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December 21, 2024
 

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Farah Master
A parent pushes a baby stroller in Shanghai on April 2, 2023.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Nov 6, 2024
China's latest cry for more babies may fall on deaf ears
Events aimed at encouraging couples to marry and have babies were criticized for being regressive, disparaging toward women, and reinforcing gender roles.
Elderly people rest at a park in Beijing on May 22.
BUSINESS
Sep 24, 2024
China's retirement reforms not enough to fix pension headache
Lawmakers fast-tracked the policy without public consultation in September
A food delivery worker rides through Shenzhen's Futian district in May 2022.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Sep 3, 2024
China's economic malaise seen accelerating obesity rates
Job stress, long work hours and poor diets are growing high-risk factors in cities, while in rural areas, agriculture work is becoming less physically demanding.
The Chinese national flag and the Hong Kong flag outside government headquarters in Hong Kong in November 2017
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 12, 2024
Hong Kong uses new national security law against exiled activists
Hong Kong authorities have outlawed more than a dozen overseas activists based in the United States, Britain and other countries.
Cleaning worker Hu Dexi, 67, at a shopping mall in Beijing on April 10
BUSINESS / Economy
May 8, 2024
In rapidly aging China, millions can't afford to retire
With a low retirement age, meager pension benefits and no family to support them, many in China feel they simply can't ever stop working.
Women attend a singing class at Mama Sunset, a learning center for middle-aged and senior people, in Beijing in January.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Mar 18, 2024
Silver lining: Tutoring the elderly is growing fast in China
The growth potential of the industry contrasts sharply with the decline of the after-school private tutoring sector following a crackdown in 2021.
People wait to board trains at the Hongqiao railway station in Shanghai ahead of the National Day holiday on Sept. 28.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 7, 2023
China holds back from easing of Mao-era rules, in blow to economy
An internal passport system has largely tethered people's destinies to their place of origin since the 1950s.
Students stand during a flag-lowering ceremony on the first day of the new academic year in Shanghai in 2021.
BUSINESS / Economy
Nov 8, 2023
China's private schools struggle amid COVID and regulatory woes
The sector stumbled after Beijing imposed new rules in 2021 and cracked down on the private tutoring business.
Couples prepare to have their photo taken during a wedding photography shoot on a in Shanghai on Sept. 6.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 19, 2023
Fewer 'I dos' ruin the party for China's $500 billion wedding industry
The trend is worrying officials trying to revive marriage rates and birth rates, which dropped to record lows last year.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
May 11, 2023
As China has fewer children, baby product firms scramble to diversify
With domestic sales shrinking, manufacturers are working to develop new streams of revenue — whether that involves offering products for adults, or boosting sales overseas.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / FOCUS
Apr 29, 2023
China weighs giving single women IVF access to stem population decline
Concerned about China's first population drop in six decades, government advisers have proposed that single and unmarried women should have access to egg freezing and IVF treatment.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / ANALYSIS
Mar 3, 2023
As China ages, investors bet they can beat retirement home stigma
Who takes care of the elderly in China, where pensions are tiny, is one of the major headaches policymakers face as they deal with the start of a demographic downturn.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / FOCUS
Mar 1, 2023
Rust belt province got old before it got rich, as much of China will
As China's 1.4 billion population declines and ages, in part because of a policy that limited couples to one child from 1980 to 2015, pressure on pension budgets is soaring.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Feb 28, 2023
Hong Kong to scrap COVID mask mandate from March 1
Hong Kong and Macao both followed China's 'zero-COVID' policy for much of the past three years.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / ANALYSIS
Jan 3, 2023
Casinos in Macao deal themselves a tough hand with nongaming investment pledges
Casinos have committed to investing a total of $15 billion in the coming decade, 90% of which must be spent on nongaming.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / FOCUS
Dec 23, 2022
China lacked a 'zero COVID' exit strategy. Its people are paying the price.
The abrupt shift has left the nation scrambling to avert a collapse of its public health system.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Oct 18, 2022
For China's women, this week's congress is unlikely to mean progress
Xi's decade in power has seen the number of women in politics and elite government roles decline and gender gaps in the workforce widen, academics and activists say.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Aug 30, 2022
'It felt like my insides were crying': China COVID curbs weigh on youth mental health
Medical experts fear for teenagers and young adults, who are more vulnerable due to their age and lack of control over their lives.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / ANALYSIS
Aug 9, 2022
More Chinese women delay or give up on having babies after 'COVID zero' ordeal
Strict controls on people's lives may have caused profound damage on their desire to have children, demographers say.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / ANALYSIS
Mar 18, 2022
Clear roadmap needed for Hong Kong's revival amid COVID wave, experts say
Deaths have skyrocketed, the health system is swamped, morgues are overflowing and public confidence in the city government is at an all-time low.
Mother hopes for reunion with daughter ensnared by Tokyo host clubs
The Kabukicho district in Tokyo, where the daughter of a woman in her 60s fell deeply into the host club culture.
A year after going private, structural reforms bearing fruit for Toshiba
Toshiba's Corporate Senior Executive Vice President Koji Ikeya speaks during an interview in Tokyo on Monday.
Taiwan lawmakers brawl over bills that would 'damage democracy'
Lawmakers from the Democratic Progressive Party and opposition party Kuomintang brawl in parliament in Taipei on Friday.
Record 78% of people in Japan feel anxious, government survey finds
The public opinion survey on people's lives, conducted by the Cabinet Office, found that 28.1% of respondents think that their standard of living is at a lower-middle level among the general public — the highest percentage to give that response in 35 years.
Police raided suspect's home to arrest him after fatal Kitakyushu stabbing
Broken window glass is seen at Masanori Hirabaru's house in Kitakyushu's Kokuraminami Ward.
Japanese officials inspect Yokota Air Base over PFAS concerns
The Yokota Air Base in western Tokyo in September 2019. An inspection of the base by Japanese government officials on Friday came amid public pressure to investigate suspected links between the use of PFAS-containing firefighting foam by the U.S. base and contamination of soil and groundwater in western Tokyo.
Crime numbers rise in Japan for second straight year
A police officer stands in front of the residence of a man alleged to have stabbed two junior high school students in Kitakyushu.
A year of Oscar wins and a quiet push for diversity
Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s “Evil Does Not Exist,” released in Japanese theaters in April, sharply dramatizes the clash between rural and urban values. The film won five awards at the 2023 Venice Film Festival, including the second-place Silver Lion prize.
Curiosity didn’t kill the meme: Why cats still rule Japanese YouTube
A screen shot from YouTube user @lagelda shows the simplicity of going viral in Japan in 2024: A cat dancing to EDM in front of a green screen.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Yasuyuki Yoshida stirs a brew in a fermentation tank at his brewery in Hakusan.
The quake that shook Noto's sake brewing tradition
By Alex K.T. Martin

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