NEW YORK — First they legalized dancing on bar tops. Then they tried Formula One night racing. But this year, Singapore — where the government is known for its strict moral code — took an even more surprising plunge into yet another tourist attraction: casinos. As the first Singaporean casino, Resorts World Sentosa, opened its doors in January, Southeast Asia watched in shock. Then, just two weeks ago, Singapore opened its second casino, Marina Bay Sands. It was the world’s second most expensive casino, built at a whopping cost of $5.5 billion.

MUMBAI, India — A cricket star took India by storm last week when he joined Twitter and began racking up followers at the rate of almost 4,500 an hour. Within the first 24 hours, Sachin Tendulkar’s following reached almost 80,000, sparking a media frenzy and countless tweets about the so-called god of cricket joining the social networking site.

Editor's note: Temp Nation is a four-part series on the structural changes taking place in Japan, the world's second-largest economy. With the demise of Japan, Inc.'s lifetime employment policies, more than a third of the country's workforce is now underworked and underpaid. This series examines how some temps are starting to fight back.

Editor's note: Temp Nation is a four-part series on the structural changes taking place in Japan, the world's second-largest economy. With the demise of Japan, Inc.'s lifetime employment policies, more than a third of the country's workforce is now underworked and underpaid. This series examines how some temps are starting to fight back.