Category Archives: Asia Pacific

A city built on water: the hidden rivers under Tokyo’s concrete and neon

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More than 100 rivers and canals flow beneath Tokyo, but from the ground it’s hard to notice them. Why has the city turned its back on water?

Of the near-endless flow of people over the busy Shibuya scramble crossing every day, few realise that beneath their feet is something else flowing, unseen and unnoticed: the crossing of two ancient rivers, the Uda and the Onden.

Beneath all the concrete and neon, Tokyo is a city built on water. It is the reason the Japanese capital’s 37 million citizens are here at all. From fishing village to seat of political power, canny water management was a key driver of the city’s extraordinary growth.

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Hong Kong protests: activists call for further action

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People urged to continue protests after day of violent clashes with police

Activists in Hong Kong have called for a march on Sunday and a boycott of work and classes on Monday in protest against an extradition bill that could result in suspects being sent to mainland China.

On Thursday, a day after a demonstration by thousands of people was violently cleared, a group of pro-democracy politicians and activists tried to march on the residence of Hong Kong’s chief executive, Carrie Lam, but were stopped by police.

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‘There are almost no women in power’: Tokyo’s female workers demand change

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Japan has a 27.5% gender pay gap and ranks just 110th in the world for gender equality – but social change is slowly happening

Last week, after Yumi Ishikawa’s petition against being forced to wear high heels at work went viral around the world, responses ranged from solidarity – with some cheering Ishikawa and denouncing “modern footbinding” – to surprised disappointment. In 2019, in a liberal democracy such as Japan, could the issue of women’s rights still be stuck on stilettos?

But the global spotlight on the hashtag #KuToo (a pun on a word for shoes and a word for pain) may have obscured what’s really happening in Japan. “It’s so trivial,” says one senior female publishing executive, who wished to remain anonymous. After all, on the streets of Tokyo, there is a growing movement for real change for women, not merely more comfortable footwear.

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Earliest known signs of cannabis smoking unearthed in China

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Incense burners found at 2,500-year-old cemetery suggest intentional use of to get high

Scorched wooden incense burners unearthed at an ancient burial ground in the mountains of western China contain the oldest clear evidence of cannabis smoking yet found, archaeologists say.

Residues of high potency cannabis found in the burners, and on charred pebbles placed inside them, suggest that funeral rites at the 2,500-year-old Jirzankal cemetery in the Pamir mountains may have been rather hazy affairs.

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Street protesters dig in for Hong Kong’s ‘last battle’

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The demonstrators are less idealistic than in 2014, and the police respond more forcefully

At the end of pro-democracy protests that paralysed central Hong Kong for 79 days in 2014, demonstrators left behind glitter bombs and stickers with the outline of an umbrella and the message: “We’ll be back.”

More than four years later, they have made good on that promise. Since Tuesday evening, thousands of protesters have poured into the streets, surrounding their government. They blocked roads, built barricades, and occupied many of the same areas that were under siege during the Occupy protests, also known as the “umbrella movement”, a campaign for “genuine democracy” in elections. Like in 2014, they have clashed with riot police and suffered rounds of teargas.

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Carlos Ghosn’s former home: inside Tokyo’s notorious detention centre

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Short tour allowed inside Japanese prison accused of keeping suspects in conditions designed to ‘break’ them for confessions

The forbidding outline of Tokyo detention centre is impossible to miss, even on a dark, wet afternoon in early June. The X-shaped building dominates the skyline of the unfashionable Kosuge neighbourhood in the city’s north-east.

Aside from brief eruptions of media interest when a high-profile killer is led to the gallows, for much of the time there is little public scrutiny of its occupants – more than 1,600 inmates and about 800 staff.

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Hong Kong protest: demonstrators and police face off over extradition bill – live

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Tens of thousands of people have gathered in Hong Kong as politicians debate controversial extradition legislation

An extraordinary image from Hong Kong of police officers using a water cannon on a single protester.

Police officers use a water canon on a lone protestor near the government headquarters in Hong Kong

@AntAFP pic.twitter.com/jFxKZhSVx8

Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of the protests in Hong Kong, where tens of thousands of demonstrators have gathered as politicians debate controversial extradition legislation.

Early on Wednesday, major roads were blocked by masses of protesters, who began systematically barricades set up by police near the legislative council building and chanting “retract, retract!” Demonstrators are protesting laws that critics fear would let China spirit its critics across the border.

#LIVE: Police earlier unfurled an orange flag with the words "disperse or we fire" on Tim Mei Avenue, which briefly heightened tension with protesters https://t.co/fpKl8rH1bn #extraditionbill pic.twitter.com/aBRHklS890

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Hong Kong: tens of thousands of protesters gather as extradition debate looms

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Major roads blocked and citywide shutdown expected on Wednesday as hundreds of businesses call for a boycott

Tens of thousands of demonstrators have gathered in Hong Kong, blocking major roads and sporadically clashing with police as politicians prepared to debate extradition legislation that critics fear would let China spirit its critics across the border.

Protesters gathered around the legislative council building, dismantling and pushing down barricades set up by police and chanting “retract, retract!” Large numbers of riot police have been deployed, using pepper spray on protesters and holding up signs warning they were prepared to use force on the crowds.

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Backlash in Samoa over ‘hypocritical’ Rocketman ban

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Activists accuse censors of ‘selective morality’ in nation where transgender women are widely accepted

The banning of Rocketman, a biographic film about the life of musician Elton John, in Samoa has prompted criticism by human rights activists of “selective morality” in a country where transgender women are widely accepted.

The public found out about the ban through the cancellation of a screening by the only theatre in the country, Apollo Cinemas Samoa, on Monday.

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これは”もしも”の話じゃない－100年に一度の震災に備える東京

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Xデーと呼ばれる日－世界で最も過密な都市の直下で大地震が起きれば、第二次世界大戦以来の甚大な被害が予想される。先端技術は東京を救えるか。

東京都港区。毎日午後5時になると、区内のスピーカーから童謡「夕焼け小焼け」のやさしいメロディーが鳴り渡る。人口3700万人を抱えるこの巨大都市では学校や公園など至る所にこうしたスピーカーが設置され、その数は数百台にものぼる。

毎日鳴るこのメロディーには、夜の訪れを知らせる以上の意味がある。人類史上最悪となりうる自然災害から東京都民を守るためのシステムをテストしているのだ。その災害とは、地球上最も過密な都市を直撃する地震だ。

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‘This is not a “what if” story’: Tokyo braces for the earthquake of a century

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They call it X Day – a major earthquake striking the heart of the world’s most populous city in the most calamitous event since the second world war. Can hi-tech solutions save Tokyo?

Every day, at 5pm, the gentle melody of the children’s song Yuyake Koyake chimes across the Minato area of Tokyo from a loudspeaker – one of hundreds dotted across schools and parks throughout this megacity of 37 million people.

The daily jingle does more than signify the arrival of evening. It is a test for the system that is designed to save Tokyoites from what would be one of the worst natural disasters in recorded human history: an earthquake striking the centre of the most populous city on Earth.

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Mystery deaths among indigenous Malaysians prompt speculation

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Infectious disease, pollution and water poisoning among suspected causes of deaths

It was in May that the mysterious illness first took hold.

In their isolated rainforest home in the Malaysian state of Kelantan, members of the Batek tribe, the country’s last indigenous nomadic community, began experiencing a fever and breathing difficulties. Then, one by one, they started dying.

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Samoa bans Elton John biopic Rocketman over gay scenes

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Pacific nation’s censor says homosexual activity depicted on screen violates its laws

The Pacific nation of Samoa has banned the Elton John biopic Rocketman because of its depictions of homosexuality.

About 97% of people in Samoa identify as Christian, and the society is generally considered conservative and traditional. Under Samoa’s 2013 Crimes Act, sodomy is deemed an offence punishable by up to seven years in prison, even if both parties consent.

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Unbuilt Tokyo: ‘depthscrapers’ and a million-person pyramid

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Had the creators of the underground skyscraper had their way, the Japanese capital might have looked very different indeed

Protected by cylindrical walls of reinforced concrete, the steel and glass “depthscrapers” extend hundreds of metres underground. Only a single floor of each inverted 35-storey skyscraper is visible at ground level.

Giant mirrors mounted directly above the central wells reflect sunlight to the apartments below. Prismatic glass ensures even light throughout the day, while fresh, conditioned air is pumped down from the surface.

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Death by clubbing: the brutality of Thailand’s pig slaughterhouses

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Humane killing practices are virtually unknown in the majority of Thailand’s abattoirs, say campaigners, with millions of pigs dying in pain

All photographs by Jo-Anne McArthur/We Animals

Warning: this article includes some graphic images that some readers may find distressing

Photos of shirtless workers clubbing pigs with bats in a Thai slaughterhouse have prompted campaigners to call for wider training and monitoring of humane welfare practices.

Undercover images taken in the central Thailand abattoir and shared with the Guardian also shows workers stunning the animals on their eyes with what appear to be homemade stunning machines, contrary to equipment recommendations.

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Forest twice size of UK destroyed in decade for big consumer brands – report

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Greenpeace estimates 50m hectares cleared by 2020, warning companies must evolve to prevent ‘climate breakdown’

An area twice the size of the UK has been destroyed for products such as palm oil and soy over the last decade, according to analysis by Greenpeace International.

In 2010, members of the Consumer Goods Forum, including some of the world’s biggest consumer brands, pledged to eliminate deforestation by 2020, through the sustainable sourcing of four commodities most linked to forest destruction: soya, palm oil, paper and pulp, and cattle.

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Labor holds off supporting Indonesian free trade agreement

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ALP had pledged to renegotiate agreement if it won office but will now wait until parliament resume to decide whether to ratify it

Labor is holding out its support for the Indonesian free trade agreement signed off by the Coalition in the previous parliament, as the trade minister, Simon Birmingham, warns against a retreat into protectionism following a meeting of G20 trade ministers.

Speaking to Guardian Australia following the meeting in Tokyo over the weekend, Birmingham said that given trade tensions between China and the US, the country’s signed agreements with Indonesia, Peru and Hong Kong carry additional importance.

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東京の転換点：日本の首都はついに開かれるのか

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日本が移民を受け入れ、その首都がオリンピックの開催準備を進める2019年は、世界最大のメガロポリスが真のグローバル都市になる年かもしれない

暖かい5月の夜、東京・歌舞伎町にある思い出横丁の狭い路地では、背もたれのない椅子に腰かけた旅行者たちが、英語で書かれた焼き鳥のメニューを熱心に眺めている。また、ある者たちは、燃えるようなド派手な「ロボットレストラン」へと押し寄せ、ネオンの光輝く洞窟のようなホールでアニマトロニックなキャラクターたちのダンスを楽しんでいる。そうかと思えば、この街を舞台にしたSF映画に登場したネメシス、「ゴジラ」の前で自撮りにいそしむ人たちもいる。隣町の渋谷の路上では、マリオやルイジといったマリオカートのキャラクターを真似たと思しきコスチュームを着て、ゴーカートの隊列を走らせている。（先週、任天堂は「マリカー」に対する著作権侵害の裁判で二度目の勝訴を得た。）

何十年にもわたり、訪れる者に対して閉鎖的な都市として有名であった日本の首都が、ついに外の世界へと開かれようとしている。昨年、観光客数は記録的な水準にまで増加した。特に中国からの観光客数の伸びが顕著だが、他の欧米諸国からの観光客も同様である。来年の夏には、東京はオリンピックとパラリンピックでその門戸を大きく開放する。日本は、制限的なことで有名であった入国管理法令を緩和したが、この動きは確実に東京の姿を一変させるだろう。東京には、既にコワーキングスペースや本格的なカフェ、海外ブランドのブティックをはじめとして、「グローバル」都市を彩る要素が点在している。

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