With two more wins on Sunday, Japan continued unbeaten at the top of the women’s rankings after four round-robin sessions. In their evening game, they beat Czechia by 10-3, but before that they were 7-5 winners over Australia.

From Sanrio characters to starry-eyed idol singers, it’s no secret that kawaii (“cute”) culture is huge in Japan. Whole museums and theme parks have been dedicated to the concept of kawaii. Heck, it’s hard to even enter a convenience store without seeing the latest kawaii character to lend a hand at marketing some random product.

PM Sanae Takaichi's stance on Taiwan could cause tensions with China to spiral out of hand, writes Kerry Brown.

No end in sight to spat between Japan and China over Taiwan, as neither Tokyo nor Beijing shows signs of backing down.