Asia - South China Morning Post

People across Japan have recoiled in shock over US President Donald Trump’s joke about the attack on Pearl Harbour in the presence of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi in the White House, perceiving the incident as an insult to a long-time ally of Washington.

The Japanese leader won some approval at home for her measured response even as she stiffened visibly over Trump’s comments at the joint press conference in the Oval Office on Thursday.

Addressing a question from a Japanese reporter about...

A fire at a car parts factory in South Korea’s central city of Daejeon injured at least 55 people on Friday, with officials warning the toll could rise.

The National Fire Agency said 24 were seriously hurt in a blaze likely caused by an explosion. Officials could not immediately confirm whether any of the injured were in life-threatening condition. Nam Deuk-woo, fire chief of the city’s Daedeok district, said authorities were searching for at least 14 other people believed to have been inside...

If there is a thread that provides coherence to Donald Trump’s mad emperorship, it is the frenetic invention of new, evermore dramatic diversions: no week can be allowed to pass without new melodrama that erases the chaotic melodramas of weeks past. Nor can a week be allowed to pass without the seeds being sown for next week’s melodramas.

This week it is Iran, and the computer-gaming unreality of a scorched-earth US-Israeli bombardment that has generated convulsions across economies in the...

Beneath the powder snow at internationally popular Japanese ski resort Niseko, anxiety is mounting among residents over soaring prices and a massive influx of overseas workers.

At a time when Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is talking tough on immigration, upscale Niseko has never been more popular with seasonal workers, investors and skiers from across the globe.

The snow “is the best in the world”, said Gideon Masters, a 29-year-old Australian tourist.

“It’s just soft, powder fluff. You can pick...

As the US-Israel war on Iran strains global energy supplies, Japan is discussing reviving domestic production of liquefied natural gas carriers for the first time in more than half a decade to bolster its national security.

The move would see Japanese shipbuilders return to a market that is currently dominated by China and South Korea, as Tokyo looks to revitalise its maritime sector and shore up its energy security.

Japan’s shipbuilding working group – comprising industry experts and government...

Flights are cancelled, schedules are in chaos and scores of European tourists are still waiting to go home, three weeks after the United States and Israeli attack on Iran.

Some of them, like retiree John Williams, 61, and his wife Gillian, 60, from the United Kingdom, are making good use of their “extended” time in Malaysia.

“We’re sort of stranded, but frankly we are in no hurry. We are spending a few days in Penang and will explore other ways to get home later,” Williams said.

“We saw that...

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi told US President Donald Trump on Thursday that she wants to hold talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Pyongyang’s past abductions of Japanese nationals.

Takaichi told reporters that she notified Trump during their meeting at the White House of her “strong intent to meet” Kim in person and that she has “received full support from the president towards an immediate solution.”

Takaichi said she even exchanged views with Trump on how she could meet...

A US intelligence assessment warning of a potential threat from Pakistan’s prospective intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) has been challenged by nuclear non-proliferation experts, who say Islamabad’s defence programme is focused on regional deterrence rather than targeting the American “homeland”.

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard told the US Senate on Wednesday that Pakistan – along with China, Iran, North Korea and Russia – has been “researching and developing an array...

South Korea finds itself boxed in as Tehran moves to turn the Strait of Hormuz into a bargaining chip amid the US-Israeli war on Iran, leaving Seoul caught between its dependence on Middle East oil and its unwillingness to antagonise Washington.

Economists note that South Korea relies on Washington’s security umbrella to deter threats from nuclear-armed North Korea and that its oil trade is settled in US dollars – two realities that sit awkwardly alongside Iran’s push for yuan-based energy...