Life & Arts

A quarter-century after Hong Kong was handed over to Chinese rule, the city's artists, educators and activists are leaving in droves, stifled by a crackdown on civil liberties and cultural expression.
The Big Story

Hong Kong's identity in crisis after 25 years of Beijing rule

Forced out of the city by China's crackdowns, the Hong Kong diaspora fight to save their culture from afar

29 June 2022
Park Hae-il, left, and Tang Wei in a still from "Decision to Leave," which won South Korea's Park Chan-wook the prize for best director at the recent Cannes Film Festival. (Courtesy of Festival de Cannes)
Arts

Asian filmmakers winning over the world as confidence grows

Streaming platforms are widening access to regional content

28 June 2022
Much like human fingerprints, a dog's so-called nose print is unique and stays the same even as the animal ages. Startups have been tapping that quality in apps to help pet owners. (Photo by Shinichi Hashimoto)
Technology

Startups sniff out missing dogs using AI, 'nose prints'

Japanese and South Korean companies use similar tech to monitor health

27 June 2022
A traditional Japanese dance known as Bon Odori is performed at a festival in southern Malaysia in July 2019. (Photo by Takashi Nakano)
Malaysia in transition

Malaysian official tells Muslims to shun Japanese festival

Minister cites 'religious elements' in decades-old gathering -- but not without pushback

27 June 2022
Hermann's tortoises are listed in appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) and are managed in China according to the second level of national protection.
Caixin

China's reduced penalties for wildlife breeding raise concerns

Conservationists fear lighter sentences will encourage trafficking

26 June 2022
Guillaume Perdigues, left, and his partner Vanessa Mapp pose for a photo in Strasbourg, France, at the start of their epic transcontinental walk in February 2019. (Courtesy of Vanessa Mapp)
Life

From France to Thailand on foot

Intrepid Western couple find their global 'dream trek' changes perspectives

24 June 2022
Lee O-young speaks at the 4th Northeast Asia Trilateral Forum in Busan in April 2009. Lee wrote more than 60 books, including a Japanese bestseller, "The Compact Culture: The Japanese Tradition of 'Smaller Is Better.'" (Photo by Yoshiyuki Tamai)
Obituaries

Lee O-young, who helped South Korea see beauty, dies at 88

Nation's first culture minister laid groundwork for today's hallyu Korean boom

23 June 2022
Su Thit and her husband Htet Myat, an ex-army captain, in happier days. “We were only able to meet three times in three years of marriage." (Courtesy Su Thit)  
Tea Leaves

Hey soldier, mind your missus

Myanmar military wives remind us who commands the household

22 June 2022
Anti-government protesters in Bangkok in January 2014: Chris Baker and Pasuk Phongpaichit's newly revised "A History of Thailand" is an essential reference work for all.
Arts

Books: A fresh take on the history of Thailand

Authors of acclaimed book put recent events in historical context

22 June 2022
Colorful yukata are a staple of summer festivals and fireworks displays in Japan. (Photo by Akiyoshi Inoue)
Life

Japan's timeless yukata blend tradition and modern flair

Ancient dyeing techniques endure, even as summer kimonos enjoy new life

18 June 2022
Dissident Chinese writer Liao Yiwu has published 12 German-language books, and won several prestigious German literature awards since arriving in Berlin in 2011. His latest book "Wuhan" hit was published in Chinese in September 2020. (Photo by Jens Kastner)
Life

Liao Yiwu explains China's brutal pandemic failures

Dissident author maintains that Xi Jinping will pay a price for Shanghai lockdown

18 June 2022
Sanya Souvanna Phouma inside Funky Lam, a restaurant launched by the serial entrepreneur in Bangkok. "I was burning to create something new," Sanya says of his early days in the Thai capital after leaving France. (Courtesy of Sanya Souvanna Phouma)
Life

Bangkok's king of clubbing plots fresh projects

Lao impresario Sanya Souvanna Phouma returns to his roots

17 June 2022
BTS members at the Grammy Awards in April at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. (Photo courtesy of Hybe)
Media & Entertainment

BTS hiatus reveals soft underbelly of K-pop industry

South Korea's talent agencies caught off guard by bombshell announcement

16 June 2022
Members of K-pop boy band BTS say they plan to explore solo projects while taking a break from the group.
Media & Entertainment

South Korea's BTS announces 'hiatus' to focus on solo projects

News hits agency Hybe's share price while fans promise to wait for band's return

15 June 2022
Tourists and locals in Bangkok celebrate Songkran by spraying each other with water guns and partying on Khaosan Road on April 13. Much of Southeast Asia is disconnected from the far-off war in Ukraine. (Getty Images)
Tea Leaves

Not everyone sees Ukraine as the main issue

Emerging countries accuse the West of hypocrisy

15 June 2022
Japan's pioneering artisans spend considerable time de-shelling, sorting, roasting, cracking, winnowing, grinding, conching, blocking, tempering and, above all, experimenting with cocoa beans to produce sublime bars of mouth-watering chocolate. (Photo by Sybilla Patrizia)
Life

Five of the best bean-to-bar chocolate makers in Tokyo

Here's where to find chocolate at its purest in the Japanese capital

15 June 2022
Traditional thatched dwellings in the village of Miyama, north of Kyoto. (Photo by Alex Kerr)
Life

Fueled by pandemic, Japan rediscovers allure of old houses

Wooden 'kominka' are beautiful and cheap, but restoration costs can be high

15 June 2022
Thailand's pet owner population grew to combat the plague of COVID loneliness.
Business trends

A king's best friend: Thailand sees pet ownership boom

Businesses rush to grab a piece of billion-dollar market

15 June 2022
Park Chan-wook picks up the Best Director Award at the 75th Cannes Film Festival, in southern France, on May 28.
Arts

South Korea makes its mark at Cannes again

Park Chan-wook wins best director; Song Kang-ho takes best actor prize

14 June 2022
The retention pond at Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University Centenary Park acts as a leisure amenity. (Courtesy of Chulalongkorn University/Landprocess)
Life

Central Bangkok redevelops around new green heart

Major public open space projects aim to transform urban face of Thai capital

10 June 2022
Like father like son? For many Filipinos who lived through the presidency of Ferdinand Marcos Sr., left, the recent election of Ferdinand Jr. has stirred up a lot of ghosts. (Nikkei montage/photos by Getty Images)   
Tea Leaves

For 'Marcos babies,' election highlights memories and meanings

Can long-forgotten political expressions make a comeback?

8 June 2022
Idei, right, at a press conference, along with then-Chairman Norio Ohga in 1999.
Obituaries

Former Sony chief Idei battled pressure of keeping up Sony legend

Chairman and CEO demonstrated foresight for the digital era

8 June 2022
Protest objects of the group Thalufah are displayed at Cartel Gallery, including cooking implements, wire cutters, gas masks and a handmade pipe device to spray colored water. (Photo by Philip Cornwel-Smith)
Arts

Thais see art in everyday objects of protest

Exhibitions and a mobile museum record the ephemera of political struggles

8 June 2022
Nobuyuki Idei, then-chairman of Sony, is seen at a press conference in May 2004. 
Obituaries

Sony's former chairman, Nobuyuki Idei, dies at 84

Group CEO played key role in turning electronics company into tech giant

7 June 2022
Artifacts found in the wreckage of the Spanish galleon San Jose are seen in a picture released on June 6. (Colombian Presidency/Handout via REUTERS)
Arts

Colombia discovers two historical shipwrecks in Caribbean

Sites near galleon that sank in 1708 with treasure worth billions in today's dollars

7 June 2022