TOKYO -- Just over half of the Japanese public supports holding the Olympic Games in Tokyo next month as long as hard limits are placed on the number of spectators, a Nikkei-TV Tokyo survey for the month of June finds.

Some 22% said that setting the maximum number of spectators that can attend a single event at 10,000, as currently planned, would be appropriate, while 33% said the events should instead be spectator-free. Another 4% said the games should

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

The Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino memory I cherish most is the Philippine reformer telling ghost stories -- literally.

News of his untimely death at 61 transported me back to the brief presidential palace tour Aquino, leader from 2010 to 2016, gave me in February 2014.

After our 90-minute interview, Aquino

CAIRO -- Israeli military action last month in Palestinian-controlled Gaza has been described as the first artificial intelligence war, imparting a glimpse of future conflicts in the 21st century.

"This is the first time [AI] was used broadly across an operation." a senior Israeli officer involved in digital conflict told Nikkei. The technology was deployed to defend against missile attacks and identify targets. The lessons learned from real battlefield experience will be used to improve accuracy.

When Hamas, the Islamic militant organization that effectively

TOKYO/ HONG KONG -- Asian "green bond" issuance is surging as countries in the region roll out stiffer targets to curb climate change -- and investors are keen for more.

Some of the region's most important financial centers, including China and Hong Kong, are spurring the trend with new guidelines on green investing for money managers.

And perhaps because regional green bonds have not commanded the same kind of price premium, or "greenium," as in other parts of the world, they are helping to

Welcome to Your Week in Asia.

This will be a week of Chinese milestones. Weeks of lead-up events have set the stage for the Chinese Communist Party to mark the 100th anniversary of its founding in 1921 in Shanghai on Thursday. For President Xi Jinping, this will be a key occasion to highlight the regime's achievements.

The same day, China will also mark the return of Hong Kong to its rule in 1997. The day before, the city will

TOKYO -- South Korean actress Youn Yuh-jung attended the 93rd Academy Award ceremony in Los Angeles on April 25 to receive an Oscar as best supporting actress for her role in the 2020 American film "Minari," despite hearing disturbing news from her son living in the U.S.

Worried about her being assaulted on a U.S. street, her son asked whether she would be accompanied by someone to help protect her, Youn recounted during a media interview.

Hate crimes targeting

SINGAPORE -- The National University of Singapore (NUS), known for its innovative approach to education, has succeeded in keeping on-campus classes mostly open during the COVID-19 pandemic by finding clever ways to keep the deadly virus at bay.

Since the pandemic began more than a year ago, the school has suspended classes only during April to June last year, when the government implemented a partial lockdown.

One person who has played a key role in the university's antivirus efforts is NUS President Tan Eng

TOKYO -- Despite mounting concerns of inflation in the rest of the world, consumer prices and wages in Japan have both stubbornly resisted upward pressure for decades.

Still, cracks are starting to emerge as overseas businesses from Netflix to steelmakers shed light on how Japan's deflationary spiral could hurt both its consumers and businesses.

"It's just a bit expensive," one Tokyoite grumbled back in February in response to new monthly subscription costs announced by Netflix.

The video-streaming giant revises its pricing about every two years

TOKYO -- Tokyo-based online restaurant reservation service Tablecross, which started out mainly serving visitors from overseas, is expanding services aimed at Japanese as the COVID-19 pandemic keeps the country's borders closed to international tourism.

Tablecross offers restaurant bookings through its platform, called byFood.com, which caters mainly to overseas tourists in various Japanese cities. It also offers food experiences, such as Japanese cooking classes. For every booking made through the platform, the company donates a part of its profit to feed children