Joe Jackson had a song called “Cancer” on his 1982 Night and Day Album, featuring the lyric “Everything Gives You Cancer.” It seems in this day and age, that truly everything does give you cancer, and if you’re Asian, you’re more likely to get certain types of cancer. AsianWeek recently published some statistics around specific Asian groups and the types of cancer that have a higher incidence in each of those groups.
As a group, Asians have a lower incidence and mortality rates from all cancers combined than all other racial/ethnic groups, but there are certain exceptions. What’s interesting about cancer and how it affects Asian Americans is that it’s very different, based on country of origin.
According to Asianweek, a study of the five largest Asian American groups – Chinese, Filipino, Vietnamese, Korean and Japanese — found colorectal cancer rates are highest among Chinese Americans; prostate cancer is more common and more often deadly among Filipino men; and Vietnamese women have the highest incidence and death rates from cervical cancer.
Studies also indicated that for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, the annual number of deaths from cancer exceeds that for heart disease, making Asians the only major U.S. racial or ethnic group for which this is true. And if you’re a Vietnamese man, you have the most to worry about. A study in California indicated that Vietnamese men have by far the highest incidence and death rates (54.3 and 35.5 per 100,000, respectively) from liver cancer of all the Asian ethnic groups. Their incidence rate is more than seven times higher than the incidence rate among non-Hispanic White men.
So depending on your country of origin, you may want to make sure you’re getting your yearly medical check-up and be sure to let your doctor know if there’s any family history of cancer. In my case, my family fit the Chinese profile all too well. My dad passed away from colorectal cancer, and in the past year I’ve lost my mom and my uncle to cancer as well. One of the difficulties we had when my mom was diagnosed was finding materials on cancer that she could read. In order to make this easier for Asian Americans, the Asian American Network for Cancer Awareness, Research and Training (AANCART), a National Cancer Institute-funded Network, and the American Cancer Society have collaborated to produce a searchable Web portal for Asian language cancer materials. The site serves as a single point of access for cancer education materials translated into more than 12 Asian and Pacific Islander languages.
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Well, this is an example of the tables being turned: after all the talk about the role of two sushi chefs being portrayed in an American KFC commercial, a McDonalds ad campaign in Japan is drawing criticism after featuring an ad making fun of white people. The ad features Mr. James, an awkward gaijin who messes up the Japanese language and loves his McDonalds, even though he lives in, you know, Japan. It’s drawing ire — and a writing campaign! — from a group called FRANCA, a nonprofit group representing non-Japanese residents in Japan. They have a blog too, right? Do they have eight bloggers and talk about interracial relationships?
Shopping With GASP!
“He’s Punjabi just like me!”
That’s what The Daughter’s Friend J said about Jay Sean, whose song “Down (Featuring Lil Wayne)” is number 6 on Billboard’s Hot 100 at the time of this post. I had heard the song before, but I had no idea that he was Asian. Given the difficulties that Asians have had cracking the American market, I suspect that was part of the marketing strategy for him in the American market.
A singer-songwriter originally from England, Jay Sean dropped out of medical school to pursue his music career. While in England, he took the stage name “Jay Sean,” which is probably more marketable than his birth name of Kamaljit Singh Jhooti. He became known for working on projects fusing traditional Punjabi music and contemporary Pop and R&B (check out Dance With You) and has developed a following in many countries including India. One commenter on the video to Down asked about the small amount of “Asian” music at the beginning, so it looks like he is adding some Asian elements but keeping it to a minimum. I think that the fact that he could be made to pass for Hispanic (compare him in the Down video to the Dance With You video) helps him. The overall strategy seems to be to minimize his Asianness.
I personally wish him much success and hope he can continue to break barriers. I have seen comments about him like “the hottest Indian I’ve ever seen” (you can see him without his shirt toward the beginning of the Down video), so I think some barriers are already being broken!
It’s not often you hear neo soul covered by Asian Americans. (Okay, there’s Renee Sebastian, but you don’t see everyone trying to cover Goapele at your local Asian American Idol.) Wikipedia describes neo soul as being more “ethnocentric” to its R&B counterparts, cognizant on matters cultural and political. Enter Dawen, a R&B singer-songwriter based in the LA area; his first single “Wake Up” — with lyrics such as “Just because I saw the movie Crouching Tiger / doesn’t mean that I know kung fu” — have been making the rounds in the Asian American blog circles. And while this means you’ll probably hear this song more on, say, the main stage of Kollaboration or the local cherry blossom festival than on the radio, I can appreciate the message and especially the musicality of his music.
What really caught my attention, however, is Dawen’s cover of Maxwell’s “Pretty Wings,” performed here with his brother George. I’ve been a fan of Maxwell for a while, but seriously, this guy is good.
UPDATE: Congrats to the winner, DavidNam811, who will receive a pair of tickets to watch “Ocean of Pearls” during its theatrical run in SF!
When was the last time you saw a trailer and you were overwhelmed with the urge to see that movie? Ever since I watched the trailer to Ocean of Pearls, I’ve been feeling that way. Bummed because I missed this movie at the 2008 Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival where it received the Grand Jury Award and Audience Award for Narrative Feature, this movie can now be seen theatrically in limited markets. (See screening schedule). Lucky Bay Area folks can see this film at Landmark’s Bridge Theater in SF from August 21 – August 27, 2009.
A film which explores issues of identity which many Asian Americans can relate to, “Amrit Singh is of two worlds, but belongs to neither. A turban-wearing Sikh, he has lived his life in North America out of sorts and out of place, cast adrift at an uneasy crossroads between East and West. But when he is offered a prestigious position as a transplant surgeon in a Detroit hospital, the young doctor sees it as a opportunity to start fresh. He struggles to be the man he believes he is and at the same time the person he wants to be. His ambitious pursuit of success, however eventually leads to tragedy and it is only in defining his singular identity that he finds peace.”
Ocean of Pearls is based on the real-life experiences of director Sarab Singh Neelam, a physician based in the Detroit area (see this awesome interview and story done by Metromode). Written by the award-winning screenwriter V. Prasad, the film stars Omid Abtahi, Heather McComb, Navi Rawat, KT Thangavelu, and Rena Owen and speaks to the universal challenge of how people (not only Sikhs) must balance romance, family, ethics and spirituality in today’s complex world.
From the director, Sarab Singh Neelam
s a practicing Sikh living in the United States, I have undertaken this effort to reach out broadly to various communities after the events of 9/11. This tragedy has led to hate crimes – especially against Sikhs. It is extremely important to note, however, that this film and its characters are fictitious, though loosely based on my own experiences and observations. This film is not intended to be a definitive depiction of Sikhs or Sikhism. It is one characters journey to find inner peace.
“Ocean of Pearls” opens on Friday, August 21, at Landmark’s Bridge Theatre in San Francisco. (Updated Screening Schedule)
Bay Area folks, lucky you… 8Asians is doing another ticket giveaway!
TICKET GIVEAWAY FOR SAN FRANCISCO OPENING!
Courtesy of Landmark Theatres, 8Asians is giving away a free pair of tickets for Opening Weekend 8/21-8/23 in SF (Landmark’s Bridge Theatre))!
All you have to do is to leave a comment of why you want to see this film and one lucky winner will be selected to go!
(Contest will be closed at 11:59pm Pacific Time on Thursday night, 8/20)
Oh, Jamie Chung. We remember her, right? She was on Real World: San Diego where she was the even-tempered good girl, but mostly because she had plead guilty to drunk driving charges just a few months before. Then she starred in the ABC Family series Samurai Girl where debate soon broke out in the comment section on whether someone Chinese Korean should play someone Japanese. Now Jamie Chung plays token-Asian-girl-in-the-white-sorority Claire in Sorority Row, a remake of the 1983 slasher movie The House on Sorority Row. Considering all the promotion stills for the movie has her character pleading for her life, I’m going to venture a guess and say that she totally does NOT survive at the end. (And the “Minorities in Horror Movies” rule lives on.)
On our family vacation to San Diego, we visited friends in the heavily Filipino city of Chula Vista. To my surprise, one of my friend’s sons was studying for his Filipino quiz the next day! I blogged about language retention and Filipinos before as have others. While I have complained about the lack of Filipino Language classes, Otay Ranch High School apparently has done something about it. This school has enough years of Filipino classes available to fill the University of California subject requirements. Impressive. Not a huge number of high schools offer Chinese or Japanese, which would have wider appeal, but in addition to Japanese, this one offers Filipino. I’d say that it is becoming useful as a diaspora language – I know I have heard it spoken in different parts of the world as Filipino immigrants and Overseas Foreign Workers are now all over the globe.
(Flickr photo credit: PHBascon)
One of the reasons that there are many Filipinos in the San Diego area is the heavy Navy presence there. For a long time, Filipinos nationals could directly join the US Navy, and that is how my father came to the US. Despite their numbers in the area, I didn’t think that Filipinos would have the political clout to do things like get Filipino language classes instituted, so this was a pleasant surprise. There have been some issues with credentials for Filipino Teachers, but since the classes are still going on, it would seem that that they have been solved. Other San Diego high schools like Rancho Bernardo also have Filipino as an language option.
It was both interesting and fun taking look at the kid’s Filipino lessons. Note that Filipino is not the same as Tagalog, as there are some differences. Our friend’s son was trying to remember common phrases, which I found to be extremely polite. My comment to his dad was that The Wife would never talk to me like that. To ask for a drink of water, the lesson said “Puwede bang uminom ng tubig?” which is literally “Is it okay to drink water?” The Wife would probably say to me “Tubig! Bilasan mo!” which is, well, slightly less deferential!
Incidentally, if you want to learn Filipino, The Fililpino Channel has occasional lessons with their Filipino Ka Sabihin Mo segments, some of which are available online. Another interesting point from the credentialing article is that despite the availability of Filipino classes, some Filipino parents don’t want their kids taking it!
I don’t blame Indian Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan for feeling “angry and humiliated” for being detained and questioned at a U.S. airport. Khan is one of India’s best-known actors (he was named by Newsweek last year as one of the world’s 50 most powerful men) and was en route to Chicago for a parade to mark the Indian independence day on Saturday when he was pulled aside at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey on Friday. After a couple of hours’ interrogation, he was allowed to make a call, he said, and he got in touch with the Indian consulate who vouched for him and secured his release. Ironic, seeing as he’d just finished a monthlong shoot in the U.S. for his film “My Name Is Khan,” which is about a Muslim who suffers from Asperger syndrome who is arrested as a suspected terrorist in post-9/11 Los Angeles after the authorities mistake his disability for suspicious behaviour. Not surprisingly, the actor’s fans are mad. Some have even taken to burning the U.S. flag in protest. Justified? Maybe, maybe not. But I doubt this will do anything to help the animosity some people in the U.S. already feel toward Muslims.
As the prolonged recession has gripped the United States, more and more Americans – especially college graduates, are considering working abroad. And a popular destination, according to the New York Times, is China:
“Shanghai and Beijing are becoming new lands of opportunity for recent American college graduates who face unemployment nearing double digits at home. Even those with limited or no knowledge of Chinese are heeding the call. They are lured by China’s surging economy, the lower cost of living and a chance to bypass some of the dues-paying that is common to first jobs in the United States.”
Last December I met up with a Taiwanese American friend of mine, Jon, who has his own startup in Beijing. He mentioned with the economic downturn, there were a ton of foreigners hanging out in Bejing – especially around Beijing University, trying to learn Chinese. Jon’s perspective was that if you didn’t have a good working knowledge of Mandarin, your chances of finding a professional job was kind of limited. There are plenty of sea turtles (“returnees”) who are both bi-lingual and bi-cultural. There are of course plenty of opportunities in China if you want to teach English in China, but for many Chinese, they would prefer to learn English from a non-Chinese/Asian American. I really wonder if the majority of Americans who go to China, especially those who do not know Mandarin at all, have any professional success. And I wonder what the social life for an expat in China is anything like Sexy Beijing.
For those who are interested in working in China or Asia, you might want to check out ORIENTED.COM or Wang Li. Those who want to brush up on their Chinese might consider checking out ChinesePod.com.
Last Thursday, I was invited to attend the launch party for DramaFever, a new online video start-up focusing on fully licensed Asian dramas. In their own words:
DramaFever will be starting off with over 50 Korean Dramas, adding Chinese and Japanese dramas later in 2009. All our videos are legally licensed, subtitled and streaming in high def. Viewers can watch for free with a few ads per episode. Later on we plan to offer an ad-free subscription model.
I sat down and talked with Seung Bak and Suk Park of DramaFever, as they elaborated some more on the site. You can read more, after the jump.
By Maricris
Color and facial appearances are not the only defining factor to being Asian. Neither are our facial expressions as covered by Linda in her recent post, nor the fact that we are notorious for eating rice in all our meals. But our gestures and manners do play a vital role, one that makes us unique and is an unique marker of our distinct culture; some people call it the Asian trademark.
For those who have been born and raised in Asia to later live in the US like myself, identifying the huge differences in gestures and manners between these two cultures take effort. And just like facial expressions, the cultural difference between gestures can cause confusion, if not outright frustration.
Norine Dresser and Roger Axtell are both experts in the field of multicultural customs and has successfully chronicled the intriguing contrast. A few sample of their studies reveals that:
- A thumbs up sign means nothing in Asia, but is considered obscene in many Middle Eastern countries, Nigeria, Australia and Afghanistan.
- Pointing with index finger – not a big deal in the United States – is very rude in Asia.
- The two-finger V sign means victory when palm facing out. When facing in, it means the number two.
During my early days of being in the US, I would wave my hands downward, palm facing out, to say “come here.” To an American recipient, my signal will come across as me, waving “Hi.” Needless to say, this has caused so much annoyance on my end, especially when I’m asking for help from a distance! Or when I’m asked a yes or no answer, I would always nod my head upwards repeatedly, which to me, means both a yes or a no. To an American, that nod only means yes!
Undoubtedly, our gestures and manners, like DNA, are our identifying markers; the unique factor that defines who we are, our race and culture as a whole. But on the flip side, I have to re-train my hands and head. Have you? What other experiences did you have that involved conflicting gestures? Funny or chaotic? I would love to hear them!
ABOUT MARICRIS: Maricris shares her journeys in life through her personal blog ZenVentures, her views on being Asian in Toasty Brown, her insight as a working mother in Working Mother Magazine, and who’s creative side can be found at Golden Flower Creations.
“You Asians Ruined Everything!”
My Brother-In-Law, a realtor in Silicon Valley, was taken aback when a white real estate agent suddenly said this to him. The agent was complaining about the negative practices of some Asian-American real estate agents. My Brother-In-Law (I’ll call him BIL for short – he lives with me as part of my extended family) told me about some of these: giving a kickback/credit to buyers when working as a buying agent and encouraging double ending transactions (representing buyer and seller) by giving sellers commission discounts when this happens. With lots of low ball commission rates offered by Asian-American agents, the clubby real estate world of 6% commissions is gone from the Valley forever.
The white agent didn’t talk about any of the positive aspects of Asian-American influences in real estate – such as helping to maintain prices and driving certain markets, particularly in those areas with good school districts. Here in Silicon Valley, housing in well known “good” school districts such as Palo Alto, Cupertino, or Mission San Jose commands a premium, driven by education oriented Asian-American parents. Even in areas with not so good school districts that are popular with Asians, such as where I live in North San Jose, houses go fast. A house around the corner sold in a week.
Asian-American tastes are driving other changes in real estate. Knowledge of Feng Shui is becoming a critically important part of selling and even in new house design. A house at the cross point of a “T” intersection has bad Feng Shui, and many Asians won’t buy it. Moreover, if anyone has died in a house, it becomes much harder to sell. I remember a real estate agent we used who offered to thrown in Feng Shui services which would include detecting if anyone had died in the house. Some builders have learned to cater to Asian-American extended families by building new houses with a bedroom with a full bath on the ground floor, designed for housing older Asian-American parents living in extended families.
Outside of Silicon Valley, Asian influences on housing are appearing in places like New Jersey and Georgia. This article from USA Today describes how Asian influenced mixed used developments and high-rises are sprouting up around the country, much like Asian influences have affected the architecture of Vancouver, Canada (when I first saw Vancouver, it reminded me of Hong Kong). Gwinnett County in Georgia is building high-rises, encouraging higher density developments, and is actively courting Asian investors.
BIL tells me that Asian and Asian-American buyers have sensed the bottoming of the Silicon Valley real estate market and are driving a pick up in sales. Many are backed by investors or family from Asia and are buying foreclosed houses cash and bidding up prices. I think we will continue to see a growing influence in real estate by Asian Americans, both financially and in housing design.
(Flickr photo credit: Ernie)
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