Asia - South China Morning Post

For a country whose currency was once perceived by many global investors as a safe haven, the Japanese yen is in dire straits. Between March 2022 and July 2024, the yen plunged 40 per cent to its lowest level against the US dollar since 1986. Since then, Japan’s currency has been volatile, buffeted by external and domestic cross-currents.

The uncertain outlook for the yen is partly attributable to the acute policy dilemmas facing the Bank of Japan. The country’s central bank is under pressure to...

Indonesia nearly doubled a key allowance for its lawmakers, an official said on Monday, one month after cancelling some of the benefits given to parliamentarians in an effort to assuage public anger following a series of violent demonstrations.

In August, thousands of students, rights groups and other civilians joined protests against the government’s spending priorities, including pay rises for lawmakers. The demonstrations later spiralled into riots after a motorcycle taxi driver was killed...

Japan’s World Expo Osaka is coming to an end on an unexpectedly high note on Monday, having drawn a record 25 million visitors despite initially battling low ticket sales as well as transport and health-related issues.

While the final count is likely to fall short of the organisers’ original target of 28 million visitors, the event has already surpassed its break-even point of 116 billion yen (US$760 million) in operational costs, according to a Kyodo news agency report.

It is also estimated to...

From the age of 10, Amina has been scrubbing, sweeping and cooking in a middle-class home in Pakistan’s megacity of Karachi.

Like millions of Pakistani children, she is a household helper, an illegal but common practice that brings grief to families often too poor to seek justice.

“Alongside my mother, I cut vegetables, wash dishes, sweep the floor and mop. I hate working for this family,” said the 13-year-old, who leaves her slum neighbourhood in Karachi at 7am and often returns after...

The search for two Chinese tourists who went missing at Mantanani Besar Island, a dive island off Sabah’s coast in Malaysia, has been called off after a futile scouring for the couple for over a week, including the use of drones, boats and ground patrols.

Yu Xiaopeng, 25, and his girlfriend, Fan Qin, 28, checked into the Sutera Mantanani Resort on October 4 and were due to leave the next day.

But they failed to check out, leaving their belongings untouched in the room. A sweeping search for the...

Malaysians have demanded that four students arrested for allegedly raping another pupil be suspended before they can take their final-year exams, in a case that has horrified a country still coming to terms with a spate of abuse cases in its educational institutions.

Police arrested four high school students in southern Malacca state on Saturday for gang raping a 15-year-old girl earlier this month and recording the assault on a mobile phone. The victim was allegedly dragged into a classroom by...

The decline of Japan’s traditional media and the insatiable appetite of its people for online content have contributed to lurid headlines about crimes committed by foreigners in other countries, according to academics and journalists.

Unsurprisingly, they add, the sensationalist stories by Japan’s tabloids and right-wing media posted on their websites and social media have coincided with the electorate’s stance on issues shifting to the right and the rising popularity of anti-immigrant parties,...

Nearly half of men surveyed online in Japan used parasols amid high summer temperatures in 2025, including many who did so for the first time this year – a sign rising heat is eroding the strong association of the sunshades with women.

Parasols have long been popular among women to protect their skin from the sun’s ultraviolet rays. However, the Tokyo metropolitan government survey showed an overwhelming majority of male users saying they decided to use them to keep cool this summer.

The survey...

Australia’s push to ban children from social media was “well intentioned”, but would not make them safer online, video streaming giant YouTube warned on Monday.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese last year unveiled landmark laws that will ban under-16s from social media by the end of 2025. Popular platforms such as Facebook, TikTok and Instagram face heavy fines for flouting the laws.

YouTube, which will also fall under the ban, has argued that it is not a social media platform and should receive...

The South China Morning Post has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, or Kadin Indonesia, to establish a platform for dialogue between the business leaders of Indonesia and the Chinese mainland, including Hong Kong.

The Post, which has been covering China from Hong Kong since its first front page was published in November 1903, will leverage its editorial authority, convening power and international readership, while Kadin Indonesia will...