishii notably being part of the losses. The LDP-Komeito coalition now has 215 seats, 18 less than the 233 required.

Meanwhile, the opposition Constitutional Democratic Party (CDP) won 148 seats, a major boost from 96 seats in 2021. This gain of 52 seats is the party’s biggest victory since their reformation in 2020, but as I predicted in my earlier column they still are not the new majority government. For this to happen, they would need to form a coalition with other parties to get to the 233 seats. The LDP-Komeito coalition will also need to seek out a third party if they wish to return to the majority, but speculation is now rampant around who will take what side.

Both the LDP-Komeito coalition and the CDP are now vying for the support of the Democratic Party For the People (DPP), Japan’s third-largest opposition party. The DPP did notably well in this election, winning 28 seats in comparison to 11 in 2021. Party leader Yuichiro Tamaki has recently declined to form a coalition with either side, stating that joining the LDP would be a betrayal of his party’s principles for more honest politics and that he does not have faith that the CDP will be able to unite multiple smaller parties who have vastly contrasting beliefs. He instead says that the DPP will vote on a policy-by-policy basis, which is also the same stance as the other notable opposition party Nippon Ishin no Kai.

By constitutional law, there must be a parliamentary session to appoint a prime minister and Cabinet within 30 days of a general election. This is set for Nov. 11. Despite his unpopularity, newly-elected Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba is still expected to remain. With the LDP no longer having its majority, however, he will likely find it difficult to get most of his party’s policies approved and the LDP now faces a stronger opposition than ever. If Donald Trump wins the U.S. presidential election this week, the future of Japan’s defense policies could also face significant hurdles. I’ve really only scratched the surface of how complicated all of this is, so look forward to future editions of Bonus Perspectives where I’ll continue to cover what will certainly not be a dull era for Japanese and American politics.

What I’m watching — Nosferatu is the origin of all modern horror films

Another Halloween has come and gone. I’ve never been much of an enthusiast for this holiday as an adult, and Kyoto has nothing like the debauchery of Tokyo when it comes to Halloween drinking parties. In fact, Shibuya authorities even canceled its annual Hallow’s Eve gathering this year. Japan has always had a weird relationship with Halloween, but that’s not what I’m here to talk about.

Instead, I try to catch my share of spooky cinema and horror films around this time of year. As per informal tradition, I watched John Carpenter’s Halloween which is of course a masterpiece that requires little further elaboration on. Beyond that though, I also decided to revisit the 1922 German expressionist silent film Nosferatu, an old classic that I think more people should check out now that Robert Eggers’ highly anticipated remake is set for release later this Christmas. It unfortunately doesn’t have a set Japanese release date yet, but I’ll be sure to catch it whenever it arrives on our shores.

I wanted to show my wife the original, which I bought off Amazon JP via an imported Blu-ray copy released by boutique label Kino Lorber. I ripped the film to my hard drive and added some Japanese subtitles that were thankfully available online, which meant that my wife could properly enjoy it with me. Even without text though, many silent films contain something universal with their imagery that crosses all linguistic and cultural barriers. There’s a reason why Charlie Chaplin was so successful overseas. Because no sound was present, you didn’t need to speak his language to appreciate his physical comedy or visual approach to storytelling.

F. W. Murnau’s Nosferatu works largely the same way. Yes, there’s a bare skeleton of a story that was infamously an unauthorized rip-off of Bram Stoker’s Dracula novel, but you don’t need to know the precise details to see that this is a true masterpiece of horror cinema even over 100 years after its original release. The otherworldly dreamlike visuals are masterful, as is the haunting classical score by Hans Erdmann, painstakingly reconstructed here by Kino Lorber in addition to their stellar visual restoration of the aging celluloid picture. Max Schreck’s performance of Count Orlok (widely known to a generation of late millennials and early zoomers because of a SpongeBob Squarepants cameo) is still a sight to behold and something few actors could match even with the modern benefits of sound and color.

Watching Nosferatu next to something like Halloween is actually not that radical of a jump because it provided the basic template for all horror films to follow. One can only imagine what the reactions must have been like for 1922 audiences, who would have seen nothing else like it at the time. Nearly 50 years later, the great Werner Herzog produced a fantastic remake that stayed true to Murnau’s original while being its own masterpiece. Nearly 50 years after that, we’re now about to get yet another remake that will probably also be excellent. It wouldn’t surprise me if my descendants 50 years from now see a new version of Nosferatu because it carries such an immortal, timeless legacy.

On a side note, be sure to also check out Shadow of the Vampire which reimagines the 1922 filming of Nosferatu as a fictionalized tragic meta-commentary on suffering for the art of cinema. It stars Willem Dafoe in an unforgettable performance as the vampire which would surely have made the real Max Schreck proud and makes for an excellent double feature.

What I’m reading — Brian Garfield’s Death Wish raises difficult questions around law and order

I’m one of those weirdos who usually tries to read the original novel first before consuming any subsequent film, television, or video game adaptations. What can I say, I like to experience the source material the way the author intended before it’s handed off to someone else to interpret in ways that can range from very accurate to no resemblance at all. In this case with Brian Garfield’s 1972 novel Death Wish, I probably made a wise decision.

I should note that as of this writing I have not yet seen the famous film adaptation starring Charles Bronson, but I can already tell that it’s going to be a very different beat from what Garfield wrote. Stay tuned for a separate column covering the movies when I eventually get to them because I’m certainly going to need to be in a different headspace to appreciate Bronson blowing people’s heads off. Garfield’s novel isn’t like that at all. Our protagonist Paul Benjamin is a timid accountant who’s probably the farthest thing one could get from Bronson’s burly machoism that made him so popular in movies like The Magnificent Seven and Once Upon a Time in the West.

Death Wish is a plainly written, but compelling novel about a man’s liberal worldview being turned upside down after his wife and daughter are brutalized by a gang of hoodlums who break into their Manhattan apartment. Benjamin’s wife doesn’t survive and his daughter is reduced to a vegetable after the psychological trauma of her assault, compelling him to wage a one-man war against New York’s criminal scum. The novel was written when the city was facing a major crime epidemic in the 1970s, but much of its arguments presented by the story’s liberals and conservatives still sound surprisingly close to what we hear in American political discourse today.

Many will dismiss Death Wish as cheap trash which glorifies vigilantism and promotes right-wing talking points around guns, but I didn’t get that impression at all. While the novel’s prose is closer to newsstand pulp stories than something aimed at a more high brow audience, Garfield is perfectly aware that his characters are reducing complicated societal issues to oversimplified paradigms. The protagonist is constantly chiding himself and doesn’t completely turn into a raging conservative, but he does acknowledge where his previous idealism fell short.

Death Wish doesn’t mince words with its gritty descriptions of New York’s ugly side, and it provides a fascinating time capsule into when the city was a far more dangerous place than it is now. Garfield gives some surprisingly thoughtful insights into our often contradictory culture around violence, which goes back to the days when the U.S. was founded on armed revolution against the British Empire. Guns are to Americans what sushi is to the Japanese. In that sense, Death Wish is a true American novel because it couldn’t have taken place in any other country.

The relatively short length means you’ll finish the novel in a weekend, but Death Wish only feels like part one of a greater story with the ambiguous and somewhat unsatisfying note it ends on. Apparently Brian Garfield thought so too because he wrote a sequel called Death Sentence three years later. He returned to the story after being reportedly dismayed that so many people seemed to have misunderstood his intended message and also wasn’t a fan of the film adaptation. I’ll have to cover both in future columns, but as is I can certainly recommend Death Wish as a novel that has not lost any of its importance in the over five decades since it was published.

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Trump working at McDonald’s is harmless campaigning

We’re less than two weeks away from the U.S. presidential elections if you can believe it. After a summer of attempted assassinations, the incumbent president announcing that he would not seek a second term, Kamala Harris scrambling to take over, and disastrous debates, this extended soap opera is reaching the season finale. Like most seasons of television though, you need a lighthearted episode before everything explodes at the end. As luck would have it, that’s exactly what happened on Sunday when Donald Trump stopped by a Pennsylvania McDonald’s to temporarily work at the fry station and serve food at the drive-thru window.

The event was obviously organized in advance by Trump’s campaign team, but that’s perfectly in line with similar stunts other candidates have pulled in the past. Hillary Clinton was infamously the subject of an awkward photo in 2016 when she visited public housing in East Harlem, while Mitt Romney’s running mate Paul Ryan embarrassed himself in 2012 when he started washing a clean pan at an Ohio food bank. But unlike those episodes, Trump actually pulled off the act reasonably well and managed to come across like a real human being.

The restaurant was closed to the public and arriving customers were informed that Trump was there. Make no mistake, this was a pre-determined stunt and one of the biggest motivations seems to have been a jab at Kamala Harris who previously claimed that she briefly worked at McDonald’s while a student at Howard University in the 1980s. As far as can be determined, there are no surviving employment records to verify this, but it would also be unlikely that a McDonald’s would have kept such documents for over 40 years. At the same time, Kamala Harris is no different from most other politicians who lie and embellish their upbringing, which can be seen in her sappy memoir full of stories that clearly never happened.

In any case, the McDonald’s stunt is fascinating for how good it actually makes Trump look. I’ve discussed this before in previous columns, but when Trump isn’t constantly bullshitting and getting into crass political mudslinging, he’s fully capable of being a likable person and making others feel valued. He looked and sounded like he was giving the employee training him his full attention, while that young man deserves top marks for his professionalism throughout the whole event. Even me as someone highly critical of the former president can’t help but find Trump’s enthusiastic comments about how the French fries “never touch the human hand” somewhat endearing.

McDonald’s issued what was a surprisingly well-written non-partisan statement affirming that their company does not endorse political candidates, but opens their doors to all. And you know what? I don’t think there’s anything wrong with what Trump did here. It’s doubtful that it will swing the election either way one iota, but it’s classic campaigning that American politicians have done for decades. For Trump, all of this probably came to him naturally since it echos similar down-to-earth moments like working at his own hotel during his television celebrity days.

There were of course people who were less than amused with the stunt, with a Harris campaign adviser slamming Trump as “desperate.” Again though, there’s little reason to believe that this is going to greatly affect the election. The vast majority of Americans decided who they were going to vote for years ago, French fries and Big Macs be damned. I’m just here for the glorious memes and a final opportunity to laugh at the whole situation before the depressing realization sets in that one of these people is actually going to be president come January.

A brief guide to Japan’s political parties

It’s not just election season in the U.S., but also here in Japan too. The general election is set for Oct. 27, which shortly follows the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) electing maverick Shigeru Ishiba last month as their leader and effective prime minister of Japan. While Japanese politics is generally quite dry, especially when compared to the sideshow that is U.S. politics, this is actually one of the most important elections the country has faced in years.

Ishiba is already facing low approval ratings right out of the gate, which comes as the LDP is embroiled in a slush fund scandal that is weakening public confidence. Political scandals happen in Japan as they do anywhere else, but misuse of taxpayer money for illicit means is one of the biggest transgressions an elected official can pull. Ishiba’s predecessor Fumio Kishida resigning can be directly linked to his perceived inability to crack down on corruption, even if prosecutors cleared him and other lawmakers of any connection to the party’s scandals.

Enter Shigeru Ishiba, whose idealistic policies I previously wrote about earlier this month. This is the quickest the Japanese government has held a general election after a prime minister’s inauguration since the end of World War II, which Ishiba is doing to address the skepticism around his administration. All 465 seats in Japan’s House of Representatives are now up for vote by the citizenry, but the opposition parties are taking full advantage in the lack of public confidence toward the ruling establishment with the general elections.

With the exception of Kishida, the position of prime minister has largely been a revolving door before and since Shinzo Abe. Ishiba may end up being one of the many men whose time in office is cut short if the coalition government lead by the LDP and Komeito fails to win a majority during this month’s elections. Given the scandals plaguing the LDP and the fact that it could be facing a potential ideological split with a small, but vocal minority of internal critics like Sanae Takaichi, Ishiba currently has the deck stacked against him.

Truth be told, domestic Japanese politics is something I only follow casually as my field is primarily international relations and foreign policy. As I’ve mentioned before, I recommend the writings of my colleagues Tobias Harris and Gearoid Reidy if you want deeper insights as covering this is what they do for a living. Still, I will use this space to briefly describe each Japanese political party in the election and what their current chances are for victory. Out of the 465 seats, 233 seats are needed for a majority.

Liberal Democratic Party: The ruling party of Japan. A big-tent party, it runs the spectrum of center-right to ultraconservative factions, though it should be noted that these are often loaded terms in relation to what those in some Anglosphere countries consider “right-wing.” It’s been consistently in power since 1955 except from 1993 to 1994 and 2009 to 2012. Despite historically being bitter rivals with the now defunct Japan Socialist Party, both entered a coalition in 1994 as a pragmatic move against the opposition. While Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama (who is still with us at age 100) was from the JSP, the LDP still had a significant influence on policy at the time which ultimately lead to it regaining power. The JSP soon fell apart due to lack of political support.

The now defunct Democratic Party of Japan ruled from 2009 to 2012, but it failed to gain public confidence as a viable alternative to the LDP. Shinzo Abe took advantage of this political environment and succeeded in getting a three additional terms from 2012 to 2020, making him the longest serving prime minister in Japanese history. The DPJ no longer exists and has a convoluted history of splitting into smaller opposition parties, many of which are also now defunct.

The weakness of the opposition is why the LDP has been able to stay consistently in power until now, but what party leader it chooses can vary wildly depending on the political faction. Abe’s conservative faction has been purged by the more liberal Kishida administration, though a few loud voices like Sanae Takaichi are trying to keep his legacy alive since Ishiba is diametrically opposed to Abe’s ideology. Still, some believe that reality will likely force him to be closer to the more pragmatic leader Abe, and his proposals like an Asian version of NATO don’t seem likely to happen in the near future.

The LDP currently holds 247 seats in the House of Representatives, giving it the majority. The biggest question of this election is how many seats it will lose and if that will be enough for it to become the minority government for only the third time in post-war Japanese history. Some are predicting massive losses for the LDP and some believe they will do better than expected given that most Japanese voters have historically disliked the opposition parties, while others take the more middle view that the LDP will keep its majority but still lose a considerable number of seats due to its scandals.

Regardless of what happens, one thing is for sure — the days of the LDP being able to confidently rest on its laurels are over and the party can no longer expect easy wins.

Komeito: A wacky centrist party that has close ties with Soka Gakkai, one of the largest Buddhist religious movements in Japan. Unlike in America where most expect politicians to make statements invoking God and Christianity, the Japanese public is generally very skeptical of any relationship between politics and religion. Most people you talk to on the street are unlikely to say many nice things about Komeito for this reason, but Soka Gakkai having between 2 and 4 million followers in Japan is why they’ve been able to get a decent number of politicians elected.

The modern day Komeito is a completely different beast from its founding in 1964, having gone from a rival of the LDP to its coalition partner. Domestically, it’s largely promoted social welfare, reduced consumption tax rates, and greater child allowances. On foreign policy, it has evolved from being pacifist to more in-line with the LDP’s support for revising Article 9 of the constitution which would give the country offensive military forces. Do they matter? On their own, not really. But as a coalition member, they’re an important backup which could make or break the LDP keeping its majority. Komeito currently holds 32 seats.

Constitutional Democratic Party: A center-left party that represents the largest opposition to the LDP. The CDP opposes revising the Japanese constitution and is also against nuclear power. While they support the U.S. military alliance, pacifism remains their ideological baseline and they believe in strictly defensive forces only. Their platform is stated to be in favor of same-sex marriage, abortion rights, gender equality, and other typical progressive stances. On the surface, they’re to the LDP what the Democrats are to the Republicans in America, but it’s more complicated than that.

With the LDP being such a big tent party, there are many individual members who have taken progressive stances that win elections amid local constituents. Shinzo Abe famously had his “womenomics” which encouraged women to play a larger role in the workforce, abortion is already de facto legal in Japan with little opposition from the LDP, and same-sex marriage has gained marginally more support compared to the past. With the LDP generally proving to be more competent leaders who will eventually adopt similar progressive views on certain issues anyways, most voters simply go with them.

The CDP currently holds 98 seats and needs 135 to win a majority. This is still a long shot, but the party is taking advantage of dissatisfaction with the LDP over the slush fund scandal and is polling better than it ever has in the past. Personally, I doubt they’ll become the new majority government, but they still could win big in key areas.

Nippon Ishin no Kai: Also known as the Japan Innovation Party, this is another weird political party that would make little sense in an American context given its wide-ranging stances. They’ve often been described as the closest thing to a viable libertarian party in Japan due to their positive views on deregulation and limited government, but they also support things like universal basic income and free education which sound far closer to Bernie Sanders or Andrew Yang than it would to something Ron Paul would push for. Not to mention that their push for removing defense spending limits would probably give most American libertarians a heart attack. They’re definitely a populist party, but quite distinct from the loud minority of far-right ultranationalists many tend to associate with Japanese populism.

Nippon Ishin no Kai was founded in 2015 and currently holds 42 seats, which is moderately impressive for such a new party. They’re primarily against LDP control over Japanese politics, but some of their differences often come across as splitting hairs. There’s no chance they’re ever going to be the majority government barring some cataclysmic change to the entire Japanese political system, but they’re still a party to pay attention to on the local level.

Communist Party: Japan’s oldest political party and definitely left of the CDP, though to what degree they’re actually communist in the 21st century has always been a matter of intense debate. See my article on why leftism failed in Japan.

While they attract a decent amount of local support in some areas, they hold just 10 seats in the House of Representatives and would need 223 seats to become the majority. It ain’t happening.

Democratic Party For the People: A new party formed in 2018, initially as a merger between the defunct Democratic Party and defunct Party of Hope. Yes, that was the actual name. This party eventually merged with the CDP in 2020 except for 14 members lead by politician Yuichiro Tamaki, who kept the DPFP name. They describe themselves as a more centrist alternative to the LDP, but their policy goals tend to be so vague and wishy-washy that they almost sound like a parody of centrists. One can only wonder how they even got 7 seats to begin with.

Reiwa Party: This joke of a left-wing party is widely mocked by practically everyone in Japan. It was founded by actor Taro Yamamoto, who is best remembered for appearing in Battle Royale. He’s one of the few examples of a Japanese celebrity becoming a politician, but that’s precisely why hardly anyone takes him seriously. Reiwa is basically opposed to everything the Japanese establishment believes in, which may resonate with a few Japanese hippies and radical leftists, but most of the public isn’t buying it. Good luck trying to square keeping Japan’s pacifist constitution, but getting rid of U.S. military bases for defense. Maybe Yamamoto-san thinks Kim Jong Un will stop launching ICBMs over Japan if he asks nicely.

Reiwa holds 3 seats. Give them time, I’m sure they’re just planning the long game.

Social Democratic Party: Formed from the ashes of the Japan Socialist Party when it died in 1996. They hold 1 seat. Irrelevant, just like the ideology it represents.

Sanseito Party: If you think I’m being unfairly mean to Japan’s crackpot leftists, don’t worry, the crackpot right-wing populists are also a pathetic joke too. The Sanseito or Political Participation Party was founded in 2020 on the basis that the COVID-19 pandemic was staged and that vaccines are a plot from the government to control everybody. Sanseito has a small degree of appeal with the Japanese equivalent of Alex Jones’ audience, but like the SDP, they only hold 1 seat. Also irrelevant.

What I’m watching — Terry Gilliam’s “Brazil” is still one of the best dystopian films

Despite being a cinephile, there are still plenty of gaps I’ve yet to fill. Terry Gilliam is one of them. The only film of his I had previously watched was Monty Python and the Holy Grail, but that’s obviously part of a larger franchise and quite different from his later work. As luck would have it, a friend gifted me a DVD copy of Brazil for my birthday, which I had always wanted to get to at some point anyways. I’ll eventually do a proper watch of Gilliam’s entire filmography in release order, which is what I tend to do with most directors, but for the time being this was an excellent introduction to his style.

Set in a dystopian 20th century, Brazil deals with the absurdities and horrors of bureaucracy. Virtually everything in this world requires paperwork to happen, down to simply repairing an apartment’s air conditioning. It’s to the point where repairing equipment without official state approval is illegal and those who attempt such unlicensed jobs are wanted criminals. Protagonist Sam Lowry is in the drecks of this as a middling government employee, but his worldview gradually unravels after he falls in love with a woman who previously appeared in his vivid dreams.

Many films have depicted dystopian societies, but Brazil easily ranks as among the best. Terry Gilliam intended to create a world that melded the sensibilities of past and future together, which is evident in Sam looking like a 1940s film noir protagonist but being surrounded by high tech computers and machines. Brazil is all about contrasts and contradictions. It has a thoroughly compelling aesthetic where everything manages to feel both clean and dirty at the same time, as well as modern and anachronistic. For that reason, the film has continued to aged beautifully over the years, inspiring everything from Tim Burton’s Batman to even the 1993 live-action Super Mario Bros. movie.

The fantastic production design is populated by an incredible cast of some of the finest actors of the decade. It was the breakthrough film for Jonathan Pryce, who succeeds in making the everyman protagonist someone you empathize with and want to escape from this nightmare. He’s joined by Katherine Helmond, Robert De Niro, Ian Holm, Bob Hoskins, and even returning Monty Python star Michael Palin who all turn in memorable performances. The only odd one out is Kim Greist as the main romantic lead. She had a relatively short acting career and is currently retired. Gilliam was reportedly not fully satisfied with Greist’s performance, but I thought she did a fine job despite having had less experience than many of the other bigger name actresses who were considered for the role at the time.

Some view Brazil as an anti-capitalist film, but I think that’s somewhat of an oversimplification. Terry Gilliam is a liberal, but more of an old school kind and has never come out as being opposed to capitalism. Screenwriter Tom Stoppard has described himself as a “small c” conservative libertarian and while there isn’t much information available on co-writer Charles McKeown’s views, none of his works suggest any real socialist bent either. Instead, Brazil is a greater commentary on general human themes and totalitarianism. Not to mention that Gilliam’s Monty Python roots make him no stranger to social satire and having a drive to lampoon practically every subject one can think of. Nearly 40 years later, Brazil is especially prescient in our modern age given the film’s exploration of technology running every aspect of daily life and how the state uses it to increase surveillance.

The film is frequently compared to George Orwell’s 1984, which was adapted to cinema the previous year in, ironically, 1984. Both have a number of similarities, but the kind of totalitarian societies they depict are quite different. 1984 is ostensibly the far bleaker film, but Brazil is arguably more terrifying in certain ways for how its initially comedic tone gradually devolves into an ending that hits you like a bag of bricks. Gilliam always believed his film had more believable humanity than Orwell’s story, which is also why he thinks his conclusion is actually more optimistic than many are usually lead to believe. Watch both as a double feature if you have no desire to be in a good mood on your Sunday afternoon.

What I’m listening to — Brahms’ Hungarian Dances are an easy introduction to classical music

It’s been awhile since I last discussed classic music on Bonus Perspectives, so I’ve decided to return to the subject this week. Most consider Ludwig van Beethoven, J.S. Bach, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to be the big three of classical music, but if there’s a fourth spot to consider, it would definitely go to Johannes Brahms. Born in 1833, six years after the death of Beethoven, Brahms is an interesting bridging point between the Romantic era (1800-1910) of classical music to the modernism of the early 20th century.

He was caught in the middle of the so-called “War of the Romantics” which was a fierce debate among mid-19th century composers around what direction music should be taken in. While Brahms was ironically from the conservative school, his work in retrospect has been highly praised for its complex harmonic innovations, cross-rhythms, and skillful use of thematic variation. Since he combined these novel techniques with traditional classical forms of his predecessors like Beethoven, the music of Brahms often manages to be a beautiful combination of old and new. It still feels modern by today’s standards because so much of present-day music owes its inspirations to Brahms’ harmonic and rhythmic contributions.

Brahms is probably most famous for his Cradle Song, which has become the standard lullaby across the world. It’s surreal hearing it in its original form since it’s such a commonplace piece of music in daily life like “Happy Birthday” and “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star,” but that’s a testament to just how timeless Brahms’ melodies are amid his sophisticated technical achievements. His four symphonies and four concertos are of course all highly recommended, but if one wants to get into his music, I always fall back on the Hungarian Dances completed in 1879 as a tried and true favorite.

Few have heard all 21 Hungarian Dances, but listening to them in order demonstrates just how eclectic Brahms’ approach to composition was. Almost every piece is based on an existing Hungarian theme or local folk song, while Brahms’ signature approach to harmony and rhythm make the elements comes together in a way that guarantees no two dances sound the same. The most famous is without a doubt No. 5, which has been performed, covered, and sampled thousands of times for well over a century. My favorite is No. 4, which later became the basis for the main theme “Hope for the Best, Expect the Worst” from Mel Brooks’ criminally underrated sophomore film The Twelve Chairs.

No. 11, 14, and 16 are completely original, but one can really hear how Brahms takes inspiration from the existing folk music themes that comprise the rest of the dances to create something in a similar vein. With each piece typically ranging from two to five minutes each, the Hungarian Dances are a very accessible way for someone to get a feel for the basic structure of Brahms’ work and classical music as a whole. It’s no surprise that they’re constantly performed in concert halls across hundreds of countries, particularly as encore pieces due to their lively nature.

Originally composed for piano, Brahms only wrote the orchestral arrangements for Nos. 1, 3, and 10. Other composers such as Antonín Dvořák took it upon themselves to arrange the rest, which only adds to the various musical, historical, and cultural influences that surround the overall work. The Hungarian Dances are not just static compositions. They’re based on music that was already vintage in Brahms’ day reworked for a new audience, while other artists have continued to expand upon their themes via new arrangements and variations. The Hungarian Dances were also a huge inspiration for ragtime artists like Scott Joplin and James Scott, which lead to the eventual evolution of jazz and rock roll. It’s no exaggeration to say that modern music owes a major debt of gratitude to Brahms.

Recommended listening:

All 21 Hungarian Dances — orchestral arrangement performed by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra

Hungarian Dance No. 1 - duet piano by Khatia Buniatishvili, Yuja Wang

Hungarian Dance No. 4 — solo piano by Barry Douglas

Hope for the Best, Expect the Worst — main theme to The Twelve Chairs composed by John Morris adapted from Hungarian Dance No. 4

Hungarian Dance No. 5 — duet piano by Lang Lang and Gina Alice

Hungarian Dance No. 5 — orchestral arrangement by Leopold Stokowski in one of his first recordings with the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1917

Hungarian Dance No. 6 — orchestral arrangement by the Frankfurt Radio Symphony

Hungarian Dance No. 7 — orchestral arrangement by the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra with solo violinist Maxim Vengerov

Bonus: An utterly fascinating audio recording from 1889 of Brahms himself playing a shortened version of Hungarian Dance No. 1. It was recorded by Thomas Edison’s assistant Theo Wangemann. The audio quality is very poor, but you can hear Brahms doing a self-introduction in German and some of his piano skills. The fact that Brahms lived long enough to see the age of sound recording is nothing short of astounding.

Bonus Perspectives is a weekly column series containing my thoughts on the latest international news and Japanese news, as well as film, television, music, book, and video game recommendations. It’s free for all subscribers to this Substack, but if you enjoy my writing, consider opting for a paid subscription. Doing so will give you access to exclusive in-depth pieces and my entire backlog of work. Your support is greatly appreciated!

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The debate around Columbus Day

Another year, another Columbus Day. You know, that holiday that most Americans really couldn’t care less about, but they’re grateful for anyways because you might get a day off work or school depending on where you live. Being from Pennsylvania, I always had Columbus Day off. It also occasionally falls on my birthday, October 14, which happened to be the case this year. I’m now in the twilight of my twenties at age 27, slowly creeping toward *shudders* my thirties. But enough about me and my inevitable mortality.

I’m here this week to talk about Columbus Day and Christopher Columbus. Mostly because there’s not much going on in the U.S. apart from election buzz I have little interest in writing about, but also because I’ve always wanted to cover this topic in some form. In recent years, Columbus Day has become the center of heated controversy and yet another part of the tiresome culture wars that are tearing America apart. Many states are having fierce debates on whether or not the holiday should continue or be replaced in light of renewed disputes over the complex legacy of Christopher Columbus himself.

First, it should be obviously stated that Columbus did not “discover” the Americas, as there is evidence that other Europeans like Leif Erikson set foot on the continent of North America long before him. It also seems to be somewhat of a common misconception among the average American that Columbus arrived in what is now the United States, but his expedition hit the shores of the Bahamas, Cuba, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic. Still, it cannot be overstated how important his voyages were. Many of Columbus’ critics often make the case that because he wasn’t the first, that somehow takes away from his achievements, but I always found this to be a weak argument.

Columbus’ unwavering drive to find a western sea passage to Asia was vital in developing European understanding of the rest of the world. He certainly made costly mistakes along the way, but for someone largely self-taught and from an impoverished upbringing in 15th century Genoa, being able to get to the Western hemisphere with his rudimentary navigation skills would have certainly been an impressive feat for the era. If you subscribe to the great man theory of history, as I tend to, then Columbus easily fits the bill alongside the likes of Napoleon and Alexander the Great.

Like most great men, however, Columbus both directly and indirectly left a trail of bodies in his wake. While he was one of the major figures who paved the way for European exploration of the Western hemisphere, a negative consequence of this was irreversible demographic change of the native populations of the Americas. Most notable was the destruction of the Taíno people in the West Indies, which some scholars argue was a deliberate genocide carried out by the Spanish. It’s hard to determine the exact number of natives killed since statistics from that era are hardly well-documented. The Wikipedia article for “Taíno genocide” states that their population was estimated at “between 10,000 and 1,000,000” before 1492, which is of little useful help.

The exchange of goods and people from Europe, however, indisputably brought diseases to the Americas that the native populations had no immunity to, which was the biggest contributor to their declining numbers. It should be remembered though that no one back then had any concept of germ theory, and the writings of Columbus suggest that he did not arrive with the intention of wiping them out. Columbus himself had complex views toward natives like the Taíno, acknowledging their positive traits and achievements within their respective societies, but like most Europeans of his day, viewed them as suitable for slave labor and had no qualms in forcibly abducting them for this purpose.

At the same time, without Christopher Columbus we would not have the beginnings of what we call modern Western civilization. It was inevitable that Europeans were eventually going to leave their shores for distant lands given the rapid advancements in technology and navigation. The globalized world we have now is the result of Europeans who took risky sea voyages to find passages to Asia and the Americas. To say that they only brought death and destruction while having no redeeming achievements is simply nonsensical.

Viewing Columbus’ life in a vacuum is also missing the forest for the trees. Universal human rights and respect for the territorial sovereignty of others are very much 20th century inventions. Before that, the vast majority of human history was one of brutal conquest and immense bloodshed that’s very difficult for people of today to comprehend. Columbus wasn’t even the most brutal of contemporary Spanish conquistadors — the atrocities of some like Hernán Cortés make him look like a saint in comparison.

Columbus himself was not novel in his use of slavery either. Indigenous populations across the Americas regularly massacred rival tribes and enslaved their survivors after wars. Some willingly worked with colonizers out of pragmatism to gain an advantage over their territorial enemies in later centuries. This does not excuse the viciousness of European conquerors, which was often orders of magnitude larger due to the technological means at their disposal, but the idea that everything was an idyllic paradise in a pre-Columbus world is pure fantasy.

At the end of the day, one has to ask the question if it was a good thing that Western civilization ultimately happened as a result of the Age of Exploration. Is it a good thing that the United States exists as a country despite its problematic history like that of virtually every major nation on earth? Most, I believe, would be inclined to answer in the affirmative. Those who answer in the negative are almost always vindictive leftists or communists that already hate everything the U.S. stands for and in general are hypocritically selective in what human rights violations they’re willing to condemn.

As to whether or not Columbus Day itself should continue, I believe that choice is best left in the hands of the American people. The holiday got started because Italian-Americans and Catholics wanted a tradition to be proud of at a time when discrimination against both groups was still prominent throughout the United States. The Sopranos even humorously touched upon the debate, which was a greater commentary on how most Americans’ perceive Christopher Columbus less for what he actually did and more around what they seem to think he represents, good or bad.

There are talks every year of replacing Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples’ Day, which is already observed in some states, but I think this is just more fuel for pointless culture wars between two sides talking past each other. I don’t see why both holidays can’t co-exist side-by-side where we acknowledge the importance of Western civilization and the unique cultures of America’s many indigenous groups, but I’ve long given up trying to implore people to calm down. For those actually interested in learning more about the nuances of Christopher Columbus’ life and the era he lived in, I recommend watching this conversation my Spectator colleague Douglas Murray had with historian Felipe Fernández-Armesto last year.

PM Ishiba wants nukes, but the Japanese public doesn’t

This year’s Nobel Peace Prize went to Nihon Hidankyo, a Japanese group which represents survivors of atomic bomb survivors from Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In their statement on Oct. 11, the Norwegian Nobel Committee stressed the organization’s efforts to “achieve a world free of nuclear weapons and for demonstrating through witness testimony that nuclear weapons must never be used again.”

While I’ve always been skeptical of Nobel Peace Prizes since they’ve gone to everyone from Yasser Arafat to Henry Kissinger, anti-nuclear weapons activism is pretty standard stuff that most would agree is befitting of a lofty goal like “peace,” whatever that’s supposed to mean. The problem is that Japan’s new prime minister is currently talking out of both sides of his mouth when it comes to his country’s future relationship with nuclear weapons.

Days after the Nobel Peace Prize announcement, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba once again stated the need for nuclear deterrence, noting in an NHK television program that “Japan is surrounded by nuclear powers.” At the same time, Ishiba also reaffirmed that his “desire to eliminate nuclear weapons has not changed at all.” So which is it? I touched upon this topic briefly last week, but Ishiba has previously said that Japan should consider nuclear weapons sharing with the U.S. to bolster national defense. It seems to me that amid his ambitious policy proposals like an Asian version of NATO, which don’t seem likely to happen, Japan’s new PM is trying to have his cake and eat it too.

While nuclear weapons are obviously awful tools of destruction that should never be used, world powers have long acknowledged that they aren’t going away. Nuclear deterrence is an integral part of NATO’s existence, and I’m inclined to believe that they can paradoxically prevent wars from happening since no country is serious about actually employing them in battle. Ishiba being someone well-versed in military affairs is likely fully aware of this, which is why he’s proposing nuclear sharing with the United States. Saying that you support a nuclear-free world given the geopolitical realities of the 21st century is like saying you support a war-free world. It’s a nice sound bite for the press, but no politician seriously believes it as realistic.

Unfortunately for Ishiba, it’s unlikely his nuclear ambitions will ever happen. His predecessor Fumio Kishida was strongly opposed to nuclear sharing with the United States, correctly stating that the introduction of such weapons into the region would be a violation of Japan’s Three Non-Nuclear Principles. This is the stance held both by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party establishment and by most in Washington, as the U.S. has long been opposed to Japan getting its own nukes.

The Japanese public doesn’t want nuclear weapons either — polling has consistently shown that opposition to them is high. Debates over the use of nuclear energy are already contentious given the 3/11 Fukushima disaster and its aftermath over a decade later. It’s safe to say that Japan going nuclear will remain a pipe dream for a long time. The best that Ishiba can hope for is continued strong relations with the United States, which is already an effective bulwark against external threats. And as I’ve stated already in previous analysis, Ishiba needs to first prove he can be a competent leader who will remain in office for years to come before even considering more radical policies.

What I’m watching — “The Great Escaper” is Michael Caine’s swan song

Most have caught on from my recent columns and social media posts that I’m on a Michael Caine fix lately, so I won’t repeat what I’ve already said about my favorite English actor. See last week’s edition of Bonus Perspectives for why you should check out his early filmography. This week, however, we’re jumping forward to what appears to be the last film Sir Michael intends to star in, The Great Escaper.

Based on the true story of a 90-year-old British Royal Navy veteran who left his nursing home in 2014 to attend the 70th anniversary D-Day landing celebrations in France, The Great Escaper is a surprisingly poignant old-fashioned tearjerker. Along with being Caine’s final work before his announced retirement, it also ended up being the last for co-star Glenda Jackson, who passed away a few months before the film’s release in its home country late last year. The Great Escaper just received a limited theatrical release across Japan, and I caught it at my local independent cinema on my birthday earlier this week. Probably one of the best birthday gifts I could’ve asked for as a Michael Caine fan.

The Great Escaper comes out at a time when World War II veterans are rapidly declining in number. The film takes place in 2014 when there was already discussion around how few D-Day veterans were alive for the event’s 70th anniversary, and most were too elderly to make the voyage back. This year was the 80th anniversary of D-Day, with the youngest surviving participants being in their late 90s. One American veteran even passed away en route to the celebrations at the age of 102.

At 91, Michael Caine would have been too young to participate in World War II, but his splendid memoir The Elephant to Hollywood vividly describes his experiences evacuating London during The Blitz and fighting in the Korean War a generation later. While filming, he was the same age that the real Bernard Jordan was when the nonagenarian D-Day veteran made his daring “great escape” back to Normandy.

All of this makes The Great Escaper a fitting end to Michael Caine’s long career, but what really sold me on the film was how much it said with very little. This is a story about very elderly people who are in their final years. It’s a race against time for them to make peace with their inner demons and find some form of closure. There’s a scene toward the end when Bernard Jordan is at a table with German soldiers who also participated in D-Day. There is no animosity between any of the men, only the mutual understanding that they were all lucky to survive the same harrowing experience. Few words are spoken, but the pained expressions on Caine and his aged co-stars John Standing and Wolf Kahler’s faces are among the film’s most convincing moments. I was sadly reminded that this stoic generation will soon no longer be with us.

The other central aspect of The Great Escaper is the chemistry between Michael Caine and Glenda Jackson, this being their first film together since The Romantic Englishwoman in 1975. Since both actors were the same ages as the characters they played, you completely believe that this is a couple that has spent 70 years together. Anyone who has taken care of grandparents or other elderly people will resonate with how The Great Escaper depicts the unglamorous side of aging. Call me a sentimental fool, but it was hard not to shed a tear seeing Caine and Jackson together. The film is just as much a statement on their twilight years too.

I consider myself lucky to be among the last generation of young people who will have conscious memories of World War II veterans. When the day eventually comes of them no longer being with us, films like The Great Escaper will be an important part of how we remember their contributions and sacrifices. Watch it with your grandparents if you’re fortunate enough to still have them around.

What I’m playing — “Rocket Knight Adventures: Re-Sparked” is a retro game re-release done right

It’s been getting harder for me to find the time to play video games these days, but that doesn’t mean I’m not trying. I still have Dragon Quest IV to get through which I wrote about quite awhile ago, but other than that most of what I’ve been playing has been smaller and shorter games. I also have a few things on pre-order that are finally arriving, one of the most notable of which was Rocket Knight Adventures: Re-Sparked for Nintendo Switch.

This is a brand new collection of the Rocket Knight trilogy, one of the more famous series associated with the Sega Mega Drive, or Sega Genesis in North America. The third game was actually released on Super Famicom (SNES overseas), but most consider possum knight protagonist Sparkster to be primarily a Konami character who had his best days during the Sega craze.

It’s a wonder that Sparkster never got anywhere close to the same level as someone like Sonic the Hedgehog, being unfortunately forgotten with most of the anthropomorphic animal video game mascots of the 1990s. Gamers who grew up on Sega probably have some memories of him, but apart from a few scattered cameos and a reboot in 2010 that few played, modern audiences have practically no resonance with Rocket Knight. This to me is one of those retro game compilations that has every right to exist, being an accessible re-release of vintage titles which normally fetch high prices on auction sites, but also a way for new audiences like the present author to experience them.

Rocket Knight Adventures: Re-Sparked is available on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, and Steam, with the physical release being handled by boutique label Limited Run Games. I’ve previously written about my dissatisfaction with Limited Run, but this is one of their products that there was really no choice in getting. As of this writing, the collection isn’t even available on the Japanese eShop yet. I’m sure that will happen eventually, but it was either this or no physical release at all. All the more reason why there needs to be more competition in this niche space, but I digress.

To give credit where it’s due, I think Limited Run did a good job with their “classic” edition package of this collection. Stylized like a Mega Drive game clamshell case, you get a good amount of physical extras that actually don’t suck. This includes a large double-sided poster, a steelbook game case, a full color comic book, and the trilogy’s complete soundtrack. No complaints from me here. I think all of this is worth the roughly $65 asking price, and that’s frankly a steal compared to how much just the loose cartridges for these games go for individually both in Japan and overseas.

As for the games themselves, playing them for the first time is truly like rediscovering some hidden classic that always eluded you. While Rocket Knight might not be as obscure as something like Sunsoft’s Gimmick or Taito’s Little Samson, I guarantee that this is going to be the first time most people will be experiencing this series. If you’re familiar with more modern platformers like Cuphead and Shovel Knight, I think you’ll feel right at home here with their eclectic gameplay and focus on constant movement. Sparkster can use close range attacks, but his jetpack-boosted dash moves really sets these titles apart from other side-scrollers of their era. It still feels modern and fresh even today.

I’ve only scratched the surface of this trilogy, but I agree with the general consensus that the first game is the best with its more arcadey presentation. Still, Sparkster: Rocket Knight Adventures 2 and Sparkster (the third entry which is essentially a spin-off) are no slouches either. While their pacing isn’t as tight, these are still very enjoyable platformers that make you wonder where this franchise could have gone if it was given more entries. Could Sparkster have possibly become another Sonic or Crash Bandicoot? It’s a shame we’ll never know.

The collection features your standard bells and whistles such as save states and rewinding, while you can also customize the background wallpapers and add a CRT filter. The real treat is seeing all the concept artwork and being able to listen to Michiru Yamane’s excellent music. She would go on to become best known for the Castlevania series, a reminder that there was once a time when Konami was symbolic of quality. Let’s hope that this release allows Sparkster to shine again properly one day.

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Bonus Perspectives is a weekly column series containing my thoughts on the latest Western news and Japanese news, as well as film, television, music, book, and video game recommendations. It’s free for all subscribers to this Substack, but if you enjoy my writing, consider opting for a paid subscription. Doing so will give you access to exclusive in-depth pieces and my entire backlog of work. Your support is greatly appreciated!

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Some housekeeping…

Bonus Perspectives returns after a brief hiatus I took last week due to time constraints. While this edition of my column is thankfully more or less on time, I unfortunately still have yet to publish my next piece for paid subscribers, so I apologize in advance for the continued delay. Rest assured, it’s coming within the next few days and will be the first of a multipart travelogue series of lesser known destinations in Japan. My pieces covering Japanese topics tend to do the best here, so I hope they will encourage more to subscribe.

I don’t mention it enough as I should, but if you like Foreign Perspectives, please consider sending it to your family, friends, and colleagues who may be interested. Substack was primarily intended to be an email newsletter, so the best kind of growth is when I can get more email addresses subscribed. Bonus Perspectives will always be free to all, while paid subscriptions give you access to exclusive pieces and my entire archive of work. I’ve gotten some more freelance writing jobs lately, but Foreign Perspectives is really meant to be my bread and butter.

With that out of the way, I’ll use this space to provide an update on my intended posting schedule moving forward. I’ve really wanted to continue A Bit of Film and War, which began in April and was planned to be a recurring column. However, you’ve probably noticed that this hasn’t happened. There has simply not been enough time for me to write weekly editions of Bonus Perspectives, articles for paid subscribers, and other freelance assignments. So from this point onward, I’ve decided that in the place of Bonus Perspectives on the last week of every month, there will be a new entry of A Bit of Film and War instead.

This essentially means that there will be at least three Bonus Perspectives columns and one A Bit of Film and War column each month, while I hope to do an article for paid subscribers every one to two weeks. Some weeks will be busier than others due to my other freelance writing commitments, part-time job, and PhD program, but rest assured, more content is coming to Foreign Perspectives, not less. I once again thank everyone who has supported this project until now and appreciate your patience as things have occasionally been changed around. The next edition of A Bit of Film and War will be out at the end of October, but without further delay, let’s get into your regularly scheduled edition of Bonus Perspectives for this week.

Israel remembers October 7, yet antisemitism continues

This week marks one year since Hamas terrorists brutally murdered over 1,200 Israelis in a series of coordinated attacks that rocked the country to its core on Oct. 7, 2023. A larger part of the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, “October 7” has entered the international lexicon the same way “9/11” did after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on American soil. But while the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were away from Americans in the months and years after 9/11, the people of Israel do not have the same luxury.

I should preface this segment of my column by once again stating that I have always been a stalwart supporter of Israel. I believe that Jews have a right to their own state and consider myself a Zionist even though there isn’t a drop of Jewish blood in me. While Palestinians deserve a better lot in life, the sovereign nation of Israel itself is never going away and any beliefs to the contrary are pure delusion. The conflicts between Israel and the Palestinian Authority are complex territorial disputes that both sides will have to figure out, but deliberate massacres like October 7 are complete non-starters. Until the Palestinians choose better representatives for their cause, Israel has every right to defend itself from Hamas.

Enough people somehow need to be reminded of an obvious fact, but this is war. In war, there are winners and losers. Israel cannot lose this war because Hamas’ stated goals for decades have been the complete expulsion and eradication of all Jews in the Middle East. Supporters of the so-called “pro-Palestine” movement will always obfuscate or ignore this fact. Ideologically hijacked organizations that claim to be for human rights like Amnesty International demanding a “ceasefire” have no answers for what happens afterwards. At best, these groups and individuals are naive, useful idiots for an authoritarian Islamic theocracy which decapitates gay people. At worst, they are outright supporters of Hamas. Unfortunately for them, Israel will never surrender.

The IDF in September succeeded in dealing a critical blow to Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah by using remote explosives rigged to pagers and walkie-talkies held by hundreds of its operatives throughout the country. This month, an Israeli airstrike killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and other high ranking officials. Were there civilian casualties as a result of these operations? Yes, inevitably. Yet once again, this is war. Countless Russian civilians have perished as a result of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, but no one would fault President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for doing what is needed to defend his country. Well, some in the West are, but that’s a topic for a different day.

What is happening in Gaza and the surrounding regions is an absolute tragedy. Israel, however, is not engaging in bombings and tactical strikes with the intention of killing civilians. The deaths of Palestinians are the direct results of Hamas choosing to use its people as human shields as it wages its war against Israel. While the IDF does what it can to reduce civilian casualties, Hamas’ goal is to kill as many Jews as possible. This also bears repeating, but Hamas and Hezbollah are proxies for Iran to stretch its influence over the Middle East. The lives of civilians, Palestinian and Israeli alike, are of no concern to Tehran. As long as these terrorist organizations continue to be in operation, calls for a “ceasefire” or renewed talks around Palestinian statehood are useless cries into the void.

Of course, expecting people who live privileged lives in Western countries to understand any of this is an exercise in futility. Despite the genocidal goals of Hamas being available in writing and their stated intentions being anything but vague, millions across the world are being hoodwinked into thinking that Israel is the aggressor of the Middle East. This has lead to an unprecedented modern rise in antisemitism across the world. Attacks against Jewish places of worship and institutions are increasing, while TikTok has become a hotbed for Holocaust denial and historical revisionism around figures like Adolf Hitler.

To use a term popular with the zoomers, one may remember that rapper Kanye West was “cancelled” in 2022 for his antisemitic remarks. The irony is that if he had waited a year, he could have used pro-Palestine activism as a cover for his vile hatred and still be considered a socially palatable figure. One does not have to venture far into social media cesspools like Twitter (or X as it’s now called) to see that antisemitism is becoming increasingly normalized with both the far-left and far-right promoting it.

Amid these volatile times, I reaffirm my support of the Jewish people not just every year on October 7, but all year round. I also remember the roughly hundred people who are still being kept as hostages of Hamas, something that much of the world seems to have forgotten. Israel must succeed in destroying Iran’s terrorist proxies. What the Nazis did with the Holocaust could easily happen again if the world remains apathetic. The difference this time, however, is that the Jewish people have the means to fight back and not be helpless victims doomed to slaughter.

Shigeru Ishiba wants to radically change Japan, but can he?

Japan’s new Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba is entering office with very low expectations that he will be around for long. Both the opposition and members of his own party are grilling the country’s fresh leader, calling into question the viability of his ambitious policies. Ishiba, who has been frequently described as a centrist and idealist, now seems to be walking back much of what he promised on the campaign trail.

The Asian version of NATO? It’s now on the back burner. Ishiba’s calls to crack down on corruption? He’s currently giving a wishy-washy response as to whether or not he will endorse ruling Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers implicated in a slush funds scandal. If you were hoping that he would lead the charge on Japan legalizing same-sex marriage, don’t hold your breath on that one either. When asked on Oct. 8 about it happening, his vague response was, “We need to keep a close eye on public opinion, Diet discussions, and litigation status.” In other words, your classic Japanese politician who will wait and see while doing essentially nothing.

For the time being, Ishiba will need to first establish that he will actually be a leader here to stay. Both before and after the late Shinzo Abe, the position of Japanese prime minister has largely been a revolving door. The now disbanded opposition Democratic Party of Japan failed to govern competently or gain public confidence. The LDP returned to power, and Abe’s second term of over seven years has proven to be a hard act to follow. Yoshihide Suga was more or less a stopgap leader, but left behind an underrated legacy. The outgoing Fumio Kishida managed to be prime minister for a decently admirable three years, but inherited a Japan dealing with serious post-pandemic economic issues and depreciating currency. How much of this he was directly responsible for I’ll leave to the economists, but Shigeru Ishiba is not in an enviable position now.

How Ishiba will handle domestic policy remains to be seen, but as my field is foreign policy, I was recently asked by my former employer Korea Risk Group for their specialist site NK Pro to weigh in on how he will tackle relevant geopolitical issues. That piece is paywalled, but I’ll summarize my thoughts again here.

One of the key pillars of Ishiba’s ideology is less reliance on the United States and more control among the Japanese people around their own defense. His talk about the need for a more “equal” partnership has raised several eyebrows in Washington. Ishiba previously proposed sending Japanese Self-Defense Forces (JSDF) to Guam who be given the same privileges as U.S. soldiers, but this raises questions around what it would exactly accomplish. His ambitious idea for an Asian version of NATO is also vague, as there are already existing alliances between the U.S. and its allies in the Indo-Pacific region.

Ishiba is also expressing interest in pursuing nuclear weapons sharing with the U.S. and other partners. Unsurprisingly, this is an extremely controversial notion among the Japanese public due to the country’s sensitive history around nukes. Shinzo Abe actually raised the idea of nuclear sharing during a talkshow discussion in 2022, but opposition both within the LDP and among its rivals remains strong. Japan’s Three Non-Nuclear Principles state that the country will not possess, produce, or introduce nuclear weapons. Nuclear sharing would almost certainly come into conflict with this doctrine that Japan has adhered to for decades.

Still, it seems that Ishiba’s recent Diet sessions have calmed down potential worry in Washington for the time being. He appears to be sticking largely to the same script as Kishida in reaffirming Japan’s commitment to its alliance with the U.S. and stalwart support of Ukraine against Russia. The outgoing prime minister oversaw a significant increase in Japan’s defense spending, the effects of which are likely to be seen during Ishiba’s administration. Long known as a “military otaku” due to his extensive knowledge of military history, weapons, and equipment, Ishiba is bound to be pleased with the larger resources at his disposal and can use this opportunity for more realistic defense policy decisions before he can even think of pursuing his more radical proposals.

Much will also be decided based on who wins the upcoming U.S. election. A Kamala Harris presidency would likely try to keep the existing alliance terms in place, but Ishiba may find surprising agreement with Donald Trump who has criticized American allies for supposedly not paying their fare share. Either way, Ishiba has to reassure Washington that he will not try to enact changes that will harm the alliance amid regional threats from China and North Korea. Japan cannot afford to look weak or disorganized when tensions over Taiwan are still very much real.

Personally, I’m more inclined to believe that Ishiba won’t last long enough to enact any of his anti-LDP establishment or unorthodox policies. He’s facing a clear uphill battle to attract domestic support and at least anecdotally, a lot of Japanese people I talk to have little faith in his leadership abilities. On the other hand, it’s also important to remember that anything can happen in the volatile world of Japanese politics. Shinzo Abe saw great success after a failed first term, Shinjiro Koizumi has maintained a respectable political career despite his many gaffs, and Fumio Kishida managed to break the curse of one-year Japanese prime ministers. The ball is now in Ishiba’s court.

What I’m watching — Michael Caine’s 1960s films are underrated classics

I’ve been on a Michael Caine marathon lately. I mentioned in the last edition of Bonus Perspectives how he has become my favorite English actor, so I recommend reading that for my thoughts on him and his seminal debut as a leading man with Zulu. I’m now going through his filmography decade by decade to see how much Sir Michael Caine has evolved as an actor. I’m mostly trying to get to the important classics I’ve neglected until now, but I’m also watching some truly underrated films starring Caine that I want to bring attention to.

As Michael Caine has starred in roughly 150 films, I obviously can’t watch everything he’s been in. Most of his notable works are available in Japan, but others are on very rare out-of-print DVDs or sometimes only available on VHS, so undertaking this project has been somewhat of a challenge. My wife watches pretty much everything with me and she’s become a fan of Michael Caine as well, making Japanese subtitles a necessity. I’ll eventually write a piece on why physical media for films in Japan generally sucks, so stay tuned for that.

Still, I recently finished watching Caine’s 1960s filmography, which was when he was at the height of his popularity. After Zulu, he further proved himself as a serious actor with 1965’s The Ipcress File, a dark Cold War thriller based on Len Deighton’s excellent novel which I covered a few months ago on Bonus Perspectives. Bringing Deighton’s originally unnamed protagonist to the silver screen as Harry Palmer, I was correct in my assumption that the cinematic version of The Ipcress File would be a condensed retelling of the complex plot. Despite that, it instantly became one of my favorite films and its reputation as a classic is well-earned.

Caine’s deadpan and sarcastic delivery establishes Harry Palmer as someone very different from James Bond. While Bond is the idealistic, unattainable depiction of perfect masculinity, Palmer with his horn-rimmed glasses and affinity for cooking is a character more relatable to audiences. He’s in spycraft not for a noble cause, but because he needs to pay the rent every week. We’re told that Palmer is a British Army sergeant with a criminal record, suggesting that he’s not even working for the U.K. Ministry of Defence entirely out of his own free will. He’s less successful with the ladies than Bond, while his working class roots add a tinge of subtle social commentary when Palmer interacts with his more aristocratic superiors.

Differences aside, James Bond connections are also here aplenty. The Ipcress File shares the same producer Harry Saltzman and New Zealand actor Guy Doleman who played Count Lippe in Thunderball is here as Colonel Ross, as are 007 series veteran set designer Ken Adam and editor Peter R. Hunt who later directed On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. One also can’t mention The Ipcress File without bringing up John Barry’s score, a beautiful combination of mysterious jazz and electrifying guitar riffs. I immediately bought the soundtrack after finishing the film. Visually, the excellent cinematography by Otto Heller creates a constant sense of foreboding and paranoia, which is appropriate given the Cold War themes.

The Ipcress File was followed up with two sequels, Funeral in Berlin and Billion Dollar Brain. I plan to cover the Harry Palmer series in greater detail one day after I’ve read more of Len Deighton’s work, but long story short, they’re also good films even if they don’t quite match the first entry. Funeral in Berlin is a more standard spy caper, with the main highlight being Oskar Homolka’s eccentric performance as Soviet Colonel Stok. Billion Dollar Brain goes completely off the rails with its storyline of an AI supercomputer (man, was this film decades ahead of its time!) and an anti-communist Texan oil baron trying to insight popular uprisings in Eastern Europe, yet I can’t help but love it because the whole proceedings are so ridiculous.

Between the Harry Palmer entries, Michael Caine’s other most notable film at this time was Alfie. It, Zulu, and The Ipcress File are essentially the three works which showed that Caine was flexible in what roles he took and that he could be everything from a straight-laced soldier to a slimy womanizer. 2024 audiences will likely be baffled at how 1966 audiences were so receptive to Alfie given the protagonist being an unapologetic misogynist, but that would be missing the point. Alfie works because of Michael Caine’s spectacular performance. Being able to turn an ostensibly unlikeable character into one you actually start to have sympathy for is something even veteran actors struggle with, but Caine was able to do it with only two other leading roles under his belt.

Getting into Alfie, I thought it would just be a comedy about hooking up with girls, but it becomes a surprisingly poignant story toward the end. If you think the film endorses its character’s horrible behavior, its message completely went over your head. Being one of the earliest films to break the fourth wall, Alfie literally winks and tells the audience directly that he’s a selfish, petty man. All of his bad decisions have consequences, and it’s patently obvious that he’s a loser trying to put on airs as someone with class. That’s the entire joke. Despite coming out at the height of the 1960s craze of free love and women’s lib, there’s an argument to be made that Alfie can actually be viewed through a more conservative lens with its message that casual sex is not the key to happiness. There’s even a shockingly nuanced storyline of how abortion is a tragic decision for both men and women, but I won’t get into spoilers.

Beyond these films, I also watched Gambit, Play Dirty, The Italian Job, and Battle of Britain. Gambit is an extremely overlooked heist comedy starring Caine as a cat burglar with Shirley MacLaine, while Play Dirty is also unfortunately obscure. It and Battle of Britain proved that Michael Caine was a natural at playing World War II roles, with Play Dirty especially having some very impressive desert warfare scenes for the time. And what can you say about The Italian Job that hasn’t been said already? It ended the 1960s on the best note possible with its gorgeous Italian scenery and iconic British humor. Frequently imitated, but never surpassed.

I’ve already seen a few of Michael Caine’s films from the 1970s, but will temporarily be taking a break from this marathon until December. Sleuth, which Caine co-starred in with Laurence Olivier, is getting a brand new Blu-ray exclusively for the Japanese market around then. The legal rights around this film have been a nightmare for years, and this will be the first time Sleuth will be getting a high definition release at all. It’s quite the rarity for us to get a good home video release of these Western classics, so I’m looking forward to this one as I have yet to see it. Michael Caine’s final work, The Great Escaper, hits Japanese cinemas on Oct. 11, so expect a review in a future entry of Bonus Perspectives later this month.

What I’m listening to — Formica Blues is a sampling masterpiece

You can thank Michael Caine for introducing me to something else great beyond his incredible films. After constantly listening to John Barry’s soundtrack for The Ipcress File in my music library, I later learned that its iconic main theme was sampled by a short-lived British electronic music duo named Mono for their sole studio album Formica Blues. A sleeper hit released for the U.K. market in 1997 and overseas the following year, this is one of the most alluring compilations of electronic music I’ve ever listened to and it’s a shame that more people don’t know about it.

Formica Blues was heavily inspired by film and television soundtracks from the 1960s and the 1970s. The opening track, “Life in Mono,” takes Barry’s Ipcress File theme as a subtle backing piece and dances around it with harpsichord passages mirroring its pensive style. The next track, “Silicone,” is even more explicit with its sampling of Roy Budd’s main theme for Get Carter, the 1971 British gangster film starring Michael Caine in one of his angriest performances. It also incorporates elements of Isaac Hayes’ cover of “Walk on By” from his album Hot Buttered Soul in combination with original elements that beautifully come together.

The rest of the album continues to utilize similar techniques with everything from David Sylvian’s Everything and Nothing to Sheffield post-punk band Artery being quoted. The overall soundscape is something that paradoxically feels both retro and modern because of its sheer amount of sampling choices. Formica Blues’ tributes to the past are also more than just aesthetic choices too — it’s clear that Mono knew what they were doing. Everything from what kind of microphone utilized to accentuate Siobhan de Maré’s soft female vocals to the frequent preference of analog sounds over digital ones were creative decisions that could have only been done by someone with true reverence for the latter half of 20th century music.

The A side of Formica Blues is more accessible from a melodic standpoint, while the B side takes things in a decidedly more avant-garde direction. Some may argue that only the first half is worth frequently listening to as a result, but I still found the whole thing to be a cohesive auditory experience unlike anything I’ve ever head anywhere else. The album received greater attention after “Life in Mono” was featured in the 1998 film adaptation of Great Expectations, leading to high demand for it to be played on the radio and in clubs. Mono, however, broke up in 2000 after creative differences between composer Martin Virgo and vocalist Siobhan de Maré.

It’s a shame that Mono never went on to create anything else and that Formica Blues more or less has languished in obscurity since the early 2000s, but some of the best music you’ll ever find is often the lesser known stuff just hiding in plain sight. It wouldn’t surprise me if one day a film or viral YouTube video utilizes Formica Blues, once again leading to newfound popularity. Music sampling has historically been a legal gray area, but I’ve always been an advocate for it. All artists are constantly quoting others and sampling done in the right hands can be a sign of great respect instead of simple plagiarism. If you want for electric music what Paul’s Boutique is for rap, look no further than Formica Blues.

Recommended listening:

Formica Blues, the entire album on YouTube. Available on Apple Music, Spotify, and wherever music is sold.

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Bonus Perspectives is a weekly column series containing my thoughts on the latest Western news and Japanese news, as well as film, television, music, book, and video game recommendations. It’s free for all subscribers to this Substack, but if you enjoy my writing, consider opting for a paid subscription. Doing so will give you access to exclusive in-depth pieces and my entire backlog of work. Your support is greatly appreciated!

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As I wrote in last week’s column, the usual edition of Bonus Perspectives is going on hiatus this week. I simply didn’t have enough time to assemble a proper collection of news stories and media recommendations, while I have multiple articles I’m currently writing for paid subscribers. Expect the first of those to be out later this week.

Instead, I’m using this space to repost an article I recently wrote for The Japan Times earlier this month and to provide an update on some exciting freelance writing opportunities that I’ve been able to secure. I don’t want to leave subscribers of Foreign Perspectives hanging when I’m occasionally unable to deliver my full weekly column, so there will occasionally be shorter pieces like these instead which still offer extra commentary and thoughts.

Consider this part of the Bonus Perspectives canon, but more of side story or gaiden as one would say in Japanese. The burning off episode to your regularly scheduled programming. The bonus to Bonus Perspectives, if you will. Ok, I’m done with the dumb analogies especially since the subject I’m covering is not one I can make light of without it being in poor taste. Let’s just cut to the chase.

9/11 and Japan

9/11 is a subject I’ve dedicated a considerable amount of time researching. I covered it a couple of times on Foreign Perspectives — once about 9/11 lost media and once about the complicated legal case around the surviving terrorist masterminds — so these pieces should give you an idea of just how dedicated I am to this topic. They only scratch the surface of material I’ve read up on, so expect many more 9/11-related articles from me in the future.

I had the opportunity earlier this month to write for The Japan Times, Japan’s largest and oldest English-language newspaper, via my debut piece which analyzes the often forgotten impact 9/11 had on the country. I’ll get into this more in the next section about the state of my freelance writing, but this is an incredible opportunity I’m very proud of to have gotten. 9/11 is often framed as an American tragedy, but it affected dozens of countries since the World Trade Center was truly a symbol of global trade and commerce. The WTC itself already had an inherent Japanese connection with its architect Minoru Yamasaki being a nissei Japanese-American.

Yamasaki passed away in 1986, so he didn’t live to see the destruction of his most famous achievement. In writing my piece, I often wondered how he would have reacted if he had lived long enough to see such a horrible event unfold, especially since some even blamed the design of the building complex itself for leading to more deaths. I tried getting in touch with his son, Pulitzer Prize winning photographer Taro Yamasaki, but was politely told that the family no longer speaks to the media about him or 9/11. Here’s a section from my original draft that did not make the final cut for The Japan Times which further discussed the controversy around the WTC’s design.

After many years of health problems, Yamasaki passed away of stomach cancer on Feb. 6, 1986 at the age of 73. He did not live to see the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center which killed six people and injured over 1,000 nor the eventual destruction of his life’s crowning achievement and deaths of nearly 3,000 people on September 11, 2001. One can only speculate how he would have felt, but in retrospect some have criticized the design of the WTC itself for possibly leading to a higher death toll.

As the World Trade Center was being built, the New York Port Authority adopted a new building code in 1968 which reduced the number of required stairwells for evacuation in high rise buildings. Each tower only had three stairwells, while buildings under the older code had six or more, such as the Empire State Building. 

It would be unfair to blame Yamasaki for what happened on 9/11. No one believed that a terrorist attack of that scale would be possible, while the choice to use a less safe building code was not his decision.

Building codes and safety regulations are incredibly dry topics which hardly make for interesting reading material, but 9/11 demonstrated what could happen in the absolute worst case scenario. I highly recommend reading Jim Dwyer and Kevin Flynn’s excellent book 102 Minutes That Changed America: The Untold Story of the Fight to Survive Inside the Twin Towers which goes into painstaking detail about the WTC’s design and how it made escape difficult. In future articles, I hope to give more 9/11 books proper reviews, but this is was easily among the best I read.

I should once again make it clear that I do not blame Minoru Yamasaki for any deaths on 9/11. Those are squarely the fault of the radical Islamic terrorists who chose to commit such a barbaric attack. Yamasaki was simply an architect and the final safety code decisions were out of his hands. Furthermore, we’re discussing all of this with the luxury of hindsight. It’s easy to forget now that prior to 2001, hardly anyone thought that something as large as the World Trade Center could be destroyed so quickly or that a terrorist plot as well-coordinated as 9/11 was even possible on U.S. soil.

The rest of my piece focuses on the Japanese victims of 9/11 and how the event continues to hold tangible effects on Japan’s shifting security priorities. 24 Japanese nationals died on that day, most of whom were working for Japanese companies with offices in the Twin Towers. 16 were killed in the South Tower, six were killed in the North Tower, and two had the horrible luck to be on the hijacked planes. These were all ordinary people simply reporting to work, visiting the United States, or traveling to get somewhere. They were ambitious individuals who strove for adventure and success abroad, only to have all of their bright futures robbed in an instant.

While Japan may not be the first thing most think of when it comes to 9/11, it was a pivotal moment in the country’s history that largely continues to be without closure. The relatives of some victims were able to receive partial identified remains and have proper burials. But most, like thousands of people with loved ones taken away on 9/11, have nothing to bury. Some of these Japanese relatives push for greater awareness of 9/11 with annual visits to the United States, while others have never spoken to the media and can only bring themselves to grieve in private.

Beyond these individuals, 9/11 made Japan realize that it could not remain a pacifist country into the 21st century with so many global security threats. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi began testing constitutional limits on military power by sending JSDF troops to the Middle East to aid the United States, which sparked immense domestic controversy. His protégé Shinzo Abe unsuccessfully tried to push for the revision of Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution which would allow Japan to hold offensive military forces. The country’s new de facto Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba disagrees with Abe’s ideology in many ways, but he too supports constitutional revision amid other aspects of his foreign policy.

All of this can be directly tied back to 9/11 and other rising security issues Japan faced at the turn of the new millennium. In writing my piece for The Japan Times, I aimed to pay tribute to the Japanese victims of the terrorist attacks while also illustrating how 9/11 still has tangible effects on the country’s geopolitical strategy. The 2021 withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan marked an unceremonious end to a tragic 20-year saga, but the lasting implications of 9/11 are still more relevant than ever globally.

Read my article for The Japan Times here.

My new freelance writing gigs

When I first began learning Japanese over a decade ago in high school on my own as a hobby, I was a regular reader of The Japan Times in order to keep up to date with news developments in the country. Beyond its coverage of current events and geopolitics, I adored the insightful columns written by experts like Donald Keene who had lived in Japan for decades. It’s no exaggeration to say that The Japan Times was a major inspiration in me wanting to pursue journalism as a side gig, and by extension this very column you are currently reading.

The Japan Times has followed me through my teenage and young adult years from the United States to my current life in Japan. I’ve seen the paper go through high and low periods of varying quality. While it’s certainly a vital English-language resource on information about Japan, for every Donald Keene the publication runs, it also has featured the rubbish ramblings of serial complainers and agenda-pushers like Jake Adelstein and Baye McNeil. It’s no stranger to being embroiled in controversy on the other side of politics either, as evidenced by its right-leaning editorial shift a few years ago.

Still, I think all of that is largely in the past. Under the current editorial board led by Takashi Yokota, The Japan Times is now a much more centrist paper and I believe it has reached a more nuanced balance than what it was before. It does genuinely good journalism and features commentators who know their stuff. I’m pleased to announce that I’m now part of this team of freelance contributors. Unlike previous gigs that fizzled out, I have been asked to become a regular contributor right from the outset.

I owe my current stint at The Japan Times to my friend Alex Martin, a fellow contributor to the paper who put in a good word about me to the editors. He’s the son of Bradley Martin, one of the foremost experts on North Korea and someone else who is also a friend. I’m currently working on a few pitch ideas for them, but I hope my thoughts on everything from regional geopolitics to cinema and video games will lead to some interesting articles. Stay tuned for future updates.

While I have yet to write for them, I’ve also established connections with the editors at Quillette, an Australian magazine that pays well and offers astute analysis on a variety of subjects. I anticipate that I’ll primarily be producing articles for them around cultural topics. Quillette has a good readership, so I think it’ll be the perfect platform for my writing to reach a wider audience. It’s another publication I’ve read for a long time, so actually becoming a contributor for them is a wonderful opportunity.

Unfortunately, it seems that my time at The Spectator, at least for a while, is coming to an end. The magazine has been embroiled in a heated controversy over who should be allowed to buy it, but that debate was finally put to rest earlier this month when hedge fund boss Sir Paul Marshall sealed the deal. Andrew Neil resigned as chairman and current editor Fraser Nelson will be leaving too. This leaves its internal management up in the air, but my friend and current editor Ross Anderson tells me that he doesn’t expect to stay very long. While I may still be able to contribute to The Spectator, it really was Ross who championed my work and got it published. Without him, I think it’s going to be difficult moving forward.

My latest and currently final piece for The Spectator was published earlier this month after a lot of radio silence for the better part of 2024. It’s about the return of CRT televisions and the few people who still have the expertise to repair them. Regular readers of Bonus Perspectives would know that I’m a big enthusiast of these TVs for retro games. It was an honor to interview specialists who still dedicate their time to repairing such archaic pieces of electronic equipment, and I hope that my article will help to shed some light on why they still matter going into the 21st century.

And so that’s where things currently stand. There are a couple of other freelance writing opportunities that may be available for me down the line, but I’ll talk about them here if and when they actually happen. For the time being, Foreign Perspectives remains a priority and I will continue to deliver weekly content to my audience of subscribers here. I’ve said it before, but thanks again to all those who have encouraged my work. I’m hoping to end 2024 with 1,000 subscribers, so please share this newsletter with your friends and families who may be interested. I couldn’t do this without you and I’m indebted to your support. Let’s continue these adventures to foreign places together.

Foreign Perspectives is a reader-supported Substack. If you like my work and have come this far as a new reader or free subscriber, consider opting for a paid subscription so I can continue writing in-depth articles such as these on a regular basis. Your support is greatly appreciated!

Paid subscriptions are currently 20% off from now until the end of October.

Bonus Perspectives is a weekly column series containing my thoughts on the latest Western news and Japanese news, as well as film, television, music, book, and video game recommendations. It’s free for all subscribers to this Substack, but if you enjoy my writing, consider opting for a paid subscription. Doing so will give you access to exclusive in-depth pieces and my entire backlog of work. Your support is greatly appreciated!

Paid subscriptions are currently 20% off from now until the end of October.

Before we begin…

I apologize for this week’s edition of Bonus Perspectives being out much later than usual. I try to aim for these columns to go out on Monday or Tuesday, but if you’re reading this now, it’s currently Saturday. There’s not much I can say other than I screwed up with my time management.

I’m currently in the middle of renewing my student visa and starting a new semester of my PhD while also working a part-time job with long hours, so it’s gotten quite difficult to write in as timely of a matter as I would like. As a result, some of the material I’m covering this week may be less relevant than it would have been had this been posted earlier, but that’s just the way it goes sometimes when I begin these pieces. The biggest story this week is that outsider Shigeru Ishiba was elected by Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party as the country’s new de facto new prime minister and a lot of people have been asking me for my thoughts.

Frankly though, I’m still reading up on Ishiba as I never followed his career or ideology that deeply until now. I will probably weigh in with more detailed thoughts when he’s actually running Japan, so there’s not much I can say at this point other than we’re in uncharted territory and that this marks a pretty significant rejection of the legacy Shinzo Abe left behind. Ishiba was a known critic of Abe, so I recommend reading Tobias Harris’ excellent rundown on how he differs from the late former prime minister.

In the meantime, I hope you will find what I have to say this week on other topics interesting regardless. Since this column is coming out quite late, I’ve made the decision to take next week off with Bonus Perspectives so I can dedicate time to other articles. I’m aiming to post something brief on Monday about a potentially exciting new development for me, and I’m currently writing the first in a multipart Japan travelogue article series that will be exclusively available for paid subscribers of this Substack. That will hopefully be out toward the end of next week, with Bonus Perspectives resuming as usual for all subscribers around the following Monday or Tuesday.

I want to once again thank everyone who supports Foreign Perspectives. I would not be able to do this without you and your patronage makes this a sustainable enterprise. My scholarship for my doctoral program ended this month, so I will have to look for other sources of funding as I work my part-time job and search for freelance writing opportunities. If you enjoy the writing I put out on this Substack, consider a paid subscription if you do not have one already. Remember, it isn’t a donation. You’re paying for in-depth articles on a variety of subjects from life in Japan to film criticism. I’m very grateful to all who have subscribed to this Substack and I hope I can end 2024 on a strong note.

Trump dodges another assassination attempt — and I have an odd indirect connection to the suspect

So here’s another important story that, like the Trump-Harris debates, I’m late to the party in covering. Less than two months after narrowly dodging one assassination attempt, the former president of the United States escaped another on September 15. With most political assassination plots, however, it’s always best to wait a while until all the facts come in.

As far as has been revealed, a man named Ryan Wesley Routh waited outside Trump’s Florida club for almost 12 hours in the hopes of gunning down the presidential candidate with a rifle. Secret Service agents reportedly saw Routh aiming his weapon 400 to 500 yards away from Trump, which resulted in them immediately opening fire in defense. The suspect fled the scene without using his weapon, but was shortly arrested in an adjacent county. In contrast to the last assassination attempt, Trump himself was unarmed and avoided being hit by any bullets.

Routh had apparently been lying in wait for Trump for nearly 12 hours, which suggests that he put in a considerable amount of planning into his botched scheme. Yet everything I’ve read about the suspect leads me to conclude that he’s little more than a deranged lunatic with no coherent ideology. That could also be said for the late Thomas Matthew Crooks of Trump assassination attempt No. 1, but the 20-year-old man more or less fit a profile similar to that of an anti-social school shooter. As far as I can tell, Crooks had no real politics to speak of, which is frustrating for those looking for a solid motive, but not actually that extraordinary when mental illness is a far easier explanation.

Would-be Trump assassin No. 2 is assuredly not playing with a full deck either, but he differs from Crooks in several notable ways. First and most obvious, he’s actually alive. It remains to be seen what, if anything, he will tell law enforcement, but I expect years of legal procedures before we get the full story. Second, Routh is far older than Crooks. At around 57 years old (his precise date of birth is undetermined at this time), the recklessness of youth cannot be considered a factor in his plot. Mental illness aside, we have more of his past life experiences to draw on to understand how he got to this point. Third, Routh already has a lengthy criminal record of illegal firearm possession, clashes with law enforcement, driving without a license, a hit-and-run, and ownership of stolen goods. It’s a wonder that this model citizen hasn’t killed anyone already.

Most bizarre is trying to piece together Routh’s ideology, which is a labyrinth of contradictions. The above photo is Routh at a rally in Kyiv in April 2022. The man portrayed himself as a passionate defender of Ukraine in its war against Russia and even traveled to the region hoping to participate in the fight, but was rejected due to his lack of combat experience. He has voted both for Democrats and Republicans, but is unaffiliated with either party. While he previously expressed public support for Trump, he later condemned the president for the January 6, 2021 riots and has endorsed Tulsi Gabbard, Joe Biden, Nikki Haley, and Vivek Ramaswamy. Partisans will assuredly want to try to lump Routh in with their political rivals, but his beliefs are not so clear-cut because they’re all over the spectrum.

I happen to have a very odd, indirect connection to Routh. In addition to his flip-flopping politics and unsuccessful attempt to join the Ukrainian military, he appears to hold a deep fascination with foreign policy issues. While I have not read his 291-page self-published book (which incredibly is still for sale on Amazon, at least here in Japan), its contents are probably as wacky as its theatrical title, Ukraine's Unwinnable War: The Fatal Flaw of Democracy, World Abandonment, and the Global Citizen—Taiwan, Afghanistan, North Korea, WWIII and the End of Humanity. Routh’s social media has since been deleted, but it was recently brought to my attention that he followed some notable people related to me on Twitter.

Sung-Yoon Lee, Soo Kim, and Colin Zwirko are all specialists in my field of North Korean studies. They follow me, I’ve spoken with them either via direct messages or in person, and we’re all in the same circles. I have no idea if Routh ever followed my Twitter account, but given his interest in North Korea and these individuals, he clearly was aware of NK News, which is an outlet my friend Colin and I both contribute to. As expected, conspiracy theorists are trying to make a connection between him and Soo Kim, since she used to work for the CIA.

I can confidently say that all of this speculation is nonsense. While Soo Kim indeed has CIA connections, she has always been open about them and has used her background to contribute insightful commentary to NK News. There are claims that Kim also followed Routh, but I haven’t been able to confirm this. Even if this was true though, it doesn’t exactly prove anything. I’ve followed plenty of accounts who later turned out to be unhinged psychopaths, but that doesn’t mean I endorsed their worldviews. When I informed Colin that Routh had been following him, he was taken by surprise and told me he had no idea.

I’ve really only scratched the surface with the rabbit hole that is Ryan Routh, but my ultimate conclusion is that he’s little more than a disturbed individual with an existing criminal history and delusions of grandeur who finally snapped. Him taking a greater interest in geopolitics than the average American doesn’t mean that the CIA recruited him to assassinate Trump or that there’s a grand conspiracy at play here. We will assuredly learn more in the months and years to come long after the 2024 election, but no one should be surprised when it turns out that he’s just a mentally ill individual who decided to make a spectacle.

A 10-year-old boy’s murder in China shows the depths of modern anti-Japanese sentiment

Most foreigners have the general impression that things are often tense between Japan and China, but this is a textbook example of what happens when such feelings spiral out of control.

After being stabbed in front of his school in Shenzen, China, a 10-year-old Japanese boy succumbed to his injuries on September 19. The suspect is a 44-year-old Chinese man who is currently in custody, but the cruelty and seeming randomness of the incident has sparked a national tragedy for Japan. The boy, who remains publicly unnamed because of his age, was the son of a Japanese father and a Chinese mother. There are over 100,000 Japanese nationals living in China, with that number having steadily decreased over the last decade.

Most of these Japanese nationals only temporarily live and work in China, with specific schools established so that their children receive education that will be necessary for societal reintegration when they eventually return to Japan. The victim of this murder did nothing wrong other than go to school like all children his age while happening to be Japanese. The fact that this happened in front of an educational institution specifically intended for Japanese nationals is no coincidence. While the Chinese government is unsurprisingly continuing to play coy in claiming it was an “isolated incident,” there have been multiple recent assaults on foreigners in the country. It’s obvious to me that this crime is the direct result of anti-Japanese sentiment stoked by the Chinese Communist Party.

As one can see by these photographs, there are plenty of Chinese people who are rightfully disgusted by this senseless murder. On an individual level, most Chinese and Japanese are more likely to get along with each other than not. There is regular cultural exchange between both countries, Japanese people enjoy Chinese food, Chinese people enjoy Japanese popular media like anime, and international marriages between both are a regular occurrence. I myself am half-Chinese and that has never been a problem for me with my daily life in Japan.

The historical relationship between Japan and China, however, is complicated to say the least. There is no way I can cover hundreds of years of Japan-Sino relations in one small section of a column, but there have been periods of both close cooperation and hostile tensions. The elephant in the room, of course, is World War II and Japan’s brutal invasion of China, which the Japanese government itself has apologized for multiple times and attempted to offer reparations toward.

Contrary to what you may hear, Japan has reflected on its role in World War II and as a free, democratic country, there have been decades of discourse across all perspectives. China, on the other hand, has done no such thing with its own history. As an authoritarian country, Chinese education works to actively suppress the horrific human cost of the Cultural Revolution and atrocities like the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre. China even officially refers to this as “patriotic education,” with its explicit goal being to “raise high the great banner of socialism with Chinese characteristics.”

Bringing this up is not intended to whitewash Japan’s own actions against China during WWII. War crimes like the Nanking Massacre and morally repugnant medical experiments carried out on human beings via Unit 731 are an indisputable part of Japan’s history. While individual Japanese politicians occasionally make tone deaf statements about these events and there are small, but vocal groups of online Japanese nationalists who engage in historical revisionism, the Japanese government’s official stance is that their country was in the wrong and that they are deeply regretful.

That, however, isn’t enough for China. While Japan has moved on and become a respected part of international society with its regard for human rights and political freedoms, China has somehow managed to convince the world that it can use WWII for unlimited political capital as a distraction from its own skeletons. All countries to some degree will have a form of politically skewed education, but Chinese students are raised to view Japan as their eternal enemy no matter how much time passes. It comes as no surprise then that the murder of a random Japanese citizen is the natural result of this state-fostered hatred.

It should also be remembered that the Chinese Communist Party’s public criticisms of Japan are all a politically crafted game. When Mao Zedong was in power, he regularly thanked Japanese delegations for the Imperial Japanese Army’s invasion of China. To him, it was the perfect opportunity to weaken Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalist army since they were doing the bulk of the fighting, while Mao could build his Communist forces behind the scenes and eventually win the subsequent Chinese Civil War.

My late father, who grew up in China during the Cultural Revolution, told me that his generation was not raised to particularly hate the Japanese. In 1972, China even explicitly refused Japan’s offers of war reparations in the interest of promoting future ties between both countries. Criticism of Japan only became more politically expedient when China began rising as a global power, and it has also been an essential part in fueling the nationalistic discourse around the territorial disputes between both countries.

These are all complex topics that I hope to cover in future articles, but the main point I wish to impart is that the murder of this Japanese boy did not happen in a vacuum. It is the consequence of what China teaches its people to believe, and the ramifications will continue to be deadly if individuals on both sides do not take a stand. Japan in 2024 is not the same country it was in 1945. It has evolved and moved on. China must do the same, but I don’t ever expect it to.

What I’m watching — “Zulu” is classic Michael Caine and a timeless war movie

I’ve become a great fan of Sir Michael Caine in recent years, and he’s now my favorite English actor. While his distinctive working class Cockney accent has lead to many hilarious memes, it’s easy to forget sometimes that he was one of the top leading men of British cinema decades ago. The 91-year-old Korean War veteran has the image of a kindly old man today, but in the 1960s and 1970s he was quite the dashing charmer. In anticipation of the Japanese release of his final film The Great Escaper next month, I’ve decided to go back to his classics — most of which I’m seeing for the first time.

The film that first brought Caine to international attention was 1964’s Zulu, directed by Cy Endfield and co-starring Stanley Baker and Jack Hawkins. Caine had played bit parts in other pictures before, but this was the first time he was given a main role as Lieutenant Gonville Bromhead. It shattered barriers because most Cockneys were only cast as stereotypical side characters, and Caine got the part because the director was an American who either didn’t understand or care about English class distinctions. That decision essentially launched Caine’s real career as an actor and the rest is history.

Zulu is about the 1879 Battle of Rorke’s Drift, which in turn was a part of the Anglo-Zulu War in what’s now present day South Africa. While its death count of “only” less than 10,000 across both sides may seem relatively minor today, for the time it was considered to be an extremely bloody war. The film pulls no punches in depicting the brutality of late 19th century conflict in Africa, which would have been astounding for audiences back in 1964. The beautiful cinematography, vast amount of extras, and well-crafted battle scenes make it a film that still holds up exceptionally well today even if it takes a while to get going.

Despite this being his first major role, Michael Caine really shines here as the young and inexperienced Lieutenant Gonville Bromhead. He has the posh Victorian accent down well and seeing his character’s ego fade away as he witnesses the increasing carnage around him adds to the tense drama. Zulu emphasizes that whatever class distinctions or rivalries may exist between men all disappear when everyone is on the battlefield together. It doesn’t try to glamorize what happened nor can it really be described as a pro or anti-British film. What is shown is a more or less historically accurate recreation of a time period that rarely gets many cinematic depictions, and even now it’s very unlikely that most movies would ever touch the Anglo-Zulu War due to how touchy the subject of colonialism is.

There is currently some really braindead revisionist history going on that Zulu is a “racist” picture, or that even more bizarrely it may inspire far-right terrorism. Michael Caine has aptly called these accusations bullshit, but anyone who actually believes such nonsense is clearly ignorant to what the film is about to begin with. The entire point of the story is that the British underestimate the Zulu and pay the price for their hubris. Despite this, both sides ultimately come to blows and show mutual respect for one another.

Zulu even had future South African politician Mangosuthu Buthelezi playing his great-grandfather Zulu King Cetshwayo kaMpande. Those actually of Zulu descent have long defended the film and appreciate how it brought more attention to their history and culture. If made today, would it probably go into greater depth and perhaps have a bit more sensitivity than what was normal in 1964? Sure, but that doesn’t discount the good intentions of the people who made it so many decades ago.

I will be covering more Michael Caine films over the next few weeks, but Zulu is a strong start to the career of one of the greatest actors of all time. I found it far more entertaining than most Hollywood films out now, and it reminded me of a different time when many war films actually starred real veterans who could bring their own experiences to the story.

What I’m listening to — The beautiful sounds of the erhu

No, I didn’t choose this section because it had nice alliteration with Zulu. I’ve genuinely been listening to music performed on the erhu, also often known as the Chinese violin. I’ve mentioned in previous articles how my late Chinese father was a violinist for the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, which instilled within me an interest in both classical music and Chinese culture through that heritage. I also played the violin until high school. While I’m well out of practice, I still retain basic knowledge of how the strings work and how to read sheet music.

While the erhu is often referred to as the “Chinese violin” or “Chinese fiddle,” it differs from the western violin in several ways. First, it only has two strings as opposed to four. I’ve never played one myself, but it utilizes the same center D and A strings. While someone with experience playing the violin would probably have less of a learning curve with the erhu, they would still have to radically change their approach. The erhu is played more upright akin to a cello and the bow’s technique is different. A western violin plays the bow hair on top of the strings, but the erhu actually has the bow strung between the strings. There’s also no fingerboard, which is something that would likely take time getting used to.

Coming from a Chinese family, I’ve long known about the erhu through cultural contact, but it was actually the video game series Shenmue which got me more interested in the instrument. The soundtrack to the epic action adventure franchise which began on the ill-fated Sega Dreamcast in 1999 heavily features Asiatic instruments, with the erhu in particular being a natural fit with the games’ Chinese settings. Jia Peng Fang, widely considered one of the greatest erhu players in the world, even performed some of series’ themes on the Shenmue Orchestra Version album, which is one of the most-played CDs in my music library.

I’ve always had a fascination with lesser known and more exotic instruments, but the erhu has a surprising amount of range despite its humble origins. The sound feels like a hybrid between strings and human voice, resulting in something unique that can’t be found anywhere else. There are tons of YouTube videos featuring enthusiasts doing covers of famous tunes from “Scarborough Fair” to Studio Ghibli themes, while if a movie or video game is set in China, you can bet that the composer will likely opt to utilize the erhu. If you’ve ever wanted to unwind and listen to therapeutic music that does wonders in reducing stress, I can’t recommend this instrument enough. Hopefully I’ll learn how to play it someday.

Recommendations:

Shenmue Orchestra Version, the complete album by various artists

“Scarborough Fair” composed by Simon & Garfunkle, erhu cover by 永安

“Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence” from Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence composed Ryuichi Sakamoto, erhu cover by 永安

“Suteki Da Ne” from Final Fantasy X composed by Nobuo Uematsu, erhu cover 永安

“Path of the Wind” from My Neighbor Totoro composed by Joe Hisaishi, erhu cover by Erhu Luyifei

“Moonlight Song” featured in Sleeping Dogs composed by M. P. Mabel Ki

“True Susano-o” from Okami Henkyokushuu Vol. 4 Healing composed by Masami Ueda

“The Mountain of Fruit & Flowers” from The Forbidden Kingdom composed by David Buckley

Foreign Perspectives is a reader-supported Substack. If you like my work and have come this far as a new reader or free subscriber, consider opting for a paid subscription so I can continue writing in-depth articles such as these on a regular basis. Your support is greatly appreciated!

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