With ex-leader Sheikh Hasina sentenced to death in absentia for crimes against humanity, Bangladesh is turning its focus towards a referendum aimed at reforming its political system and rebuilding its democratic institutions. Interim leader Muhammad Yunus, the Nobel laureate who assumed office after last year’s uprising, earlier this month pledged to hold a national vote on the blueprint for change, timed to coincide with February’s planned parliamentary election. But analysts have cast doubt on...

More than 103,000 people have signed an online petition demanding that K-pop girl group Aespa be banned from taking part in a New Year music event in Japan over an image posted by one of its singers that protesters claim depicts the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The petition, on Change.org, points out that the singer posted a picture of an “atomic bomb model light” on a social media site with the message, “I bought a cute light! What do you think?” Even though the post was in May...

When Japan’s then incoming leader Sanae Takaichi was scrambling in October for a new coalition partner so the Liberal Democratic Party could remain in power, she seemed open to requests put forth by the Japan Innovation Party in return for its support. One of the key demands of the JIP was that Osaka should be officially elevated in status to the nation’s “second capital”, with additional infrastructure for the city to enable it to become the seat of government in the event of a natural disaster...

At an eel restaurant near Tokyo, four friends sit down to eat a Japanese delicacy now the subject of a heated international debate as its numbers decline. The eel, hugely popular across Japan, is also endangered and will be discussed at a key global forum that regulates the trade of threatened wildlife, starting in Uzbekistan on Monday. “It’s a luxury dish that we eat to treat ourselves or to celebrate an occasion,” Yukiko Takahashi, a 52-year-old saleswoman, said as she tucked into her food at...

South Korea is watching with mounting alarm as tensions between China and Japan escalate over the Taiwan Strait, a development that threatens to test Seoul’s pragmatic diplomacy and its balancing act between Beijing and Washington, observers warn. The dispute is unfolding just as Seoul has worked to stabilise long-strained relations with both regional powers, raising fears that renewed rivalry could force South Korea into unwelcome geopolitical crossfire, they add. Analysts say the flare-up is...

Japan will find it hard to replace the revenue lost if Chinese tourists keep avoiding the country amid a diplomatic row over Taiwan, a subsidiary of the data provider Fitch Solutions warned on Friday. A sustained drop-off in visitor numbers from China would “significantly impact” Japan’s retail and tourism industries, as Chinese tourists were not only Japan’s largest source of overseas visitors but were also higher-than-average spenders, subsidiary BMI said in a research note. In the short term,...

Indonesian films and series are seeing a surge in interest on international streaming platforms. In recent years, several titles broke through to wider audiences and have made it into Netflix’s Global Top 10. Notable examples include The Elixir, which has been viewed by over 11 million people, and Norma, which has captured the attention of Southeast Asia, reaching No 1 in Indonesia and No 2 in Singapore in mid-August. So, how have Indonesian films managed to gain recognition on the global stage?