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Author: SeeEA
In South Korea, egg-freezing gains popularity, giving women more options
Seoul, South Korea — Lee Jang-mi, a 34-year-old Seoul office worker, laughs with a hint of embarrassment as she acknowledges fitting the stereotype of a single, childless South Korean woman.
“I’m one of those people who doesn’t want kids,” says Lee with an exaggerated grin, rolling her eyes and gesturing toward herself.
Though she’s currently in a relationship, Lee is unmarried and hesitant to start a family, citing financial stress as a major concern.
“Raising a child well seems like an enormous burden,” she adds.
But Lee’s perspective changed after stumbling into a pop-up store in Seoul’s trendy Seongsu district, where she learned more about egg-freezing, a medical procedure meant to preserve a woman’s fertility.
“It actually sounds like a good idea,” says Lee, after exploring the exhibits. “Because if you someday regret your decision [to not have kids], then it’s too late to change your mind.”
Egg-freezing is gaining popularity among South Korean women who want to keep their family planning options open.
At Maria Hospital, the Seoul fertility clinic behind the pop-up store, the number of egg-freezing procedures more than tripled from 2019 to 2023 — a trend that mirrors a nationwide surge, according to South Korea’s health ministry.
Birth rate crisis
This rise in demand may be partly because of government subsidies, with the Seoul city government covering about half of egg-freezing costs for women aged 20-49.
It’s one of several steps South Korean officials are taking to address the country’s rapidly declining birth rate, which they have labeled a national emergency.
South Korea’s fertility rate, already the world’s lowest, fell to a record 0.72 last year. This means the average woman is expected to have far fewer children than the 2.1 required to sustain the population.
On its current track, South Korea’s population will be reduced by half by the end of the century. Among other challenges, officials fear the country will not have enough workers to pay for rising health care costs as society rapidly ages.
Preserving fertility
Lim Tae-won, vice president of Maria Hospital, says he hopes egg-freezing becomes part of the solution to South Korea’s demographic crisis.
“Basically, we think that many people would like to have children, just not right now,” says Lim, who says he understands why many young women prioritize their own lives over having kids.
South Korean women often cite high child care costs, demanding work hours, and workplace gender discrimination as barriers to starting families.
“In the end, [women] de-prioritize marriage and childbirth,” says Lim. “And later, when they do want to have children, they’ve become less fertile.”
By freezing eggs at or near peak fertility, women can then use them, at least in theory, to become pregnant later via in vitro fertilization, or IVF.
Lee Chae-rin, a 31-year-old Seoul resident, froze her eggs two years ago and says it has given her greater freedom to enjoy life as a single person.
“Maybe it’s just because I really enjoy my life right now. But I think people naturally want to follow their passions — whether it’s studying, working more, or pursuing hobbies. For me, it’s surfing,” Lee says.
Lee works at Maria Hospital, most recently at the pop-up store, where she provided fertility-related consultations.
Broad appeal
Single women like Lee were the target audience for the pop-up store, which was located in a neighborhood known for its stylish cafes, art galleries, and clothing boutiques.
According to organizers, upwards of 10,000 people visited the store over a two-week period, though many were initially unaware it was run by a fertility clinic.
The store attracted visitors with the appeal of free, customizable ice cream. Visitors could create their own flavors and mix-ins through a multi-station interactive process that highlighted different lifestyle choices.
Only after getting the ice cream were visitors made aware of the egg-freezing sales pitch. Many passersby appeared interested, though some expressed concerns that the procedure was still too expensive.
“I’m not ruling out the possibility of having a baby later, so I would consider doing it — but only if the government provided more support,” said Goh Bo-min, a 32-year-old academic researcher.
Drawbacks
Many experts say egg-freezing alone, however, is unlikely to significantly affect South Korea’s demographic decline.
Jeong Yeon-bo, an associate professor of social sciences at Seoul’s Sungkonghoe University, argues this is because the approach does not address broader, systemic issues in South Korean society.
“The cause of the low birth rate is that young people are experiencing challenges including wealth inequality, sexism, long working hours, and insufficient child care support. But [egg-freezing] doesn’t tackle these underlying problems — it merely offers a medical solution to the problem,” Jeong says.
Additionally, egg-freezing in South Korea is likely only useful for women who eventually marry, as most fertility clinics require a marriage certificate before initiating procedures like IVF.
And since South Korea does not allow sperm donation or surrogate mothers, as Jeong points out, only heterosexual couples may be able to benefit from egg-freezing.
But many women say it can make a difference on an individual level, at least temporarily relieving the pressure to marry and have children.
“I don’t know when I’ll get married, but I can’t turn back the clock on aging,” says Lee, who chose to freeze her eggs. “So, I invested for the future and froze my eggs.”
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Party of one: Restaurants cater to growing number of solo diners
NEW YORK — Parisa Imanirad, a scientist and cancer researcher from San Francisco, is married and has a wide circle of friends. But once or twice a week, she goes to a restaurant by herself.
Imanirad said dining alone gives her time to think or read. She tries not to touch her phone and relishes the silence. “It’s like a spa, but a different type,” Imanirad said during a recent solo lunch at Spruce, an upscale restaurant in San Francisco.
Imanirad isn’t alone in her desire to be alone. In the United States, solo dining reservations have risen 29% over the last two years, according to OpenTable, the restaurant reservation site. They’re up 18% this year in Germany and 14% in the United Kingdom.
Japan even has a special term for solo dining: “ohitorisama,” which means “alone” but with honorifics spoken before and after the word to make parties of one feel less hesitant. In a recent survey, Japan’s Hot Pepper Gourmet Eating Out Research Institute found that 23% of Japanese people eat out alone, up from 18% in 2018.
As a result, many restaurants in Japan and elsewhere are redoing their seating, changing their menus and adding other special touches to appeal to solo diners.
“Even so-called family restaurants are increasing counter seats for solitary diners, and restaurants are offering courses with smaller servings so a person eating alone gets a variety of dishes,” said Masahiro Inagaki, a senior researcher at the institute.
OpenTable CEO Debby Soo thinks remote work is one reason for the increase, with diners seeking respites from their home offices. But she thinks there are deeper reasons, too.
“I think there’s a broader movement of self-love and self-care and really … enjoying your own company,” Soo said.
The pandemic also made social interactions less feasible and therefore less important while eating out, said Anna Mattila, a professor of lodging management at Penn State University who has studied solo dining. And smartphones help some restaurant patrons feel connected to others even when they’re by themselves, she said.
“The social norms have changed. People don’t look at solo diners anymore and think, ‘You must be a loner,’” Mattila said.
More people live and travel solo
The growth comes as more people are living alone. In 2019, the Pew Research Center found that 38% of U.S. adults ages 25 to 54 were living without a partner, up from 29% in 1990. In Japan, single households now make up one-third of the total; that’s expected to climb to 40% by 2040, according to government data.
Increasing interest in solo travel — particularly among travelers ages 55 and over — is also leading to more meals alone.
On a recent solo trip to Lucerne, Switzerland, Carolyn Ray was stunned when the hostess led her to a beautiful lake-view table set for one, complete with a small vase of flowers. Ray, the CEO and editor of JourneyWoman, a website for solo women travelers over 50, said other restaurants have tried to seat her toward the back or pointedly asked if someone will be joining her.
Ray counsels women planning to dine alone to go somewhere else if they’re treated rudely or given a bad table.
“It’s almost like the world hasn’t caught up with this idea that we are on our own because we want to be on our own and we’re independent and empowered,” she said. “We can go into any restaurant we want and have a table for one and feel good about it.”
Shawn Singh, a Houston-based content creator and restaurant reviewer, said he eats alone about 70% of the time. If the idea of venturing out for a solitary meal is intimidating, he suggests going to lunch instead of dinner — when tables are usually more crowded with groups — or going early on a weekday.
“The best way to see a restaurant you’ve been wanting to see for a long time is definitely going solo,” Singh said. “If I go at 5 p.m. and alone, I haven’t been denied at one place ever.”
Restaurants aren’t always thrilled to seat a single diner at a table that could fit more. A Michelin-starred London restaurant, Alex Dilling at Hotel Cafe Royal, caused a stir last year when it started charging solo patrons the same price as two customers. Its eight-course dinner tasting menu, which includes caviar and Cornish squid, costs 215 pounds ($280) per person.
The restaurant, which has only 34 seats, didn’t respond to a request for comment. But its website doesn’t allow reservations for fewer than two people.
‘Playing the long game’
Other restaurants say it’s worth seating one person at a table made for two because solo diners tend to be loyal, repeat customers.
“While there may be a short-term loss there, I think we’re kind of playing the long game and establishing ourselves as a place that’s truly special,” said Drew Brady, chief operating officer at Overthrow Hospitality, which operates 11 vegan restaurants in New York.
Brady has seen an increase in solo diners since the pandemic, and says they’re evenly split between men and women. At the company’s flagship restaurant, Avant Garden, they make up as much as 8% of patrons.
In response, the restaurant teamed up with Lightspeed, a restaurant tech and consulting company, to develop a solo dining program. Avant Garden now has a spacious table designed for solo diners, with a $65 four-course menu fashioned like a passport to enhance the sense of adventure. If solo diners order a cocktail, a bartender mixes it tableside.
Mattila, at Penn State, said restaurants might want to consider additional changes. Her research has found that solo diners prefer angular shapes — in lights, tables or plates, for example — to round ones, which are more associated with the connectedness of groups. They also prefer slow-tempo music.
Jill Weber, the founder of Sojourn Philly, a Philadelphia company that owns two restaurants and a wine bar, said she adds a communal table at special events such as wine tastings so individuals have a place to gather. She also doesn’t offer specials designed for two.
Weber, who is also an archaeologist, loves dining alone when she’s traveling.
“There’s something about not having to agree on where to go and everything that goes with that. You have the freedom to stay as long as you want, order what you want and sit with those things,” she said. “It also feels brave sometimes.”
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Papal visit brings new attention to church sex abuse scandals in East Timor
dili, east timor — When the Vatican acknowledged in 2022 that Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo, the Nobel Peace Prize-winning East Timorese independence hero, had sexually abused young boys, it appeared that the global clergy sexual abuse scandal that has compromised the Catholic Church’s credibility around the world had finally arrived in Asia’s newest country.
And yet, the church in East Timor today is stronger than ever, with most downplaying, doubting or dismissing the claims against Belo and those against a popular American missionary who confessed to molesting young girls. Many instead focus on their roles in saving lives during the country’s bloody struggle against Indonesia for independence.
Pope Francis will come face to face with the Timorese faithful on his first trip to the country, a former Portuguese colony that makes up half of the island of Timor off the northern coast of Australia. But so far, there is no word about whether he will meet with victims or even mention the sex abuse directly, as he has in other countries where the rank-and-file faithful have demanded an accounting from the hierarchy for how it failed to protect their children.
Even without pressure from within East Timor to address the scandals, it would be deeply meaningful to the victims if Francis did, said Tjiyske Lingsma, the Dutch journalist who helped bring both abuse cases to light.
“I think this is the time for the pope to say some words to the victims, to apologize,” she said in an interview from Amsterdam.
The day after Lingsma detailed the Belo case in a September 2022 report in De Groene Amsterdammer magazine, the Vatican confirmed that Belo had been sanctioned secretly two years earlier.
In Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni’s statement, he said the church had been aware of the case since 2019 and had imposed disciplinary measures in 2020, including restrictions on Belo’s movements and a ban on voluntary contact with minors.
Despite the official acknowledgement, many in East Timor still don’t believe it, like Dili university student Martinha Goveia, who is still expecting Belo will show up to be at Francis’ side during his upcoming visit.
Vegetable trader Alfredo Ximenes said the allegations and the Vatican’s acknowledged sanctions were merely rumors, and that he hoped Belo would come to welcome the pope and refute the claims in person.
“Our political leaders should immediately meet him to end the problem and persuade him to return, because after all he has contributed greatly to national independence,” Ximenes said.
Timorese officials refused to answer questions about the Belo case, but there’s been no attempt to avoid mentioning him, with a giant billboard in Dili welcoming Pope Francis, whose visit starts September 9, placed right above a mural honoring Belo and three others as national heroes.
Only about 20% of East Timor’s people were Catholic when Indonesia invaded in 1975, shortly after Portugal abandoned it as a colony.
Today, 98% of East Timor’s 1.3 million people are Catholic, making it the most Catholic country in the world outside the Vatican.
A law imposed by Indonesia requiring people to choose a religion, combined with the church’s opposition to the military occupation and support for the resistance over years of bloody fighting that saw as many as 200,000 people killed, helped bring about that flood of new members.
Belo won the Nobel Peace Prize for his bravery in drawing international attention to Indonesian human rights abuses during the conflict, and American missionary Richard Daschbach was widely celebrated for his role in helping save lives in the struggle for independence.
Their heroic status and societal factors in Asia, where the culture tends to confer much power on adults and authority figures, help explain why the men are still revered while elsewhere in the world such cases are met with outrage, said Anne Barrett Doyle of the online resource Bishop Accountability.
“Bishops are powerful, and in developing countries where the church is dominant, they are inordinately powerful,” Barrett Doyle said.
“But no case we’ve studied exhibits as extreme a power differential as that which exists between Belo and his victims. When a child is raped in a country that is devoutly Catholic, and the sexual predator is not only a bishop but a legendary national hero, there is almost no hope that justice will be done.”
In 2018, as rumors built against Daschbach, the priest confessed in a letter to church authorities to abusing young girls from at least 1991 to 2012.
“It is impossible for me to remember even the faces of many of them, let alone the names,” he wrote.
The 87-year-old was defrocked by the Vatican and criminally charged in East Timor, where he was convicted in 2021 and is now serving 12 years in prison.
But despite his confession and court testimony from victims that detailed the abuse, Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao, an independence hero himself, has visited Daschbach in prison — hand-feeding him cake and serving him wine on his birthday — and has said winning the ex-priest’s early release is a priority for him.
In Belo’s case, six years after winning the Nobel Prize, which he shared with current East Timor President Jose Ramos-Horta, he suddenly retired as the head of the church in East Timor in 2002, citing health reasons and stress.
Not long after his retirement, Belo, today 76, was sent by the Vatican and his Salesian missionary order to another former Portuguese colony, Mozambique, to work as a missionary priest.
There, he has said, he spent his time “teaching catechism to children, giving retreats to young people.” Today he lives in Portugal.
Suspicion arose that Belo, like others before him, had been allowed to quietly retire rather than face any reckoning, given the reputational harm to the church that would have caused.
In a 2023 interview with The Associated Press, Pope Francis suggested that indeed was the case, reasoning that was how such matters were handled in the past.
“This is a very old thing where this awareness of today did not exist,” Francis said. “And when it came out about the bishop of East Timor, I said, ‘Yes, let it go in the open.’ … I’m not going to cover it up. But these were decisions made 25 years ago when there wasn’t this awareness.”
Lingsma said she first heard allegations against Belo in 2002, the same year East Timor, also known as Timor-Leste, won its formal independence after the Indonesian occupation ended in 1999. She said she wasn’t able to investigate the case and build enough evidence to publish her story on him until two decades later.
Her story garnered international attention, as well as the Vatican’s acknowledgement of the case, but in East Timor was primarily met with skepticism and negative reactions toward her reporting. Her 2019 story exposing the Daschbach case eventually prompted authorities to charge him, but also did not lead to the outpouring of anger that she had anticipated.
“The reaction was silence,” she recalled.
During the fight for independence, priests, nuns and missionaries put themselves at great risk to help people, like “parents wanting to save their children,” helping form today’s deep connection between the church and people of East Timor, said Timorese historian Luciano Valentim da Conceixao.
The church’s role is even enshrined in the preamble to the young country’s constitution, which says that the Catholic Church “has always been able to take on the suffering of all the people with dignity, placing itself on their side in the defense of their most fundamental rights.”
Because so many remember the church’s significant role during those dark days, it has fostered an environment where it is difficult for victims of abuse to speak out for fear of being labeled anti-church, and where men like Belo and Daschbach continue to receive support from all walks of society.
“Pedophilia and sexual violence are common enemies in East Timor, and we should not mix them up with the struggle for independence,” said Valentim da Costa Pinto, executive director of the Timor-Leste NGO Forum, an umbrella organization for 270 NGOs.
The chancellor of the Dili Diocese today, Father Ludgerio Martins da Silva, said the cases of Belo and Daschbach were the Vatican’s jurisdiction, and that most people consider the sex abuse scandals a thing of the past.
“We don’t hear a lot of people ask about Bishop Belo because he left the country … 20 years ago,” da Silva said.
Still, Lingsma said she knew of ongoing allegations against “four or five” other priests, including two who were now dead, “and if I know them, I’m the last person to know.”
“That also shows that this whole reporting system doesn’t work at all,” she said.
Da Conceixao, the historian, said he did not know enough about the cases against Daschbach or Belo to comment on them, but that he was well acquainted with their role in the independence struggle and called them “fearless freedom fighters and clergymen.”
“Clergymen are not free from mistakes,” da Conceixao conceded. “But we, the Timorese, have to look with a clear mind at the mistakes they made and the good they did for the country, for the freedom of a million people, and of course the value is not the same.”
Because of that prevailing attitude, Barrett Doyle said “the victims of those two men have to be the most isolated and least supported clergy sex abuse victims in the world right now. ”
For that reason, Francis’ visit to East Timor could be a landmark moment in his papacy, she said, if he were to denounce Daschbach and Belo by name and praise the courage of the victims, sending a message that would resonate globally.
“Given the exalted status of the Catholic Church in East Timor, just imagine the impact of papal fury directed at Belo, Daschbach and the yet unknown number of other predatory clergy in that country,” she said.
“Francis could even address the country’s hidden victims, promising his support and urging them to contact him directly about their abuse — he literally could save lives.”
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Shuttered in Shanghai, Chinese bookstore reopens in Washington
Washington — A Chinese bookstore reopened in Washington on Sunday, six years after the Chinese government forced it to close its doors in Shanghai.
JF Books was teeming with books — and customers — when it opened its doors in Washington’s Dupont Circle neighborhood. In the storefront, the shop’s name is displayed in English and Mandarin in neon green lights. The sporadic rain was perhaps fitting considering the bookstore’s namesake “jifeng” means “monsoon” in Mandarin.
The bookstore is located next to Kramers, an indie bookstore that has been a Washington fixture for decades. Yu Miao, who runs JF Books, says he hopes his bookstore becomes an institution for the local community, too.
“I hope the bookstore can establish a connection between people in the Chinese community, and this connection could be established through knowledge,” Yu told VOA shortly before the shop opened for business. “Also, I hope the bookstore’s function can go beyond the Chinese community. It can also contribute to the local community.”
The shop sells Chinese-language books from Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, in addition to a selection of English-language books. It will also regularly host speakers for events.
Founded in Shanghai in 1997 as Jifeng Bookstore, the shop ran into trouble in 2017 when its landlord said the lease couldn’t be extended. The bookstore looked for a new location, but the prospective landlords at each potential site received warnings or notifications from the government.
Jifeng Bookstore is one of several independent bookstores that Beijing has forced to close in recent years.
The fact that bookstores have become a battleground underscores the Chinese government’s broader repression of free expression and crackdown on anything deemed to be critical of the government, according to Sophie Richardson, the former China director at Human Rights Watch.
“[Chinese President] Xi Jinping and his government have clearly targeted a great deal of hostility at scholars,” Richardson told VOA at the bookstore. “Their books are regarded as potential threats, and so the party does what the party knows how to do, which is to send people into exile, to send them to jail, to shut down bookstores.”
China’s Washington embassy did not immediately reply to VOA’s email requesting comment for this story.
Gesturing at the throngs of people who were looking at books about everything from Chinese history to science, Richardson, who is now a visiting scholar at Stanford, added that there is a clear hunger for Chinese books.
“It’s amazing to see this clear demand for this kind of material in an environment where people can get it free of fear of persecution,” she said.
That’s another reason why Yu wanted to reopen the bookstore: It can be difficult to find Chinese-language books in the United States, he said. “And so, I think there must be many others that have the same concern,” he said.
When Jifeng Bookstore closed its doors in 2018, Yu never expected it to reopen.
“I thought it was closed, then its story ended,” Yu said. “I never imagined to reopen the bookstore.”
Now, JF Books has joined a rising number of independent Chinese bookstores that are being opened by members of the diaspora in cities around the world. They sell books and hold discussions about politics and history in a way that the Chinese government has stifled inside China.
JF Books already has scheduled three speakers for September. Howard Shen, a graduate student at Georgetown University, told VOA that he’s especially excited about the upcoming events.
“It’s such a big thing in the Chinese speaking community in D.C. We are all very excited to have this bookstore. It’s such a meaningful place for all Chinese in the world who love freedom,” said Shen, who is from Taiwan.
One corner of the store features farewell messages that customers wrote back when the store was forced to shutter in 2018. Leading up to the bookstore’s second floor, photos on the wall memorialize the bookstore’s two-decade history in Shanghai. At the top of the staircase, photos show the bookstore’s final day in 2018.
“Jifeng Bookstore will soon depart from Shanghai,” the caption of one photo reads, “but the monsoon will continue to blow.”
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South Korea’s president skips opening ceremony of parliament amid political strife
Seoul, South Korea — President Yoon Suk Yeol boycotted the formal opening of South Korea’s parliament Monday as his squabbles with the opposition deepen over allegations of wrongdoing by top officials and his wife.
It’s a tradition for South Korean presidents to deliver a speech at opening ceremonies for National Assembly sessions, and Yoon is the first to skip the event since the country’s transition from a military dictatorship to democracy in the late 1980s.
Yoon, a conservative who narrowly won the election in 2022, has struggled to navigate a parliament controlled by liberals who have stymied his agenda and called for investigations into allegations of corruption and abuse of power involving his wife and government officials.
President Yoon also faces declining approval ratings as concerns grow over his government’s ability to deal with a worsening job market, soaring household debt and a prolonged strike by thousands of doctors that is straining medical services.
Asked about his decision to skip the legislature’s opening ceremony, Yoon’s office said lawmakers must first “normalize the National Assembly, which over issues demands for special prosecutor investigations and impeachments,” before inviting Yoon.
A senior presidential official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity during a background briefing, said it was difficult for Yoon to attend when lawmakers were expected to greet him with “verbal abuse and picketing demonstrations.”
“They aren’t hesitating to call the president’s family member a murderer and conspiracies about martial law are continuing to circulate in the National Assembly,” she said.
Jo Seoung-lae, spokesperson of the main opposition Democratic Party, said Yoon’s refusal to attend the ceremony displayed his “arrogance” and disregard for the assembly’s role to check and balance the executive branch.
“It’s impossible to produce results in national governance without having respect for the National Assembly,” assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik said during the opening ceremony as he lamented Yoon’s absence.
Following parliamentary elections in April in which the liberals extended their majority, the current assembly began meeting in May. But its official opening ceremony was delayed for months because of political bickering.
Opposition lawmakers are pushing for an investigation by special prosecutors into allegations that top government and military officials tried to cover up the circumstances surrounding the death of a marine who drowned during a search for flood victims in 2023.
They want another independent investigation into allegations that Yoon’s wife, Kim Keon Hee, was involved in stock price manipulation and violated the country’s antigraft law by receiving a luxury handbag from a Korean American pastor. Yoon has denied any legal wrongdoing by his wife.
In August, Yoon’s office angrily demanded an apology after Democratic Party lawmaker Jeon Hyun-heui labeled Kim as a “murderer” over the death of a senior official from the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission, who was reportedly involved in the commission’s review of the handbag scandal.
Opposition lawmakers had raised suspicions on whether the commission was pressured into closing the review in June, when it concluded that the antigraft law provides no grounds for punishment for the spouses of public officials. The death of the former commission official, who was reportedly found with a note, is still being investigated.
Yoon in May and July rejected consecutive bills calling for special prosecutors to investigate the marine’s death, describing the allegations as groundless and politically motivated.
Yoon and his party also criticized the opposition’s move to hold a parliamentary hearing in July to address online petitions signed by tens of thousands calling for his impeachment. South Korea’s Constitution limits a president to a single five-year term, so Yoon cannot seek reelection.
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China rolls out red carpet for African leaders
Beijing — China rolled out the red carpet on Monday for leaders from across Africa, seeking to deepen ties with the resource-rich continent it has furnished with billions in loans for infrastructure and development.
Beijing has said this week’s China-Africa forum will be its largest diplomatic event since the COVID-19 pandemic, with more than a dozen leaders and delegations expected.
China has sent hundreds of thousands of workers to Africa to build its megaprojects while tapping the continent’s vast natural resources including copper, gold, lithium and rare earth minerals.
Its huge loans have funded infrastructure but also stoked controversy by saddling countries with huge debts.
China, the world’s No. 2 economy, is Africa’s largest trading partner, with bilateral trade hitting $167.8 billion in the first half of this year, according to Chinese state media.
Security is tight across Beijing, with roads and bus stops bedecked with banners declaring China and Africa are “joining hands for a brighter future.”
Among the leaders in the capital is South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, who arrived early on Monday for a four-day trip during which he will also visit the southern tech powerhouse city of Shenzhen.
Trade between China and South Africa soared to $38.8 billion in 2023, according to the South African presidency.
Ramaphosa met Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Monday, state news agency Xinhua said.
China and South Africa are expected to sign a number of agreements focused on “enhancing economic cooperation and the implementation of technical cooperation,” Ramaphosa’s office said.
Expanding influence
Xi also met Democratic Republic of Congo President Felix Tshisekedi on Monday, state news agency Xinhua said.
China has a significant presence in the DRC, where it is keen on tapping vast natural resources including copper, gold, lithium and rare earth minerals.
But it has grappled with security issues there. DRC sources told AFP in July that a militia attack on a mining site in gold-rich Ituri province killed at least four Chinese nationals.
Leaders of Djibouti — home to China’s first overseas military base — as well as Equatorial Guinea, Nigeria, Mali and others, also arrived in Beijing on Sunday and Monday.
Beijing’s loans to African nations last year were their highest in five years, research by the Chinese Loans to Africa Database found. Top borrowers were Angola, Ethiopia, Egypt, Nigeria and Kenya.
However, the data showed that loans were well down compared to highs in 2016, when they totaled almost $30 billion.
The loans were also increasingly to local banks, researchers said, helping to avoid “exposing Chinese creditors to credit risks associated with those countries”.
Analysts say an economic slowdown in China has made Beijing increasingly reluctant to shell out big sums.
This week’s summit comes as African leaders eye mounting great power competition between the United States and China over resources and influence on the continent.
Washington has warned against what it sees as Beijing’s malign influence.
The White House said in 2022 China sought to “advance its own narrow commercial and geopolitical interests (and) undermine transparency and openness.”
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Storm sets off floods and landslides in Philippines, leaving at least 9 dead
Manila — A storm set off landslides and unleashed pounding rains that flooded many northern Philippine areas overnight into Monday, leaving at least nine people dead and prompting authorities to suspend classes and government work in the densely populated capital region.
Tropical Storm Yagi was blowing 115 kilometers northeast of Infanta town in Quezon province, southeast of Manila, by midday on Monday with sustained winds of up to 75 kilometers per hour and gusts of up to 90 kilometers per hour, according to the weather bureau.
The storm, locally called Enteng, was moving northwestward at 15 kilometers per hour near the eastern coast of the main northern region of Luzon, where the weather bureau warned of possible flash floods and landslides in mountainous provinces.
A landslide hit two small shanties on a hillside in Antipolo city on Monday in Rizal province just to the west of the capital, killing at least three people, including a pregnant woman, disaster-mitigation officer Enrilito Bernardo Jr.
Four other villagers drowned in swollen creeks, he said.
National police spokesperson Col. Jean Fajardo told reporters without elaborating that two other people died and 10 others were injured in landslides set off by the storm in the central Philippines.
Two residents died in stormy weather in Naga city in eastern Camarines Sur province, where floodwaters swamped several communities, police said. Authorities were verifying if the deaths, including one caused by electrocution, were weather-related.
Storm warnings were raised in a large swath of Luzon, the country’s most populous region, including in metropolitan Manila, where schools at all levels and most government work were suspended due to the storm.
Along the crowded banks of Marikina River in the eastern fringes of the capital, a siren was sounded in the morning to warn thousands of residents to brace for evacuation in case the river water continues to rise and overflows due to heavy rains.
In the provinces of Cavite, south of Manila, and Northern Samar, in the country’s central region, coast guard personnel used rubber boats and ropes to rescue and evacuate dozens of villagers who were engulfed in waist- to chest-high floods, the coast guard said.
Sea travel was temporarily halted in several ports affected by the storm, stranding more than 3,300 ferry passengers and cargo workers, and several domestic flights were suspended due to the stormy weather.
Downpours have also caused water to rise to near-spilling level in Ipo dam in Bulacan province, north of Manila, prompting authorities to schedule a release of a minimal amount of water later Monday that they say would not endanger villages downstream.
About 20 typhoons and storms batter the Philippines each year. The archipelago lies in the “Pacific Ring of Fire,” a region along most of the Pacific Ocean rim where many volcanic eruptions and earthquakes occur, making the Southeast Asian nation one of the world’s most disaster-prone.
In 2013, Typhoon Haiyan, one of the strongest recorded tropical cyclones in the world, left more than 7,300 people dead or missing, flattened entire villages, swept ships inland and displaced more than 5 million people in the central Philippines.
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5 key Chinese ‘Belt and Road’ projects underway in Africa
Beijing — China has vowed to beef up its vast Belt and Road global infrastructure initiative, promising “high-quality cooperation” ahead of a summit with African leaders in Beijing starting Wednesday.
Africa is already a key Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) region, with Chinese companies signing contracts there worth more than $700 billion between 2013 and 2023, according to Beijing’s commerce ministry.
However, China’s investment in the continent has been slammed by critics who accuse the BRI of saddling countries with exorbitant debt or funding projects that damage the environment.
AFP looks at five key BRI projects in Africa:
Kenya’s incomplete railway
Kenya’s Standard Gauge Railway — built with financing from Exim Bank of China — connects the capital Nairobi with the port city of Mombasa. It has cut journey times from 10 hours to four since opening in 2017.
At $5 billion, it is the country’s most expensive infrastructure project since it won independence more than 60 years ago.
But a second phase meant to continue the line to Uganda never materialized as both countries struggled to pay down BRI debts.
The project was also beset with corruption allegations, and environmental campaigners have taken issue with the route, which cuts through a wildlife park.
Kenya’s President William Ruto last year asked China for a $1 billion loan and the restructuring of existing debt to complete other stalled BRI construction projects.
The country now owes China more than $8 billion.
Port facilities in Djibouti
After China established its first permanent overseas naval base in Djibouti in 2016, it helped develop the east African country’s nearby Doraleh multi-purpose port.
The reportedly $590 million military base is strategically placed between the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.
Beijing has said the base is used to resupply navy ships, support regional peacekeeping and humanitarian operations, and combat piracy, though its proximity to a U.S. military base has raised concerns of espionage.
Doraleh, meanwhile, is partly owned by China Merchants Port Holdings, but the conglomerate’s 23.5% stake raised eyebrows when it was awarded after the Djiboutian government seized control of the container terminal from UAE-based DP World.
DP World claims it was forced out to allow China Merchants to take over.
Africa’s longest suspension bridge
According to state broadcaster CCTV, BRI investment in Africa has helped build over 12,000 kilometers (7,500 miles) of road and railway track, around 20 ports, and more than 80 power facilities.
In Mozambique, China Road and Bridge Corporation built Africa’s longest suspension bridge, connecting the capital Maputo with its suburb of Katembe.
Previously, the quickest way across the Bay of Maputo was by ferry. Road travel required driving 160 kilometers (99.4 miles) on unpaved roads susceptible to flooding.
The bridge, which opened in 2018, cost an estimated $786 million, 95% of which was financed by Chinese loans.
But critics have suggested the project was overpriced and that interest rates on loans are excessive.
Minerals in Botswana and beyond
In recent years, BRI investment in Africa has shifted to mining the minerals needed to fuel China’s high-tech and green industries, such as electric vehicles.
In 2023, China invested $7.8 billion in mining in Africa, according to U.S.-based think tank the American Enterprise Institute.
That includes a $1.9 billion deal, reached last year, by state-owned MMG to buy the Khoemacau mine in Botswana, one of the world’s largest copper mines.
In July, Chinese firm JCHX Mining Management agreed to buy Zambia’s indebted Lubambe copper mine for just $2.
China has invested in cobalt and lithium mines in Zambia, Namibia and Zimbabwe.
But regional conflicts have proved an occasional barrier to Chinese investments. In July this year, authorities suspended all mining in part of the Democratic Republic of Congo, including where Chinese companies operate, to “restore order” there.
Coal and clean power
Chinese funding in Africa has included dozens of investments in power generation, leading to criticism of the BRI’s environmental impact.
In Kenya, Chinese companies were contracted in 2015 to build a coal-fired power plant close to the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Lamu old town.
But Kenya’s government cancelled the project in 2020 after protests and opposition to its environmental impact.
In 2021, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced China would no longer support the construction of coal power plants abroad.
In July that year, Chinese funders pulled support from the $3 billion Sengwa coal project in Zimbabwe.
Instead, Chinese backers have funded the expansion of the country’s Kariba Hydroelectric Power Station, for $533 million.
Chinese firms have accelerated investments in renewable energy projects. In Nigeria, Chinese loans are part-funding the $4.9 billion construction of the Mambilla hydroelectric plant, which will be the country’s largest power station.
A white paper issued by China’s State Council Information Office says the country will focus on using the BRI to support green transition projects.
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EU ‘condemns dangerous actions’ by China against Philippine ship
Brussels — The European Union accused China on Sunday of taking “dangerous actions” against the Philippines, as Beijing and Manila blamed each other of deliberately ramming their coast guard ships.
The collision marks the latest in a spate of similar incidents in recent weeks in the South China Sea, where Beijing claims almost all of the economically vital body of water despite competing claims from other countries and an international court ruling that its assertion has no legal basis.
“The EU condemns the dangerous action by Chinese Coast Guard vessels against lawful Philippine maritime operations in the area of the Sabina Shoa,” said Nabila Massrali, spokesperson for the EU’s top diplomat Josep Borrell, in a statement.
A Chinese coast guard spokesperson had said Saturday’s incident took place off the disputed Sabina Shoal, which has emerged as a new hotspot in the long-running maritime confrontations between the two countries.
The incidents “endanger the safety of life at sea and violate the right to freedom of navigation to which all nations are entitled under international law,” the EU statement said.
“The EU condemns all unlawful, escalatory and coercive actions that undermine these principles of international law and threaten peace and stability in the region.”
Since taking office in 2022, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., Manila has more firmly asserted its claim to sovereignty over disputed reefs despite Beijing showing no intention of backing down on its own claims.
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New Caledonia separatists name jailed party leader as chief
Koumac, France — An alliance of parties seeking independence for New Caledonia has nominated as chief a prominent opposition leader currently jailed in France over a wave of deadly rioting in the French Pacific territory.
Christian Tein, who considers himself a “political prisoner,” was one of seven pro-independence activists transferred to mainland France in June — a move that sparked renewed violence that has roiled the archipelago and left 11 people dead.
His appointment on Saturday to lead the Socialist Kanak National Liberation Front (FLNKS) risks complicating efforts to end the crisis, sparked in May by a Paris plan for voting reforms that indigenous Kanaks fear will thwart their ambitions for independence by leaving them a permanent minority.
Laurie Humuni of the RDO party, one of four in the FLNKS alliance, said Saturday that Tein’s nomination was a recognition of his CCAT party’s leading role in mobilizing the independence movement.
It was not clear if the two other alliance members, the UPM and Palika, supported the move — they had refused to participate in the latest FLNKS meeting and indicated they would not support any of its proposals.
The alliance also said it was willing to renew talks to end the protests, but only if local anti-independence parties are excluded.
“We will have to remove some blockades to allow the population access to essential services, but that does not mean we are abandoning our struggle,” Humuni told AFP.
On Thursday, France said it had agreed to terms with Pacific leaders seeking a fact-finding mission to New Caledonia in a bid to resolve the dispute, though a date for the mission has not yet been set.
President Emmanuel Macron’s government has sent thousands of troops and police to restore order in the archipelago, almost 17,000 kilometers (10,600 miles) from Paris, and the electoral reforms were suspended in June.
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Storm lingers in Japan, bringing heavy rain to some areas
tokyo — Tropical Storm Shanshan brought torrential rain Sunday to Japan’s Shizuoka area, 180 kilometers southwest of Tokyo, as weather officials warned the storm would linger for several more days.
Shanshan, packing winds of 65 kilometers per hour, made landfall Thursday, leaving landslides, flooded rivers, torn branches and scattered debris in its path. In southwestern Japan, people were busy cleaning up muddied homes and throwing out broken appliances.
So far, the storm is linked to at least six deaths, including three people who were trapped in a mudslide. It left one person missing and 127 people injured, according to Japanese public broadcaster NHK, which compiles reports from local governments.
Shanshan was barely moving at all as of Sunday morning, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.
The tropical storm triggered rainfall in an extensive area, even in places not in its path, such as the northernmost main island of Hokkaido, according to the agency.
Shanshan initially crept across the southwestern Japanese islands of Kyushu and Shikoku, then reached the main island of Honshu, meandering into coastal waters at one point but later moving back onto land.
Landslide warnings were issued in parts of Hamamatsu and Izu cities in Shizuoka Prefecture and Yokohama in Kanagawa, a port city near Tokyo, as well as at-risk spots in Tokyo. Tokyo in recent days saw mostly cloudy skies, with moments of sudden and intense showers.
People living in areas at risk for landslides were told to evacuate to local stadiums and community centers as a cautionary measure. Shanshan’s exact route remains uncertain. It’s expected to gradually move north Monday, then out over the Sea of Japan.
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Doctor who helped Agent Orange victims wins Magsaysay Award
MANILA, Philippines — A Vietnamese doctor who has helped seek justice for victims of the powerful defoliant dioxin “Agent Orange” used by U.S. forces during the Vietnam War is among this year’s winners of the Ramon Magsaysay Awards — regarded as Asia’s version of the Nobel Prizes.
Other winners announced on Saturday were a group of doctors who struggled to secure adequate health care for Thailand’s rural poor, an Indonesian environmental defender, a Japanese animator who tackles complex issues for children, and a Bhutanese academician promoting his country’s cultural heritage to help current predicaments.
First given in 1958, the annual awards are named after a Philippine president who died in a 1957 plane crash, and honor “greatness of spirit” in selfless service to people across Asia.
“The award has celebrated those who challenge the status quo with integrity by courageously confronting systemic injustices, transform critical sectors through groundbreaking solutions that drive societal progress, and address pressing global issues with unwavering resilience,” said Susanna B. Afan, president of the award foundation.
Vietnamese doctor Nguyen Thi Ngoc Phuong carried out extensive research into the devastating and long-term effects of Agent Orange. She said she first encountered it in the late 1960s as a medical intern when she helped deliver babies with severe birth defects as a result of the lingering effect of highly toxic chemical, according to the awards body.
“Her work serves as a dire warning for the world to avoid war at all costs as its tragic repercussions can reach far into the future,” the Magsaysay foundation said. “She offers proof that it can never be too late to right the wrongs of war and gain justice and relief for its hapless victims.”
American forces used Agent Orange during the Vietnam War to defoliate Vietnamese jungles and destroy crops for the Vietnamese Communists, or Viet Cong, who fought against South Vietnam and the United States.
Between 1962 and 1971, the U.S. military sprayed roughly 11 million gallons of the chemical agent dioxin used in Agent Orange across large swaths of southern Vietnam. Dioxin stays in the soil and in the sediment of lakes and rivers for generations. It can enter the food supply through the fat of fish and other animals.
Vietnam says as many as 4 million citizens were exposed to the herbicide and as many as 3 million have suffered illnesses from it, including the children of people exposed during the war.
Indonesian Farwiza Farhan won the award for helping lead a group to protect the Leuser Ecosystem, a 2.6-million-hectare forest on Sumatra Island in his country’s Aceh province where some of the world’s most highly endangered species have managed to survive, the foundation said.
Her group helped win a court verdict that led to $26 million in fines against a palm oil company that burned forests and stopped a hydroelectric dam that would have threatened the elephant’s habitat, the foundation said.
Miyazaki Hayao, a popular animator in Japan, was cited by the awards body as a co-founder in 1985 of Studio Ghibli, a leading proponent of animated films for children. Three Ghibli productions were among Japan’s 10 top-grossing films.
“He tackles complicated issues, using his art to make them comprehensible to children, whether it be about protecting the environment, advocating for peace or championing the rights and roles of women in society,” the foundation said.
The Rural Doctors Movement, a group of Thai physicians, won the award for their “decades of struggle … to secure adequate and affordable health care for their people, especially the rural poor,” the foundation said.
“By championing the rural poor, the movement made sure to leave no one behind as the nation marches forward to greater economic prosperity and modernization,” it said.
Karma Phuntsho from Bhutan, a former Buddhist monk and an Oxford-educated scholar, was cited by the awards body for his academic works in the field of Buddhism and Bhutan’s rich history and cultural heritage that were being harnessed to address current and future problems in his country, including unemployment and access to high-quality education.
The winners will be presented with their awards and a cash prize on November 16 at the Metropolitan Theater in Manila.
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Political change prompts concerns about Thailand’s economy
bangkok — After a whirlwind few weeks with Paetongtarn Shinawatra taking the helm as Thailand’s new prime minister, Thailand’s struggling economy needs a clear strategy moving forward to get it back on track, according to some analysts.
The country’s economy has been sluggish and isn’t growing as fast as hoped.
Thailand has the second-largest economy in Southeast Asia, though its annual growth is slower than many of its regional neighbors.
Initial forecasts put Thailand with a GDP growth of 3% for 2024, but its new revised growth is 2.7%, according to Thailand’s Finance Ministry.
Kiatanantha Lounkaew, an economic lecturer at the Thammasat University in Bangkok, said there are two major problems holding Thailand back.
“The household debt per GDP is high, approaching 90%,” he told VOA.
“Secondly, our economy has been operating with the same structure since the year 2000, and that is why our competitiveness has been eroding. We can’t compete in the municipal [foreign direct investments] compared to our regional partners.
“We must have a clear strategy roadmap for Thailand for the next three years. The picture must be credible. Thailand will then be recovered fully, economically, socially and politically,” Kiatanantha said.
Manufacturing, agriculture and services
The three main economic industries driving Thailand’s gross domestic product are manufacturing, agriculture and services.
But manufacturing, for example, has slowed, with nearly 2,000 factories closing last year alone, leading to thousands of lost jobs, local media report. Cheap imports from places such as China, are a factor in Thailand becoming uncompetitive.
Thailand needs to come up with innovative ways to use technology to aid its key sectors, such as agriculture, according to Kiatanantha.
“We have been a technology user for a long time, we can use technology in a smart way to increase our core economy. For example, [shifting] agriculture into smart farming to something more value added, rather than sending out the raw materials.”
And foreign direct investments (FDIs) are also important to Thailand, with countries like Japan, Singapore, the U.S., and China making significant investments in Southeast Asia countries in recent years.
But the labor force is limited, and more training is also needed to attract further FDIs, including in technology.
“The quality of our labor force to cater to a new technology is not that high, and the number of people qualified for such technology is still low,” he said. “We need to produce people with good human capital, so the investor will be confident that when they come to Thailand, they will be able to find suitable people to build a position.”
‘Thailand has lost its footing’
Thailand’s political changes haven’t helped matters either.
Earlier in August, Thailand’s Constitutional Court’s swiftly removed Srettha Thavisin as prime minister over an “ethical violation” for his role in appointing a member of parliament (MP) to his cabinet who had been imprisoned for an alleged attempt to bribe an official.
Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a political analyst, said Thailand’s economy has long had problems because of the political instability in the past two decades.
“Since 2006, Thailand has lost its footing. Two military coups [2006 and 2014]. Elections, multi-major parties dissolved. We’ve had three constitutions along the way. The trajectory shows me we are seeing signs of economic stagnation and political decay,” he said Wednesday at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand in Bangkok.
The removal of the prime minister paved the way for Pheu Thai leader Paetongtarn Shinawatra to be elected as Thailand’s new prime minister.
That marked the return of another Shinawatra as Thailand’s premier. Paetongtarn Shinawatra is the youngest daughter of Thaksin Shinawatra, a former prime minister who recently returned to Thailand following 15 years in self-exile.
In his first public speech since leaving Thailand in self-exile, Thaksin laid out a 14-point strategy to fix the country’s economy, ranging from reforming the public debt, the agriculture sector, empowering tourism, promoting investment into entertainment complexes and the use of locally made products.
But Thitinan, the political analyst, said Thailand must be looking toward digitalization.
“Now I think the dial has moved on, they have to be talking about much more digitalization, digital economy, AI, machine learning, education reform,” he said. “Thailand has missed the semi-conductor innovation, the tech boom and now it is missing the AI burst, and the reason is because of the domestic political situation.”
After government upheavals in recent years with decisions from Thailand’s monarchy, military and judiciary, Thitinan is unsure how long this Shinawatra government will last.
“Now we have a Thaksin 2.0 government, but it’s a shell of itself 20 years ago,” he said. “I’m wondering whether they will be allowed to govern — or continue to be stymied. If it isn’t, Thailand will go nowhere, it will be at a standstill and regress.”
“But,” Thitinan later told VOA, “at least there is a plan.”
Plan aims to give citizens money
One of the controversial policies still up in the air is Thailand’s Digital Wallet scheme, a program aimed at giving 10,000 baht ($275) to 50 million citizens in digital money to spend locally to stimulate the economy. It was a campaign promise from the Pheu Thai party during the 2023 elections.
Thaksin recently said the plan will begin in September. This is despite speculation that government lawmakers want to scrap the idea.
But political analyst Thitinan said its impact will be diluted.
“It will come from the current budget year and the next budget year. So, the effects will be diluted,” he said. “And in order to be effective, you need to have a big fiscal boost in a short time and let that create multiplier effects.”
If it goes ahead, it will cost the Thai government an estimated $13.8 billion. At least 20 million people have registered for the plan.
The only industry seen as thriving economically is Thailand’s crucial tourism industry. At its peak in 2019, tourism accounted for 11.5% of the country’s overall GDP.
By August, there were 21 million visitors to Thailand, with about 36 million forecasted by the end of this year.
Thailand recently relaxed entry rules so tourists from 93 countries will now be permitted 60 days on arrival. A Destination Thailand Visa also was launched that allows digital nomads to live, work and travel in the country.
Kiatanantha, the economic lecturer, said more tourism is a “good sign,” but improvements are needed.
“[Tourism] focuses on a few tourism attractions like Bangkok, Phuket and in Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai. Until [tourism income] is a distributed benefit to other regions, that’s a problem,” said Kiatanantha.
“The health sector has potential. It can combine with the tourism sector to generate a bigger sector where people come for leisure and some health checkups or wellness, and that’s the sector that we are good at,” said Kiatanantha. “Tourism is still a goal, but it has to be a sustainable one. We need to attract tourism with more purchasing power.”
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Japan wants its hardworking citizens to try a 4-day workweek
tokyo — Japan, a nation so hardworking its language has a term for literally working oneself to death, is trying to address a worrisome labor shortage by coaxing more people and companies to adopt four-day workweeks.
The Japanese government first expressed support for a shorter working week in 2021, after lawmakers endorsed the idea. The concept has been slow to catch on, however; about 8% of companies in Japan allow employees to take three or more days off per week, while 7% give their workers the legally mandated one day off, according to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.
Hoping to produce more takers, especially among small and medium-sized businesses, the government launched a “work style reform” campaign that promotes shorter hours and other flexible arrangements along with overtime limits and paid annual leave. The labor ministry recently started offering free consulting, grants and a growing library of success stories as further motivation.
“By realizing a society in which workers can choose from a variety of working styles based on their circumstances, we aim to create a virtuous cycle of growth and distribution and enable each and every worker to have a better outlook for the future,” states a ministry website about the “Hataraki-kata kaikaku” campaign, which translates to “innovating how we work.”
The department overseeing the new support services for businesses says only three companies have come forward so far to request advice on making changes, relevant regulations and available subsidies, illustrating the challenges the initiative faces.
Perhaps more telling: of the 63,000 Panasonic Holdings Corp. employees who are eligible for four-day schedules at the electronics maker and its group companies in Japan, only 150 employees have opted to take them, according to Yohei Mori, who oversees the initiative at one Panasonic company.
The government’s official backing of a better work-life balance represents a marked change in Japan, a country whose reputed culture of workaholic stoicism often got credited for the national recovery and stellar economic growth after World War II.
Conformist pressures to sacrifice for one’s company are intense. Citizens typically take vacations at the same time of year as their colleagues — during the Bon holidays in the summer and around New Year’s — so co-workers can’t accuse them of being neglectful or uncaring.
Long hours are the norm. Though 85% of employers report giving their workers two days off a week and there are legal restrictions on overtime hours — which are negotiated with labor unions and detailed in contracts — some Japanese do “service overtime,” meaning it’s unreported and performed without compensation.
A recent government white paper on “karoshi,” the Japanese term that in English means “death from overwork, said Japan has at least 54 such fatalities a year, including from heart attacks.
Japan’s “serious, conscientious and hard-working” people tend to value their relationships with their colleagues and form a bond with their companies, and Japanese TV shows and manga comics often focus on the workplace, said Tim Craig, the author of a book called “Cool Japan: Case Studies from Japan’s Cultural and Creative Industries.”
“Work is a big deal here. It’s not just a way to make money, although it is that, too,” said Craig, who previously taught at Doshisha Business School and founded editing and translation firm BlueSky Academic Services.
Some officials consider changing that mindset as crucial to maintaining a viable workforce amid Japan’s nosediving birth rate. At the current rate, which is partly attributed to the country’s job-focused culture, the working age population is expected to decline 40% to 45 million people in 2065, from the current 74 million, according to government data.
Proponents of the three-days-off model say it encourages people raising children, those caring for older relatives, retirees living on pensions, and others looking for flexibility or additional income to remain in the workforce for longer.
Akiko Yokohama, who works at Spelldata, a small Tokyo-based technology company that allows employees to work a four-day schedule, takes Wednesdays off along with Saturdays and Sundays. The extra day off allows her to get her hair done, attend other appointments or go shopping.
“It’s hard when you aren’t feeling well to keep going for five days in a row. The rest allows you to recover or go see the doctor. Emotionally, it’s less stressful,” Yokohama said.
Her husband, a real estate broker, also gets Wednesdays off but works weekends, which is common in his industry. Yokohama said that allows the couple to go on midweek family outings with their elementary-school age child.
Fast Retailing Co., the Japanese company that owns Uniqlo, Theory, J Brand and other clothing brands, pharmaceutical company Shionogi & Co., and electronics companies Ricoh Co. and Hitachi also began offering a four-day workweek in recent years.
The trend even has gained traction in the notoriously consuming finance industry. Brokerage SMBC Nikko Securities Inc. started letting workers put in four days a week in 2020. Banking giant Mizuho Financial Group offers a three-day schedule option.
Critics of the government’s push say that in practice, people put on four-day schedules often end up working just as hard for less pay.
But there are signs of change.
An annual Gallup survey that measures employee engagement ranked Japan as having among the least engaged workers of all nationalities surveyed; in the most recent survey, only 6% of the Japanese respondents described themselves as engaged at work compared to the global average of 23%.
That means relatively few Japanese workers felt highly involved in their workplace and enthusiastic about their work, while most were putting in their hours without investing passion or energy.
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Japan lodges protest over Chinese survey ship in its territorial waters
TOKYO — Japan lodged a formal protest via China’s embassy against what it called an incursion by a Chinese survey ship into its territorial waters Saturday, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said.
The ministry expressed “strong concern” after the ship was spotted near Kagoshima Prefecture, southwestern Japan, early in the morning.
The Chinese ship, confirmed in territorial waters at 6 a.m., left shortly before 8 a.m., according to Japan’s Defense Ministry, adding it was monitored by a Japanese military vessel and plane.
Recently, China’s increasingly assertive activity around Japanese waters and airspace has caused unease among Japanese defense officials, who are also concerned about the growing military cooperation between the Chinese and Russian air forces.
This follows Tokyo’s protest after a Chinese military aircraft briefly entered Japan’s southwestern airspace Monday. It was the first time the Japanese Self Defense Force detected a Chinese military aircraft in Japan’s airspace.
Earlier this week, Tokyo told Chinese diplomats that Monday’s violation of its airspace was “unacceptable.”
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said Tuesday his country had “no intention” to violate any country’s airspace.
Bilateral business ties between the two countries, as well as exchanges among scholars and businesspeople among others, remain strong.
Saturday’s incident marked the 10th time in the past year that a Chinese naval survey ship has sailed into or through Japan’s territorial waters, and the 13th such incursion if submarines and other intelligence-gathering vessels are included, according to national Japan broadcaster NHK.
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