What is Asia Observer?

Asia Observer is a portal to Asia, focusing on news, politics and society.

The web site was founded by the Norwegian journalist John Einar Sandvand in 1999. Mr. Sandvand was at that time Asia correspondent for the leading newspaper in Norway, Aftenposten. He decided to make a web site that could be his start page in his work as journalist covering the region. That included links to all major news sources, automatic updated news headlines and guides to useful sources about each country.

Asia Observer has changed quite a bit since then. But still it tries to be a portal for people with a particular interest in how the societies in the Asian region develop.

The web site is visited by more than 1000 people every day. Statistics show that the visitors are pretty much evenly divided between North America, Europe and Asia. However, far away as they may live, they all share a common interest in Asia. Many of our visitors are journalists, students or academic researchers.

Asia Observer was completely redesigned in January 2007. It is now a much more interactive site, depending on contributions from the members of its community of knowledgeable Asia hands.

As a community it is still small, but growing. And you will find that is a very friendly community. Why don't you also become a member of the Asia Observer family?

You can register as new member here. 

What type of content do I find?

Asia Observer offers a variety of content - all related to Asian countries.

Here is a list of the most important content on Asia Observer:

• Main page. Suggest interesting Asia-related articles and news stories to other users. All registered members are allowed to suggest stories. You can also give votes to stories suggested by others and in that way influence which ones are presented on top. The main page also has the latest news headlines from Asia as well as a web directory.
• News pages. Get the latest Asia news headlines from thousands of sources.
• Country pages. These are starting points for users interested in one particular country. Each country page provides the latest news headlines related to that country, automatically picked by thousands of sources. You will also find a web directory as well as links to the most important national news media.
• Blog. Asia Observer's blog is written by editor John Einar Sandvand. Do not hesitate to comment on his stories or viewpoints.
• Web guide. We include the content of the Open Directory project, a catalogue of more than 5 million web sites continuously updated by thousands of volunteers. Information from the same source is being used on all the country pages.
• Forums. Our forums are for discussions about news, politics and society in different countries in Asia.
• Community.  Asia Observer encourages users to connect to each other. Registered users are given their own profile page, where they can tell others about themselves and their interests. 
• Book store. Search for any book on Asia Observer's book store. Books are categorized by country. You can also shop many other types of products.