William Pesek is an award-winning Tokyo-based journalist and author of "Japanization: What the World Can Learn from Japan's Lost Decades."

If Yoshihide Suga is paying attention, here is how Japan's embattled prime minister can hold onto power and jolt Japan's economy: lean into the venture capital revolution now afoot in Tokyo.

"Revolution" may be too strong a characterization. Japan does like its change to unfold glacially. But two recent developments suggest the Olympics is not the only game-

TOKYO -- Japan's health minister pledged Sunday to investigate what caused the deaths of two people injected with coronavirus vaccine from a batch later taken out of circulation due to contamination concerns.

"We're still not clear about the causal relationship" between the deaths and the vaccine contamination, said Norihisa Tamura, the minister of health, labor and welfare. "I wish to conduct a thorough investigation."

Tamura made his comments on a program that aired on NHK, Japan's national broadcaster.

"It'

PALO ALTO, U.S. -- Overseas investors scaled back venture capital deals in China in August as the country's regulatory crackdown on the tech sector prompted many to rethink their approach.

The latest figures from market research company PitchBook represent a sharp break from earlier in the year.

Chinese startups have raised $32.6 billion from 634 deals that included foreign VCs this year as of Aug. 25, compared with $18.9 billion from 453 in the first eight

Welcome to Your Week in Asia.

The most urgent news is that the rush to get out of Afghanistan is intensifying as the deadline for U.S. coalition forces to leave falls on Tuesday. At least 92 people were killed in a suicide bomb attack on Thursday outside Kabul airport, where Afghans hoping to be evacuated are gathering in large numbers. The toll included 13 members of the U.S. military.

Elsewhere, domestic workers from Southeast Asia are preparing to resume work in Hong Kong, The 2

NEW DELHI -- India's beauty salons, already battered by the country's devastating second COVID wave, are now dealing with a related setback: customers who are increasingly finding alternatives to venturing out in a pandemic.

Independent owners are finding it hard to come up with rent and pay salaries as fewer clients walk through their doors. "There's hardly any business now," said Malti Chauhan, 45, who runs a one-room salon in New Delhi. Before the pandemic, Chauhan was used

SEOUL -- In a speech to journalists on Aug. 17, South Korean President Moon Jae-in described press freedom as a "pillar of democracy" and commended the country's media for "balancing freedom and responsibility on a foundation of truth."

Despite this lofty commendation, many in the country's media and public are questioning the Moon government's commitment to the principles of a free media. At a National Assembly plenary session expected in the coming week, Moon's ruling Democratic Party is

HONG KONG -- Drivers, auto company executives and academics in China are calling for clearer industry standards in the marketing of vehicles with driver assist functions, after a fatal accident involving the technology sparked a new round of concern over whether motorists are being misled about its capabilities.

They say the imprecise, sometimes misleading, claims made by some car manufacturers and their salespeople are inducing many to believe it is safe to let the machine steer the vehicle without paying attention, when even the most advanced passenger car currently available is far from

TOKYO (Kyodo) --  Japan has transported 14 Afghans aboard a Self-Defense Forces aircraft from Kabul to Islamabad in neighboring Pakistan at the request of the United States amid heightened tensions in the Afghan capital following bombing attacks near the city's airport, government sources said Saturday.

The 14 Afghans, who are not local staff of the government-related entities, were evacuated Thursday in the first SDF airlift of foreign nationals to another country as part of a mission to evacuate Japanese citizens.

The airlift took place

OSAKA -- Japan's Daikin has kicked off an air conditioning "subscription" service in Africa that let's users turn on the AC -- only on days they need it -- through a smartphone app.

With no need to purchase the machine itself, users pay an initial installation fee of around $77 and roughly $1.40 for a day's use of the cool air. The first African country to receive this new service is Tanzania.

It marks a business model shift for