Life & Arts

Fashion startup Arlnata uses silk kimono fabrics for its ready-to-wear clothing, most of which is Western-style. Based in Japan, the brand presented its first collection in April 2019. (Courtesy of Arlnata)
Arts

Taking kimono silk to the next fashion level

Japanese startup aims at international market for luxury clothing

25 August 2021
North Korean striker Jong Tae Se, center, cries as the country's national anthem is played before a match against Brazil at the 2010 World Cup soccer tournament in Johannesburg. Born in Japan, Jong attracted attention during the tourney for his open personality and accessibility to the press.  
Tea Leaves

For Asia's reclusive regimes, sporting isolation is far from splendid

From Kabul to Pyongyang, 'playing the game' works better than exclusion

23 August 2021
Philip Cornwel-Smith says his latest book "is not a guide to places and things. It's more of a guide to why Bangkok is the way it is, and how it became like that."  (Nikkei montage/Cover design by Xavier Comas of Cover Kitchen; portrait photo by Cedric Arnold)
Arts

'Very Bangkok' becomes face of Thailand

Popular ode to the Thai capital fronts pavilion at global cities festival

22 August 2021
Tang Little Kyoto in Dalian, in China's northeastern Liaoning Province, is the country's biggest Japanese-themed commercial and residential complex. (Photo by Shin Watanabe)
Travel & Leisure

Chinese commercial and housing complex offers taste of Japan

Tang Little Kyoto near Dalian expected to lure 3m visitors a year

21 August 2021
Posters for popular Malaysian films, from left, "Sheep without a Shepherd," "On Your Mark" and "Barbarian Invasion." These films are among the growing number of productions by Chinese Malaysian directors that are finding an enthusiastic audience in China. (Nikkei montage/photos courtesy of Da Huang Pictures and Astro Shaw)
Arts

Chinese Malaysian directors sweep China's box office

Foreign filmmakers win audiences and snare prestigious festival awards

20 August 2021
These women work as ama sea divers, catching fish and shellfish and collecting seaweed in Japan's Ise Bay. Protective symbols are stitched onto their bonnets to ward off danger and ensure a safe return. (Stephen Mansfield)
Life

Traditional Japanese divers restore 'balance' to the sea

Marine culture is dominated by women in the fishing villages of the Ise Peninsula

18 August 2021
In his new book, "Has Asia Lost It? Dynamic Past, Turbulent Future," author Vasuki Shastry is essentially saying that after you read all about Asia's achievements and potential, it is time to learn about how the bottom tiers of society have made insufficient gains. (Nikkei montage; source photos by World Scientific and Getty Images)
Arts

Book Review: Has Asia (really) lost it?

The region's gleaming exterior hides myriad social problems, including widespread poverty and a self-entitled elite

13 August 2021
Three young women who recently graduated from FLAME University in Pune have set up an online archive to collect recipes that are being forgotten amid more modern cuisine trends. (Photo courtesy of the Indian Community Cookbook Project)
Tea Leaves

Honoring past generations through culinary memories

Three Indian women gather long-forgotten recipes to revive and preserve forgotten culture

11 August 2021
Ko Min, left, and his wife Ma Moe. Together with their two young children, they live in this poor district on the outskirts of Yangon. Ko Min was a bricklayer but lost his job when construction sites closed due to recent civil unrest. (©WFP Myanmar/2021)
Life

Photo essay: Close-up on Myanmar's growing hunger

'It's for my family': Parents struggle to keep children fed amid country's multiple crises

11 August 2021
A girl works on a school assignment at home in Manila on Jan. 6 as schools remained closed due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
Life

Philippine children are left behind by poor distance learning

Education system braces for another year of woes without face-to-face classes

9 August 2021
A still from "Sexual Drive": The film inhabits the gray area often claimed by art house cinema but has strong sexual undertones. (Courtesy of Film Movement) 
Arts

Japanese director gives stylish new twists to food fetishes

With 'Sexual Drive,' soft-core director finds international appeal

8 August 2021
Most Tokyo Olympics events were held without spectators, a precedent that is likely to be adopted for the Paralympics. 
7 August 2021
The new plan aims to create or expand 2,000 fitness venues, such as sports parks and stadiums, by 2025.
Caixin

China wants fitter citizens and bigger sports industry by 2025

New plan eyes plan for more than a third of people to get regular exercise

6 August 2021
In her debut novel, Emma Larkin displays an anthropological authenticity that transcends language. (Nikkei montage/source photo by Reuters)
Arts

Book review: Ghosts of history haunt Bangkok's urban jungle

From slum life to high society, Emma Larkin's debut novel highlights resistance and ennui in Thai metropolis

6 August 2021
People line up for free food at a slum area following the COVID-19 outbreak, in Bangkok in April 2020.
Tea Leaves

Bangkok's streets expose Southeast Asia's new divides

Throughout the region, the pandemic is causing suicides, widening inequality and growing unrest

4 August 2021
Makoto Azuma stands beside a frozen flower sculpture he created in Hokkaido, Japan's northernmost main island. (Courtesy of Shunsuke Shiinoki)
Arts

Japanese artist finds new style of flower power

New York floral 'sculpture' will celebrate fight against COVID-19

4 August 2021
Canadian pop singer Kris Wu at the iHeartRadio MuchMusic Video Awards in Toronto in 2018: Wu has been arrested on suspicion of rape in Beijing.
Caixin

China police detain Canadian pop star Kris Wu on suspicion of rape

Singer could face prison and payback for millions of dollars in endorsement deals

3 August 2021
“The Art of Thai Comics: A Century of Strips and Stripes,“ by Thailand-based academic Nicolas Verstappen, right, is a long-overdue tribute to a succession of dazzling yet little-known local comic artists. (Nikkei montage/Source photos by River Books and Sukanya Sompiboon, 2019)
Arts

For Belgian author, Thai comics are no laughing matter

History of graphic tales honors forgotten heroes of local pop culture

2 August 2021
David Eubank, founder of the Free Burma Rangers aid organization, rescues a 5-year-old Demoa after her mother was killed by Islamists in the battle for Mosul. (Courtesy of Free Burma Rangers)
Life

Fighting Myanmar's regime with compassion and military skills

Free Burma Rangers help thousands fleeing brutal attacks by security forces

1 August 2021
A rare snow leopard sighting in the northern Indian territory of Ladakh. Threatened by climate change and poachers, the big cats are endangered, with only an estimated 3,900 to 6,400 left in the world. (Courtesy of Behzad J. Larry)
Life

Research brings elusive snow leopard a step closer

Community efforts give new hope for 'ghost of the mountains'

30 July 2021
Japanese physicist Toshihide Maskawa in 2008. 
Obituaries

Japanese Nobel laureate Toshihide Masukawa dies at 81

Predicted the existence of new quarks to explain the concept of broken symmetry

30 July 2021
Johnny Weir is also a successful professional skater.
Interview

Not normal Olympics, but Japan is 'welcoming naturally': Johnny Weir

Two-time figure skater returns to Japan as NBC reporter with his eccentric outfits

28 July 2021
A trio of cosplayers in well-cut outfits outside the Tokyo Big Sight building. (All photos by Stephen Mansfield)
Tea Leaves

In Japan, clothes really do make the 'persona'

Across the ages, lexicon of dress reaches across hierarchies and sectors

28 July 2021
Laos and Thailand face off against each other in the men's sepak takraw doubles final match at the 18th Asian Games in Palembang, Indonesia, in August 2018.
Life

Asia wants to add to Olympic sports

Regional games such as 'sepak takraw' eyed for future inclusion

28 July 2021
The forests of northern Okinawa's Yanbaru region are home to a diversity of life. (Photo by Shinya Sawai)
Life

Japan's Amami island picked as Natural World Heritage site

UNESCO recognizes 4 southwestern isles for rare species and mangrove forests

27 July 2021