Life & Arts

Breakfast is served! On China's Hainan Island, starting the day with a steamed bun and a cup of laobacha, or "old man's tea," is a ritual for many locals. (Screen grab from YouTube) 
Life

Chinese breakfasts are almost beyond the imagination

Discover 'old dad's tea,' roasted lamb 'baozi' and clay pot seafood noodles

26 July 2021
David Jenkins' magisterial new book, "Young Soeharto: The Making of a Soldier," details the background to one of Asia's more remarkable and least-known national struggles as well as the story of the man who led the country's remarkable transformation. (Nikkei montage/Source photos by Djawa Baroe/ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute)
Life

Book review: New biography casts light on Indonesia's 'smiling general'

'Young Soeharto' chronicles strongman's astonishing rise from humble beginnings

24 July 2021
Elina Svitolina, left, and Gael Monfils married in Switzerland earlier this month. (Photo courtesy of Gael Monfils' Instagram account)
Tokyo 2020 Olympics

Tennis stars Svitolina and Monfils bask in Olympic 'honeymoon'

Newlyweds to spend much of their time apart preparing for matches

24 July 2021
Naomi Osaka carries the Olympic Torch during the opening ceremony in the Olympic Stadium at the 2020 Summer Olympics on July 23 in Tokyo, Japan. 
Tokyo 2020 Olympics

'The greatest honor': Naomi Osaka lights Olympic cauldron

Superstar tennis player was a welcome choice for Japan, Haiti, the US and the world

24 July 2021
To cope with mood swings and anxiety exacerbated by COVID, Taiwanese filmmaker Tsai Ming-liang has turned to his self-taught hobby of painting: 'I don't think of loneliness as something negative.' (Photo courtesy of Tsai Ming-liang)
Arts

Celebrated Taiwanese director Tsai Ming-liang discovers painting

Auteur of loneliness reckons with the isolation of COVID-19

23 July 2021
Yoko Ono performs onstage in Japan in 1974. For all the negative criticism her first solo album attracted decades ago, its influence can be heard in later rock music styles ranging from punk to new wave to grunge. (Getty Images)
Arts

Yoko Ono's big scream still echoes, and surprises

Reissue of Japanese artist's early recordings contains the seeds of an unwittingly influential sound

22 July 2021
People browse books at the Hong Kong Book Fair on July 19. The event was once regarded as a symbol of publishing freedom in the territory under the "one country, two systems" arrangement.
Politics

At tense Hong Kong Book Fair, buyers snap up political titles

Some authors and sellers withdraw items, fearing China-imposed security law

21 July 2021
I wanted to celebrate my 40th birthday by overcoming my biggest fear: Driving a long distance on an Indian highway by myself. (Photo by P. Sarkar)
Tea Leaves

My way on the highway -- an Indian road trip

Lone women face violence on India's roads, but we should brave our fears

21 July 2021
The 1964 Tokyo Olympics were hailed by LIFE Magazine as "The Greatest Olympics Ever." Given the restrictions that apply to foreign journalists visiting Tokyo in 2021, it is unlikely that anyone will be describing the 2020 Olympics in such glowing terms. (Source photos by AP and Kyodo)
Life

Why there is still hope for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics

What a contrast to the 1964 Games, remembered as the greatest ever

21 July 2021
In 2020, Taiwan recorded negative population growth for the first time since records began, with 173,156 deaths and 165,249 births, according to the Ministry of the Interior. 
Life

Taiwan's falling birthrate 'threatens its economic security'

World's lowest fertility rate set to cause permanent population decline

18 July 2021
A log house for guests and staff houses are being built around Lupicia's new headquarters in Niseko, Hokkaido.
Business trends

Goodbye, Tokyo: Tea company Lupicia moves HQ to Niseko ski resort

Hokkaido nature better for creativity, CEO Mizuguchi says

18 July 2021
Rudra in 2013: from left, Kathir, Simon, Vinod and Shiva. “We came up with the term Vedic metal because [the genre] fuses ancient Indian philosophy and music, especially folk-traditional and classical, with extreme metal,” said Kathir, Rudra’s singer and bass player. (Courtesy of Rudra)
Arts

Southeast Asian Vedic heavy metal rocks China's extreme music scene

Beijing label resurrects Singaporean band Rudra's genre-shaping early albums

16 July 2021
Tomohisa Moridaira poses with Miraitowa, left, and Someity, the mechanical mascots developed by his team at Toyota.
Life

Meet the unsung stars determined to make the Olympics a success

From engineers to volunteers, behind-the-scenes players rise to the occasion

14 July 2021
A sign on the British Club gate in Yangon reads "closed until further notice." (Photo by Rory Wallace)
Tea Leaves

Yangon's shuttered British Club sends a message

Drawing on long but troubled ties, London could yet play a role in ending Myanmar's nightmare

14 July 2021
Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul. His latest work, "Memoria," is one of the most anticipated films of 2021. It is his first film shot entirely outside Thailand. © Kick the Machine
Arts

Acclaimed Thai film director revels in historical parallels

With his new film, Apichatpong delves into Colombian jungles and primeval memories

13 July 2021
Thai activist and intellectual Sulak Sivaraksa speaks at a demonstration in Bangkok in November 2020 calling on King Maha Vajiralongkorn to cede control of a royal fortune valued in the tens of billions. Although he has been charged four times under Thailand’s lese majeste law, which criminalizes criticism of the monarchy, Sulak remains defiant.
Arts

Thailand's octogenarian intellectual rages on

Buddhist nonviolent activist Sulak Sivaraksa finds hope in student protests

12 July 2021
Tokyo's National Art Center is holding a comprehensive overview of Japanese fashion since World War II.
Arts

Tokyo exhibit traces fashion trends from 1940s till today

Japanese styles revealed in retrospective of clothing, magazines and videos

11 July 2021
In his latest book, "Toxic," author Richard Flanagan writes about the "slow, rolling destruction" he says Tasmania's salmon industry is wreaking on the environment. (Nikkei montage/source photos by Penguin Books and Getty Images)   
Arts

Book review: Acclaimed Australian author takes on local 'salmon barons'

Richard Flanagan lifts lid on dark side of Tasmania's lucrative fish farming industry

11 July 2021
Christophe Weber, CEO of Takeda Pharmaceutical, speaks during an interview with Nikkei.  (Photo by Shihoko Nakaoka)
Life

Takeda chief Christophe Weber talks about his younger days

'Experience of seizing bigger opportunities has made me who I am today'

10 July 2021
Family members preparing an infant's body for burial inside their shelter. (Image courtesy Ai Weiwei Studio)
Arts

Ai Weiwei and the Rohingya: humanity first

Dissident Chinese artist's new film exposes personal horrors of refugee life

9 July 2021
Protesters show their opposition to the Penang South Reclamation project, a controversial Penang State government scheme to build new islands off the coast, in November 2019. (Courtesy of Penang Tolak Tambak)
Tea Leaves

One island is enough for Penang

Malaysian state's offshore reclamation plans risk environmental disaster

7 July 2021
Director Ash Mayfair on the set of "The Third Wife." Despite being nominated for three Independent Spirit Awards, the film never saw a full cinema run in its home country.
Arts

The 'New Wave' filmmakers challenging Vietnamese society

Censorship is unavoidable in what remains rigidly conservative country

7 July 2021
A man holds a National League for Democracy flag during a protest against the military coup, in Yangon on March 27. The democratically elected NLD was ousted in the Feb. 1 putsch. 
Life

Five Myanmar voices on a year in turmoil

Insights into life under the military regime

5 July 2021
A U.S. Marine shouts as he tries to protect an Afghan man and his child after Taliban fighters opened fire in the southern town of Marjah in February 2010
Life

US pullout from Afghanistan evokes horrors of Cambodia

Will Washington's friends in Kabul suffer the fate of its allies in Phnom Penh?

4 July 2021
Students continue to wear masks, but campus life is mostly back to normal at Tsinghua University in Beijing.
Education

China's Tsinghua University turns pandemic into opportunity

15-member team migrated all classes online half a month after COVID struck

3 July 2021