Dispatches from the Potomac

While all eyes have seemed to be laser-focused on Trump, his officials, and their every move since the Republican’s inauguration, what has the opposing party—the Democrats—been up to?

The first month of the second Trump administration has flown by. Considering that the incoming Republican administration was replacing a Democratic one, and that Trump, who does not confine his actions to conventional frameworks, was elected to a second term, it would only be natural to expect a major policy shift upon his return to office.

November 5: the day of the presidential election. Until the last minute, predictions indicated a very close race, with many anticipating that it would take some time before the results were known.

The shape of the 2024 U.S. presidential election—initially expected to be a rematch between President Biden, a Democrat, and former President Trump, a Republican—changed dramatically on June 27, when a televised debate between the two candidates threw concerns about Biden’s age into sharp relief.

With the U.S. presidential election less than half a year away, many eyes are on American college campuses, where students are protesting against Israel’s offensive in Gaza.

It has only been a month since I moved to Washington, DC, and the district is already deep into “election mode.”

I took up my current post in Washington, D.C., six years ago—not even three full months into the Trump administration.

Comparing daily life in Japan versus the United States, various differences are readily apparent, but one that comes to mind given recent trending topics is tipping.

The Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Suriname, Tonga, and the United States of America—what do these eight countries have in common?

The beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S. was marked by a sense of uncertainty and anxiety as businesses closed and public events were canceled.

I would like to discuss an attack on the U.S. Capitol in this column—not the one that occurred on January 6, 2021, but the shooting of U.S. congressmen by Puerto Rican nationalists in the House of Representatives chamber in 1954.

There was a day my Pentagon-area neighborhood was filled with the sounds of drums and bells and shouts of joy.

It is rare to walk the streets of Washington, D.C. today and see anyone wearing a mask.

There was a day my Pentagon-area neighborhood was filled with the sounds of drums and bells and shouts of joy.

At the beginning of November 2021, there was a governor’s election in the state of Virginia where I reside.

If you go to any mass retailer in the U.S. around July or August, you will see a sign that says, "Back to School”.

This past April, a 16-year-old girl, Ma’Khia Bryant, was shot and killed by police in Columbus, Ohio.

Just like the expression “yo wo tasu”* in Japanese, Americans also have many different euphemistic words and expressions for the bathroom itself and what one does there.

As I write this article, it has been 3 weeks since November 3rd, and barring a few remaining congressional seats, the results of the 2020 U.S. Election have largely been decided.

The U.S. presidential election is a race to the Oval Office between, in most cases, one candidate from the Democratic Party and one candidate from the Republican Party.

COVID-19 reveals children’s food security issue in the world's largest economy

A young Barack Obama contributed his article “Why organize?” to a book titled “Post Alinsky: Community Organizing in Illinois.”

Prohibition – the legal banning of alcohol – is not a thing of the past. Of the 50 states that make up the United States of America,

For a brief period after first arriving in the United States, I participated in a regional corporate 5 km race. At the opening ceremony,

In February of this year, a group of young people marched on the San Francisco office of Senator Dianne Feinstein, who happens to be the oldest member of the Senate.

“The federal government and local citizen militia groups faced off over the use of federally owned lands, creating a precarious situation in which each side had the barrels of their guns fixed on the other.”

John Brown, who I will be talking about here, is one of the most controversial American figures of the 19th century, in that he decided that the abolition of slavery could not be achieved through talks or negotiations, and instead attempted to incite an armed revolt.

Last year, under the direction of the Trump administration, the US Department of Energy issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking designed to sustain and continue the use of coal and nuclear power.

The amount of household waste generated in the US in 2014 was 260 million tons;, more than five times the 46 million tons generated in Japan.

Time magazine’s Person of the Year 2017 was “The Silence Breakers.” This represents the people who have come forward to report harassment and abuse they have experienced in the past as part of the #MeToo Movement that started last year.

Starting with this edition, essays will be from Yoichi Mineo Washington D.C. Office General Manager, Marubeni America Corporation.

This is the 48th edition of this column, which first appeared in the March 2009 issue of the Marubeni Group newsletter "M- SPIRIT."

Although continuing struggles were predicted, the results so far are worse than expected. Moreover, there are no signs that things will improve.

The world today is paying attention to the pronouncements of President Trump of the United States; or rather, is on the alert.

In the US, “fake news” frequently becomes widely shared on the internet. Recently, a shooting incident occurred as a result of this spreading of fake news. The location was Washington D.C.

It appears that President Obama will be able to complete his term without experiencing a recession.

In February 2016, the governments of 12 countries, including Japan and the US, signed the Trans-Pacific Economic Partnership Agreement (TPP).

Japan is continuing to aggressively make direct investments in the US This time, I would like to consider the important impact that this US investment has on Japan and the Marubeni Group.

The primaries of both the Democratic and Republican parties will soon begin, in preparation for the US presidential elections to be held in November this year.

In late September, the Republican Party was plunged into confusion.

On July 1, President Obama officially announced the restoration of diplomatic relations with Cuba.

This time, I would like to introduce some of the big structural changes that are occurring in the restaurant industry in the US

Is it worth going to college? Recently there are many in the US asking this question. The university education in the US is regarded as being among the best in the world, so what is going on?

Happy New Year. I will continue to report on the notable issues and trends from Washington, D.C., the capital of the US, an important market for the Marubeni Group.

In this edition, we will look at the crisis being faced by the Secret Service, the organization responsible for the personal protection of US government officials.

The US is facing a new crisis. Recently, there has been a drastic increase in the number of unaccompanied children attempting to enter the country illegally via the border with Mexico, creating a “Humanitarian and Border Crisis”.

In the last installment I concluded that the obesity problem in the US seemed to be improving; but, this may have been overly optimistic. In this edition we will examine the “counterattack” of junk food.

This time, I'd like to consider obesity, one of the social issues being faced in the United States.

For this issue, I would like to take up the worsening of the income inequality, which has been an ongoing problem in the US

The start of the actual implementation of the health care reform, which should be a historic achievement for the Obama administration, has met some unexpected snags.

Government offices were shut down for the first time in 18 years, and the US came very close to defaulting on the federal debt. The worst situation was avoided, but what was happening in the US political system to cause this mess?

By the time this article is published, I assume there will be even more heated speculation about who will be the next Chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System of the US (Fed Chair).

On May 23, President Obama announced a comprehensive counterterrorism strategy for the second term of his administration.