Category Archives: asian american

Seeing “Snow Falling on Cedars” on Pearl Harbor Day underscored its message

By | | , , ,
2 Comments

snowfallingoncedars-BenandArleneMany Japanese Americans who’ve grown up since World War II — myself included — dreaded December 7 every year. As kids (and sometimes as adults) we’ve been taunted with hateful calls to “Go home, Jap!,” “Go back where you cam from!” and the classic, “Remember Pearl Harbor!”

As if we could forget.

The war happened decades ago, and as Japanese Americans we had nothing to do with the attack on the U.S. military on Hawaii that sparked America’s entry into WWII. Hell, today, most people in Japan had nothing to do with Pearl Harbor. Yet, I still feel wary when I go out on Dec. 7. Although I haven’t faced a dumb remark in years now, I know that feeling is always there, just beneath the surface of civility.

The ugliness comes out, perversely, when a tragedy occurs in Japan, like the “It’s God’s revenge for Pearl Harbor!” comments that were tweeted out after the March 11, 2011 earthquake and tsunami that devastated northeast Japan.

So we decided this year, we’d face our trepidation directly. We bought tickets for “Snow Falling on Cedars,” the stage version of David Guterson’s award-winning 1994 novel about the after-effects of post-war racial hatred against Japanese Americans in a small Pacific northwest community. The book was made into an atmospheric film in 1999 starring Ethan Hawke that was nominated for a cinematography Oscar.

Seeing the play at the Vintage Theatre in Aurora would help exorcise the Pearl Harbor demons, we figured, even as it reminded us of the hysteria that the bombing caused. That hysteria led just a few months later to the imprisonment of almost 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry — half American citizens, born in the U.S. — in concentration camps away from the West Coast.
Continue reading →

Katy Perry’s faux-Japanese American Music Awards performance was terrible

By | | , , ,
15 Comments

katyperry-kimono

Katy Perry opened the American Music Awards with an over-the-top performance of her song “Unconditionally,” dressed in a gaudy, faux-Japanese kimono (with Chinese-style mandarin collar and slits up the legs, as well as American-style exposed cleavage) and painted in hideous full-yellowface makeup to fake an “Oriental” look.

The performance has sparked some outrage in both the blogosphere and mainstream media. Maybe that’s what she wanted. She’s probably pissed that Miley Cyrus has been getting all the media attention recently for her edgy, racy performances.

The opening notes of the AMA segment (below), plucked out on shamisen, a traditional Japanese stringed instrument, while a woman in kimono was silhouetted behind a Japanese shoji screen, had me hopeful that something that showed respect, appreciation and understanding for Japanese culture was about to be broadcast.

But no.

As the screen is pulled away and the woman behind it — Perry in her fake kimono — started singing, my heart sank and my gut clenched. Here we go again, a cultural mishmash of what white people think is “Japanese” all thrown into one ugly, cluttered, throw-in-the-kitchen-sink four-minute nightmare.
Continue reading →

Nagomi Visit introduces Japanese culture to visitors through home-cooked meals

By | | , , ,
3 Comments

Nagomi Visit

Travelers are treated to home-cooked Japanese food when they book a meal with Nagomi Visit. (Photo courtesy of Nagomi Visit)


 
There’s no getting around it: One of the most reliable ways to generate international friendship and cultural understanding is through the stomach.

Diversity in dining is a reflection of an evolving society. Just think of a typical American culinary palette of the 1950s: Pot roast, mashed potatoes, gravy, spinach boiled to drab green mush, creamed corn. Your plate was all white and tan, with maybe a green highlight or two (it helped if you had an iceberg lettuce salad on the side). The one bright spot, color-wise might have been a jiggling red blob of Jell-O for dessert.

I’m oversimplifying, of course. Depending on where in the U.S. of A. you lived in during the decade when I was born, you would have grown up having Italian food, or Jewish food, or maybe Mexican or Americanized Chinese food. But Middle America — the land of Better Home and Gardens Cookbooks — was all about red meat and multiple kinds of carbs. Don’t get me wrong — I love white and tan food. Except for that over-cooked spinach, which is a crying shame, I love that typical ’50s meal, including the Jell-O.

But for 2013, I’m sure glad that Americans have a much wider appreciation for ethnic cuisine, from Italian and Mexican to Chinese, Korean and Thai.

I grew up eating Japanese food, naturally. My mom cooked Japanese food for herself even if she cooked spaghetti, or steak, for the rest of us. In fact, we had rice every night, even if we had pasta, mom made rice and I often had a serving on the side alongside my noodles. But mostly, my brothers and I grew up eating my mom’s home-cooked Japanese food. Whether it was basic like teriyaki chicken or grilled salmon, or fancy and more “ethnic” dishes like oden (a traditional winter stew) or chawan mushi (a hot savory egg custard), we knew we were always getting a true authentic taste of Japan, because that’s what my mom grew up with.

A lot of us love to travel to Japan so we can have authentic Japanese cooking. Eating in restaurants in Japan, whether expensive high-end eateries or funky hole-in-the-wall joints, can be a satisfying way to hook into Japanese culture. But imagine the awesome experience of having a home-cooked Japanese meal, in a Japanese home.

OK, so you don’t have relatives that you can mooch off, or friends who you can crash with who’ll cook for you.

No worries — there’s a brilliant service called Nagomi Visit International through which you can set up a home-cooked lunch or dinner during your travels in Japan, and make new friends while you’re at it.
Continue reading →

Fung Bros. slather McDonalds’ Mighty Wings with variety of Asian sauces, and hilarity ensues

By | | , ,
Leave a comment

mightywingsvsasiansauces

This is why Asians are kicking butt on YouTube: We have a bunch of talented Asian Americans cutting loose with hilarious videos online.

This latest from the Fung Bros had me cracking up throughout, and drooling with hunger at the same time. Comedians Andrew and David Fung had the brilliant idea of buying 400 pieces of Mighty Wings from McDonald’s and then, with some friends joining in the fun, they started chowing through the wings using a variety of Asian sauces.

Some of the taste tests are hilarious (wasabi, for instance, which isn’t really a sauce, and in spite of what the Japanese woman says as the Fungs chomp on wings slathered with the stuff, isn’t used on everything in Japan…).

The video is a tour through Asian cuisines, and it’s a fine example of how Asian America overlaps — and sometimes clashes with — Asian culture. It made me hungry and want to go out and buy a few boxes of Mighty Wings and try adding sauces that aren’t in the video, like Tonkatsu sauce and Hot Mustard.

Julie Chen’s deeply personal story about getting plastic surgery to advance her news career is heartbreaking but inspiring

By | | , , ,
2 Comments

juliechensurgery

NOTE: I have no idea why I saved this as a draft and never published it live, but here ’tis.

My friend Emil Guillermo has a solid piece about Chen’s surgery that chides Chen for selling out to “the man” and getting the surgery.

I know a lot of people think that way, but I’m not so sure it’s as easy as that, especially if you were in the news field almost two decades ago.

It’s easy for us to stand in judgement today, but imagine if you really had the most powerful agent in the industry agreeing with the dumbass news director from a small-market station, and telling you you need surgery if you want to climb the markets and get to New York as a network anchor.

I applaud Chen for going through such tribulations early in her career, and even more so for going public with it all today.