Gil Asakawa's Nikkei View | All Posts
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May 20, 2010

Americanese by Margaret Kasahara Margaret Kasahara was almost half an hour late to the opening reception of her first Denver solo exhibit, at the Sandra Phillips Gallery along the Arts District on Santa Fe Drive. Her fans, friends and collectors milled around soaking in the art on the wall, and made chit-chat until she entered, flustered from being stuck in traffic on this rainy spring evening. The Colorado Springs-based painter began making the rounds, and one acquaintance made slight of the fact that she was late -- it's no big deal, she told Margaret, who gave a wan smile in return. "No, I bet she's mortified," I said. "Japanese are supposed to be early to things. It's in our DNA." I wondered if I had offended her by saying it, but the quip fit the exhibit -- Kasahara's work is a statement of her very Japaneseness, her Asian values on display in colorful two dimensions. Besides, tardiness didn't matter. Late or not, her opening was a hit, with a big crowd in spite of the lousy wet weather. The space is small, and her main pieces are 4 feet by 4 feet square, so there's only room for 13 works in the gallery. But that's enough to give you a scope of Kasahara's ability with oil paint (and oil paint sticks) as well as her wit and clever vision, which infuses statements about race and identity in an engaging package of pop art and yes, politics, even though in her artist's statement Kasahara says she's not a particularly political artist:
May 17, 2010

I wanted to grow up to be a Marvel comics artist Once upon a time, I went to art school. And although I graduated with a completely useless (career-wise, anyway) BFA in Painting, I chose art school because once upon a time, I wanted to work for Marvel Comics. Real bad. See above. When I was a kid, I loved Marvel's lineup of superheroes because they had all-too-human frailties when they weren't busting up crime in their empowered alter-egos. Spider-man, Fantastic Four, Iron Man, Dr. Strange, Silver Surfer, Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., Daredevil, The Mighty Thor, The Avengers, The X-Men... I collected 'em all. I also had a few issues of Superman and Batman and other DC comics lying around, but I wasn't a DC fanatic. I was, however, card-carrying member of the Merry Marvel Marching Society, the fan club started in 1964. I had posters (Thor against a psychedelic rainbow in black light in my room looked very cool), stickers, notepads and lots and lots of comics. I had a comic-fan penpal in Australia that I still think about now and then. And, I wrote letters to Marvel about every other month in the hopes of having one of my missives published. Alas, none of them ever ran. I also drew comics. I wish I'd kept some of them, with dialogue, panels and all. They sucked of course, but they were drawn with the complete self-absorption of of a pre-teen, and that passion eventually turned into some bit of talent, enough to get me into Pratt Institute in New York... a few steps closer to Marvel than high school in Denver. The rest, as they say, is history. Punk rock, college radio, guitar, big ol' canvases, The Village and New York's many distractions distracted me away from my commercial art career, and I eventually ended up a writer -- go figger -- much to my tuition-paying parents' chagrin. Besides, my too-Japanese mom decided to eliminate my brother and my clutter when we went off to college, and threw out anything of consequence from our childhoods... including my remaining boxes of comics. But I still have a soft spot for superheroes, especially ones of the Marvel variety. So it's been great over the past decade to watch the Merry Marvel Marching parade of comic-bound characters spring to glorious computer-animated life on the movie screen, with each new movie taking advantage of ever cooler, ever newer technology to create the best special effects ever. Of all of these, I have to say that I've enjoyed the smart, funny spectacularly entertaining Iron Man movies best.
April 21, 2010

Erin and I are thrilled to announce the next call in our visualizAsian.com AAPI Empowerment Series, with Edgar Award-winning author Naomi Hirahara, whose fourth Mas Arai mystery, "Blood Hina," was recently released. The Edgars, by the way, are the prestigious annual Edgar Allan Poe Awards for the best in mystery writing. I fell in love with Hirahara's ability to effortlessly capture...

March 30, 2010

Nick Levasseur, enemy of anime. Holy cow, what was this guy thinking? New Hampshire State Rep. Nick Levasseur posted on his Facebook wall earlier this week that "Anime is a prime example of why two nukes just wasn’t enough…..” Huh? That rates a WTF?! from any perspective. Otaku Review, an anime fan blog first picked up the quote, then Levasseur confirmed he posted it on his personal Facebook account, and apologized for it. At least it was a real apology, not one of those "I'm sorry you were offended" non-apologies. Levasseur admits it was a stupid comment, in a response to a question from Otaku review's L.B. Bryant:
I would like to deeply apologize for the insensitivity of this post. It was a poorly thought out comment, posted jest on my private facebook page. It was never intended to be viewed by anyone other than friends. This, of course, does not excuse the comment. This type of statement has no place in public or private discourse. It does not represent any true opinion, political or personal. My record in the New Hampshire House shows a commitment to equality and social justice. It is a record of which I am most proud. This comment is a disappointment not only to the people of New Hampshire, whom it has been my privilege to serve, but also to my own beliefs and moral code.
Huffington Post picked up on the gaff via a TV station, and other blogs and news media are spreading the comment and subsequent apology around. Good. But the apology begs some creepy questions that remain unanswered:
March 30, 2010

I've been meaning to post a reminder for everyone (non-Asians too!) to fill out your U.S. Census forms, or if you don't get it done and postmarked by the end of March, to be sure respond to census workers when they come to your door in the months to come. It's especially important for ethnic minority communities to be counted because an accurate accounting means every community will receive the federal services and funding it deserves. And remember, this has nothing to do with citizenship, or whether you're a student, visitor, legal, illegal, whatever. It's just counting people across the U-S of A. Here's an article from the JACL about the Census and why it's important:
JACL Says “Get Everyone Counted in the 2010 Census” By Phillip Ozaki and Carla Pineda Another decade has gone by, so that means its Census time! The JACL is making extraordinary efforts to make sure everybody in our community gets counted. Over $400 billion in federal funding is at stake. One person left out is equal to a loss of $1,300 over the next 10 years to his neighborhood. Everyone deserves a piece of the pie so make sure to get your forms in at the beginning of April. Historically, racial minorities have been undercounted including Asian Pacific Americans, and the JACL hopes to prevent that in 2010.
March 28, 2010

I caught Corky Lee preparing to shoot photos of singer-songwriter Cynthia Lin at a 2006 Asian festival in New York City (picture #22) We're thrilled to announce the next interview of visualizAsian.com's Asian American Empowerment Series, a free one-hour conversation with award-winning photojournalist Corky Lee, who has captured Asian America through his lenses for over three decades! Register now for the call, which will be Tuesday April 20 at 6 pm PT -- this one's going to be extra-special!

In addition to the conversation that you can listen to as usual, via phone or webcast, we'll be showing Corky's work in a slideshow, and you can vote on your 10 favorite images from the 30 shown here, and Corky will share the stories behind the Top 10 during our talk!
March 28, 2010

Yes, I know I've been slacking off my Nikkei View scribblings for more than a month now. Sorry about that. I've been busy with the day job (which I enjoy a lot, working on Internet and new media stuff for MediaNews Group Interactive, the parent company of The Denver Post, San Jose Mercury News and 70-some other newspapers across the...

February 23, 2010

Giant Robot features the works of cutting-edge Asian and Asian American artistsHow cool is this? The March 16 visualizAsian.com show is going to be a conversation with Eric Nakamura, the owner, publisher and co-editor of Giant Robot magazine. Our call with Eric will be at 6 pm PT on Tuesday, March 16! From movie stars, musicians, and skate-boarders to toys, technology, and history, Giant Robot magazine covers cool aspects of Asian and Asian-American pop culture. Paving the way for less knowledgeable media outlets, Eric put the spotlight on Chow Yun Fat, Jackie Chan, and Jet Li years before they were in mainstream America's vocabulary. Although Giant Robot has an Asian pop culture focus, it has earned a loyal readership of all colors. The readers are about half-Asian and half-not. Under Eric's leadership the magazine consistently has featured superior editorial content, innovative design, and a no-holds-barred attitude, garnering Giant Robot notoriety across a diverse crowd ranging from high schoolers to senior citizens. The magazine's graphic sensibility has featured a slew of artists who have gone on to fame in the art world. The magazine's popularity even led to the opening of Giant Robot retail stores, selling the kinds of cool products that the magazine writes about.