Bhutan

17 October 2025
New Delhi will pay for the construction of rail lines totaling 89 kilometers between India and Bhutan, which will be the latter's first such line. (Nikkei montage/Source photos by Yuji Kuronuma)
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Podcast: News Roundup

Bhutan wrestles with professional brain drain

Tune in to Nikkei Asia's podcast, bringing the region's key news to global listeners

1 August 2025
A teacher distributes exam papers at a school in Thimphu on June 20: Widespread resignations have led to increased class sizes and burdensome workloads for the instructors who have stayed on. (Photo by Suzu Takahashi)
Big in Asia

Bhutan grapples with void left by Australia-bound public servants

Officials race to restaff hospitals and schools, retain educated youth

19 July 2025
Housing Now co-founders Raphael Ascoli, left, and Kyaw Zin Latt speak during an interview on May 29 in Tokyo. (Photo by Satoko Kawasaki) 
Startups

Myanmar startup looks to bring 'affordable housing' to Bhutan, India

Co-founder Ascoli hopes to spread social impact to neighboring countries

4 June 2025
Thai King Maha Vajiralongkorn and Queen Suthida greet Bhutan's King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck and Queen Jetsun Pema in front of Thai royal aircraft at Paro International Airport, Bhutan, on April 25. (Photo by The Royal Household Bureau of Thailand)
International relations

Thai king's state visit to Bhutan sets new diplomatic tone for his reign

Choice of Himalayan kingdom seen as nod to history and Thailand's role on world stage

4 May 2025
Maha Vajiralongkorn, Thailand's king, is expected to take on a larger role in royal diplomacy.
International relations

Thai king heads to Bhutan for 1st official overseas visit in 8-year rule

Vajiralongkorn avoids visiting major powers to keep relations steady

25 April 2025
A lush pasture in Bhutan's Phobjikha Valley in springtime. From October to February, the glacial valley provides roosting grounds for hundreds of black-necked cranes migrating from Tibet. (All photos by Zinara Rathnayake)
Life

Exploring Bhutan's hidden valleys and nature trails

Weeklong visit reveals a largely unknown Buddhist kingdom

29 June 2024
India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrives at Paro International Airport in Bhutan on March 22, paying a two-day state visit to the tiny but strategic Himalayan nation also courted by China.
International relations

Modi visits Bhutan to shore up India's position amid Chinese outreach

Thimphu keeping New Delhi 'in the loop' on boundary talks with Beijing, experts say

22 March 2024
Minister of Education and Skills Development Dimple Thapa is the only woman in Bhutan's 10-member cabinet. (Ministry of Education and Skills Development)
Opinion

It is up to Bhutan's women to preserve their place in politics

Country's parties say few qualified females are willing to run for office

18 February 2024
Masked performers show off a phallus used to ward off demons at a festival for the Chezhi Goenpa Temple in the Bhutanese village of Genekha. (All photos by Humphrey Hawksley)
Tea Leaves

How tiny Bhutan deals with its demons

Phallus legends and fancy resorts both play roles in the kingdom's pursuit of prosperity

10 January 2024
Bhutanese people queue up to cast votes in the national elections in Deothang, Bhutan on Jan. 9.
Politics

Bhutan opposition party wins election amid economic challenges

Former PM Tshering Tobgay's People's Democratic Party set to form government

10 January 2024
The Hindu Kush Himalaya region, which stretches 3,500 kilometers and includes Earth's highest mountain range, is warming by 0.3 C per decade -- faster than the global average, according to the U.N.'s science body for climate change. (Illustration by Yoshiko Kawano)
Asia Insight

COP28 spotlights key climate battle: Saving Himalayan ice

From Afghanistan to China, vanishing glaciers risk floods and drought for billions

19 December 2023
Bhutan's King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck arrives to offer prayers at a temple in Guwahati, India, on Nov. 3. His visit to India comes shortly after renewed border talks between Bhutan and China.
International relations

India casts wary eye on revived China-Bhutan boundary talks

Bhutanese king visits India days after foreign minister's rare trip to Beijing

5 November 2023
Bhutanese Prime Minister Lotay Tshering, left, with Indian counterpart Narendra Modi in New Delhi in 2018: India is the de facto security guarantor of Bhutan, a diplomatic minnow.
Opinion

Bhutan is not giving in to China's hardball diplomacy

Beijing uses talks to deflect attention from territorial encroachments

3 November 2023
Bhutan's decision to discount its "sustainable development fee" for tourists, roughly a year after raising it, highlights the difficulty of calibrating the amount of traffic. (Photo by Phuntsho Wangdi)
Travel & Leisure

Bhutan halves $200 daily tourist tax to spur sluggish recovery

Discount until 2027 highlights challenge of balancing economy, sustainability

1 September 2023
Bhutan's hydroelectric power resources hold the key to its plan to become a Bitcoin mining center.
Economy

Bhutan puts Bitcoin mining plan in motion to power up economy

Fundraising starts as Himalayan kingdom aims to leverage hydro resources

11 June 2023
Bhutan's capital Thimphu has lots of greenery, even in the center of the city. (Photo by Moyuru Baba)
Climate Change

Carbon-negative Bhutan offers lessons on fighting climate change

Kingdom proves emissions can be offset by focusing on environment over growth

2 October 2022
Founded in the eighth century, Bhutan's Taktshang (Tiger’s lair) monastery hangs from a rock face 900 meters above a valley. Visitors from outside South Asia will need to pay a $200 daily tax to visit the country and see it. (Photo by Phuntsho Wangdi)
Travel & Leisure

Bhutan reopens with $200 tourist tax in test for sustainable travel

Sky-high daily levy worries pandemic-battered tourism operators

23 September 2022
Queen Elizabeth's funeral is shaping up to be a major diplomatic event.
Your Week in Asia

World leaders honor Queen Elizabeth, BOJ meeting, Bhutan reopens

Your weekly lineup of Asia's biggest business and political events

18 September 2022
"Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom," by first-time director Pawo Chonying Dorji, was shot on location in Bhutan's Lunana Valley, 4,000 meters above sea level and an eight-day walk from the nearest road.
Arts

Oscar buzz builds for breakthrough Bhutanese film

'Lunana,' kingdom's first-ever nomination, captures a country in transition

26 March 2022
Youths sit around the central square in the capital city of Thimphu, Bhutan, in December 2017: the answer lies in hedonic adaptation.
Opinion

Are people in Kazakhstan really happier than in Japan?

Happiness metrics are the wrong way to promote well-being

25 January 2022
The Merak village, Eastern Bhutan, pictured from the footpath heading towards Sakteng in May 2015: Xi Jinping's expansionism has not spared China's smallest neighbor.
Opinion

China's bullying of tiny Bhutan risks South Asian stability

David and Goliath struggle exposes Beijing's expansionist intent

22 November 2021
Lakes in Bhutan dammed by glacial moraines are at risk of overflowing into the valleys below as ice melts.
Climate Change

Climate change casts shadow on Bhutan with glacial lakes at risk

Danger looms in the mountains as ice melt threatens to flood land downstream

4 September 2021
Two women walk on an unusually empty street in Kyoto on Jan. 13: we must have the courage to recognize that old-fashioned tourism is over.
Opinion

Old-fashioned tourism will never return

All countries must start taking this into account

9 June 2021
Residents of Bhutan's capital, Thimphu, fear the possibility of a lockdown as cases continue to rise on the southern border of the kingdom. (Photo by Phuntsho Wangdi)
Coronavirus

India's COVID chaos puts Bhutan's vaccine success at risk

Although 80% of adults have received one dose, supply of boosters in doubt

21 May 2021
Bhutan has limited its COVID-19 spread to just over 1,000 cumulative cases, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. 
COVID vaccines

Bhutan races ahead in COVID-19 vaccines, jabbing 90% of adults

Physician-turned-PM leads extensive coverage within weeks of rollout

30 April 2021
Prime Minister Narendra Modi attends the launch of the pan-India COVID-19 vaccination drive via video conference in New Delhi on Jan. 16. (Photo courtesy of Government of India)
Coronavirus

Vaccine diplomacy: Indian supplies reach Bangladesh and Nepal

New Delhi's aid shipments come amid China's own COVID outreach to the region

21 January 2021
Bhutan has relaxed its tobacco ban to combat the coronavirus pandemic, whose most worrisome case entered the Himalayan kingdom from across the border. (Photo by Phuntsho Wangdi)
Politics

Bhutan lifts tobacco ban to block COVID spillover from India

After pandemic, Thimphu may ease centuries of control of 'sinful' weed

25 August 2020
The Sakteng wildlife sanctuary lies adjacent to the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, a sensitive region that China also claims. (Photo from the wildlife sanctuary's Facebook account)
International relations

In jab at India, China reiterates claim over Bhutan nature park

Beijing's expanding territorial assertions poised to raise tensions with New Delhi

23 July 2020
To improve public access, the Royal Securities Exchange of Bhutan has upgraded its systems to make company filings and real-time data available electronically. (Photo by Phuntsho Wangdi)
Markets

COVID fails to dim Bhutan's newfound interest in stocks

Rising incomes propel growing middle class into playing the market

20 July 2020