Greetings from Tokyo. 79 years ago today, the city of Nagasaki in western Japan was devastated by an atomic bomb. Nagasaki and Hiroshima remain the only places in the world to have experienced such destruction. Every summer, ceremonies are held in both cities to silently pray for peace and to renew our commitment to realizing a world free of nuclear weapons.
This year's event is attracting more attention than usual because of the Nagasaki city's decision not to invite the Israeli ambassador – a decision that saw other ambassadors, including those from the United States and Britain, withdraw in protest – highlighting the complex interplay between historical memory, diplomacy and current international relations.
The history of U.S. participation in these ceremonies is notable. For more than 60 years after World War II, a U.S. ambassador had not attended a ceremony in either city. That changed when Ambassador John Roos attended the Hiroshima ceremony in 2010 and the Nagasaki ceremony in 2012. It is even rarer for a U.S. president to attend either city, let alone the ceremonies themselves; Barack Obama was the first sitting president to visit Hiroshima in 2016, followed by Joe Biden last year.
Will US Vice President Kamala Harris follow in the footsteps of her predecessor if she becomes president? And how will she try to do things differently as she takes over from President Biden as the Democratic presidential nominee? In this week's big story, we take a closer look at where US foreign policy is headed in the presidential race, with Harris facing off against former President Donald Trump.
Taiwan's new Minister of Defense, Wellington Koo Li-shun, is also in the spotlight when it comes to national security policy. Our Asia Insight profiled the 65-year-old civilian who shares his name with legendary Chinese diplomat and Britain's Iron Duke Wellington. With tensions rising across the Taiwan Strait, President Lai Ching-te has ordered him to prepare for the worst.
Hokkaido, the northernmost of Japan's four main islands, is a popular tourist destination with relatively cool summers, but it is also attracting attention as a new semiconductor base. Japan's semiconductor industry has lagged behind manufacturers in Taiwan and South Korea for decades. However, this week's Business Spotlight, based on an interview with the company's chairman, looks at what Lapidus, a company expected to revive Japan's semiconductor industry, has learned from past failures and how it will compete globally.
While much has been lost from the world over the years, the tragedy of some of Japan's “lost generation” hits particularly hard. I am part of this generation, having graduated during the employment freeze of the late 1990s and 2000s, many of whom struggled to find stable work after the economic bubble of the 1980s burst. Despite signs that the Japanese economy is emerging from its lost decades, this week's data watch makes me feel very pessimistic.
Finally, we will be taking a short break next week so there will be no magazine or newsletter. In the meantime, please check our website for the latest news, and we will be ready to welcome you back the week after.
Have a great weekend!
Makoto Nakayama
Editor in Chief of Nikkei Asia
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