I cannot recall a New Year holiday during which I felt less at ease than the one that ushered in 2026.
Even in the opening days of the year, anti-government protests spread across Iran. In Venezuela, U.S. investigative authorities and military forces detained President Nicolas Maduro and transferred him to New York. China hinted at a rare-earth export ban against Japan and shortly thereafter news came out that Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi planned to dissolve the House of Representatives. The international environment surrounding Japan feels not merely unsettled, but genuinely stormy and uncharted.
How should we interpret this cascade of events?
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