The Montbello High School Drumline — an awesome precision drumming group — is traveling to Japan for a once-in-a-lifetime cultural exchange, on the new United 787 Dreamliner’s direct flight between Denver and Tokyo. After performing at the home of U.S. Ambassador to Japan John Roos, the students will travel on to Takayama, Denver’s Sister City, to perform for schools and in a concert hall with a famous taiko drum group.
The Montbello group was invited by Denver Mayor Michael B. Hancock, who had traveled to Takayama himself when he was a high school student, and who was a principle player in bringing the direct Tokyo flight to Denver International Airport. Continue reading →
This awesome commercial, titled “Just Checking,” for the popular cereal Cheerios, the first snack of choice for generations of families with kids, has hit a nerve with people who object to the multicultural family it depicts.
It shows an adorable mixed-race little girl asking her white mother if Cheerios is good for the heart. Mom answers that according to the box, it is indeed good for the heart. The girl smiles impishly, and runs off. The 30-second spot ends with dad — who is black — waking up on the couch and finding Cheerios poured all over his chest.
General Mills, makers of Cheerios, has had to turn off the comments on the YouTube page for this wonderful video because of the hateful comments that appeared, which the company said weren’t “family friendly.”
It’s too bad so many people are threatened by a mixed-race family, because it’s part of who we are as Americans. Asian Americans have increasingly high outmarriage rates, as explained in detail by C.N. Le of Asian-Nation. The term “Hapa” — originally a Hawai’ian term for “half” — is commonly-used now for mixed-race people, especially mixed-race Asians.
Today on Lawrence O’Donnell’s “The Last Word” program, O’Donnell took up time not only cheering for the Cheerios commercial, but also showing the entire ad, for free, as part of his editorial content. It was an awesome moment of television commentary in support of a corporation’s honest and accurate portrayal of a modern American family.
Kudos to General Mills, and to Lawrence O’Donnell.
David Wagner, a consultant, trainer and journalist who is originally from Colorado but has lived for years in Japan, had the opportunity to sit down and speak with two giants of Japan scholarship. Dr. Donald Keene and Dr. Joyce Lebra (a professor at the University of Colorado).
It’s a fascinating and far-ranging conversation, starting with both Keene and Lebra’s arrival in post-war Japan and how they came to be such esteemed scholars (and in Lebra’s case, how she became an India expert too). They also cover the 1970 suicide of Japanese author Yukio Mishima (whether it was a political or artistic act), and the explosion in Japanese studies over the decades.
Anyone interested in Japan or Japanese studies should take some time and view this video.
Not many cats get their own Wikipedia entry, but Maru the Cat does. If you’re a cat hater, Maru may leave you cold. But anyone with a soft spot for furry animals in generals and felines in particular won’t be able to resist grinning over this “best of” collection by Maru’s owner, a woman who remains off-camera and anonymous, under the YouTube username “mugumogu.”
“Maru” means “round” in Japanese, which is appropriate for this fat cat — he’s not enormous, just… round. He has the normal cat’s curiosity, especially for bags, boxes and any other container, even if it’s a tight fit for his girth. The videos are charming not just because he’s cute, but because he’s so slow and deliberate about almost everything he does.
Mugumogu’s YouTube channel for Maru has over 300,000 subscribers and Maru’s videos have been viewed almost 214 million times. That’s some serious kitty quality time.
Watch this compilation, then subscribe to the channel, and join the Maru club.
Bullying, guns and violence in schools isn’t just an Asian or Asian American issue. It’s am across-the-board societal issue, and Chu’s message of love, although maybe idealistic, is a good start, especially considering the level of violence across the country in just the past few months. Kevin Lien adds haunting vocals, and the video tells its story with grace and eloquence.
