Of Deities and Demons
No one expected Japan’s former prime minister Shinzo Abe to be killed with a homemade double-barreled weapon outside a train station in Nara, a city better known for its enormous 8th…
Jon Letman
Jon Letman is a Hawaii-based independent journalist covering people, politics, and the environment in the Asia-Pacific region.
Face To Face With Fat Man
Stepping out of the infernal desert heat, I’m welcomed into the reception area by a Fat Man, one of America’s first atomic weapons. The US nuclear legacy is on display inside the…
Our Man in Rasht
In its 2022 World Press Freedom Index, Reporters Without Borders ranked the Islamic Republic of Iran at 178 out of 180. Iranian journalists face some of the most oppressive conditions…
Life Like an Accordion
The worst of the fighting has left the capital for now, but the city remains tense. Giant steel anti-tank barriers called “hedgehogs” stand in rows scattered every 500 meters like…
Putin’s War Seen from Russia’s Far East
One month into a senseless, savage war that has overwhelmingly brutalized, displaced, and killed Ukrainian citizens and destroyed civilian infrastructure, Russia has become an international…
400 Minutemen to Midnight
It’s early in the new year, but the hour is late. This week, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists announced that the hands of the symbolic Doomsday Clock would remain set at 100 seconds…
Sentinel Landscapes
A sprawling residential development pushes up against an expanse of dense, green forest. We hear a voice speaking over the lush images: “Our nation is only getting more crowded. There’s…
Covering the Bomb
In her 2020 book “Fallout: The Hiroshima Cover-up and the Reporter Who Revealed It to the World,” journalist and historian Lesley M.M. Blume tells the story of how John Hersey, a…
The Properties of Perpetual Light
Chamorro human rights lawyer and activist Julian Aguon has a message for young people: “Get quiet,” so you can hear your own inner ocean above the din of others. In Aguon’s newly…
Life During Wartime
Patrick O’Neill shifted in the front seat of his car, struggling to catch the best WiFi connection. Before we began talking, he called out to his wife, asking her to watch for a text from…