"If you think about it carefully, what the assassin of Abe, Tetsuya Yamagami, did is strange. If the president of the Unification Church had been shot, I could understand it, even if I would in no way condone it. But Mr. Abe was shot and they criticized the Unification Church so much. My current impression is that the way the media reported it was quite strange."

"Without confronting its Iagos, Japan cannot come to terms with the assassination of Shinzo Abe."

"[Attorney Masaki] Kito’s claim that “religious abuse of children” caused the assassination is neither sociology nor sound legal reasoning—it is propaganda. Yamagami’s mother went bankrupt in 2002. Later, the local believers refunded half [of] her donations. Yet, the assassination occurred twenty years later, in 2022. Abe’s video message to a Unification‑Church‑related event hardly explains the timing. Politicians across the spectrum—Donald Trump, José Manuel Barroso, countless Japanese conservatives—had sent similar greetings for decades. If that were the trigger, Yamagami had twenty years and many “principals” to target. He did not."

"When such a prominent public figure is assassinated, one might expect the media to focus on the act of murder. But in Japan, the narrative took a sharp detour. Fueled by long-standing opponents of the Unification Church, the press began to frame the story as a cautionary tale about the plight of the “shukyo nisei”—second-generation members of religious movements. Yamagami, in this version, became the poster child for religious trauma. The assassin was not a criminal, but a victim. …The teaser [for a series on the assassination by Mainichi Shimbun] described the murder as having “social significance”—a phrase that ignited a firestorm online. Critics [had] rightly asked: since when does gunning down a former Prime Minister qualify as socially meaningful? Is this journalism or a eulogy for terrorism? …To its credit, the prosecution is trying to keep the focus on the crime. They want to exclude testimonies about the Unification Church and concentrate on the fact that Yamagami killed a public figure in broad daylight. But the defense, backed by anti-cult activists and sympathetic scholars, is pushing hard to make the church the villain."

"Japan’s claims that it is restricting the export of hi-tech materials to South Korea on ‘national security’ grounds are clearly absurd: Tokyo is trying to avoid paying compensation to victims of wartime atrocities for which it is still liable."

"Japan’s use of trade restrictions to force South Korea to back down, while publicly justifying them as necessary for national security reasons, echoes U.S. President Donald Trump’s cavalier approach to trade rules and alliance relations. If the dispute is not resolved quickly, it could complicate efforts to deal with North Korea as well as other regional threats, while also dealing another blow to the World Trade Organization and the rules-based trading system."

"Trump would have to engage in roll-up-your sleeves diplomacy — but that’s the last thing he wants to do. He prefers to bluster and bloviate — to play at being president without doing the hard work required. He prefers to speculate about the “deal of the century” between Israelis and Palestinians — something that is never going to happen — rather than try to resolve a less sexy but still vitally important crisis in East Asia."

"Mercado in the middle. comes back to deflect the pass, Sanneh picks it up to Reyna. Reyna swings it back, to O'Brien. Lewis on a long overlap. O'Brien holds, then chucks it down into the corner. Lewis, with a lot of speed. Turns the corner, Donovan going middle. Deflected into the middle, Donovan! Scores! Two, zero! United States leads... The U.S. is about two and a half minutes away from the greatest moment in American soccer history... The last time the U.S. had a shutout in the World Cup was 1950... The land of the free, the home of the brave is into the round of eight! The United States has beaten Mexico two-zero, in the World Cup round of sixteen!"

"During the World Cup, when every [South] Korean became a Red Devil supporter of team [South] Korea, they made such an extraordinary impression that foreign fans longed to be part of whatever it was they were part of."

"This game is going to be won by fucking men, alright? Not little boys, and we're going to be fucking men today. This team we should be able to beat, we will beat."

"We just went out on the field and did it."

"The experienced Stewart with the corner here for the United States. Here's Brian McBride, it's not away on O'Brien! Gives the United States the lead inside four minutes... Portugal all the over the place here, and they've made another mistake. Here's Donovan, with a cross. Deflected, and in! Two, nil! Can you believe this? Landon Donovan's cross, deflected off Costa. Two, nothing... Here's Sanneh. The Americans, here. What a start for them, and this is number three! Brian McBride!"

"They got frustrated that they were losing to the U.S. in the World Cup. As far as I'm concerned, you can headbutt, kick me, hit me, and I was going to get up and go forward. The last game of my career against Mexico was in the World Cup, and I stepped off as a winner."

"We know from Chernobyl that the psychological consequences are enormous. Life expectancy of the evacuees dropped from 65 to 58 years – not because of cancer, but because of depression, alcoholism, and suicide. Relocation is not easy, the stress is very big. We must not only track those problems, but also treat them. Otherwise people will feel they are just guinea pigs in our research."