About Asia

Jul 21 2024 100 ep. 33 mins 2.8k
About Asia Podcast artwork

Let’s talk… About Asia by looking deep into the stories unfolding on the world’s most populous continent. Each episode showcases the reportage of SCMP’s journalists across Asia and in-depth interviews with experts, putting context and analysis to current affairs.

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‘Anti-woke’ movement recruits teen boys across Asia

Jul 21 2024 17 mins  
More Asian internet users are influenced by far-right causes including white supremacism in the digital age. Listen to Post reporter Kimberly Lim explain more about the ‘anti-woke’ movement’s slow creep in the region, while experts Munira Mustaffa, Jo Krishnakumar and Rizky Rahadianto provide context on how the internet has become so divisive. Read more: https://sc.mp/h43aw

Anwar Ibrahim on navigating Malaysia through China-US tensions

Jun 16 2024 28 mins  
How does a country deepen its relationship and do business with China without risking retaliation by the US and its allies? How can a nation protect its territorial claims in the South China Sea yet maintain a delicate balancing act with its neighbours with their own views and claims? Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim discusses these issues and more, including his deep anguish

Why Japan’s Harajuku is enjoying a surprising fashion revival

May 26 2024 19 mins  
Harajuku, a neighbourhood in the Japanese capital Tokyo, has long been known as the birthplace of some incredibly colourful and unique fashion subcultures. The district had gone relatively quiet for years, but now one of its best-known styles called decora is staging a surprise comeback. In this episode of About Asia, we chart the rise, fall and rebirth of Harajuku’s fashion scen

Unravelling China and India’s roles in the US fentanyl crisis

Apr 11 2024 20 mins  
The US has been grappling with an opioid crisis for decades, but the problem has been exacerbated by the arrival of fentanyl – a synthetic drug 50 times more potent than heroin. What roles do China and India play in the global illicit fentanyl trade? Post correspondent Khushboo Razdan and independent investigative journalist Ben Westhoff walk us through their reporting. For more

Will Japan give Oppenheimer a chance?

Mar 25 2024 28 mins  
Oppenheimer will finally make its Japan premier on March 29, 2024, eight months after the film’s world debut. How will the only country to suffer wartime atomic bombings react to a biopic about the American physicist who led efforts to build the first such weapons of mass destruction? Yuki Miyamoto, a nuclear ethics professor at DePaul University who has seen Oppenheimer three ti

Why India’s Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) is so controversial

Mar 19 2024 27 mins  
Protests continue in India against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), which many say is a Hindu nationalist campaign targeting Muslims, spearheaded by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Post spoke with independent journalist Angad Singh for more. Read more on this: https://sc.mp/5396d3

Why Japan’s yakuza crime groups are on the verge of disappearing

Mar 14 2024 28 mins  
The yakuza are seeing a pop cultural renaissance with hit TV shows like Tokyo Vice and video games such as Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth. In reality, however, the Japanese organised crime groups are in serious decline. But do their shrinking numbers tell the whole story? To learn more, the Post’s Jonathan Vit spoke with Dr Martina Baradel, a criminologist at the University of Ox

Inside China: What if Trump wins?

Mar 05 2024 37 mins  
How might a second Trump presidency affect US relations with China, North Korea, Japan, Asean, India and more? Post US bureau chief Robert Delaney compares and analyses the foreign policies of incumbent President Joe Biden and his predecessor Donald Trump and explores whether Beijing prefers one over the other. Read the latest on the US presidential 2024 elections: https://sc.mp/0d

Ageing and fertility: why Asian women are freezing their eggs

Mar 03 2024 22 mins  
A growing number of women are freezing their eggs as a means of prolonging their fertility, but what are the economic and social barriers they face along the way? The Post spoke with Dr Geetha Venkat to learn more. Read more on this: https://sc.mp/3hse

Why the Philippines’ Duterte-Marcos alliance is disintegrating

Feb 21 2024 18 mins  
The political marriage of the Philippines’ two most powerful families appears to be crumbling. Lucio Blanco Pitlo III, research fellow at the Asia-Pacific Pathways to Progress Foundation, explains the history behind the apparent feud between President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr and his predecessor Rodrigo Duterte, and its potential implication to the country’s political future. For t