Up until 2012, Myanmar’s military government and tight censorship laws kept a lid on its music scene, restricting the production of local talent and musicians’ exposure to foreign tunes. But music has always been part of civic life in Burma. The scene has only grown since the country began to liberalise in 2011, influenced as much by local traditio…

Education is Australia’s third largest export, with international students making up a quarter of enrolments in universities across the country and the industry generating a whopping $34 billion to the Australian economy. But what is the international student experience like? Are students’ needs being catered for in the industry? And is it ethical …

Rugby’s biggest dance—the World Cup—is coming to Asia for the very first time. This September, Japan will host 19 of Rugby’s best national teams for the main event in the World Rugby calendar, and the pressure is on. After their famous victory against South Africa in 2015, Japan is poised for one of its most important sporting performances. Each ne…

What makes the ‘perfect woman,’ the ‘perfect relationship,’ and the ‘perfect marriage’ in China today? In recent years, an emerging class of highly educated, highly skilled and career-driven young women in urban China have been able to relish in new opportunities to find greater financial independence and autonomy. However, the ongoing pressure on …

From Birtherism in the United States to Australia’s dual-citizenship saga. A dark and politically motivated cloud is hanging over politicians worldwide, who may have claim to multicultural and dual national heritage. In this episode of the Monsoon Podcast, Dominic Harvey-Taylor looks at the history of citizenship as a tool for discrimination in Jap…

With the world ever more connected and globalised, foreign cultures are readily and easily available to us all. This has led to large audiences of fans forming internationally around specific cultures. One nation which has found its culture in immense world-wide popularity has been Japan. Foreign fans of Japanese culture are labelled, and sometimes…

In this episode of the Monsoon Podcast, Emily Lyon on the eSports industry and how professional videogaming is levelling-up in Asia. Videogames are a ubiquitous part of modern life, but the professional competitive sport that has grown around them is still poorly understood by many outside of the business. How did this business come to be? Why does…

In this episode of the Monsoon Podcast, Greg Thomson explores Korea's divide – not between the North and South, but on whether reunification is wanted and workable at all. In the decades since the Korean War, a reunified Korea has become an increasingly far-flung dream. Yet 2018 brought a glimmer of hope, with North and South Korea engaging in grou…

In this episode of the Monsoon Podcast, Alisa Asmalovskaya blasts off into space law to see what's there and what remains to be explored. Physicist Stephen Hawking famously warned that humanity will not survive if it doesn't venture out into space within the next century. Science and technology, however, are not the only disciplines which need to e…

In this episode of the Monsoon Podcast, Kai Clark dives below the surface of the Pacific region and the reasons it's worth exploring. Covering over 30 per cent of the Earth's surface, the Pacific is home to a multitude of countries, cultures, and languages. Yet when we discuss this region, if at all, the conversation is limited to politics and secu…

In this episode of the Monsoon Podcast, Guy Exton puts populism centre stage, exploring its characters in the Asia-Pacific region and beyond. For better or for worse, 2018 was a year of populism. Champion cricketer Imran Khan was elected Prime Minister of Pakistan, President Duterte of the Phillipines finished his second year of office, and the imp…

In this episode of the Monsoon Podcast, Nanumi Starke untangles the taxing debate on multinational tax avoidance. How could paying little to no tax on billions of dollars in profit possibly be legal? Globalisation has brought the world closer, but it has also ushered in an era of highly imaginative tax avoidance. How does it work, what can Australi…

In this episode of the Monsoon Podcast, Maxwell Lowe looks at the life and legacy of AQ Khan, the man behind the Pakistan's nuclear black market. In 2004, Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer (AQ) Khan appeared on state television and forcibly confessed to illegally supplying nuclear technology to Iran, Libya and North Korea for over three decades. Fam…

In this episode of the Monsoon Podcast, Luke Courtois speaks to four distinguished experts about the newly announced branch of the US military: Trump’s Space Force. The space domain is becoming increasingly contested, with a host of state and non-state actors entering the fray. It is in this context that US President Donald Trump announced the Depa…

In our very first Monsoon Podcast, Cherry Zheng speaks to Ehsan Nabavi, a research fellow at the 3A Institute, about the new machines and why the Institute is looking to build a whole new discipline to deal with their implications. From the Uber you caught yesterday to elections around the world, make no mistake: artificial intelligence and big dat…