Life

A seller of yakiimo, or freshly roasted sweet potatoes, parked near the Meguro River in western Tokyo, with his specially outfitted truck. (Photo by Edward M. Gomez)
Tea Leaves

Japan's street vendors preserve a fading culture

In towns and cities throughout the country, itinerant merchants help energize urban life

24 November 2021
Thai aid activist Ben Svasti Thomson meets with a teenager in the 1990s, when his Women Against AIDS group organized Thai women to stand up for their rights. (Courtesy of Women Against AIDS)
Life

Activist-diplomat supports victims of Myanmar takeover and trafficking

Humanitarian campaigner Ben Svasti Thomson among first to arrange help

24 November 2021
Philipp Maas, left, and Benjamin Knopp, want to "make it as easy as possible for people to find sake that they would like without having to be an expert." (Photo by Yuki Kohara)
Life

For the love of sake

Two expats in Japan attempt to make iconic brew easier to enjoy

23 November 2021
Members of the Feminist's Liberation Front at the Oct. 9 mob pluey, or "naked mob," event in Bangkok. (Courtesy of the Feminist's Liberation Front)
Life

Gender-rights activists remake Thai feminism

Fight for democracy must include equality and social justice, campaigners insist

22 November 2021
From left, the Chef, Natsuko Shoji; the Bartender, Yukiyo Kurihara; The Sake Brewer. Kuniko Mukai; The Entrepreneur, Food Loss Bank CEO Sakiko Yamada. (Source photos by Yuki Kohara, Ken Kobayashi and courtesy of Black Market Sake)
Life

The chef, the bartender, the sake brewer and the entrepreneur

Four women at the forefront of Japanese gastronomy

20 November 2021
Lucky Dog Recue Bali cares for more than 200 stray dogs. The island's dog population jumped by over 13% from 2019 to 649,00 last year due in large part to the negative economic effects of the pandemic. (Photo by David Smith)
Life

Bali's dog problem strays out of control

Rescue organizations struggling to survive amid pandemic blow to funding

19 November 2021
Office workers walk down a street in central Tokyo in June. The typical Japanese salaryman has been forced to live a stressful life.
Tea Leaves

Why I'd rather be a Japanese woman than a Japanese man

Unrealized female potential is preferable to the insufferable life of a salaryman

17 November 2021
Vegetables and herbs dominate this dish at Garamanjaku, a restaurant whose owner is on a personal mission to combat the prevalence of fast and processed food in the Japanese island prefecture of Okinawa. (Photo by Stephen Mansfield)
Life

Okinawan cuisine challenges and compels stomach and spirit

Diverse food and culture of Japan’s southern ‘healing islands’ makes unique mark

15 November 2021
Hiroshi Kono, who grew up in Nagoya but came to New York when he was 25 to found a music label, now spends more time promoting independent Japanese cinema in the U.S. (Photo by Jack Strone Truitt)
Life

Japanese sci-fi finds a receptive audience in Brooklyn

Low-budget take on familiar sci-fi themes are connecting with US audiences

13 November 2021
Detail of an 1890s photograph showing ancient stone fish traps, on display at the Brewarrina Aboriginal Cultural Museum. (Geoff Hiscock)
Life

Ancient Aboriginal fish traps refocus Australian history debate

Were pre-colonial indigenous people farmers or hunter-gatherers?

12 November 2021
Kaew Sinpattananon, right, current proprietor of Sin Do Tailor, with Hiroka “Vee” Limviphuvadh of VL by Vee. The two were collaborative partners for the Made in Charoenkrung initiative. (Courtesy of Made in Charoenkrung)
Life

Reinventing old Bangkok through art, craft and design

Creative initiative brings traditional and cutting-edge businesses together through 'Made in Charoenkrung'

8 November 2021
The former residence of General Sun Li-Jen was built by Japanese architect Moriyama Matsunosuke in 1905. The building is now leased out by Taiwan's Ministry of Defence and houses a privately run restaurant. (Photo courtesy of ArtGo Design Creative)
Life

Taiwan's enduring fascination with Japanese architecture

Colonial era buildings seen as part of a new identity of pluralism

31 October 2021
Afghanistan's Rashid Khan celebrates the wicket of Scotland's Brad Wheal, during the Cricket Twenty20 World Cup match between Afghanistan and Scotland in Sharjah, UAE, Monday.
Sports

Cricket gives Afghans hope

After victory over Scotland, national team now faces tournament favorite Pakistan

29 October 2021
"Oishii," Eric Rath's book on sushi, brims with fascinating and often amusing anecdotes told in a nonacademic, light writing style. (Nikkei montage/Source photos courtesy of Reaktion Books)
Life

Book review: Exploring the story of sushi, past, present and future

Eric Rath's history of Japan's iconic cuisine tracks rise of rice in Japanese culture

27 October 2021
Sampan Rhum's dedication to old-fashioned purity has paid off, with the label winning gold medals at prestigious spirits competitions in San Francisco, London and Paris.
Life

Vietnamese distillers bottle the spirit of old Indochine

Rum and gin ride a new wave of popularity from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City

26 October 2021
Ken Hom's unlikely journey from kitchen helper in Chicago's Chinatown to globe-trotting celebrity chef is recounted with wit and humor in his book “My Stir-Fried Life,” which is now reaching Asian readers through translations in Thai and Mandarin.
Life

The 'stir-fried life' of top chef Ken Hom

The man who brought Chinese cooking to UK television marks five-decade career

22 October 2021
Health workers wait to administer COVID-19 swab tests to travelers at the airport on the Thai resort island of Phuket on July 1. 
Tea Leaves

Back on the beach in Thailand's model 'sandbox'

Ring-fencing of resort island shows possible way forward for tourism

20 October 2021
Popular Thai vlogger Natthawadee "Suzie" Waikalo, who has a Thai mother and an African father, says Thais with an African or African American parent generally face greater discrimination. (From Natthawadee "Suzie" Waikalo's Facebook page)
Life

Asia's biracial children face challenge and opportunity

Prejudice remains widespread but global antiracist movements have helped

20 October 2021
A dabbawala, or lunchbox deliveryman, balances his cargo in Mumbai in pre-pandemic times. These traditional deliverymen have been distributing lunchboxes to thousands of people across the city every day since 1890, but COVID-19 has dealt a huge blow to business, forcing many to seek work elsewhere. (Getty Images)
Life

Mumbai's 'dabbawalas' go digital to beat COVID-19

Indian lunchbox deliverers are fast adopting technology to stay in business

8 October 2021
Then-Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, fourth left, French President France Emmanuel Macron, second left, stand on the submarine HMAS Waller in Sydney in May 2018. 
Tea Leaves

Reflections on the French connection down under

Submarine debacle takes Australia-France relations into troubled waters, despite cultural and historical ties

6 October 2021
Huang Xi, pictured here in Guangzhou, is the founder of mainland China’s only nonprofit organization offering psychological counseling to transgender people. She came out as a transgender woman to her mother and long-term girlfriend in 2017. (Courtesy Huang Xi) 
Life

Breaking down China's transgender barriers

Nonbinary counselor seeks major changes in law and culture

4 October 2021
Field-grown Queen Rouge grapes left for Tokyo and elsewhere on Sept. 27. (Photo by Shuhei Hatakeyama)
Agriculture

Japan's Queen Rouge brings sweeter, luxury twist to grapes

Nagano Prefecture eyes exports as new variety ships

4 October 2021
A bartender mixes an arak cocktail at Karma Kandara Bali, a luxury resort and beach club on the island's Bukit Peninsula. (Ian Neubauer)
Life

Reinventing an ancient spirit with a bad reputation

In Bali, Indonesia's traditional 'arak' liquor is moving upmarket

1 October 2021
A cicada shell is seen on a tree in Tokyo on Aug. 11. The loud, distinctive songs of these bugs are indelible symbols of summer in Japan.
Tea Leaves

Japan's summer sounds reverberate across imagination

Amid rain and virus anxiety, sonic ambience offers unexpected pleasures

29 September 2021
The Philippines is the first country to green light commercial production of genetically modified Golden Rice, right.
Agriculture

Philippines stirs controversy with genetically modified rice

Critics take aim at nutrient-enriched Golden Rice, but government says it is safe

27 September 2021