https://www.scmp.com/rss/13956/feed Based in Asia since 1987, Christopher Johnson (www.globalitemagazine.com) is author of Siamese Dreams, Kobe Blue and Freedom’s Rainbow. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com It’s 3am on a mid-February night, and Yardley Wong is trapped in a windowless ship’s cabin, unable to run from an enemy she can’t see, with crew members standing outside in the hall like prison guards. Staring at the walls for three days and nights, she and her family have tried to overcome their fears. Wong, 43, has spent the time frequently washing her hands with soap for 20 seconds and checking her temperature every hour. She has sprayed disinfectant on the family’s clothing and shoes, and... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/3077058/cabin-fever-life-aboard-quarantined-diamond?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/3077058/cabin-fever-life-aboard-quarantined-diamond?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 29 Mar 2020 06:00:17 +0000 Idyllic Okinawa, Japan’s southernmost prefecture, has only reported three confirmed coronavirus cases since passengers from the disease-riddled Diamond Princess cruise ship came ashore in the capital of Naha five weeks ago. Excluding cruise ship passengers, about 330 people throughout Japan have tested positive for the virus, with about one-third of patients coming from the northernmost prefecture of Hokkaido, a winter wonderland popular with Chinese tourists where the governor declared a state... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3065271/japans-coronavirus-response-questioned-tourism?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3065271/japans-coronavirus-response-questioned-tourism?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 05 Mar 2020 23:30:11 +0000 When California lawyers Matthew Smith and Katherine Codekas checked into a hotel in Tokyo last weekend, they decided not to hide where they had been. The couple, along with about 900 other passengers, were released from February 19 to 21 after a two-week quarantine on the Diamond Princess cruise ship, where a coronavirus outbreak has left more than 700 people infected and killed four Japanese nationals. Foreign governments evacuated hundreds of their citizens, including about 300 United States... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3052953/coronavirus-diamond-princess-guest-slammed-ugly?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3052953/coronavirus-diamond-princess-guest-slammed-ugly?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 28 Feb 2020 13:19:23 +0000 The cruise ship ordeal for about 150 Hongkongers stuck in Japan was set to continue into Friday night, as rival governments competed for airlift slots and the number of locals infected with Covid-19 on the Diamond Princess jumped by 10 on Thursday to 65. Officials said their plan to evacuate more residents on Thursday night had to be abandoned when Tokyo said another territory had priority, confirming an earlier Post report that the second flight would be delayed. Immigration director Erick... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/3051499/coronavirus-nightmare-cruise-finally-over-diamond?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/3051499/coronavirus-nightmare-cruise-finally-over-diamond?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 20 Feb 2020 00:48:01 +0000 Tennis Australia is increasingly the most aggressive federation in the world, venturing into markets in Europe and America. They are investing heavily in team tennis by backing the Laver Cup and launching the ATP Cup in Australian cities next year in direct competition with the revamped 119-year-old Davis Cup, long the crown jewel of the International Tennis Federation. Boasting the support of Chinese investors Tennis Australia is also claiming credit for the region’s tennis boom. Although China... https://www.scmp.com/sport/tennis/article/2183146/tennis-australia-goes-strength-strength-playing-standards-continue-slip?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/tennis/article/2183146/tennis-australia-goes-strength-strength-playing-standards-continue-slip?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 23 Jan 2019 03:28:32 +0000 Head down examining my camera, I was walking through a corridor below centre court in Rome in 2017 when my nose bumped into the sweaty chest of a wild beast hooked up to wires tying him to the stadium. This was the ultimate image of Andy Murray: a mad Scotsman, stretching in silent agony, determined to play on a stage that is a prison and palace for the obsessives and perfectionists at his maniac level. But I couldn’t take that photo. Murray, recognising me from covering tournaments since he was... https://www.scmp.com/sport/tennis/article/2181976/andy-murray-how-gawky-shy-teenager-battled-become-one-worlds-best-and?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/tennis/article/2181976/andy-murray-how-gawky-shy-teenager-battled-become-one-worlds-best-and?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 14 Jan 2019 07:45:00 +0000 A clear pattern has emerged in recent years as strident nations such as China, Russia, Turkey and Saudi Arabia increasingly exploit weakness in the doormat diplomacy of the United States, Canada, Germany, France and other Western nations losing clout on the world stage. Machiavellian strongmen such as Vladimir Putin, Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Mohammed bin Salman are taking advantage of voters’ fetish for “cute” compliant leaders: the boy wonders Emmanuel Macron, 41, and Justin Trudeau, 47; the... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/united-states/article/2178488/strongman-leaders-are-rise-blame-it-wests?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/united-states/article/2178488/strongman-leaders-are-rise-blame-it-wests?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 18 Dec 2018 11:02:31 +0000 A good umpire has to remain fair, impartial, and aware of the situation and stakes before interpreting and enforcing rules. Above all else, an umpire should never impact the outcome of a match. Carlos Ramos, of Portugal, like a long list of other over-active umpires and officials in tennis, overstepped his boundaries and turned the most brilliant match of the year into the most bizarre grand slam final in recent tennis history. Ramos, ignoring recent shifts towards allowing on-court coaching at... https://www.scmp.com/sport/tennis/article/2163420/us-open-sexism-against-serena-organisers-and-umpire-carlos-ramos-owe?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/tennis/article/2163420/us-open-sexism-against-serena-organisers-and-umpire-carlos-ramos-owe?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 09 Sep 2018 07:15:53 +0000 While Serena Williams was playing for a spot in the semi-finals at Wimbledon, another 36-year-old mother, Li Na, was content to relive old times a few courts away with other legends. The most successful Asian ever was playing a friendly match on court 2 in a legends event with other retirees such as Ai Sugiyama and Tracy Austin. Li said she did not regret her decision to retire in 2014, months after winning the Australian Open. While Williams has continued to dominate the tour, Li has focused on... https://www.scmp.com/sport/tennis/article/2154776/serena-williams-v-li-na-tale-two-mothers-one-focuses-winning-wimbledon?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/tennis/article/2154776/serena-williams-v-li-na-tale-two-mothers-one-focuses-winning-wimbledon?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 11 Jul 2018 05:30:59 +0000 Growing up near Shanghai in the 1970s and ’80s, Wen Zhou never saw a tennis court, but she did borrow a racquet from her roommate at Fudan University to hit a ball against a wall. “I never could dream that my daughter would win matches at Wimbledon,” Wen said. “I didn’t even know what Wimbledon was.” She and her family know a lot about Wimbledon now. Wen’s daughter, Claire Liu, won her first ever main draw match at Wimbledon on Tuesday, beating Ana Konjuh of Croatia 6-2, 6-7 (7-2), 6-3. Liu, who... https://www.scmp.com/sport/tennis/article/2153848/wimbledon-star-claire-liu-new-champion-asian-americans-even-if-her?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/tennis/article/2153848/wimbledon-star-claire-liu-new-champion-asian-americans-even-if-her?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 05 Jul 2018 03:30:00 +0000 China’s Wang Qiang is turning heads and making a name for herself after reaching the third round of a grand slam event for the first time at the French Open and her early success is already drawing comparisons with retired compatriot Li Na, who ruled Roland Garros in 2011. A first-round victory against American great Venus Williams was a huge morale booster but when the 26-year-old Tianjin native crushed volatile Petra Martic, of Croatia, 6-1, 6-1 in the second round, she was spoken about in the... https://www.scmp.com/sport/tennis/article/2148705/could-wang-qiang-be-next-li-na-chinese-star-makes-presence-felt-french?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/tennis/article/2148705/could-wang-qiang-be-next-li-na-chinese-star-makes-presence-felt-french?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 31 May 2018 12:15:30 +0000 Bishop Desmond Tutu, Malala Yousafzai, Justin Trudeau and many others are pressuring Aung San Suu Kyi over her response to the ethnic cleansing of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar’s Rakhine state. More than 400,000 signed a Change.org petition to take back Suu Kyi’s 1991 Nobel Peace Prize, and 20,000 want her honorary Canadian citizenship revoked. Do they understand Myanmar’s politics and history of ethnic violence better than her? Of course not, and they should stop smearing a woman who, like... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2111662/attacking-aung-san-suu-kyi-wont-save-rohingya-she-still-best?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2111662/attacking-aung-san-suu-kyi-wont-save-rohingya-she-still-best?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 18 Sep 2017 07:15:45 +0000 Like the Japanese tsunami, flooding in Thailand is causing widespread death, displacement and disruptions of global supply chains for cameras, computers and cars. Yet it's not even clear who is overseeing the crisis in Bangkok: fugitive former leader Thaksin Shinawatra, exiled in Dubai; or his sister, neophyte Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, who has never managed a disaster. The global stakes are high. Thailand, the world's leading rice exporter, has already lost a quarter of this year's... https://www.scmp.com/article/982933/catastrophic-failures-inept-governments?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/982933/catastrophic-failures-inept-governments?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 25 Oct 2011 16:00:00 +0000 The Kobe earthquake at 5.46am on January 17, 1995, gave Japan 16 years to prepare for the Tohoku earthquake at 2.46pm on March 11, 2011. The numbers 46 are eerily the same, and four is the number of death in Japan. But the disasters required entirely different responses, and Japan's chronic lack of flexibility to adjust policy on the fly has hampered official responses to the triple disasters of earthquake, tsunami and nuclear meltdown. The Kobe earthquake, which killed more than 6,400,... https://www.scmp.com/article/742297/kobe-quake-gave-lessons-future-many-have-gone-unlearned?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/742297/kobe-quake-gave-lessons-future-many-have-gone-unlearned?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 27 Mar 2011 16:00:00 +0000 A lack of criticism has long been the root of Japan's malaise, insularity and inability to manage a crisis. Criticism from the outside, known as gai-atsu in Japanese, can help Japan's long-term recovery and reconstruction; indeed, many Japanese say their society needs it. But foreigners who solely blame Prime Minister Naoto Kan for the nuclear crisis are pointing fingers in the wrong direction, and they need to understand the dynamics of power behind the scenes that has led Japan into its... https://www.scmp.com/article/741673/dont-blame-kan-nuclear-crisis?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/741673/dont-blame-kan-nuclear-crisis?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 22 Mar 2011 16:00:00 +0000 Though she lost a grand slam final to a superior player, Li Na had many reasons to leave the Australian Open with a smile and a few parting jokes as well. First of all, she became the first Chinese woman ever to reach a grand slam singles final, and won US$1.1 million, a third of her career earnings; Kim Clijsters' victory cheque was US$2.2 million. After losing the first two games without a point, Li won the first set 6-3 over veteran champion Clijsters, with a composure that almost lulled a... https://www.scmp.com/article/737151/li-sees-silver-lining-after-grand-slam-heartbreak?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/737151/li-sees-silver-lining-after-grand-slam-heartbreak?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 29 Jan 2011 16:00:00 +0000 In some ways, today's women's singles final at the Australian Open seems like a mismatch: Li Na, 1.3 billion Chinese, and the global tennis marketing machine, versus 27-year-old mother Kim Clijsters from Belgium. Look beyond race and appearances, and Li and Clijsters are almost mirror images of each other. They are both lovable, down-to-earth women who are much older than most of their opponents. They have both lost fathers, and have built supportive, family-like teams around them. Clijsters... https://www.scmp.com/article/737060/13-billion-pairs-eyes-trained-underdog-li?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/737060/13-billion-pairs-eyes-trained-underdog-li?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 28 Jan 2011 16:00:00 +0000 Li Na's semi-final win at the Australian Open yesterday was not only the greatest victory in the history of Chinese women's tennis, it was another chance for her to lampoon her mother and husband-coach before a footloose Melbourne crowd. In the post-match TV interview on court, she admitted she was nervous. 'I didn't sleep. My husband was snoring. I woke up every hour,' she said, as her husband, Jiang Shan, laughed from the coach's box. Asked what got her through the gruelling two-hour,... https://www.scmp.com/article/736927/triumphant-li-na-spills-few-family-secrets-way-final?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/736927/triumphant-li-na-spills-few-family-secrets-way-final?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 27 Jan 2011 16:00:00 +0000 Down match point in a grand slam semi-final she was giving away, Li Na knew she could rely on her mental toughness forged through hardship in the industrial city of Wuhan. Losing a match would be nothing like losing her father when she was 14, and then growing up an only child with a hard-working mother who, though not interested in sports, let her follow her passion for tennis. 'I always try to stay positive, and my team gives me good energy,' Li, 28, told the South China Morning Post in an ... https://www.scmp.com/article/736962/li-gets-going-when-going-gets-tough?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/736962/li-gets-going-when-going-gets-tough?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 27 Jan 2011 16:00:00 +0000 When I walked out of my Rangoon apartment one humid Saturday morning in 1996 to watch Aung San Suu Kyi speak in front of her house, it seemed change was coming to Burma. Since then, not enough has changed. Generals and warlords dominate politics, journalists are still denied visas, and Suu Kyi is again speaking to thousands. Viewed by many locals as a 'democracy angel' with little real chance of ruling Burma, it's probably too late - 20 years, to be exact - for her to claim the leadership she... https://www.scmp.com/article/731288/role-suu-kyi-roving-ambassador?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/731288/role-suu-kyi-roving-ambassador?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 21 Nov 2010 16:00:00 +0000 After two months of conflict that left more than 80 dead and 1,400 injured, Thailand has never had a greater need for change. Thais are ashamed that their violent side, hidden from tourists by a 'Land of Smiles' public relations campaign, has been revealed to the world. Many Thais are appalled at both the government's overwrought crackdown on a relatively small group of mostly middle-aged peasants and migrant workers, and the burning of more than 30 major buildings by incensed protesters and... https://www.scmp.com/article/715215/land-smiles-must-deal-its-dark-side?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/715215/land-smiles-must-deal-its-dark-side?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 24 May 2010 16:00:00 +0000 Thailand's latest rebellion shows that the nation needs a 'social contract' between the elites and the servant class. Even if Thai protesters in red shirts haven't read the work of philosophers Hobbes, Locke and Rousseau, they recognise that the present patron-client system based on pii-nong relationships (literally, elder and junior) is no longer sufficient. Many in the traditional underclass of poor, dark-skinned labourers from the north are not satisfied to work as maids and construction... https://www.scmp.com/article/711319/red-shirts-target-social-chasm?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/711319/red-shirts-target-social-chasm?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 13 Apr 2010 16:00:00 +0000 As crisis counsellors know, potential suicide victims often feel they have too far to fall. Many of the 120,000 financial workers who have lost high-paying jobs must be feeling this as well. But they should also consider reasons why the world will ultimately gain from this year's financial losses. Slowing economies will pour less toxins into rivers and the air, and give Chinese factory workers and miners - who take greater risks than Wall Street investors - a chance to breathe. A decline in... https://www.scmp.com/article/656938/global-slowdown-will-be-good-world?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/656938/global-slowdown-will-be-good-world?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 19 Oct 2008 16:00:00 +0000 Thubten lives near Barkhor Square in the heart of old Lhasa. Last month, before Tibet erupted with the most intense anti-Chinese riots in a decade, she led the way into a dark courtyard of residences where chunks of yak flesh festered with flies and women washed clothes in murky water. The stairwell reeks of vomit and faeces but this doesn't seem to bother the residents, who say they live on a spiritual level above material squalor. 'These are prayer flags,' Thubten says, pointing to... https://www.scmp.com/article/632744/high-anxiety?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/632744/high-anxiety?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 05 Apr 2008 16:00:00 +0000 Western leaders proposing sanctions against Myanmar need to examine the nuts and bolts of the Myanmese economy in order to avoid harming ordinary people. They are already suffering from exorbitant living costs, a plummeting currency and isolation since the latest military crackdown on peaceful protesters. A recent visit to Myanmar's southernmost port town, Kaw Thaung, shows how reliant the locals have become on trade with neighbouring countries. Over the past decade, increasing numbers of Thai... https://www.scmp.com/article/611627/myanmars-border-towns-gasp-economic-life?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/611627/myanmars-border-towns-gasp-economic-life?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 14 Oct 2007 16:00:00 +0000 Japanese often claim supremacy over 'less advanced' Asian nations based on their ability to export 'more advanced' products, such as nuclear technology to China. But critics differentiate between its sophisticated hardware, such as environmentally friendly cars, and its awkward software, like dealing with an earthquake at the world's most powerful nuclear plant. At a time when international attention was supposed to be focused on North Korea's nuclear sites, the International Atomic Energy... https://www.scmp.com/article/601846/introspective-japans-dangerous-fault-line?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/601846/introspective-japans-dangerous-fault-line?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 25 Jul 2007 16:00:00 +0000 Rulers in Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia must have been looking over their shoulders when their neighbours in Thailand overthrew a strongman who, like them, had tried to dominate the instruments of government. On the one hand, the relative lack of violence in Thailand's regime change shows the distaste for blood across a region that is increasingly linked by transport and trade. On the other, Thailand's 'silk revolution', which took two years to unfold, provides a model for overthrowing entrenched... https://www.scmp.com/article/596101/mantra-trade-not-revolution?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/596101/mantra-trade-not-revolution?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 08 Jun 2007 16:00:00 +0000 Instead of blaming 'novice' mainland speculators for upsetting global stock markets, investors should examine how officials from Tokyo to Thailand - as well as Washington - are manipulating the world economy. After watching global markets lose about US$1 trillion in value last week, some observers in this region, known for its economic dragons, have begun blaming market moves on 'dragonomics' - in which officials drag markets up or down to suit their agendas. China's one-party government has... https://www.scmp.com/article/583948/domino-effect-dragonomics?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/583948/domino-effect-dragonomics?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 05 Mar 2007 16:00:00 +0000 Europeans who seek measures against the weakness of the yen should broaden their view of chronic problems in Japan - to avoid punishing Japanese consumers and stalling economic growth in the region, which benefits from a weak yen. The currency has fallen 11 per cent against the euro in the past year. Finance ministers from Germany, France and Italy said last week that this decline would be discussed at a Group of Seven meeting between central bankers and finance ministers in Essen, Germany,... https://www.scmp.com/article/581284/bolster-dont-bash-japans-economy?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/581284/bolster-dont-bash-japans-economy?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 08 Feb 2007 16:00:00 +0000 Li Na says succeeding on the professional tennis tour is more important to her than the Beijing Olympics next year. 'The Olympic Games are more important for China's [tennis] federation, not for the players,' she said in Tokyo yesterday. 'For me, the grand slam is more important.' Ranked 17th in the world, Li, 24, spoke after beating American Lilia Osterloh 6-3, 6-2 in the first round of the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo. 'The Olympics are in Beijing next year, so the federation is paying... https://www.scmp.com/article/580151/li-rates-success-tour-above-beijing-olympics?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/580151/li-rates-success-tour-above-beijing-olympics?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 30 Jan 2007 16:00:00 +0000 If he wasn't the world's greatest tennis player, you'd think he was royalty, or Bono, or a diplomat at least. Fluent in four languages, and a world traveller since the age of 14, he immediately grasps the essence of Japanese culture, which bewilders most foreigners on their first visit. He talks about the 'respectful heart' of Japanese tea ceremony, the 'meticulous and harmonious' people, the 'quiet and relaxed' streets of Tokyo, and a samurai named Benke. He's on tour more than Kofi Annan,... https://www.scmp.com/article/568528/court-king?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/568528/court-king?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 21 Oct 2006 16:00:00 +0000