All together now: Uniformed students from Chulalongkorn University wait at a bus stop in Bangkok.
Tea Leaves

Tailor-made uniformity threatens Thai creativity

Strict social hierarchy leaves growth prospects hanging by a thread

17 April 2019
Namewee acts as Hanguoren, a pro-Malaysia activist who wants to free his country from all immigrants, in a scene from the movie "Banglasia 2.0." (Courtesy of WebTVAsia)
Tea Leaves

Malaysia highlights disconnect in approach to popular culture

Cinema release for 'Banglasia 2.0' challenges Southeast Asian cultural conservatism

10 April 2019
The train at Taunggyi, waiting to depart for Saikkhaung  (Photo by Lindsay Stubbs)
Tea Leaves

In rural Myanmar, rail lines founder while military spends

Aging Shan State trains are local lifelines but starved of public funds

3 April 2019
The No. 100 bus may only travel from East London to the City, but it carries the world inside. (Photo by Simon Landy)
Tea Leaves

All aboard London bus to China's future

At western reaches of the Belt & Road, symbolism abounds

27 March 2019
The gardens of Sunder Nursery in New Delhi (Photo by Pallavi Aiyar)
Tea Leaves

Time to change course on New Delhi's crumbling heritage

Unguarded monuments are often razed or torn down for building material

20 March 2019
People scavenge through a mountain of garbage at a dumpsite in the Payatas slum in Manila. (Photo by Akira Kodaka)
Tea Leaves

Democracy fails to deliver in Manila's 'Promised Land'

Teeming slums betray hollow promises but old loyalties remain solid

13 March 2019
Many of the Vietnamese soldiers killed during the 1979 border war with China came to rest in military graveyards still scattered across northern Vietnam. (Photos by Sebastian Strangio)
Tea Leaves

Vietnam learns to live in China's shadow

Four decades on, China's 1979 border war is officially 'forgotten' in Hanoi

6 March 2019
MD Sharif Uddin, author of the prizewinning memoir ‘Stranger to Myself’ and a finalist in the 2018 migrant worker poetry award (Photo by Peter Guest)
Tea Leaves

Singapore reaps literary dividend from migrant culture

Island state's 'temporary' workers use creative talents to transcend labels and boundaries

27 February 2019
Bangkok now boasts the world's 15th largest total of buildings of 150 meters or taller, and more are on the way.
Tea Leaves

Stop the baht bus -- I want to get off!

Bangkok's breakneck development is destroying the charm of the city I love

20 February 2019
Marie Kondo poses for a picture during a media event in New York in July, 2018.
Tea Leaves

In praise of mess: the Marie Kondo syndrome has gone too far

Japan's most famous housewife has turned decluttering into a new religion

13 February 2019
North Sentinel Island in India's southeastern Andaman and Nicobar Islands
Tea Leaves

Hard choices in the Andaman Islands

The world should reconsider forced assimilation of isolated communities

6 February 2019
Pangina Heals performs in the residence of the British ambassador in Bangkok. (Photo by Apcom)
Tea Leaves

Asian LGBT activists strike at colonial era attitudes

Civic awards reflect changing society in Asia

30 January 2019
Foreign tourists explore an old Dutch built Fort along the Southern coastal belt in Sri Lanka. (Photo by Rajpal Abeynayake)
Tea Leaves

Sri Lanka recovers its tourism mojo

Touted as a top global destination for 2019, challenges remain

23 January 2019
Indonesian President Joko Widodo stands near the collapsed Hotel Mutiara Carita after it was hit by a tsunami in Pandeglang, Indonesia, on Dec. 24. (Photo by Antara Foto/Bayu Prasetyo via Reuters)
Tea Leaves

Indonesian politicians offer no hope for disaster zones

With election looming, campaign is focused on religion, not citizens' needs

16 January 2019
"In Family We Trust" has struck a chord with many Thai viewers.
Tea Leaves

TV drama shines unsettling light on Thai family values

Improbably happy endings emerge from complex and painful social dynamics

9 January 2019
Samooh Ali of the Maldives, right, defends the ball against a Singaporean rival during a friendly match in the city-state on March 23. (Pictobank/Getty Images)
Tea Leaves

When the 'beautiful game' transforms national confidence

Maldives shows that victory for Asia's soccer minnows means more than just goals

26 December 2018
A Madame Tussauds artist works on Malcolm Turnbull’s likeness before it is shelved. (Photo by Madame Tussauds)
Tea Leaves

Assassins at work in Australia's chamber of horrors

Canberra's leadership fiasco makes it the 'coup capital of the democratic world'

19 December 2018
Tourists return to Boracay, Philippines, on Oct. 26, after the island was closed to visitors for six months.
Tea Leaves

Boracay's cautionary tale for region's scenic cashcows

Future murky for tarnished tourism poster child

5 December 2018
A leopard walks at Yala National Park in southern Sri Lanka.
Tea Leaves

Time to lionize Asian leopard

Sri Lanka is a bright spot but the 'big cat' is in continent-wide decline

28 November 2018
Akira Kurosawa during the filming of ''Madadayo" in Japan in 1992 
Tea Leaves

The world is bigger through Kurosawa's eyes

The late Japanese film director still dominates global rankings, but not at home

14 November 2018
Tourists photograph the sunset from the Shwesandaw Pagoda in Bagan, Myanmar.
Tea Leaves

Myanmar highlights divide between commerce and politics

The fairy tale is over but tourism boycott would be unhelpful and wrong

7 November 2018
MahaNakhon is Bangkok's tallest skyscraper, but not for long.
Tea Leaves

Bangkok gets that sinking feeling

The city is reaching skyward, but its foundations are under water

31 October 2018
Shohrat Tursun, center, plays the dutar and Tayir Imen, left, plays the tambourine in the Sydney performance of a Uighur musicial epic. (Sydney Sacred Music Festival/Gerrie Mifsud)
Tea Leaves

How music and dance chart course between 'alienations'

Culture is both hope and solace for China's beleaguered Uighur diaspora

24 October 2018
At Japanese museums, screens are often displayed behind glasses and lit from overhead.
Tea Leaves

Japan's museums trapped between light and shadow

How a great artistic culture takes the glow out of precious works

17 October 2018
Vatanika Patamasingha Na Ayudhaya
Tea Leaves

In Thai star vlogger's universe, wealth equals happiness

Smash-hit 'reality' show confuses female empowerment with material success

10 October 2018