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Hannah Beech
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Feb 24, 2021
A digital firewall in Myanmar, built with guns and wire cutters
The military has repeatedly shut off the internet, isolating a country that had only in the past few years linked to the outside world.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Dec 21, 2020
A company made gloves for the world. Now its workers have the virus.
Top Glove's low-paid workers in Malaysia began to suffer from a ferocious outbreak of COVID-19, the result of its own inadequate protections, critics say.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 1, 2020
‘Trump Is Better’: In Asia, pro-democracy forces worry about Biden
Some pro-democracy campaigners in Asia are drawn to Trump's willingness to flout diplomatic protocol, abandon international accords and keep his opponents off-balance.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Nov 26, 2020
Amid Thailand’s protests, a feared tool to protect the monarchy returns
Thailand has transformed from a country where criticism of the monarchy was only whispered to a place where protesters have spray-painted 'the king is dead” on Bangkok streets.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Nov 25, 2020
Evidence builds that an early mutation made the pandemic harder to stop
There is no evidence that a coronavirus with the mutation causes more severe symptoms, kills more people or complicates the development of vaccines.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Nov 24, 2020
It was just him and his smiley face. He’s charged with illegal assembly.
A civil rights activist in Singapore faces the charges for holding up a cardboard sign with a smiley face on it near a police station in March.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Nov 19, 2020
Thailand’s protests shatter taboos but so far produce little change
In unison, anti-government protesters Wednesday called the King of Thailand a giant monitor lizard, one of the worst things that can be said of anyone in Thai, and spray-painted bus stops and pavement in the capital’s central business district with graffiti describing his sexual activity.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / FOCUS
Nov 16, 2020
How a human rights angel lost her halo
Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi has turned into an apologist for the very generals who once locked her up, downplaying their murderous campaign against the Rohingya Muslim minority.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Nov 3, 2020
Almost like clockwork, talk of a military coup follows Thai protests
For the protesters, the military's enduring power in a country that markets itself as a modern democracy is as alarming as it is anachronistic.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Oct 17, 2020
Thailand steps up response as anti-government protests escalate
Protesters were forcibly dispersed and two of the movement's participants were charged with violating an obscure law against endangering the royal family.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Oct 15, 2020
As motorcade rolls by, Thai royals glimpse the people’s discontent
For months, pro-democracy protesters have gathered to call for reforms to the monarchy and military, institutions that have dominated Thailand for decades.
Japan Times
WORLD
Sep 26, 2020
‘I feel sorry for Americans’: A baffled world watches the U.S.
Myanmar is a poor country struggling with open ethnic warfare and a coronavirus outbreak that could overload its broken hospitals. That hasn’t stopped its politicians from commiserating with a country they think has lost its way.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Sep 25, 2020
Young women take a front-line role in Thailand’s protests
In addition to political reform, the demonstrations have addressed concerns including abortion, taxes on menstrual products and school rules that force girls to conform to an outdated version of femininity.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Sep 9, 2020
‘Kill all you see’: For first time, Myanmar soldiers tell of Rohingya slaughter
The atrocities described by the two men echo evidence of serious human rights abuses gathered from among more than 1 million Rohingya refugees.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Aug 23, 2020
Threatened by Facebook disinformation, a Buddhist monk flees Cambodia
The case shows how repressive governments can move with stunning speed to disgrace opponents, using social media and technology to amplify their divisive campaigns.

Longform

Akira Oishi (left) and Shinichi Okanobori have taken on the responsibility of surveying the flora and fauna of Mount Tenran and Mount Tonosu in Saitama Prefecture.
Inside Japan's 100-year project to monitor its deteriorating biodiversity