Arts

11 April 2025
This print by Kashmiri artist Moonis Ahmad is one of the many works by South Asian artists being shown at "(Un)Layering the Future Past of South Asia," which runs from April 11 to June 21 at the School of Oriental and African Studies Gallery in London. (All photos courtesy of Dhoomimal Gallery) 
Malaysian singer-songwriter Uriah See regards being active online as part of his job. "I'm not naturally a social media person," See said. "But if I don't post, I disappear." (Photo by Norman Goh)
Arts

How Asia's music scene is reinventing itself

The industry is shifting from traditional labels to self-marketing and engagement

9 April 2025
U.S.-based Pace Gallery opened its new location in Tokyo's Azabudai Hills complex in July 2024. (Photo by Nacasa & Partners)
Arts

Japan art market poised for growth with strong demand, low prices

Country could become Asia's new arts hub, Pace Gallery VP says

25 March 2025
A "space cat" sculpture stands in front of Hyper Museum Hanno, close to the Japanese capital. The venue has drawn inspiration from northern Europe's "nature-immersive" galleries.  (Photos by Natsuki Asano)
Arts

Art and nature converge at new gallery near Tokyo

Venue aims to offer natural light, kicks off with creative 'space cats' show

23 March 2025
An installation at Art Basel Hong Kong in March 2024. This year's edition of the fair, which attracted 80,000 people last year, will play host to 240 galleries from 42 countries and territories. 
Arts

Worlds within worlds: Hong Kong's 'Super March' art extravaganza

The city will host two big world class fairs, plus other events and a rugby tournament

22 March 2025
A still from award-winning animated film "Clarice's Dream," which is being screened at this year's edition of the Niigata International Animation Film Festival. (Courtesy of Fernando Gutierrez and Guto Bicalho)  
Arts

Niigata anime fest faces challenges of tightening era

Two-year-old event is Asia's biggest celebration of feature-length animated film

16 March 2025
Tourists relax on Chaweng Beach, on Koh Samui's eastern coast, on March 2024. The Thai island is expecting a tourism bump from the popular TV series "The White Lotus," which was filmed there.
Arts

Thai resorts ride on the White Lotus effect

Hit series shows how popular TV culture is increasingly driving tourism flows

13 March 2025
Artist Takanosuke Yasui stands on a boom lift while painting a mural on a seawall in the Ogatsucho district of Ishinomaki, Miyagi prefecture, in 2022. He has helped transform an area once dominated by imposing concrete walls into an outdoor museum. (© Seawall Museum Ogatsu)
Arts

Trauma and healing: Artists support Tohoku through film, sand and seawalls

Fourteen years after tsunami disaster, Japanese artists have created new spaces to connect

11 March 2025
Artist Badiucao's forthcoming graphic novel explores what he sees as the global rise of authoritarian rule. 
Arts

Chinese-Australian dissident artist defies censorship

New graphic novel envisions worst-case scenario stemming from geopolitical crisis

8 March 2025
Pritzker Architecture Prize winner Liu Jiakun of China shows a scale model of a project at his office in Chengdu on March 2.
Arts

China's Liu Jiakun wins Pritzker Prize, architecture's top honor

Body of work recognized for 'celebrating lives of ordinary citizens'

5 March 2025
Laurent Kleitman, group chief executive of Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group, says the islands of Japan's Seto Inland Sea are "absolutely the right ecosystem for luxury hospitality." (Photo by Nancy Zheng)
Travel & Leisure

Mandarin Oriental to open three hotels in Japan's Setouchi

The luxury brand's CEO is confident he has found a regional 'hidden gem'

4 March 2025
Shiori Ito, center, poses with "Black Box Diaries" producers Eric Nyari, left, and Hanna Aqvilin in Los Angeles on March 2, ahead of this year's Academy Awards.
Arts

Shiori Ito's documentary about sexual assault case misses out on Oscar

'Black Box Diaries' yet to be screened in Japanese filmmaker's own country

3 March 2025
Japanese writer Yukio Mishima poses for a photo in his living room in 1970. A new collection of his translated short stories showcases the prodigious range of his talent.
Books

Books: Mishima beyond his centenary, still surprises -- and disturbs

Recently translated collection challenges conventional view of controversial Japanese writer

27 February 2025
Matsumoto Castle is crowned with snow under a blue sky. (Matsumoto Castle Administration Office)
Destinations

The 10 best Japanese castles to visit during winter

Sparking light reflected off the snow adds brilliance to ancient monuments

1 February 2025
A scene from "An Umbrella for Miharu," a Japanese independent film written, directed -- and even subtitled -- by Yu Shibuya. (Courtesy of Yu Shibuya)
Arts

Japan's indie filmmakers explore the creative process

Up-and-coming movie makers target the international festival circuit

30 January 2025
A child uses a smartphone to interact with the "Catching and Collecting Extinct Forest" installation that is part of the newly opened area in the teamLab art collective's flagship Tokyo venue. (Photo by Suzu Takahashi)
Media & Entertainment

Japan's teamLab art collective extends high-tech Tokyo gallery

Group opens door on a new area boasting over 20 interactive installations

22 January 2025
Buddha statues discovered in the Mekong River are stored at a temple in Bokeo province, Laos. (Photo by Kosuke Inoue)
Destinations

Laos village buzzes with tourists over rumors of lost 'golden city'

Residents hope for economic boost after ancient treasures unearthed

19 January 2025
Sixteen shadow pictures, including this one shown here, are being displayed on store shutters along the Wakasa Kaido Shotengai shopping street in Tottori. (Photo by Ken Hotai)
Travel & Leisure

Shadows on shutters: Art brings new life to quiet Japanese shopping street

Business owners in Tottori prefecture want temporary display to become a permanent trendsetter

12 January 2025
Japanese guitarist Miyavi speaks in Shanghai. (Photo by Tomoko Wakasugi) 
Interview

Japanese guitarist Miyavi wants to be a rock star in China

Artist relocates to 'thrilling' market after successful TV appearance

22 December 2024
Reporters stand by photographs of Japan's atomic bomb survivors at the Nobel Peace Center in Oslo Dec. 9. (Photo by Yuki Sakurada)
Arts

Japan's atomic bombing photos, drawings showcase pain in Nobel exhibit

Survivors hope yearlong display in Oslo will reach wide audience

11 December 2024
Hong Kong movies catapulted kung fu stars like Bruce Lee to global fame, but the industry has been struggling to recapture its past glory. (Photo by Kensaku Ihara)  
Media & Entertainment

Hong Kong's surprise cinema hit shows resilience of embattled industry

Local films offer 'catharsis' in time of economic pain and security law pressure

7 December 2024
Drummers perform during the Kandy Esala Perahera in Kandy, Sri Lanka, in August 2022. The annual Buddhist pageant has a history dating back over 2,000 years.
Arts

Street dancing in Sri Lanka harks to history

The island state's annual Kandy Esala procession dates to 200 B.C.

30 November 2024
Michelle Garnaut looks out from the terrace of her wildly popular Shanghai restaurant, M on the Bund, before it closed in 2022. (All photos courtesy of LP Films)
Arts

How an Australian restaurateur helped revive Shanghai's riverfront

New film portrays star role of Michelle Garnaut's M on the Bund

21 November 2024
Director Oliver Chan Siu Kuen said she wants viewers of her second feature to see the realities of being a mom. (No Ceiling Film Production)
Arts

'Montages of a Modern Motherhood' digs into postpartum challenges

Hong Kong director Oliver Chan Siu Kuen turns camera on overlooked issues

17 November 2024
Daihachi Yoshida, left, speaks to the audience after his work "Teki Cometh" won the Tokyo Grand Prix award at Tokyo International Film Festival on Nov. 6. Kyozo Nagatsuka, right, won the Best Actor award with the same film. 
Media & Entertainment

Japanese film wins Tokyo Grand Prix award for first in two decades

Women's voices and global films spotlighted at Tokyo International Film Festival

7 November 2024
Melissa Malu, manager of the Australian Museum’s Pasifika collection, said the process of repatriating ancestral remains should focus on empowering Pacific peoples and restoring their autonomy. (© James Alcock/Australian Museum)
Arts

Australian museums prioritize return of Pacific ancestral remains

Institutions face calls to repatriate hundreds of body parts

7 November 2024
A Parsons Music Group piano factory in Yichang, China: With domestic sales plunging, manufacturers have been stuck with instruments they cannot move. 
Big in Asia

China's passion for the piano fades as Beijing strikes somber tone

World's biggest market shrinks rapidly amid deepening economic uncertainty

2 November 2024
Tourists in traditional Korean dress pose in front of Gyeongbokgung Palace in Seoul.
Comment

Han Kang's Nobel win reflects Korean embrace of history's tragedies

Modern events and societal pressures inspire South Korean author's books

19 October 2024
Member of the Nihon Hidankyo and atomic bomb survivor, co-chair Terumi Tanaka (C) speaks during a press conference in Tokyo on Oct. 12. The Nobel Peace Prize was on October 11 awarded to the Japanese anti-nuclear group Nihon Hidankyo, a grassroots movement of atomic bomb survivors from Hiroshima and Nagasaki. (Photo by AFP/Jiji)
18 October 2024
Organizers are expecting "a troop of VIPs from Asia" at this year's Art Basel Paris art fair at the Grand Palais. (Courtesy of Art Basel)
Arts

All points East in buzzy Paris art scene

New Asian names draw collectors and gallerists to city's fairs

18 October 2024