The EconomistFebruary 29th 2020 Asia 23beprioritised,”hesaidthisweekina tele-
visedaddress.Butit isdoubtfulthathecan
reassemble his fractured government,
sinceMrAnwarhasnowlaidclaimtothe
jobofprimeminister.Theremainingpar-
tiesinPakatanHarapanseeminclinedto
sidewithMrAnwar,sincetheyfearthat
their influence will diminish under a
broadercoalitionledbyDrMahathir.In
theory,theoppositioncouldtrytoforma
government, withumno and pas as its
mainstays.Buttheyarefarshortofthenec-
essary 112 seatsinthe222-memberparlia-
ment andwould probablypreferasnap
electionanyway.
That leaves Mr Anwar scrabbling to
clinch enough support frommercenary
partiesfromSabahandSarawak,statesin
Malaysia’sbitofBorneo.Hemightalsoen-
ticesomemigrants fromBersatuorwin
backa fewpkrrebels.Ifhefailstodoso,
however,theconsequencesarelikelytobe
fatalforhis20-year-oldambitiontobe-
comeprimeminister.Voters,alreadyput
offbytheendlessbickeringwithinPakatan
Harapan,havepresumablybeenevenless
impressedwiththefrantichorse-tradingof
thepastfewdays. 7N
o fewer than191 countries admit Jap-
anese visitors without a visa. That is
twice as many as wave through Kuwaitis,
for example, and five times the number
that let in Nepalese without hesitation. By
that measure, Japan’s chrysanthemum-
decorated passport is the most welcomed
in the world. Yet only 24% of Japanese pos-
sess one—about half the proportion of
Americans who have a passport (see chart).
Why do so few Japanese take advantage of
their freedom to wander the globe?
On paper, Japanese are venturing
abroad more often. They went on roughly
20m overseas trips in 2019, up from 19m in- But that figure is inflated by people
travelling for work and by frequent flyers.
The share of people who hold a passport
has been slowly falling, from 27% in 2005.
Morishita Masami, who chaired a govern-
ment committee to promote outbound tra-
vel, estimates that at least two-thirds of
Japanese are lukewarm about the idea of
leaving the country. Several factors deter
them: miserly annual leave, concerns
about safety, the inferiority of foreign food
and, most of all, a crippling fear of the em-
barrassment of not being understood.
Sluggishwagegrowth and a weak yen have
made travel less affordable. Even pension-
ers, who have plenty of free time and dis-
posable income, are travelling less.
In the 1980s and 1990s Japanese were
keen to explore the world. Students back-
packed for weeks with their copies of Chi-
kyu no arukikata(“How to walk the Earth”),
a popular travel guide. A strong yen made
foreign jaunts affordable. But interest has
been dwindling since the late 1990s. They
are “just one of many” leisure options, Ms
Morishita explains.
The number of Japanese studying
abroad has also fallen, from 82,945 at its
peak in 2004 to 55,969 in 2016. The shrink-
ing population of young people is partly to
blame. Also, “It costs about ¥4m ($36,000)
a year to study abroad,” notes Nakamura
Tetsu of Tamagawa University, a prohib-
itive sum for most. Meanwhile, Japan’s la-
bour crunch makes foreign study less use-
ful. “You don’t need an education abroad to
get a good job,” says Suematsu Kazuko of
Tohoku University. A survey in 2019 found
that 53% of Japanese students are not inter-
ested in studying abroad, the highest ratio
among the seven countries covered.TOKYO
Fewer and fewer Japanese want to see
the worldJapanese abroadThe endangered
tourist
Self-imposed quarantine
Citizens who hold a valid passport, %
2019 orlatestavailableSource:Nationalstatistics *EnglandandWalesChinaJapanUnited StatesAustraliaCanadaSwedenNew ZealandBritain*806040200No sushi for milesT
he contrast could not have been
starker. At one end of the city, Donald
Trump and Narendra Modi, America’s pres-
ident and India’s prime minister, were cel-
ebrating a new “strategic partnership”.
With the shared passion of politicians ea-
ger to shift voters’ attention, the two lead-
ers exchanged hugs and compliments. The
other side of India’s sprawling capital was
feeling a different kind of warmth: it was
on fire. Slum districts in the north-east of
the city had erupted in riots that left at least
34 dead, dozens injured and many proper-
ties torched.
Most of the victims were Muslims, a
largely impoverished group that makes up
14% of India’s population (and 13% of Del-
hi’s). Ironically, in a flattering speech, Mr
Trump had praised India for its commit-
ment to freedoms and its tradition of reli-
gious tolerance. Yet it is the policies of Mr
Modi’s own Hindu-nationalist govern-
ment that created the current polarised at-
mosphere. A particular thorn has been its
insistence on pursuing a national head
count which, combined with new citizen-
ship rules that discriminate according to
religion, has raised fears that millions of
Muslims may be stripped of their rights.
Inflammatory rhetoric from Mr Modi’s
party makes things worse. During local
elections in the capital in February, one of
its candidates led crowds in chants of
“Shoot the traitors!” in reference to groups
protesting the citizenship law.
The trigger for the riots appears to have
been a rally by another local politician,
who declared that if a sit-in by Muslim
women protesting against the citizenship
rules was not lifted by the time Mr Trump
left India, his supporters would no longer
remain peaceful. Soon after, mobs went on
the rampage in Muslim neighbourhoods,
often with police looking mutely on or, say
many witnesses, aiding the attackers. Both
sides soon resorted to shooting; most of
the fatalities, which included two police-
men, were caused by gunfire.
The police, which in Delhi are con-
trolled by the central government, only de-
ployed in strength on February 26th. On the
orders of a court, they also began register-
ing complaints of incitement. Mr Modi’s
national-security adviser toured affected
districts, giving his “word of honour” that
residents could feel safe. The prime minis-
ter himself, after three days of silence, be-
latedly tweeted a plea for calm. 7DELHI
Riots mar Donald Trump’s visitSectarian violence in IndiaA tale of two
neighbourhoods