This annual procession is the perfect stop for samurai buffs who enjoy traditional Japanese festivals with a warrior twist.

The streets of Sakai, Fukui Prefecture, are about to be packed when the city’s Mikuni Festival kicks off on May 19 for three days. Considered one of the Hokuriku region of Japan’s “three great festivals,” the annual festival spans approximately 300 years of tradition. This year, six newly crafted floats over six meters (6.6 yards) in height that depict historical samurai of legend as well as famous scenes from kabuki plays and historical battles will be paraded around different districts of the city.

▼ Kamakura Gongoro Kagemasa (born 1069), as depicted in the play “Shibaraku,” one of the 18 Best Kabuki Plays

▼ Keiji Maeda (1543-1612)

The new floats were first unveiled to the public on 9 May. Festivities will officially begin at 6:30 p.m. on 19 May when the Maeda Keiji float will be showcased in the vicinity of Mikuni Shrine by the harbor. Then, at 1 p.m. on 20 May, all six floats will join in a procession around the city beginning at Mikuni Shrine. On this day, a special mikoshi portable shrine will also leave from the shrine, along with a procession of locals donning warrior-inspired garb.

▼ Magistrate Kinshiro Toyama (1793-1855)

▼ Minamoto no Yoshitsune (1159-1189)

In addition, this year’s festival marks a first as the newly assembled Sakai City Board of Education’s Mikuni Festival General Investigative Committee, comprised of 11 expert individuals from the municipality, will begin conducting a multi-year, comprehensive study of the festival. Their investigation will examine everything from the craftsmanship of the floats and how they’re pulled around, to the various musical accompaniments in different districts of the city. It will also seek to answer overarching questions such as why the floats came to include figures of samurai in the first place and why those are destroyed upon the conclusion of the festival every year. As the first study of its kind to be funded by governmental aid, a formal written report is expected to be published in 2029.

▼ Taira no Tomomori (1152-1185) with the anchor he used to drown himself upon losing the Sea Battle of Dan no Ura (1185)

▼ The assault of Naganori Asano (1667-1701) on Yoshinaka Kira (1641-1703) in the Pine Corridor of Edo Castle, the trigger that led to the legend of the 47 Ronin (1703)

Another new feature of this year’s festival is the creation of a special seated viewing area in the Echizen Railway’s Mikuni Station plaza. Between 4:30-6:30 p.m. on 20 May, spectators can view all six floats in succession as they approach the station and circle the intersection. 40 seats are available for purchase for 5,000 yen ($31.55) each in advance or for 6,000 yen on the day of the event. The viewing area will be split into four levels, with the highest one at 1.8 meters for prime viewing. Seats can be reserved by contacting the Mikuni Community Center at mikuni-cc@city.fukui-sakai.lg.jp or (+81) 0776-82-6400.

While you’re in town, you may also want to see what Fukui has to offer in the gastronomic delights department, such as the sasazuke preserved fish that’s popular among the locals.

Source, images: PR Times
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On a sprawling promenade in West Kowloon, a gay choir lit up the stage with a chorus of harmonies. Children listened attentively at a storytelling session led by a drag queen dressed in pink from top to bottom.

Around them, dozens of tents representing LGBTQ-friendly NGOs promoted their services and ran mini games. 

These were scenes from Hong Kong’s largest LGBTQ event, Pink Dot, when it was last held in September 2024. The event attracted thousands of people, including families with young kids.

Since then, the annual outdoor carnival, which aims to celebrate diversity, has been axed for two consecutive years, including the one scheduled for this month.

The organisers announced the cancellation on May 18, around five weeks after they said Pink Dot would take place at Stanley Plaza and Murray House in mid-June, coinciding with Pride Month.

The event was also cancelled last year after the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority (WKCDA) declined to rent its Art Park venue to the organisers, although it had done so for five years.

Pink Dot started in Singapore in 2009, and five years later, Hong Kong held its inaugural event. For the first two years – in 2014 and 2015 – the carnival was held at Tamar Park in Admiralty.

In later years, Pink Dot took place at Art Park – except during the 2019 protests and the pandemic restrictions between 2020 and 2022, when the organisers cancelled or moved the event indoors.

To hold a public event like Pink Dot, organisers must apply for a Temporary Places of Public Entertainment Licence from the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD).

Brian Leung, co-director of Hong Kong’s Pink Dot, told HKFP in late May that Link REIT, the venue operator, had informed the organisers that it could not rent the site in June because it had heard of “problems” with the event’s licence application to the FEHD.

Leung said it was unclear how Link REIT heard there were “problems” with the event’s licence application. He was never aware that there was ever any problem.

“So far, I have received no official explanation,” Leung said in Cantonese. “As an organiser, I cannot guess [what happened].”

In response to HKFP’s enquiry, the FEHD said on May 21 that it received Pink Dot’s application in late April, but the event organisers told the department on May 18 that they had cancelled the event.

The applicant “said it would formally withdraw the application later, so the department does not have any follow-up,” the FEHD wrote in an email.

‘No political aims’

Pink Dot is not the only LGBTQ event that has encountered problems over the past year. The WKCDA axed a queer-themed play, We Are Gay, in October, nearly six weeks before it was set to open at the Xiqu Centre in the cultural district.

The following month, the Hong Kong Pride Committee – which used to hold the city’s Pride marches – called off an outdoor festival at Kwun Tong Promenade after the venue operator said the site was unavailable due to construction work. The last Pride march was held in 2018.

The cancellations have raised questions among LGBTQ activists about the future of holding events in Hong Kong.

“We do have concerns,” Leung said. “Does it mean that going forward, it will be very hard or impossible to find venues for events that are LGBTQ-related?”

In late July last year, Pink Dot’s organisers were forced to cancel – four weeks after the government released its proposed framework for a bill allowing same-sex partners to register their relationships. The bill was to comply with a Court of Final Appeal ruling in a lawsuit filed by LGBTQ activist Jimmy Sham.

Sham, a former district councillor, told HKFP that when Pink Dot was cancelled last year, he thought it might be because the timing was sensitive, citing the government’s attempt to pass the framework.

The bill was eventually voted down in the “patriots only” Legislative Council in September, with many lawmakers citing a need to “uphold” traditional Chinese family values.

See also: ‘It is scary to be LGBTQ+ in Hong Kong’: Over 10,700 submissions received for same-sex partnership bill consultation

“But now that it’s been cancelled for a second year, people don’t have any idea why,” Sham said in Cantonese.

Leung said he brought Pink Dot from Singapore – where the event is still held every year – to Hong Kong in 2014, seeing it as a family-friendly celebration of diversity.

At the time, Hong Kong had annual Pride parades, with different themes each year, such as “Call for the law, equality for all” and “Stand up for diversity.” It was an opportunity for LGBT groups and their allies, including pro-democracy lawmakers, to rally on the city’s streets, waving rainbow flags and chanting slogans.

Since the Covid-19 pandemic, the organisers of the Pride march have only held indoor events.

“I thought it would be good to have an event like Pink Dot, which is different in nature. The Pride marches had clear political aims, while Pink Dot is softer, with no political aims,” Leung said.

Shrinking LGBTQ space in mainland China

Restrictions on the LGBTQ community in mainland China, where advocacy groups have been forced to disband and queer content has been censored, are not lost on Hong Kong activists and academics.

Jamie Zhao, an assistant professor and scholar on queer media at the City University of Hong Kong, said the shrinking space for LGBT activism could not be separated from mainland authorities’ lack of tolerance for publicly disruptive and “rights-demanding” activities.

The official attitude towards the LGBTQ community is closely aligned with the country’s renewed emphasis on family values, marriage and fertility, Zhao told HKFP. Amid an ageing population and low birth rates, the Chinese government has been encouraging citizens to marry and have children.

See also: ‘Boys’ Love’ dramas dance around China’s LGBTQ censors

“Queer life can be framed as non-reproductive, individualistic, foreign-influenced, or insufficiently aligned with the future of the nation,” Zhao said.

However, Zhao said mainland authorities’ approach to the LGBT community could not be described as a total crackdown. The growth in gay and lesbian bars, “boys’ love” and “girls’ love” drama series, LGBTQ reality dating shows and other elements that make up the “pink economy,” the academic said, shows that “commercially useful queer-coded culture” is still allowed to exist.

John Burns, an honorary professor at the University of Hong Kong’s Department of Politics and Public Administration, also said the official stance on LGBT matters in mainland China was a mixed picture.

Despite restrictions, Chinese production companies are still making new “boys’ love” dramas to meet popular demand, and they have not been shut down by authorities, Burns said.

In any case, the scholar said he did not believe the Hong Kong government was attempting to ban LGBTQ communities from gathering, or that there had been any related directive from the central government.

“I don’t think the central government is micromanaging Hong Kong on [LGBTQ] issues. I think they’re more likely to be micromanaging Hong Kong on national security issues,” Burns told HKFP.

‘Greater risk of disorder’ outdoors

Since the Beijing-imposed national security law was passed in 2020, large-scale outdoor events like marches and rallies have all but dried up. Besides political protests, the city no longer sees marches on topics like labour issues and women’s rights as it used to. 

“If the real issue is that the police are worried about national security, and people exploiting the outdoor event for something that it wasn’t designed for, then [the Hong Kong government] should say so,” Burns said.

Former lawmaker Regina Ip, who leads the government’s advisory body, the Executive Council, told HKFP that police tend to think outdoor events carry a “greater risk of disorder.”

She pointed to the Gay Games opening ceremony in 2023, which “was held at the Queen Elizabeth Stadium and went very well.”

Hong Kong co-hosted the international sporting event with Mexico in 2023, welcoming participants from around the world. However, the Gay Games in the city, which did not receive government sponsorship, saw far less participation than originally expected.

Like last year, Pink Dot organisers are looking into holding a private indoor event that will be livestreamed to the public, Leung said.

Asked whether Pink Dot would consider moving its event indoors in the future, Leung expressed concerns that they would still face problems getting an entertainment licence.

To Zhao, the visibility of the LGBT community has become “politically more vulnerable” in recent years because of its association with the non-establishment camp.

“Many openly queer or queer-associated public figures were connected directly or indirectly to pro-democracy politics, civil society, activism or critical public discourse,” she said.

Zhao referred to singer Denise Ho, who came out publicly during the Pride parade in 2012 and has spoken out about her pro-democracy stance.

Many politicians who took part in Pride parades belong to the pro-democracy camp, such as Leung Kwok-hung, also known as “Long Hair”; Raymond Chan, the first openly gay lawmaker; and Sham, one of the openly LGBTQ district councillors elected in 2019.

Leung, Kwok, Chan, and Sham were among the 47 democrats charged in a landmark national security case involving a primary election in 2020, and among the 45 who were jailed.

Zhao said: “This close association between queer culture and civil society has made queer visibility in Hong Kong more politically charged than in many mainland commercial contexts.”

‘Big loss’

Despite Pink Dot’s cancellation, some local activists are still hopeful that an LGBTQ space exists for the community to gather and celebrate diversity.

Jerome Yau, co-founder of Hong Kong Marriage Equality and chief executive of AIDS Concern, pointed to the fact that an outdoor event marking International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, and Transphobia (IDAHOBIT) went ahead over a weekend in mid-May.

On May 16 and 17, various organisations – from NGOs to an LGBTQ-friendly church and a queer advocacy media outlet – set up street booths in the heart of the Causeway Bay shopping district. The same event was held last year.

Yau acknowledged that organisers of large-scale events in Hong Kong faced “growing challenges” nowadays, but said he saw “no evidence” that Link REIT was under pressure.

“Whatever those licensing issues may be, I hope there is more clarification,” he said.

Nick Lee, a lecturer at the Chinese University of Hong Kong’s Gender Studies Programme, however, said he felt it was possible that the venue operator did not experience direct pressure to refuse rental to Pink Dot organisers, but withdrew on its own accord out of an abundance of caution.

Still, Yau found it disappointing that Pink Dot could not be held for a second year in a row.

The event “had a good track record. It was a good sign that Hong Kong at the very least embraces diversity and inclusion,” he said.

“It’s obviously a big loss not just to the LGBTQ community, but to the whole of society.”

Many photographers will remember the massive controversy Adobe found itself embroiled in nearly two years ago when photographers noticed just how invasive and overreaching the company's updated Terms of Use were. The company quickly reacted. VSCO is now finding itself in a similar position, as users are taking notice of some concerning language in the platform's Terms of Use.

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A Hong Kong man who threw anti-government leaflets from his public housing flat has been sentenced to 10 months in prison after pleading guilty to committing seditious acts.

Raymond Wong appeared at the West Kowloon Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday to receive a 10-month jail sentence handed down by Chief Magistrate Victor So for two counts of “doing with a seditious intention an act or acts that had a seditious intention,” local media reported.

Wong, a 55-year-old construction worker, admitted to throwing the leaflets from his unit in On Tat Estate, Kwun Tong, on two occasions in October 2024 and December 2025.

He was arrested in April, and the following month, he pleaded guilty to the charges –  an offence under Hong Kong’s homegrown national security law, also known as Article 23.

In mitigation, he apologised to his girlfriend and his daughter, as their public housing unit would be reclaimed by the government due to his offence.

Citing a psychological report, Wong’s lawyers said that the defendant did not know how to control the resentment that had built up from losing his full-time job after the 2019 protests and the Covid-19 pandemic.

‘Premeditated and planned’

Noting that the leaflets were thrown after National Day two years ago and before last year’s Legislative Council (LegCo) elections, Magistrate So said that Wong’s actions were “premeditated and planned to some degree.”

On October 2, 2024, Kwun Tong district councillor Hsu Yau-wai reported 41 sheets of paper to the police after finding them on the podium of Lai Tat House at the estate. The papers had slogans on them saying “kill police” and derogatory remarks about mainland Chinese people.

On December 5 last year, two days ahead of the “patriots only” LegCo polls, a property manager found papers scattered near that same area, with written slogans such as “Liberate Hong Kong, do not vote.”

Wong’s lawyers said on Tuesday that his methods were “primitive” and had limited impact compared with online posts.

So said he accepted the defence’s argument but pointed out that Wong explicitly incited people to kill police officers, mainland Chinese, and government officials.

Wong incited enmity towards the police and referred to mainland residents with “derogatory” and “dehumanising” language, and his use of the slogan “Liberate Hong Kong,” considered secessionist under Beijing’s national security law in Hong Kong, also challenged national sovereignty, the magistrate added.

Calls to boycott the LegCo polls also amounted to an effort to undermine public confidence in the city’s electoral system, So said.

The turnout for last year’s polls was the second-lowest on record, at 31.9 per cent. Beijing overhauled the city’s electoral system in 2021 to ensure that only those deemed patriotic enough can run.

The move reduced democratic representation in the legislature, tightened control of elections and introduced requirements for candidates to obtain nominations from a small circle of political elites.

Martin Scorsese has joined the AI image company Black Forest Labs as an adviser, a decision that has shocked some in the film and creative communities.

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KUANTAN, June 7 — An American tourist who was reported missing while hiking on Pulau Tioman was found safe last night after he shared his real-time location via mobile phone with rescue teams.

Rompin district police chief Supt Sharif Shai Sharif Mondoi said police received information about the missing man at about 5.30pm yesterday after he failed to return to his resort accommodation following an activity along the old Kampung Tekek-Kampung Juara trail.

“The victim was found at 8.33pm in the Bukit Parang forest area, Kampung Tekek, in a safe condition and without any injuries. He was taken out of the forest area for further checks,” he said in a statement today, without naming the victim.

He said the trail has many junctions and side paths and is no longer used as a main route by locals. 

“At present, the trail is often used by tourists as a hiking and recreational route. Investigations found that the victim got lost after taking the wrong branch of the path, which caused him to be unable to exit the hilly forest area,” he said.

Sharif Shai said the search operation was carried out by the Tioman police station with assistance from the Wildlife and National Parks Department team on Pulau Tioman.

He advised tourists engaging in hiking or recreational activities in forested areas to make adequate preparations, inform relevant parties of their movements, and ensure communication devices are in good working order to avoid untoward incidents. — Bernama

Scour LinkedIn jobs and you’re sure to come across half a dozen listings like the following: “Content Reviewer: Review AI content for clarity. Set your own hours.”

There are variations of these roles, but the deluge on job boards means one thing: training AI models is a real business. One World Economic Forum survey shows the fastest-growing skill in the marketplace is “AI and big data.”

Despite my initial hesitation about AI (I’m a writer, so I’ve had concerns about AI replacing my role), I decided to get on board with data annotation and AI data training. I’ve spent the last few months hopping from company to company, and I’d like to share an insider’s view of my experience.

First, the Positive Aspects of Data Annotation Work

With writing work being slow, I’ve had time in my schedule to pick up these data annotation projects. I like that I can work on my schedule, as little or as much as I want (with some caveats of availability). All the agencies I’ve worked with have paid promptly each week. Some even offer bonuses.

Pay varies dramatically based on project needs, but lately I have seen better-paying opportunities for subject-matter experts, instead of the flood of $15/hour generalist jobs I saw a few months ago.

The Onboarding Process for AI workers

Once I apply for a role I think I’m a good fit for, I’m usually given a link for an interview…with an AI recruiter! It’s the strangest thing, talking to the camera without a person on the other end. The interview questions vary in quality. Some ask great ones, while others are overly technical for the job, in my opinion.

If I’m deemed worthy of the job, I get an email saying I’m in.

Onboarding happens in a flurry of emails with access to Slack, a timer, and the system. I’m required to read onboarding documents and sometimes take a quiz to test my understanding. If I pass, I get access to tasks and can begin work.

Drawbacks to Data Annotation Work

As streamlined as the onboarding process can be, it’s the actual work that can get messy. Here are some drawbacks you should be aware of if you’re considering taking on data annotation work.

1. AI Training Is an Aggressive Market

Now that I have data annotation on my resume, I get emails on LinkedIn about roles almost every day. However, it’s important to understand what’s really happening. Companies like Mercor and Micro1 pay referral fees for new hires, sometimes several hundred dollars. So the professionals contacting me say they are a “recruitment and referral partner,” which just means they want me to click their referral link so they get paid. I often get multiple emails from different “referral partners” for the same job.

This isn’t necessarily a bad thing from the worker’s perspective, but it does mean you’ll see multiple listings (worded slightly differently) for the same job. So you waste time looking for work because you keep clicking on the same job!

2. AI Agencies Overhire

Every AI agency I’ve worked with has hired hundreds of people for a short-term project. Many times, I don’t even get a chance to work on a project because the piranhas have already consumed all of the work, and then the project closes.

The Slack channels are a mess. Hundreds of people ask the same questions without searching to see if the question has already been answered. They clog the space with unnecessary chitchat, which makes it difficult for someone looking for work-related information to find it.

Sometimes within days, the project is over. I often spend more time onboarding than actually doing paid work, which is a travesty.

3. Organization for AI Training Projects Is Nil

I have to commend any project lead who works in this space because I imagine it’s a nightmare of a job. They deal with demanding clients, few parameters for what is deemed quality work, and an incessant stream of chatter on Slack.

But what I have seen over time is that AI agencies are getting smarter. While a few months ago I’d be thrown into a project with just a short training document, more agencies are requiring workers to pass quizzes to get to the real work. It’s smart, but flawed. More than once, I’ve failed a quiz, been booted out, and then weeks later received an email saying they’d messed up the quizzes and I was back in. Only now there was no work!

4. Ghosting Is Common on AI Projects

Several times, I’ve been kicked off a project without an explanation why. I get blocked from Slack and have no recourse to ask what happened. A little common courtesy would go a long way here. This is such a new industry, and we’re all learning, so why not help us do better by explaining why we are no longer eligible to work on a project?

5. AI Projects End Without Warning

Project leads are always obtuse when workers ask how long a project will last. Inevitably, it is usually only a matter of days or weeks before the work is completed and the lights are turned off. Sometimes leads say a project is just paused, but I’ve yet to see one come back online.

6. Project Instructions Change Frequently

Given how frenetic these projects are, it seems like the client and agency don’t take enough time to flesh out the requirements and instructions initially. That means people knee-deep in the project are suddenly given updated instructions to adhere to.

There’s Still a Lot of Room for Improvement in the AI Training Industry

Yes, this is a new frontier, and agencies and workers alike are still learning. I invite AI agencies to consider us workers instead of just cogs in the machine. Rather than ask people to work for a few hours and then sit on their hands waiting for more work that never comes, wouldn’t it be better to line up several projects and keep workers happy (and loyal), without having to train new hires every few weeks for new projects?

Data annotation jobs could develop into full-time, permanent opportunities if AI agencies reformulate how they hire and give work. That way, employees are more dedicated to the role and don’t, like me, hop from one opportunity to another.

Manuel Gual posted a photo:

The Forgotten Archive of a Spanish Spy Agency. MORTADELO Y FILEMON

Description:
A cinematic retro espionage collection set in a fictional 1970s Spanish intelligence world, filled with dusty archives, classified files, typewriters, surveillance rooms, laboratories, old telephones, secret maps, dim offices, deserted streets, vintage storefronts, and mysterious objects that suggest abandoned missions, bureaucratic conspiracies, and forgotten undercover operations.

These images were generated by Artificial Intelligence.

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Hong Kong’s Metro Radio has abruptly halted plans to relaunch radio programme We Are Family, an LGBTQ show axed by government-funded broadcaster RTHK three years ago, its host has said.

Brian Leung, the host of We Are Family, said on the show’s Facebook page on Wednesday that Metro Radio invited him in April to relaunch We Are Family on Metro Info Live, one of the radio’s channels.

The invitation was made by Steven Ma, who was the CEO of Metro Radio at the time. It was decided that the show would start on May 29, Leung said.

After Ma announced he was leaving Metro Radio in May, Leung said he sought clarification from the head of Metro Info Live about whether the show would go on. He was told it would launch as scheduled and that an advertisement for it had already aired on Monday.

However, Leung said he received a call from the head of Metro Info Live on Wednesday afternoon, saying Metro Radio’s new management had decided to halt the relaunch.

No reasons were provided for the change, Leung said.

HKFP has reached out to Metro Radio, which is owned by CK Hutchison Holdings, for comment.

“It was sudden and unusual… [I] send my apologies to all of We Are Family‘s supporters for getting everyone’s hopes up,” Leung said in the Chinese-language post.

“The platform is run by others, and we can’t influence their back-and-forth decisions. What we could do is to safeguard the channels we have left and continue to speak up,” Leung has said.

We Are Family was launched in 2006 to promote diversity and discuss topics related to gay culture and diverse lifestyles, according to the broadcaster’s website.

It was the city’s first and only LGBTQ radio show. After the RTHK suspension, Leung continued to run the show on the YouTube channel.

Hong Kong has seen a shrinking space for LGBTQ events in recent years.

On Monday, LGBTQ carnival Pink Dot announced its cancellation for the second year after its venue pulled out. Leung is also a co-director of Pink Dot.

In November last year, the Hong Kong Pride Committee scrapped an outdoor festival at Kwun Tong Promenade after being told the venue was not available.