Asia - South China Morning Post

Japan has found a new export industry and it does not come off an assembly line. It arrives by plane, spends freely and is, increasingly, what Tokyo is banking its economic future on.

Last year, 42.7 million foreign visitors arrived in the country, a record that shattered the previous year’s high by nearly 16 per cent. Now Tokyo wants to turn that surge into something more lasting: a permanent pillar of growth to rival, or even outlast, the industries that built modern Japan.

To achieve that...

Barisan Nasional’s (BN) sweeping win in Johor is expected to embolden it within Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s unity government while forcing his Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition into a difficult postmortem over its waning appeal on the ground.

BN, which ruled the country for six decades before losing power in 2018 and later joining Anwar’s bloc in 2022, retained its Johor stronghold with 48 seats out of 56 on Saturday night – an improvement from the 40 it won in the 2022 polls. PH...

A boat returning from an island trip in southern Vietnam capsized on Saturday, killing 15 Indian tourists less than half a kilometre (0.30 mile) from shore, as passengers shouted for help, officials and a witness said.

The speedboat was carrying 32 Indian tourists and four crew members when it overturned on Saturday afternoon shortly after leaving Hon May Rut Ngoai Island, which is near Phu Quoc, Vietnam’s largest island, authorities were quoted as saying.

“The boat had not even gone half a...

New Zealand and India announced on Saturday the creation of a strategic partnership encompassing defence and security, during a landmark visit by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon feted his guest with an indigenous Maori welcome and a guard of honour, seeking to expand relations after signing a free-trade pact in April that he has touted as an economic boon.

Modi’s visit, at the tail end of a July 6-11 tour that has also taken him to Indonesia and Australia, came in...

The brave new world of artificial intelligence (AI) is going to be a mixed and divisive blessing for governments – not least those of key Asian countries – as well as for financial markets.

The AI revolution points to higher economic growth for economies linked to the tech supply chain, with others being left behind. It also signals the potential for financial crises. Balancing these risks will be tricky. The relative optimism, displayed in a recent report from the International Monetary Fund...

Pan Sok still remembers his relative screaming as a tiger dragged him away one night, deep inside the Cambodian rainforest where they were tapping trees for resin.

So he is “not happy” about a plan to reintroduce the big cats, a decade after they were declared extinct in Cambodia.

“I saw the tiger take him with my own eyes,” he said, describing the attack that took place over 30 years ago. “He was screaming but we couldn’t help him.”

Cambodia’s last confirmed tiger sighting was in camera trap...

Footage of the punishment quickly went viral: an unmarried couple each receiving 21 lashes of the cane in Indonesia’s Aceh province after being accused of kissing in a car and live-streaming it on TikTok.

As each blow landed on their backs, the unnamed man, 22, and woman, 25, visibly grimaced. The woman later burst into tears, wailing in pain as the public punishment continued.

The caning was carried out on July 2 in Banda Aceh, the provincial capital. Aceh is the only Indonesian province to...

For a man sanctioned by Beijing, barred from visiting China and accused of damaging bilateral ties, Gilberto Teodoro Jnr sounded remarkably composed.

Composed, that is, until the conversation turned to the South China Sea – the very subject that landed him in hot water in the first place.

In an interview this week, the Philippines’ defence chief said that Manila would keep only limited military communication channels open with Beijing, while ruling out broader engagement unless China changed its...

The coalition of Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim was dealt a blow on Saturday after state rival Barisan Nasional (BN) trounced Pakatan Harapan (PH) in the Johor election.

BN cruised to victory with 48 seats out of 56 up for grabs, while Anwar’s PH managed only eight. BN’s result was better than the 40 seats it secured in the 2022 race. The two-thirds majority it retains gives it absolute power to pass constitutional amendments and redraw electoral boundaries in Johor.

The state was turned...

There is a bogus version of Singapore’s prime minister that exists only to steal money. It connected to a Zoom call, thanked a stranger for his time and helped relieve him of US$3.8 million – with the real Lawrence Wong, for a time, none the wiser about what had happened.

The victim had received a WhatsApp message purporting to be from the secretary to the cabinet, inviting him to a private meeting.

What followed was not some doctored photo or a 15-second clip designed to fool a distracted...