Arts

Shinsuke Kato, left, and Ryusei Ota, who star in director Yusuke Okuda's new film "Somebody's Flowers," a deep dive into feelings of grief, anger, and fear set against a normally uneventful Japanese suburban landscape.
Arts

'Somebody's Flowers' explores Japan's growing dementia struggle

Yusuke Okuda's new film asks viewers to search for hope among tragedy

28 January 2022
Bob Dylan, 80, is among a group of aging artists who have sold rights to investors seeking to capitalize on streaming opportunities. Dylan is pictured here in 2004.
Media & Entertainment

Sony Music says it acquires Bob Dylan's catalog of recorded songs

'Blowin' in the Wind' and 'Knockin' on Heaven's Door' included in deal

25 January 2022
A ticket to the Jim Thompson House Museum now offers entry to two venues: the genteel former home of the late silk tycoon and the new Jim Thompson Art Center, an airy raw concrete building hosting exhibitions of contemporary art and related events. (Source photos by John Clewley)
Arts

Updating Jim Thompson's legacy for the 21st century

Famed museum's new arts center highlights contemporary Thai and international art

14 January 2022
Ryusuke Hamaguchi's "Drive My Car" won the Golden Globe for best non-English-language film. (Photo courtesy of Drive My Car Production Committee)
Arts

Japan's 'Drive My Car' stokes 'Parasite'-esque Oscar buzz

Adaptation of Haruki Murakami story wins top critic awards and Golden Globe

13 January 2022
BTS appears in Los Angeles in their first in-person performance in two years.
Media & Entertainment

BTS parent amplifies K-pop success with tech platform

Music, social media and international talent recruitment work in harmony

9 January 2022
Strawberry Prince boasts millions of followers on TikTok, Twitter, Line and Instagram.
Media & Entertainment

Virtual boy band Strawberry Prince steps in metaverse spotlight

Real Japanese singers with avatars point to future of entertainment

8 January 2022
NCT's Yuta performs during a live concert.
Interview

NCT's Japanese member, Yuta, finds global rhythm with K-pop

As music transcends cultures, genres becoming irrelevant, pop star says

7 January 2022
Prints from Ukiyo-e Project’s series featuring portraits of rock stars, including the members of the band Kiss, left, and David Bowie. (Courtesy of Ukiyo-e Project)
Arts

Japan's Ukiyo-e Project revitalizes classic art form

Innovative techniques and respect for tradition give contemporary look to woodblock prints

7 January 2022
Wang Xingwei's "New Beijing" at M+. The museum's collection includes works related to the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown. (Photo by Takeshi Kihara)
Arts

Hong Kong art hub taps growing market despite shrinking freedom

New museum M+ passes 'test' under national security law, top donor says

6 January 2022
The globalization of K-pop is no longer aimed at solely promoting South Korean artists.
Media & Entertainment

NCT's Yuta reveals K-pop's plan to shine beyond borders

Japan's music industry tries to catch up in developing global talent

4 January 2022
Growing up in Australia, Chan became fascinated by "odd sounds and textures," as well as the "deeper and richer sonic palette" offered by electronic music, as well as contemporary music-making and recording techniques.
Arts

Rainbow Chan's sounds of then

Sydney-based artist's new album "Stanley" pays homage to Hong Kong

3 January 2022
Hayato Sumino recently played a digital piano for a livestreaming event in Tokyo's Shibuya district.
Media & Entertainment

Japanese YouTuber pianist Cateen pushes limits of classical music

Hayato Sumino's IT background breathes fresh air into conservative genre

26 December 2021
Kyohei Sorita devised gym workouts to build a body that could produce more beautiful music. At the 18th International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw on Oct. 18. ⓒWojciech Grzedzinski/Darek Golik (NIFC)
Arts

Japan pianist Kyohei Sorita aims to make orchestras profitable

27-year-old who studied in Russia, Poland set on nurturing Chopinists in Japan

25 December 2021
Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force personnel participate in a live fire exercise in Gotemba, Japan, on May 22. In his new book "Defenders of Japan," Garren Mulloy provides an encyclopedic account of how Japan's Ground, Maritime and Air Self-Defense Forces have emerged as a highly competent military force that will likely be called upon to play an ever greater role in facing the rapidly changing security environment.
Arts

Book review: A nuanced deep dive on Japan's Self-Defense Forces

After overcoming postwar identity crisis and developing capabilities, SDF finally gains public respect

25 December 2021
An auto tuktuk rides past the Hua Lamphong railway station in Bangkok
Transportation

Thailand hits brake on closing Bangkok station after rail buffs protest

Plan to shutter 105-year-old Hua Lamphong receives monthlong reprieve

22 December 2021
The Science of Fiction, a hybrid film-screening event held at Indus. Evening events like these were popular among Jakartan creatives who traveled to Bali for the festival. (Photo by Felix Rio)
Arts

Bali's big little book festival goes hybrid

Online events keep Southeast Asia's largest festival of words and ideas alive

21 December 2021
In their recent book, co-authors Henry Reynolds and Nicholas Clements argue that Tasmanian Aboriginal leader Tongerlongeter is a war hero worthy of a place in the Australian War Memorial in Canberra. The image on the right depicts Tasmanian Aboriginal fighters attacking a shepherd's hut. (Cover image courtesy of the publisher)
Arts

Book review: Reevaluating Australia's dark history

Aboriginal leader emerges as resistance hero of Tasmania's forgotten war

17 December 2021
Bangladeshi composer and master of Puthi-paath, Abu Bakar Siddique, in his home studio: "It's hard to understand the magic of Puthi-paath by sitting in a room amid the concrete jungle." (Photo by Faisal Mahmud)
Arts

Bangladeshi bard breathes life into the dying art of Puthi-paath

Once a vital source of entertainment in rural Bengal, now almost obsolete

16 December 2021
African blackwood in Tanzania, fine-grained and dense, makes the perfect material for woodwind instruments. (Photo courtesy of Yamaha)
Companies

Inside Yamaha's strategy to secure best wood for pianos and clarinets

Efforts underway to boost yields from precious trees in Tanzania

12 December 2021
Edited by Singapore-based academic Ian Rowen, throughout the nine stories published in "Transitions in Taiwan" it is noticeable that Mandarin is an alien language as most of the characters speak Taiwanese or even Japanese. (Photos courtesy of Cambria Press and Ian Rowen)
Arts

Book review: Stories from Taiwan's "White Terror"

Published in English for the first time, new collection focus on period from 1947 to 1987

10 December 2021
Simu Liu poses on the red carpet for the premiere of "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings" in London in August.
Arts

'Shang-Chi' star Simu Liu: 'We're stronger when we don't put up walls'

Chinese-born Canadian actor on life as a superhero and breaking down barriers to China

5 December 2021
Actor David Gulpilil, who died on November 29, pictured here in 2005 as part of a new production of "Walkabout" in which he first starred in as a 15-year-old.
Obituaries

Indigenous icon David Gulpilil leaves indelible cinematic legacy

Actor remembered as one of the greatest Australia has produced

4 December 2021
Guangzhou University geologist David Zhang with the handprint and footprint "Art Panel" in Quesang, Tibet, made during Earth's last ice age, between 169,000 and 226,000 years ago. (Photos courtesy of David Zhang)
Arts

Do these handprints show humanity's earliest creative instinct?

Debate rages over whether markings can be considered art

4 December 2021
A still from "Mother Dao, the Turtlelike," a compilation of clips from documentaries and propaganda films shot by Dutch cameramen between 1912 and 1932, when Indonesia was a colony of the Netherlands. (Courtesy of Eye Filmmuseum)
Arts

Book review: Stark images reevaluate colonial culture in Dutch East Indies

Sandeep Ray's 'Celluloid Colony' focuses on lost films of Indonesia under the Dutch

3 December 2021
Alberto Giacometti's "Le Nez" at an auction house on Nov. 5 in New York. Cases of art investment gone wrong signal a growing trend of illegal fundraising in China.
Caixin

In depth: Art fraud paints picture of sketchy public fundraising

High-profile management company part China's $58bn ring of scammers

28 November 2021