TOKYO -- Japan will start vaccinating the general public starting June 21, enlisting companies and universities to administer the shots using 50 million surplus doses it expects to have by the end of the month.

Doctors working at companies' in-house clinics will be authorized to give shots to employees. Toyota Motor, which has 70,000 employees, told Nikkei that it is considering launching its own vaccination program.

Japan so far has prioritized vaccinating health care workers and the elderly. But with the country

SEOUL -- In the entertainment industry, success needs a sequel. South Korea's Big Hit Entertainment has swept to massive fame with its marquee boy band BTS -- which is why, in March, grandees of the recording label gathered to reveal what would come next.

Big Hit was about to announce a metamorphosis, one that would take it from South Korean K-pop label to global entertainment multinational. In a fashionably clunky 90s-style video, since viewed more than 3.7 million times,

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) -- The foreign ministry of Malaysia on Tuesday said it would summon China's envoy to explain an "intrusion" by 16 air force planes into its airspace, after the Southeast Asian country's military detected "suspicious" activity over the South China Sea.

Malaysia's air force said it scrambled jets on Monday to conduct visual confirmation after the planes flew within 60 nautical miles off Sarawak state of Malaysian Borneo.

It described the incident as a "serious threat to national sovereignty

TOKYO -- Adm. John Aquilino, commander of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, met with Japan's top echelon on Tuesday as he made his first overseas trip since assuming the post at the end of April.

During his 15-minute meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, the two men expressed their strong opposition to China's unilateral attempts to alter the status quo in the East China Sea.

Aquilino and Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi reaffirmed the importance of peace and stability in the Taiwan

TOKYO -- Support in Japan for discussing changes to the constitution is on the rise, a Nikkei survey shows, as the pandemic spurs much of the public to rethink the government's approach to limiting individual rights.

The poll from Friday to Sunday asked whether political parties should enter into concrete discussions on constitutional revisions, with 77% of respondents agreeing -- the most since a 2019 poll that straddled late August and early September. Just 14% saw no need to discuss the issue in the

NEW DELHI -- The coronavirus pandemic has left many in India stuck at home during a series of total and partial lockdowns, and such isolation, combined with some of the world's cheapest internet rates, has made it both tempting and easy to gamble online.

For Arindam Mukharjee, a media professional, playing poker is a daily ritual. Mukharjee, who uses an international online poker site, told Nikkei Asia that he can combine his skill "with calibrated risk to both enjoy some time off and make good money.

Brahma Chellaney is a geostrategist and author of nine books, including "Asian Juggernaut: The Rise of China, India and Japan."

International calls for the restoration of democracy in strategically located Myanmar obscure an important divide between that country's neighbors and the West.

The sanctions-centered approach of the United States and the European Union has sought to punitively isolate Myanmar, while neighboring countries favor a policy of constructive engagement with the military junta.

After a gradual, decadelong democratization process, Myanmar's military, or Tatmadaw

TOKYO -- A promising Myanmar swimmer is calling on the International Olympic Committee to ban the Myanmar Olympic Committee from representing the country in the upcoming Tokyo Games, saying it "does not share Olympic values."

"The Myanmar Olympic Committee cannot be a part of that Olympic movement because it is essentially operating as an extension of the military's rule," Win Htet Oo told Nikkei Asia.

The 26-year-old swimmer, who currently lives in Australia, last month said in a Facebook post that by

SINGAPORE -- A coronavirus-induced labor shortage is deepening in Singapore, where fears of explosive outbreaks in South Asia prompted the government to cut off flows of workers the city-state relies on.

Foreign nationals comprise about a third of the total workforce in Singapore. Sectors such as construction and shipbuilding depend heavily on low-cost labor from India and Bangladesh, in particular. But even before the authorities stopped entries from India in late April and other South Asian nations in early May, departures and tighter travel rules were keeping