Gil Asakawa's Nikkei View | japan & asia
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June 23, 2011

We're addicted to the Food Network because we're amateur foodies who believe deeply that food is the gateway for most people to learn about other cultures. I'm always amazed when I find people who are closed-minded about trying different types of cuisines, and I've always lived by the rule that if somewhere in the world, someone eats a dish, I'm willing to try it... at least once. Living by this rule, I've had some funky food, including insects, plants that you wouldn't think are edible, slimy sea creatures that I'm not sure other sea creatures would eat, and animal parts that would probably make a PETA supporter faint. We love all kinds of cuisines from around the world, and obscure indigenous specialties from around the U.S. One of our favorites is Korean cuisine. You can trace a lot of Japanese culture to China or Korea, including food. Yakiniku, grilled marinated thin-sliced beef, is Korean bulgogi (my favorite). Gyoza dumplings are either Chinese potstickers or Korean mandu. Kimchi is, well, it's a purely Korean original: Pickled napa cabbage that's deeply infused with hot chili pepper and briny salt. It's a staple of Korean cuisine, an ubiquitous side dish, delicious and really healthy to boot. My mouth starts watering just thinking about it. Erin and I even cooked up our own Soon Doobu Jjigae spicy tofu soup one night, and look forward to trying more Korean recipes. Growing up in Japan, we had kimchi pretty regularly. My mom used to make it (she hardly cooks anything anymore) when I was a kid. Its pungent odor would fill the house and embarrass me once we moved to the states if my white high school buddies visited, but I even got my giant football player friend Bubba to try kimchi. Like some other Asian dishes, it doesn't taste as stinky as it smells. A new PBS series, "Kimchi Chronicles," explores the richness of Korean food in a fascinating way that's part-travelogue, part food program and part a journey about identity. The series has been rolling out in some markets, but here in Denver it premieres July 2 on Rocky Mountain PBS (Channel 12 in Denver) What makes the show so intriguing to me is the star, Marja Vongerichten, who is wife of superstar New York chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten.
June 22, 2011

TaikoProject brings its "Rhythmic Relations" show to LA's Little Tokyo Another reason I wish we lived in LA: TaikoProject, the acclaimed genre-expanding taiko group based in LA, brings its talents home to perform its "Rhythmic Relations 2011" show this weekend outdoors at Noguchi Plaza in front of the Japanese American Cultural & Community Center in Little Tokyo, 244 S. San Pedro St., Los Angeles. There will be two performances, at 2 and 7:30 pm; tickets are $30 - $35 + service charges. Tickets are available online at www.jaccc.org or by phone (213) 680-3700. The group will be joined by Bombu Taiko, Kitsune Taiko and Loma Pacific Taiko, and the show will feature special guest Ryutaro Kaneko (former Artistic Director for the superstar Japanese taiko group Kodo). You may have caught TaikoProject this week on "The Voice," the terrific NBC singing competition show (we're cheering for Dia Frampton, and not just because she's Asian American -- hapa Korean). You may have also seen TaikoProject way back in 2006, playing on a Mistubishi car commercial (I remember at the time, thought it was totally cool to see a taiko group on a commercial). Here's how TaikoProject describes itself:
June 21, 2011

It looks easy -- lining up and following the movements of the little old ladies who have been doing it all their lives. But it's hard work, and I work up a sweat almost immediately during Obon practice at the Denver Buddhist Temple gym. I didn't grow up dancing Obon every summer like many Japanese Americans. Wherever you find JA communities, you'll find summertime festivals where people gather to dance to old-style Japanese folksongs in circular formations, where they watch a group of master dancers in the small circle in the middle, and mimic every move. My wife Erin, who grew up with Obon every year during Denver's Sakura Matsuri, or Cherry Blossom Festival, describes it perfectly as "Japanese line dancing -- in a circle." The dancing will take over Lawrence Street during the 40th Annual Cherry Blossom Festival this weekend on Saturday night at Sakura Square. The Obon -- or Bon Odori, which is the actual term for the dances -- follows a full day of performances and demonstrations, vendors and food served up by the Buddhist Temple (Erin and her mom and I volunteer each year to sell manju, or Japanese pastries, inside the gym). The dancing is festive and fun, but the purpose is serious: Obon is a traditional Buddhist custom that pays tribute to the deceased -- especially to one's ancestors.
May 3, 2011

Meet Cheryl Tan on visualizAsian.com on May 24!We're thrilled to announce that we're celebrating the second anniversary of visualizAsian.com with TWO shows during Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month! We launbched visualizAsian in May of 2009 with a conversation with former Transportation Secretary Norm Mineta, and we've had almost two dozen calls since then. This month we have a show with Albert Kim, one of the writers and producers of the hit action series "Nikita" on Tuesday May 10, and we're closing out the month with a conversation with journalist and author Cheryl Tan on Tuesday, May 24! Click here to register for the call and you'll receive the dial-in and webcast information. Cheryl Tan has written for bigtime publications including the New York Times and Wall Street Journal, and earlier this year published "A Tiger in the Kitchen" (not to be confused with that other "Tiger" book...). Here's her biography from her website:
April 19, 2011

A couple of days after the tragic earthquake and tsunami struck the northeast coast of Japan's main island on March 11, the Newark Star Ledger newspaper ran an article with a headline that promised Japanese Americans' concerns for relatives in Japan: "Japanese-Americans in Fort Lee, Edgewater describe frantic calls to loved ones in quake's wake." I was bemused -- and a little disappointed -- to find that the story wasn't about Japanese Americans. The reporter went up to some shoppers in Mitsuwa, a Japanese supermarket in New Jersey, and from their names and their quotes, I could tell immediately that the people quoted were Japanese. You know, Japanese Japanese. Immigrants from Japan. Or more precisely, shin-Issei, or "new first-generation" Japanese. Or maybe even just Japanese families of business men (or women) or diplomats assigned for a year or three in the U.S. before rotating back to Japan or to another post elsewhere in the world. There are fewer Japanese Japanese in America than other Asian populations, because fewer Japanese are immigrating to the U.S. than in the past. As of the 2000 census, about 7,000 new Japanese immigrants came to the U.S every year. In contrast, 50,900 Chinese and 17,900 Koreans per year came to the U.S. So it's not surprising that a mainstream news organization would mistake Japanese immigrants for Japanese Americans. (I should note that West Coast newspapers did better, and when they interviewed Japanese Americans they were indeed JAs, and when Japanese nationals were interviewed, they were identified as such.) But still, it struck me that many Japanese Americans are not necessarily closely connected to Japan.
April 17, 2011

Japan Relief Concert Thousand Hearts Japan relief efforts in Los Angeles should get a big boost next weekend from the all-star concert being organized by Asian American organizations including the Asian Bar Association and the Asian American Journalists Association. "A Thousand Hearts" promises to be a great show as well as hopefully, a great fundraiser. As always, wish I lived in Cali, but if any of you readers are in the area, don't miss it. Here are the details via press release: