Gil Asakawa's Nikkei View | aapi
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September 8, 2022

Pop culture can be a mirror that reflects the issues and values of its time—for good and bad. For instance, Hollywood initially embraced Asians, and two of the early film era’s biggest stars were Los Angeles-born Chinese American Anna May Wong and Japanese-born Sessue Hayakawa. Anna May Wong is now featured on a quarter; Sessue Hayakawa is probably best remembered...

July 9, 2022

My family moved from Japan to the Washington DC area in 1966 when I was eight years old, and I fell in love with American ways and U.S. pop culture. I like to joke that I learned every American cuss word and forgot most of my Japanese in three weeks. One of the things I embraced wholeheartedly was American pop music—specifically,...

September 10, 2012

To lead up to October, which is National Domestic Violence Month, the Boston-based Asian Task Force Against Domestic Violence (ATASK)'s Youth Empowerment Project produced a rough-around-the-edges but sweet public service announcement video to educate people about how casual sexist attitudes can lead to abusive and violent behavior: I think it's cool that young Asian Americans created the PSA....

October 30, 2010

I'm passing this text along from an email sent out, trying to reach Asian Americans, Native Hawai'ians and Other Pacific Islanders: Did you know that 20% of Native Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islanders (NHOPIs), and 17% of Asian Americans (AAs), are uninsured? That’s higher than the national uninsurance rate of 16%. Did you know that 30-31% of Korean-Americans are uninsured? That’s as high as the national uninsurance rate for Hispanic-Americans and Native Americans. Did you know that 24% of Native Hawaiians, 21% of Vietnamese and 20% of South Asians are uninsured? That’s higher than the national uninsurance rate for African-Americans. Did you know that 1 out of every 3 AA NHOPIs is Limited English Proficient? That's 20 times the rate for non-Hispanic Whites. Did you know that 1 out of every 8 AA NHOPIs lives in Poverty? That's higher than the non-Hispanic White poverty rate. America’s 2.4 Million uninsured, and 14.2 Million insured AA NHOPIs, have a vested stake in the Affordable Care Act. Wellness Matters. Informed Choice Matters. In fact, if you were to ask America’s 2.4 Million uninsured and AA NHOPIs “What does the Affordable Care Act Mean for You?” the answer would be:
August 10, 2010

I met the affable, energetic Andrea Lwin last fall at the Banana conference of Asian American bloggers (Banana II details coming soon!). At the time, she had just launched "Slanted," a comedic web series based on her one-woman show of the same name, about an Asian American actresses' struggles to make her mark in Hollywood. I know, not a...

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!