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April 24, 2024
 

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Sui-Lee Wee
For Sui-Lee Wee's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
A worker inspects solar panels that provide electrical power to Istiqlal Mosque in Jakarta, Indonesia, in December 2023. High-ranking scholars and clergy have issued fatwas, or edicts, on how to rein in climate change. On a smaller scale, Muslim activists are telling their friends, family and neighbors that their duty to save the environment is embedded in the Quran.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Apr 17, 2024
What can ‘Green Islam’ achieve in the world’s largest Muslim country?
Proponents of the movement say educating 200 million Muslims on environmental awareness could drive much needed change.
Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak leaves a court in Kuala Lumpur on April 3, 2019.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Feb 3, 2024
Malaysia reduces sentence of disgraced ex-leader Najib Razak
The leniency for Najib comes after weeks of speculation in Malaysia that he might be pardoned by the reigning monarch.
Dang Dinh Bach ran a law and sustainable development policy research center that provided legal aid before he was arrested for tax evasion in Vietnam in 2021. Bach refused to plead guilty and his wife says he has been assaulted in prison by police officers.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Nov 29, 2023
Why Vietnam jailed the environmentalists it used to secure billions
The government has arrested several prominent environmentalists from organizations that shaped policies that helped secure funding.
Philippine fishermen catch fish as the sun rises near the Chinese-controlled Scarborough Shoal in the disputed South China Sea on Sept. 21.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Sep 27, 2023
Tensions with China cross a new line in the South China Sea
The Philippines is pushing back against China’s territorial claims. But Beijing's response has raised fears about an escalation in their ongoing row.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 20, 2023
He promised change in Thailand. But will he be allowed to lead?
Supporters see Pita Limjaroenrat, 42, as a politician who represents change and a return to democracy after nine years of military rule that was preceded by a coup.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 25, 2023
Thailand’s most polarizing family rises again before election
An ousted populist’s daughter seeks office, fueling concerns that the return of a divisive political dynasty may revive instability, too.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Mar 5, 2023
A massacre that rippled through generations in Thailand
A former police officer in rural Thailand shot and stabbed more than two dozen children in their preschool in October, the worst mass shooting by a lone attacker in Thailand’s history.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Mar 5, 2023
A couple in Singapore shared erotic images in a group chat. The fine: $17,000.
Singapore is not an outlier when it comes to obscenity laws, but it often takes a strict stance on violations, even when they occur in the confines of one’s home.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Oct 12, 2022
Young underground reporters ‘fight a gun with a pen’ in Myanmar
The Southeast Asian nation has seen a relentless crackdown on free expression, with a small literary magazine emerging as one of the few remaining independent media outlets.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Sep 24, 2022
In Myanmar, grief and fury after an attack on a school
For more than a year, the army has been battling resistance fighters. Each day brings news of more people dying, mostly civilians.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Jun 4, 2022
From the bones of victims, a doctor unearths the Philippine drug war’s true toll
Forensic pathologist Raquel Fortun is using her skills to show how other doctors falsely claimed some victims of the country's drug war had died natural deaths.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 2, 2022
In the Philippines, young people aim to upend an election
Many have come out in full force for Leni Robredo, the country's vice president, who faces long odds against Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Apr 14, 2022
The Philippines toppled one Marcos. Now his son may become president.
Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has spent decades defending his family's name against accusations of greed and corruption and downplaying the legacy of his father's brutal rule.
Japan Times
OLYMPICS
Feb 16, 2022
Competing in the Winter Games, without a snowball’s chance
Some competitors have been able to make it to the Olympics in part because of a change in qualifying criteria aimed at producing a more diverse field — a change that has garnered scrutiny.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Dec 30, 2021
Stay or go? For Myanmar’s latest wave of refugees, there’s no good choice.
For Biak Tling and his family, who have left Myanmar entirely, it is a life in limbo as they struggle to adapt to a new environment, surrounded by numerous uncertainties about the future.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Nov 15, 2021
As holidays near, bosses try to coax Vietnam’s workers back to factories
Workers have fled their factories, managers are struggling to get them back and economists are forecasting that a full recovery in output will not come until next year.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Oct 27, 2021
Aung San Suu Kyi defends herself during ‘show trial’ in Myanmar
In trying to eliminate her as a political force, the junta's case against Suu Kyi has only elevated her in the eyes of many of her countrymen.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Oct 8, 2021
They had the vaccines and a plan to reopen. Instead they got cold feet.
Many considered Singapore to be a COVID-19 success story in Southeast Asia — but instead of opening up, it's doing the opposite.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Sep 30, 2021
How Asia, once a vaccination laggard, is revving up inoculations
Overall, most Asians trusted their governments to do the right thing and put the needs of the community over individual freedoms.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Aug 21, 2021
As Chinese vaccines stumble, U.S. finds new opening in Asia
Several Southeast Asian nations are raising doubts about the efficacy of China's vaccines. The Biden administration has recently offered to provide shots, “no strings attached.”
'Sugar Baby Riri' gets nine-year prison term over romance scam
Mai Watanabe, who went by the moniker “Sugar Baby Riri,” dated older men and swindled them out of money by telling them fictitious heartbreaking stories about herself to gain their sympathy.
Japan’s cannabis market growing rapidly amid regulatory shift
The legality of products that contain cannabinoids, a group of substances derived from the cannabis plant, has been somewhat murky in Japan.
An AI star seeks to bring self-driving cars to Japan by 2030
Japanese startup Turing plans to unveil a self-driving car with at least 30 minutes’ driving range next year and develop a fully autonomous car by 2030.
Tokyo issues strong warning on yen intervention as currency dips further
Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki speaks during a meeting with U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and South Korean Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok on the sidelines of IMF and G20 meetings in Washington last week.
The story isn't over for Japan's bookstores
Later this month, author Shogo Imamura will open Honmaru, a bookstore that allows other businesses to rent its shelves. It's part of a wave of ideas Japanese booksellers are trying to compete with online spaces.
New workers name Shohei Ohtani as 'dream boss' for two years running
Shohei Ohtani has been overwhelmingly voted as the “dream boss” for people who started working in April, according to a survey.
A craft beer crawl through Tokyo’s top bars, brewpubs and dives
If all you drink is Asahi, Sapporo and Kirin, you're depriving yourself of some of the best craft beer Tokyo has to offer — and there sure is a lot of it out there.
'Sugar Baby Riri' gets nine-year prison term over romance scam
Mai Watanabe, who went by the moniker “Sugar Baby Riri,” dated older men and swindled them out of money by telling them fictitious heartbreaking stories about herself to gain their sympathy.
Tsukiji 2030s: A stadium, culinary center and transportation hub
A computer-generated image shows redevelopment plans for the former site of the Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo.
Hearing the impact of climate change in Okinawa, one bird call at a time
Toshihiro Kinjo (center), a research support technician at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology, inspects an audio recording device in Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture, on April 3 as Masako Ogasawara, a research support specialist at OIST, looks on.

Podcast

From easily navigable train stations to the helpfulness of its municipal staff, Tokyo has earned high praise for its commitment to accessibility for disabled travelers.
[Rebroadcast] Japan is doing better on accessibility than you may think

Longform

Later this month, author Shogo Imamura will open Honmaru, a bookstore that allows other businesses to rent its shelves. It's part of a wave of ideas Japanese booksellers are trying to compete with online spaces.
The story isn't over for Japan's bookstores
By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

A young restaurant leads the way in Karuizawa
A young restaurant leads the way in Karuizawa

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