Stories about East Asia from September, 2018
A new indie film festival features the struggles and triumphs of indigenous Papua, Indonesia
The film festival "highlights the issues of the indigenous people of Papua through documentary films as well as to build public awareness of the important issues impacting them.”
Amidst typhoon rescue efforts in Japan, a Taiwanese diplomat dies. Did misinformation play a role?
Some hearsay even claimed that Taiwanese had to proclaim themselves as Chinese in order to get on the buses. The news had enraged [Taiwanese] netizens.
Beijing authorities slam Swedish police for humiliating Chinese tourists, but there's another side to the story
"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs wanted to make use of the incident to stir patriotic sentiment to exercise pressure on Swedish government. But netizens know ... what’s right and wrong."
Uighurs in the laogai: how China's persecution of a minority turned my fiction into fact
"In 2017, 21% of all arrests made in China took place in Xinjiang Province, a region where only 1.5% of the Chinese population lives."
Japan moves to accept more workers from abroad, but public opinion remains divided
Japan may have little choice but to accept more workers from abroad to cope with an expected shrinkage in the working population caused by an aging and low birth rates.
Japan’s vending machines strike again—this time with pizza and crepes
There is one vending machine for every 23 people in Japan and they still never fail to surprise.
‘Bien Chabacano’ blog preserves and promotes Asia's only Spanish-based creole language
"Unless more aggressive preservation efforts will be implemented, the day will come when Chabacano will only be spoken inside the home."
As online spaces for sexual harassment proliferate, Hong Kong authorities struggle to keep up
"There is currently no law specifically to tackle upskirting, and from what we read from media reports about the crime, the punishment tends to be light"
Strongest typhoon to hit Japan in 25 years largely forgotten following massive earthquake
The media has struggled to cover the dizzying succession of disasters, leaving people feeling that some are eclipsing others in the public consciousness.
As China faces record-breaking flood levels, authorities arrest two women for spreading ‘rumors’ of health risks
"If they could react to the floods as effectively [as they do to the 'rumors'], that would be great."
Students illustrate injustice and human rights abuses in the Philippines through the arts
"The youth are aware of what's happening in society. On the images you can see extrajudicial killings, charter change, war, and the gap between the poor and rich in society."
After Facebook ban, Myanmar military accounts are moving to Russian social media site VKontakte
"...they are now spreading their hate freely on the site without any moderation."
Myanmar sentences Reuters journalists to 7 years in prison
The case has attracted outrage both internationally and inside Myanmar, with local activists and civil society organizations bravely speaking out against their arrest.
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