NIKKEI VIEW: The Asian American Blog

Gil Asakawa’s Japanese American perspective on pop culture, media and politics

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Entries from May 2009

Miss Asian American Colorado Leadership Program: not a typical a “beauty pageant”

May 31st, 2009 · 2 Comments

Congratulations to Erika Tanaka, the young Japanese and Vietnamese American woman who won the second annual Miss Asian American Colorado Leadership Program‘s Finale Show last night. The tiara was there, along with the glitz and glamor. But there was no swimsuit competition, and no one mentioned “world peace.” This is no ordinary beauty pageant. The [...]

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Tags: asian american · pop culture

An enduring Asian stereotype in a 1970s TV commercial

May 31st, 2009 · 2 Comments

“Ancient Chinese secret, huh?” In honor of the final day of Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month, I wanted to share an iconic classic television commercial. I grew up with the accusing tone of the white woman who catches the affable Asian laundry owner in a lie, ringing in my head. The TV commercial was [...]

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Tags: asian american · japan & asia · pop culture

Star of new Disney/Pixar movie “Up” is Asian American

May 30th, 2009 · 2 Comments

From Channel APA: This one snuck up on me, but the new Disney-Pixar animated feature, “Up,” stars an Asian American character, voiced by an Asian American kid. The part of Russell, the young scout who gloms onto the grumpy old man Carl just as the two take off on a crazy adventure, is read by [...]

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Tags: asian american · pop culture

“Survivor: Cook Islands” winner Yul Kwon is up next on visualizAsian.com

May 29th, 2009 · No Comments

The second interview lined up for visualizAsian.com‘s AAPI Empowerment Series is with Korean American attorney-turned-TV celebrity Yul Kwon. The interview will be held Tuesday, June 9 at 6 pm PDT (9 pm EDT). Erin and I were fortunate to see Yul speak during last year’s Democratic National Convention in Denver, and more recently during Asian [...]

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Tags: asian american · pop culture

“Lumina” Asian American/Canadian online web thriller filmed in Hong Kong debuts

May 29th, 2009 · No Comments

You’ve gotta love the Internet. I was contacted some weeks back by Jennifer Thym, the Asian American writer and director of “Lumina,” a new online-only thriller serial debuting this summer. The movie project features an Asian American lead as well as Asian Canadian actors, and the whole thing is filmed in Hong Kong, where Thym [...]

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Tags: asian american · media · pop culture

Dengue Fever’s effortless grace in “Sleepwalking through the Mekong” epitomizes Asian American synthesis

May 28th, 2009 · No Comments

I loved watching Dengue Fever’s new documentary, “Sleepwalking through the Mekong,” and listening to the great music by the band as well as some of its antecedents collected on the soundtrack. I’ve written about Dengue Fever before, but didn’t get a chance to see the show when they played Denver on a tour. So I’m [...]

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Tags: asian american · music · pop culture

PostMimi: send a postcard with your Asian American secret

May 28th, 2009 · No Comments

Psst… listen… do you want to know a secret? Fans of the ongoing art project “PostSecret” will be happy to see that an Asian American version of the idea has just launched. Like the original, PostMimi is a site that invites Asian Americans to send in postcards expressing a secret (“mimi” means “secret” in Chinese). [...]

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Tags: asian american · pop culture

Ronald Takaki, pioneering Asian American historian, 1939-2009

May 28th, 2009 · 2 Comments

There are very few non-fiction books that I would insist that anyone interested in Asian American history and culture must read. There are other important books, but these are the ones that have helped me form my sense of identity as an Asian American. They include Helen Zia’s “Asian American Dreams,” Bill Hosokawa’s “Nisei: The [...]

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Tags: asian american

Tammy and Victor Jih winners of “The Amazing Race” 14th season

May 22nd, 2009 · 1 Comment

It’s been a few weeks since this happened; I meant to write about it earlier, but better late than never, right? Asian Americans are finally getting more exposure on the TV screen, both in roles that don’t require FoB accents (that’s “fresh of the boat,” for those of you new to the expression), and also [...]

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Tags: asian american · pop culture

visualizAsian.com: a new site that celebrates Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders

May 18th, 2009 · 2 Comments

Erin and I are launching a new site this week, visualizAsian.com, that will celebrate the accomplishments of Asian American Pacific Islanders with live audio interviews conducted over a conference phone line that will also be streamed live on a webcast, and then will be playable online afterwards. We’re pleased to announce the debut interview will [...]

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Tags: asian american · media · pop culture

Cherry blossom time in Japan

May 16th, 2009 · No Comments

Sakura in Tokyo byJames T. Kirk on Vimeo. No doubt about it, the springtime blooming of sakura, or cherry blossoms, in Japan is one reason the country is special. The Japanese treat the season with wonder, with weather forecasts about the optimal blooming days and following the cherry blossoms from the warmer southern climate all [...]

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Tags: japan & asia

Yul Kwon, winner of “Survivor: Cook Island” comes to Denver to celebrate APA Heritage Month

May 14th, 2009 · 1 Comment

Call him Cool Yul. If you’re a fan of “Survivor,” you know who Yul Kwon is. He’s the Korean American attorney who won the “Cook Island” season (season 13), helping to chip away at the myth that Asian men are meek and mild-mannered geeks. He was a good student, all right, and he works hard, [...]

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Tags: asian american · pop culture

Update: 15-year-old Korean Canadian reinstated at school after being charge w/ assault; bully apologizes

May 5th, 2009 · 1 Comment

The Korean Canadian teen who fought back against a bully and won the support of his classmates has been allowed back in school. Last week I wrote about the 15-year-old, who was suspended from school and charged with assault by the York Regional Police in a town north of Toronto, for breaking the nose of [...]

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Tags: asian american

Google runs into Japan’s historical prejudice over burakumin

May 4th, 2009 · No Comments

Poor Google. They’re in a tough spot this time. The Internet giant has hit some cultural snags in Japan before, over how it rolled out its products in the Land of the Rising Sun. This time, they’re in trouble because Google used publicly available historical maps of Tokyo and Osaka in an overlay for its [...]

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Tags: asian american · japan & asia

Is Asian Pacific American Heritage Month a bad idea?

May 4th, 2009 · 4 Comments

It’s May. Happy Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. I wonder, though, if this celebration of our heritage is an idea whose time has passed. I’m glad that we have our month every year, but I’m worried that we’re emphasizing the wrong things year after year. Erin and I are starting to feel that APA Heritage [...]

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Tags: asian american · pop culture

Boulder, Colo. 13-year-old boys arrested for threatening to rape, kill 12-year-old Asian girl

May 1st, 2009 · 3 Comments

Two 13-year-old boys in Boulder, Colorado have been arrested (police plan a to arrest a third boy, 10) for calling a 12-year-old girl’s cell phone and threatening to rape and kill her because she’s Asian. Here’s the story from the Boulder Daily Camera. It’s more evidence that race in America is still an unsettled issue, [...]

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Tags: asian american

Asian Canadian 15-year-old fights back against racist schoolyard bully

May 1st, 2009 · No Comments

If you’ve ever been taunted or attacked by a bully but never fought back, you have to applaud this kid as a hero. A 15-year-old Asian Canadian (the newspaper story by the Globe and Mail never states the kid’s or his family’s name) fought back at a bully and broke his tormentor’s nose, got suspended [...]

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Tags: asian american