East Asia analyst Brian Hioe reports on two mass protest movements in Asia - one environmental in Shanghai, one constitutional in Tokyo - and explores the challenges to social movements in a region of one-party governments, a political legacy of Cold War authoritarianism and the consuming force of trans-national capitalism.

Brian wrote the recent articles How Could A Demonstration of 50,000 in Shanghai Not Be Reported in International Media? and Article 9 and Japan’s Democratic Crisis for New Bloom.