Observing Japan, Again

My name is Tobias Harris. I first started a blog called Observing Japan in 2006, when I arrived in Japan to work on the staff of a member of the upper house of the Japanese Diet. It has now been nearly a decade since I blogged regularly, but felt compelled to blog again watching what could be a pivotal moment for Japan as a new(ish) prime minister weighs significant chances to Japan’s defense and economic policies.

Subscribers will likely find similar writing — perhaps not quite as verbose or frequent as before — as in previous iterations of Observing Japan, which means commentary on important developments in Japanese politics and foreign policy, the occasional book review, and analysis of interesting official documents. I will also likely use this newsletter as a research notebook for several book projects on my to-do list.

I am hoping that I will be able to post two-three times per week. For now, I will keep this free to read, but if I am able to write enough — and if there’s enough support — I may make it a paid newsletter.

Subscribe to get full access to the newsletter and website.

Stay up-to-date

You won’t have to worry about missing anything. Every new edition of the newsletter goes directly to your inbox.

Join the crew

Be part of a community of people who share your interests.

To find out more about the company that provides the tech for this newsletter, visit Substack.com.