The Japanese get the least sleep of all major countries, so much so that there’s a thriving "sleep tech" market to help people fall asleep faster and stay asleep longer. Our multimedia story on Japan’s billion-dollar quest to help a sleep-starved nation rest: (gift link) wapo.st/3QBBo3S

Watch here: www.youtube.com/live/dx2Osd5...

📺 TOMORROW: What Xi Got in Pyongyang Xi's recent trip to Pyongyang produced warm readouts, but skipped denuclearization. What does this signal? @csis.org Mark Lippert discusses with @victordcha.bsky.social, @wsj.com Jonathan Cheng, and @washingtonpost.com @myhlee.bsky.social. 🔗 shorturl.at/cCF9E

Dylan, on life in your 80’s, is incredible. @nytimes.com www.nytimes.com/2026/06/14/o...

Chinese leader Xi Jinping will make a rare trip to North Korea next week to meet with Kim Jong Un, Xi’s first such trip in seven years and a major opportunity for Kim to show Washington that he has powerful friends, even if he is shunned by the West. Gift link: wapo.st/4a1wAeX

China and North Korea have both announced Xi Jinping will visit Pyongyang on June 8-9. It would be Xi’s first trip there since 2019. And a big deal for Kim Jong Un as he flexes his diplomatic muscles to show he has powerful friends even without engaging the U.S.

How young Chinese are learning the truth about Tiananmen Square, despite censorship. Important read from our reporter Huiyee Chiew in Taipei: www.washingtonpost.com/world/2026/0...

Vermeer’s Girl With The Pearl Earring will be shown in Osaka, later this year, and the press conference was as Japanese as you’d expect #Vermeer

As China shows greater willingness to strong-arm its neighbors & President Trump injects waves of unpredictability into global affairs, Japan and South Korea are banding together as smaller nations redraw the geostrategic balance in Asia despite their complicated history. Gift link: wapo.st/3Ppzp2l

Sports events have often been used as a vehicle for diplomatic exchanges between the Koreas, which have been separated since a 1953 armistice halted the Korean War and divided the peninsula. In a recent match-up, players from North Korea remained stone-faced — until they won.

A North Korean women's club soccer team visited the South for the 1st time this week, raising hopes for a powerful moment of inter-Korean sports diplomacy. But with inter-Korean relations at a low point, the North's message was clear: They're not interested. Gift link: wapo.st/4wGH2lF

Thanks to Chosun ALC, RAND and @korea.csis.org for having me as a moderator again this year for two meaty discussions with some of the best thinkers on Korean issues - on alliance modernization and the challenges facing diplomacy with North Korea.

There were no big breakthroughs but also no blunders, and the summit positioned China's Xi Jinping as a leader at the height of his power seeking global stability. Gift link to our story on a victorious summit for Xi, who projected stability and conceded nothing: wapo.st/42Hv8dv

Team Asia reunion in Taipei for the Trump-Xi summit, and other scenes 🇹🇼

In pageantry and politics, China summit yields Xi Jinping’s goal — equal footing with U.S. Gift link to our story from the final day of Trump-Xi summit wapo.st/4dp3R4h

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, a fierce China critic, was banned in 2020 from entering the country. Chinese officials, however, are using a different transliteration of Rubio’s name, perhaps to allow him to visit without lifting the ban.

Chinese President Xi Jinping warned President Donald Trump on Thursday that “conflicts” could emerge if the two powers mishandle Taiwan, declaring that Beijing’s top priority in talks with the United States is the fate of the contested island long supported militarily by Washington. wapo.st/3P2fCpv

A name change in Chinese characters may have allowed Secretary of State Marco Rubio -- a fierce China critic who was banned in 2020 from entering the country -- to visit China as part of President Donald Trump’s entourage. wapo.st/4fl3FFO

“It’s a simple proposition: Whatever our views of the Middle East conflict, we should be able to unite in condemning rape.” www.nytimes.com/2026/05/11/o...

President Trump will return to China this week for the first time since 2017. Beijing is a far more powerful, confident seat of global power than a decade ago — with a seasoned leader, Xi Jinping, who now understands Trump weaponizes unpredictability.

Trump will return to a Beijing that is a far more powerful, confident seat of global power than a decade ago — with a seasoned leader, Xi Jinping, who now understands Trump weaponizes unpredictability and holds no illusions about making lasting deals with the U.S. leader. Gift link: wapo.st/4nmmdYs

Jahi Chikwendiu, a former staff photographer, won for feature photography for two stories following a young family's struggle with terminal cancer. The Post was also a finalist in the national reporting category for its coverage of immigration and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

The Washington Post won a Pulitzer Prize for public service for coverage of DOGE and the federal workforce. It’s the second time The Post has won the prestigious award in five years. Read more about our winning coverage here: https://wapo.st/3OX3l5A

A detail I didn’t know: “The Herald entered the Epstein series for a Pulitzer Prize that year, but it was not a finalist. Alan Dershowitz … who helped broker Epstein’s original deal, wrote a letter to the Pulitzer committee that year, urging them not to honor Brown’s work.” share.inquirer.com/THMiUZ

Stereotypically Jeju weekend: cloudy weather, horses, delicious fish, aged black pork. Also ate lots of tangerines of course.

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on Tuesday announced her country will begin selling lethal weapons abroad, a major shift from a post-World War II pacifist commitment during a time of heightened security concerns in the region. wapo.st/48YduWc

Watching the Iran war warily, Beijing has tried to position itself as a peacemaker of sorts — but also to maintain distance from the war in a region where it has minimal military influence. Our latest, on China’s delicate diplomacy: wapo.st/3OILpvj

Japan bolstering its defense is especially important now that Japan’s only security ally — the United States — has been engulfed in war in the Middle East, leaving Asian middle powers like Japan to confront hard questions, Japanese officials and analysts say. wapo.st/4tj0q66

As a security hawk, Japan’s prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, has initiated a plan to consider changes to the pacifist clause in the country’s constitution, which has constrained its military and defined its national identity since World War II. Gift link to our latest from Tokyo: wapo.st/4tj0q66

The front page photo on today’s Joongang Ilbo, one of the main conservative newspapers in South Korea:

Michelle Park Steel, a former two-term Republican lawmaker from California, has been named the U.S. ambassador to Seoul. The ambassador post in Seoul has been left vacant since former Ambassador Philip Goldberg left Seoul in January last year. m-en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN2026...

Hello, I made you a feed of your cats watching the Artemis II splashdown bsky.app/profile/did:...

Thread on the South Korean president’s evolving stance on Israel, as he faces increasing economic pressure from the war in Iran:

Artemis splashdown was so incredible and made me emotional. Welcome home, team!!

After Trump pivoted on Iran and announced a two-week ceasefire, the acronym “TACO” made its way to headlines around the world — along with some creative translations to help explain the concept of “chickening out.” Decoding TACO,from Japan to China to France, Italy, and beyond: wapo.st/4stfr47

Across Asia, far from President Trump’s war in Iran, companies and consumers are facing or preparing for shortages of everyday goods as the economic consequences ripple across the map. As the war grinds on, supply problems are expected to get worse.

As the oil and gas crisis set off by the war in Iran drives governments to accelerate their transitions to renewable energy, China stands to benefit most from the war-driven energy crisis. Gift link: wapo.st/4tuJEjU

Japanese potato chips. Instant ramen. K-beauty cosmetics. School uniforms. Garbage bags. Across Asia, far from President Trump’s war in Iran that has driven up fuel prices for Americans, companies and consumers are facing or preparing for shortages of everyday goods. Gift link: wapo.st/3O1tIa3

Tokyo cherry blossoms 🌸 the rain washed away a lot of the leaves just after peak bloom, but they were beautiful while they lasted.

Allies and partners of the U.S. in Asia are steeling themselves for what they see as the nightmare scenario of a long American war in the Middle East that would distract from their own security concerns about China. By @rebtanhs.bsky.social & Huiyee Chiew in Taipei, gift link: wapo.st/3NwcKjV

Iran is escalating attacks on its neighbors, betting it can ratchet up global economic pain faster than the Trump administration can relieve it with military force, according to an Iranian diplomat, two European diplomats and a senior Arab official.

finally, japan answers america’s call to help open the strait of hormuz

BTS is back, and the K-pop boy band’s fans have taken over Seoul. Tens of thousands attended a free comeback concert by the K-pop sensation. Restaurants, bars, coffee shops celebrated their return with specialty items. Seoul’s landmarks were lit, red like their album. Gift link: wapo.st/4lFrd9C

President Donald Trump joked about Pearl Harbor in a meeting Thursday with the Japanese prime minister, invoking the surprise attack on the U.S. on Dec. 7, 1941, to explain his decision not to notify American allies ahead of strikes on Iran. Gift link: wapo.st/41mav5H

The U.S.-Japan summit today was supposed to be a feel-good event with cherry trees and investments. Tokyo was happy to get face time with Trump before he meets with Xi. But with the war in Iran, the mood has completely shifted, and now it’s become a tricky endeavor for Takaichi. wapo.st/4cUO92l

As the U.S. wages war with no clear endgame, large swaths of the globe -- Europe and Asia in particular -- are suffering worse than Americans from the economic fallout, weathering gasoline shortages, falling currencies and more severe energy shocks. Gift link to our story: wapo.st/3PdTdFn

Japan’s prime minister’s visit to D.C. was supposed to celebrate friendship, with a gift of 250 cherry trees to mark America’s birthday. Instead, she’ll be greeted by a president looking for a different gift: Military assistance in the Middle East.

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is heading to Washington for her second summit with President Trump. It was supposed to be a triumphant celebration of the U.S.-Japan alliance. Now, the war in Iran looms large and Takaichi is walking a tight rope. Gift link: wapo.st/4cUO92l

My latest in @foreignpolicy.com: with a war in the Middle East, the world appears to have missed that North Korea is now officially getting into the space weapons game (with strong incentives to put nukes in space). My analysis: foreignpolicy.com/2026/03/09/n...

Two ships owned by an Iranian company that the U.S. has accused of supplying material to Tehran’s ballistic missile program departed a Chinese chemical-storage port this week laden with cargo and headed for Iran, according to a Washington Post analysis. www.washingtonpost.com/investigatio...