Life & Arts

(Source photos by Reuters and Kyodo) 
Obituaries

Obituaries 2022: Remembering those who passed away

Abe and Jiang, Inamori and Idei, Mori and Miyake and more changed our lives

29 December 2022
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Arts

Japan keeps old-school 'big band' sound alive

Jazz orchestras are thriving, despite their decline in the West

28 December 2022
Traffic jams in Canggu have become relentless since tourists returned to Bali earlier this year. (All photos by Dave Smith)
Tea Leaves

Trashing paradise: The perils of post-pandemic tourism

After enforced lull, travel returns to Indonesia's Bali with a vengeance

27 December 2022
Punk rock trailblazer Kyaw Kyaw lets loose at The Rebel Riot's 15-year-anniversary show in Yangon. "If you're a photographer, musician or artist and you're given a gun ... maybe you are useless," says the singer. "But if you're an artist, you can be yourself and create positive change." (Photo by Kaung Kaung)
Arts

Punk, protest and secret shows sing 'truth to power' in Myanmar

Music offers continuing resistance to nation's military machine

23 December 2022
Crime and nourishment: A jail-themed restaurant in the Chinese port city of Tianjin. 
Tea Leaves

Escaping from it all -- in prison

Tourists pay for the 'immersive experience' of incarceration

21 December 2022
Yaiphaba Kangjam, a battlefield guide and historian, poses with a Japanese World War II helmet found in the fields of Jessami, a village in the northeastern Indian state of Manipur. (Photo by Bertie Alexander)
Life

How history is shaping the future in Nagaland

Remote region on India-Myanmar border hones efforts to attract international tourism

21 December 2022
Recent novels by Malaysian female authors Karina Robles Bahrin and Preeta Samarasan both reflect on issues of race and identity in the multiethnic, predominantly Islamic Southeast Asian nation. (Nikkei Montage/photos courtesy of the authors)
Books

Books: Female novelists investigate Malaysia's ethnic puzzle

Two new novels explore identity and race issues unsettled since independence

16 December 2022
People collect holy water from a huge bucket outside a temple in Nakhon Pathom province, central Thailand. (Getty Images)
Tea Leaves

Thai superstitions keep modernity in its place

Economic insecurity has widened interest in the supernatural among the young

14 December 2022
An untitled oil-on-canvas painting by Jiro Yoshihara, made in 1971, features the Gutai leader’s signature circle motif; 230 cm x 315.5 cm, collection of the National Museum of Art, Osaka. (All photos by Edward M. Gomez)
Arts

Delving into Japan's Gutai art movement

Osaka exhibition reexamines pioneering modern artists

14 December 2022
Javanese dancers perform at Hotel Tugu Malang in Indonesia's East Java province. Established in 1990, the hotel is filled with old art and a museum dedicated to antiquities from Cambodia and Thailand. (Courtesy of Tugu Hotels and Restaurants)
Life

Preserving Indonesia's cultural heritage, one hotel at a time

Art collector returns some of the country's oldest inns to their former glory

9 December 2022
Waterfall jumping in Myanmar's Shan state: Even for responsible tourists, there is a grave issue of principle at stake. (Photo by Sai James)
Tea Leaves

Myanmar tourism -- to go or not to go?

Once-thriving adventure travel sector struggles under military regime

7 December 2022
For chef Rene Redzepi, who spent 10 days in Kyoto during his first trip to Japan in 2009, the upcoming Noma Kyoto residency feels like a second homecoming: "It's one of my favorite places in the world," he says. (Courtesy of Amy Tang) 
Life

Chef behind Denmark's Noma restaurant readies for Kyoto launch

Rene Redzepi to offer fusion of Scandinavian and Japanese influences

7 December 2022
Jiang Zemin smiles at Bill Clinton during a ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House in 1997: The Chinese president was criticized by party cadres as pro-American.
Opinion

Jiang Zemin's death is prompting Chinese to question Xi's path

Economic troubles also raise doubts about departures from 'reform and opening'

5 December 2022
Saying cheese in Thailand: Jarutat Snidwongse Na Ayuthaya and wife Ann display Jartisann Cheeserie's latest varieties. (All photos courtesy of Jartisann Cheeserie)
Life

Pioneering Thai cheesemaker promotes greener pastures

Chiang Mai producer calls for reform of the dairy farming industry

2 December 2022
Chinese President Jiang Zemin, left, and U.S. President Bill Clinton hold a news conference in Washington in October 1997.
Comment

Jiang Zemin's leadership, forged by struggle and pride

Ex-president found his footing as China rose in the world

2 December 2022
As Panasonic's CEO, Kunio Nakamura pushed through drastic reforms that broke the rules of Japanese business management.
Obituaries

Kunio Nakamura, dead at 83, transformed Panasonic as president

'Destruction and creation' turnaround saved company from brink of failure

1 December 2022
Jiang Zemin applauds in Beijing during a 1992 news conference to introduce new members of the Chinese Communist Party's Politburo Standing Committee -- China's most powerful political body.
Obituaries

Jiang Zemin: His political career in pictures

China's leader after Tiananmen crackdown made visits to U.K., U.S.

1 December 2022
Jiang Zemin in 2002, toward the end of his presidency: The former leader is rumored to have not seen eye-to-eye with current President Xi Jinping.
Obituaries

Jiang Zemin, China's post-Tiananmen leader, dies at 96

Retired president's tenure saw economic boom, worsening corruption

30 November 2022
A man poses on a warrior horse at War Land, a sprawling theme park commemorating one of Japan's most decisive battles, fought in Gifu prefecture in the autumn of 1600. (All photos by Stephen Mansfield)
Tea Leaves

Keeping it unreal in Japan

Do the country's many theme parks imitate life, or vice versa?

30 November 2022
Walison the clown of Hudsons Circus started out in his native Brazil as a general circus hand, before training as a motorcycle stunt rider and then discovering a natural talent as a clown. (Photo by David Roma, courtesy Hudsons Circus)
Life

Australia's 'big tops' a model for 21st-century circuses

Traditional traveling shows have moved with the times and growing restrictions

30 November 2022
Titles include "Sagi Musume" (Heron Maiden), the classic dance story performed by Tamasaburo Bando, widely regarded as Kabuki's greatest performer of female roles.
Media & Entertainment

Kabuki producer starts online streaming for foreign fans

Shochiku tries to boost poor revenue while injecting age-old art with manga

27 November 2022
"Pumpkin" is a subtle tribute to a work installed on the island of Naoshima that was swept to sea during a 2021 typhoon. (Courtesy of M+)
Arts

Hong Kong museum offers Yayoi Kusama career overview

M+ exhibit includes new creations and 87 pieces never shown outside Japan

27 November 2022
Fatih Tutak, owner-chef of the Michelin two-starred TURK Fatih Tutak in Instanbul, says his current success is the culmination of 16 years of restaurant experience in Asia. (Courtesy of TURK Fatih Tutak) 
Life

Istanbul star-struck as first Michelin Guide is launched

Local restaurants set sights on post-pandemic gastro-tourists

25 November 2022
A garden with a green wall tucked into forested hills some 80 kilometers southeast of Bangkok. (Photo by Dominic Faulder)
Tea Leaves

In Thailand, there is life beyond the capital

In an over-centralized country, not all roads should lead to Bangkok

23 November 2022
Left: Men of Australia's Toowoomba region in the 1870s. Right: Detail of an image showing a convoy of loaded drays similar to the convoy ambushed in 1843 by Indigenous warrior Multuggerah. (Nikkei Asia Montage/John Oxley collection, Samuel Gills painting; Hamel & Ferguson) 
Life

Australia grapples with explosive history of frontier wars

Commemoration of long-dead warrior highlights resistance to colonists

23 November 2022