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Hosted by writers Chang Che and Ian Buruma, Into Asia explores how China, Japan, and Korea are reshaping the world. From memory politics to AI and demographic decline, they connect history and current affairs to reveal the new role Asia will play in the twenty-first century.
Editing by Sydney Watson
12 Episodes
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In February, Sanae Takaichi won the biggest electoral victory in the Liberal Democratic Party’s 70-year history. With a constitutional supermajority, an ambitious industrial policy, and a willingness to speak bluntly about Taiwan, Takaichi is remaking Japan’s domestic and foreign policy at a moment when the country’s alliance with the United States has never felt more uncertain. Tobias Harris is the author of The Iconoclast, a political biography of Shinzo Abe, and the founder of the consulta...
In November, the left-wing political commentator Hasan Piker took his first trip to China, live-streaming the trip to hundreds of thousands of viewers on the streaming platform Twitch. Hasan is a self-described socialist and a staunch critic of American capitalism, and he told me he had long wanted to see for himself how a Communist government ran a country. He wasn’t disappointed. In this episode: Why Hasan sees China differently than liberals; growing up in TurkeyFirst impressions of ...
China’s top generals are falling like flies, and at unprecedented speeds. As Xi Jinping dismantles the upper ranks of the People’s Liberation Army, questions are mounting about corruption, loyalty, and the stability of China’s political system. Neil Thomas, an expert on Chinese politics at Asia Society, unpacks the logic of Xi’s military crackdown. Neil's articles: https://asiasociety.org/policy-institute/neil-thomas Follow him on X: https://x.com/neilthomas123?lang=en
As Trump threatens the sovereignty of NATO allies, the leaders of South Korea and Japan appeared together in Nara, playing drums in a highly choreographed display of diplomatic comity. Ian and Chang talk about the historic significance of this unlikely rapprochement, why it is happening now, and the prospect of an East Asian security architecture without the help of the United States.
Across the world, the promise of stable growth that underwrote many economies is unraveling. From Nepal to Bulgaria to Mexico, young people fed up with the status quo are rebelling. While many have turned to populists for help, China's youth are turning to a very different figure. The anthropologist Xiang Biao, who has become a voice for China's "lost" generation in recent years, speak to us about what went wrong with Chinese and Western elites, and his ideas for redefining politics. This con...
Lau Kek-huat is a Malaysian-born documentary filmmaker based in Taiwan. His latest film, From Island to Island, won the prestigious Golden Horse Award in 2024. The film examines the role of Taiwanese in Japan’s Pacific War and explores why memories of World War II diverge across the Chinese-speaking world. Lau joins us to discuss his latest film and its differing reception across Asia. Follow his work, including his film at: https://reurl.cc/6bGRDr
Less than a month into Sanae Takaichi’s tenure as Japan's prime minister, she has already sparked a diplomatic crisis with Japan's powerful neighbor. Joining us is Tokujin Matsudaira, a constitutional-law professor at Kanagawa University who grew up in Taiwan. He has written extensively on Article 9, constitutional revision, and the diplomatic challenges that shape Japan–China relations. Related Links: https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/takaichi-sanae-iron-lady-will-not-improv...
In the September 29, 2025, issue of The New Yorker, the writer Ian Buruma reviews two books that trace the uses and abuses of anti-semitism from late-19th century France to present-day US campus politics. Long before right-wing Israeli politicians to evoke the term to deflect criticism of the war in Gaza, anti-semitism reflected a persistent worldview: that a shadowy group of powerful Jews often stood behind the workings of a complicated world. For over a century, that idea has found co...
China, Japan, and South Korea are each confronting plummeting birthrates and rapidly aging populations, each with worrying consequences for their economies, societies, and political futures. What makes East Asia’s demographic decline different from that of the West? As women entered the workforce in Asia, how did they define and discover freedom and fulfillment between the expectations of the family and the workplace? And in China, how has the one- and two-child policies—and the paralle...
Japan's first female prime minister, Takaichi Sanae, a hard-line conservative, rose to power on promises of national renewal and a “Japan First” agenda. Her rise follows the stunning breakthrough of the Sanseito, a Trump-style populist party that captured 14 seats in the upper house this summer, drawing support from disaffected youth and social-media activists. Takehiro Masutomo, author of Runri: Tracking the Mass Exodus of Wealthy Chinese to Japan, talks about the Chinese immigrants behind J...
From Shanghai’s World AI Conference to start-up incubators across the city, the Chinese tech analyst Rui Ma shares what she’s seeing on the ground, and where China actually stands in the global AI race. Follow Rui on X: https://x.com/ruima Follow her newsletter via Tech Buzz China (Substack): https://techbuzzchina.substack.com Related Links: https://techbuzzchina.substack.com/p/china-deep-tech-trip-what-we-did
In September, China staged a boisterous military parade to mark the 80th anniversary of World War II. The spectacle is part of a broader campaign in recent years, from museums openings, movies, and memorials, to elevate its role in what it calls the “victory over fascism.” How accurate is China’s official narrative of WWII — and what political purpose does it serve? How does it differ from the way Japan, the aggressor nation, or Europe and the U.S., the allies, remember the war? Rana Mitter,...
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