China has invested massively in its space capabilities in recent years and is now a major competitor with the US. But according to a space policy expert, the US still dominates space by most measures.
Images of the 2011 tsunami did not look as I had expected, and pointed to the sublime, when experience exceeds our frameworks of understanding. My exhibit ‘Salients’ treats this theme.
A virtual walking tour traces the route of a white mob that attacked Asian communities of Vancouver in 1907. Learning about past contexts may shed light on the recent surge in anti-Asian violence.
Japan’s traditional mafia organisation, the yakuza, has become almost respectable, leaving space for more violent Chinese gangs to muscle in on their turf.
Hotei, a Japanese god who carries a large sack, has come to be identified with Santa Claus – except that he brings the goodies on New Year’s Day instead of Christmas.
Twenty-five years on from his promise to become “the very best”, Ash Ketchum has won the Pokémon World Championship. But for a franchise that’s always evolving, this is far from the end.
Shinto and Buddhist ideas about interconnectedness have deeply influenced Japan, shaping centuries-old rituals and stories whose impact continues today.
The Soviet Union was a latecomer to industrial whaling, but it slaughtered whales by the thousands once it started and radically under-reported its take to international monitors.