From the moment adventurers reached each other's shores in the early 1800s, cultural encounter formed the bedrock of U.S.-Japan ties.

This book explores the central role that cultural exchange has played in the bilateral relationship between the United States and Japan.

Japan's economic performance has largely been written off over the past two decades. It shouldn't be—reform could build on the country's strong fundamentals.

No environmental problem is more important than that posed by the degradation of our cities, and we must reflect on the factors that might prevent or reverse the decay that we are witnessing. In urban planning, civic leaders should think in terms of fostering beauty through the use of aesthetic constraints.

Diplomacy can never supplant the importance of military victory. Obama may want to bring the troops home, but the diplomacy-first strategy hampers peace. As the history of drinking tea with the Taliban shows, talk is not only cheap; it is deadly.

The progress enjoyed by an overwhelming majority of women in the West stands in stark contrast to the different reality for women outside the West.

The author is right that the Navy needs a better system of tracking and using foreign area officers, buthis underlying assumptions are suspect.

Conventional wisdom holds that the Navy and Air Force escaped the budget drill mostly intact while the Army endured the bulk of cuts. But the truth is that all of the services are shrinking and aging under the Obama budget.