☕️ Good morning friends, 

Our goal is for you to always be the first to hear about the latest trends from Asia here—and, ideally, to make a fortune with them in the West.

Today in this section: the "Dubai chocolate" of 2026.

Dujjonku cookies. South Koreans are currently queuing for hours for them (and soon your neighbors might be too).

Don't mention it. Have a great weekend!

P.S. Must Watch for the days off: “How a Shenzhen Founder Got Abu Dhabi Royals as Investors.”

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Asian markets on the Trump rollercoaster: Markets breathed a sigh of relief on Thursday after the US president shifted down a gear on tariffs and the Greenland crisis.

Most regional indices caught the positive vibe from Wall Street and closed in the green.

TOP BIT

🌪️ Wind row in Davos: Trump vs. China

Donald Trump used his Davos speech for a broadside against wind power:

• “Wind power is ugly.”

• “China has no wind farms.”

• “Buyers of Chinese wind turbines are stupid.”

Beijing countered coolly with facts about its global market leadership. 🏅

The Details

Trump's fact disaster: According to the Global Wind Energy Council, China accounts for almost 50% of global wind power capacity—over 560,000 megawatts. In 2025, wind and solar overtook fossil fuels in power generation for the first time.

Precisely because of these exports, the EU is currently reviewing anti-subsidy tariffs to protect domestic companies from cheap Chinese competition.

🇪🇺 Europe between the fronts

Macron warned that the USA was trying to “weaken and subjugate” Europe. Canadian PM Carney: The rules-based order is “dead,” the pact with the USA “no longer works.”

Takeaway

Trump wants a return to oil, while China positions itself in Davos as a responsible defender of the global climate. Europe is under massive pressure, caught between two chairs.

📊 All details & data: Newsweek, The Guardian

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NUMBER OF THE DAY

At this age, a Chinese woman became the "oldest mother in her city" to fight loneliness in old age

🍼 The motive: The woman felt lonely because her adult daughter lives abroad. Thanks to IVF treatment, she has now given birth to a son. Only in December, a 62-year-old mother in Jilin province made similar headlines.

🌏 The context: Since young couples often shy away from high costs, China is now banking on retirees. Since the beginning of 2026, retired women have had the costs of prenatal check-ups reimbursed.

Watch: While critics call the parents' age "cruel" for the child, the state sees financially secure seniors as a new hope to cushion the demographic crisis.

MARKET BIT

🚗 Mazda bets on China EVs: In-house development delayed to 2029

Mazda's first self-developed electric SUV will arrive three years later than originally planned. In the meantime, its partner Changan is taking over production for global markets.

🤝 China builds, Japan provides the brand

Starting this summer, the CX-6e will ship from Nanjing to Europe—the second China-made model after the 6e Sedan in September. Both are technically identical to Changan Deepal vehicles and roll off the same assembly line.

The Details

Trump’s elimination of EV tax credits and Europe’s retreat from the internal combustion engine ban are giving Mazda breathing room.

• GlobalData has lowered its EV projections for 2035: the USA is down from 49% to 35%, and Europe has dropped from 98% to 80% market share.

VW customers are switching:The 6e model is not just attracting typical Mazda loyalists. Over 50% of buyers are coming from other brands—thousands of former VW e-Golf and Passat company car drivers have already switched to Mazda.

And as always: Tariffs

Mazda relies on local LFP batteries to keep the price point around €30,000.

👉🏻 Even with a 30% EU punitive tariff, Mazda is still able to undercut the competition.

Background: The Japanese Sell-off

Japan’s electronics giants are giving up or selling off their divisions in waves:

• Sharp to Foxconn

• Toshiba to Hisense

• Panasonic discontinued TV production

Mazda is choosing a middle path: Chinese manufacturing with full brand control, similar to Sony’s strategy with TVs.

👉 Full story: Nikkei, Yahoo Autos, Motor1

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STARTUP OF THE WEEK

🇲🇾 FeedMe

🍽️ Southeast Asia’s AI upgrade for restaurants

Kuala Lumpur–based F&B tech startup FeedMe is emerging as one of Southeast Asia’s most ambitious restaurant software players.

⚠️ The problem: Across Asia, small and mid-sized restaurants still rely on fragmented systems — POS, QR ordering, inventory, staffing, and accounting — driving inefficiencies, food waste, and shrinking margins.

💡 The solution: FeedMe offers an all-in-one, AI-powered operating system for restaurants, combining ordering, payments, kitchen management, inventory, CRM, and analytics into a single platform built for Asia’s high-volume dining culture.

🔜 Traction & expansion: The company recently raised US $5 million to scale its AI capabilities, expand into new markets including Thailand, and roll out financial services for merchants.

HIGHLIGHTS 

⚛️ Nuclear reboot hits pause: Japan has suspended the restart of Reactor No. 6 at Kashiwazaki-Kariwa, the world’s largest nuclear power plant, just a day after reactivation began due to a control-rod malfunction. Operator TEPCO said the reactor remains stable with no radiation risk, but the glitch highlights ongoing technical hurdles and public scepticism as Japan pushes to revive nuclear power to meet rising energy demand and climate goals.

🕊️ Peace board or political trap? Indonesia has agreed to join Donald Trump’s US-led “Board of Peace,” a new body aimed at post-war Gaza but one critics fear could pull Jakarta closer into Washington’s orbit. While the government frames the move as a chance to push humanitarian goals and a two-state solution, experts warn it risks undermining Indonesia’s non-aligned foreign policy, sidelining the UN, and sparking domestic backlash given strong pro-Palestinian sentiment at home.

📱 TikTok saves US business through new joint venture

TikTok has officially announced the formation of a US joint venture to avert a looming ban. Parent company ByteDance now holds just under 20% of the shares. Oracle, Silver Lake, and MGX are joining as lead investors, and the critical algorithm will be hosted in Oracle’s US data centers in the future. This fulfills the national security requirements of the Trump administration and secures operations for US users and creators.

COUNTRY READS

🇨🇳 Ai Weiwei, China’s most prominent dissident artist and government critic, quietly returned to Beijing after nearly a decade. More on this.

🇻🇳 Vietnam is testing a Chinese-style digital citizen rating system, ramping up online surveillance and state propaganda. More on this.

🇯🇵 Japan’s inflation falls to its lowest since 2022, easing price pressures as cost-of-living stays in focus. More on this.

✅ Safe money and make this viral Korean face mask at home.
✅ Sleep like a baby with this 20-min bedtime yoga.
✅ Bow to the deers in Nara and see their reaction.
✅ Live longer by doing these exercises.
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