Asia in 3 minutes: Kim Jong-un arrives in Singapore … but is he a wrong’un?

Hong Kong’s own Kim impersonator turns heads in Singapore

Surprised Singaporeans pursued North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Sunday before realising the portly man with slick black hair near the Marina Bay Sands hotel was an impersonator. “It looked like the real Kim Jong-un, but later I realised it’s not the real one,” said Sagar Admuthe who was visiting from Mumbai, India, after several selfies with the doppleganger against a backdrop of the city’s bay. “When you see him, it’s very difficult to make out.” Howard X, whose hometown is Hong Kong, said he was appearing to wish success for a summit between Kim and US President Donald Trump to negotiate an end to the North’s nuclear programme. Howard X also made an appearance as Kim at the Winter Olympics in Gangneung in South Korea in February, bewildering North Korean cheerleaders who initially thought their leader had walked into a hockey stadium.

What next? “I think the two leaders will sit down and they’re going to have a great time, because really they have the same personality,” he said on Sunday. “They are going to be best friends right after this meeting.”

Japanese politicians under fire for parental advice

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government came under fire after a senior MP suggested only women should raise children under three and another urged newlyweds to have at least three kids. Abe’s government has made “womenomics” – or boosting women’s participation in the workplace – a priority, as the country’s workforce drops amid a rapidly ageing population. But Koichi Hagiuda, a senior member of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), set off a firestorm when he said men rearing children might be “unwelcome” for them. “Children need an environment where they can stay with their mothers … if you ask infants under three which parent they like more, the answer should be mama, even though there are no firm statistics to support it,” said Hagiuda, 54, the LDP’s executive acting secretary general.

What next? Sumire Hamada, from rights group Asia-Japan Women’s Resource Centre, said Hagiuda’s comments were “out of the question” and asked: “What happened to the government’s pledge to build a society where men can participate in child-rearing?”

Sick of hotels? Book a sleepover in a Buddhist temple for your next trip

A Japanese company is taking the online homestay business to another level, offering holidaymakers and hotel-seekers a more spiritual alternative to traditional accommodation and Airbnb. New laws will permit anything from a spare bedroom to a beachfront home to a Buddhist temple to be rented to guests. And with many religious sites planning to open their doors to visitors for the night, Osaka-based firm Waka Corporation is preparing to launch its new website. The company said it hopes the site will become the Airbnb of Japan’s religious accommodation world and help introduce foreign tourists to traditions such as the vegetarian temple cuisine of shojin ryori and midnight prayer sessions.