Here’s a list of the reasons why this video is so wrong:

1. There is no one way to draw an Asian woman.
2. Upturned eyes? Small nose? Beautiful, big and full lips? Really?
3. According to eHow, people were genuinely asking how to draw Asian women.
4. She’s not even wearing a kimono.
5. I’m kidding about that last one.
6. This guy is a horrible teacher. He doesn’t even describe what he’s doing or why. There’s a small glimmer of hope in me that perhaps he doesn’t explain what he’s drawing because he’s realizing how racist it can sound. Instead of “slanty eyes”, he just calls them “beautiful”.
7. This guy is even worse at drawing. If that’s what he thinks Asian women look like, then he’s never met one of us before.
8. Unless that was his point: there really is no way to teach someone how to draw Asian women.
9. Then why did he agree to do this video?
10. Now I’m confused.

(Via: TheAwl)

The chef did more than just steamroll Los Angeles’ use of food trucks; he and his team essentially redefined the mobile food industry (and the Los Angeles restaurant world) by using Twitter to reach out to hungry fans and successfully combining two ethnic cuisines into a single delicious taco.

Choi sees his responsibility as a chef beyond the confines of the kitchen (or truck):

“… I’ve learned that there’s nothing more important than seeing the expression on somebody’s face when you hand them food, directly. How great would it be if the best chefs in the world brought their food to the people? I don’t mean the people who can afford the food. I’m talking about…[k]ids in Queensbridge projects or South Central LA, who may never get the chance to eat great food from the hands of a master like an Eric Ripert or Daniel Boulud. Imagine if they brought that food down to the people? If we made that fundamental shift in the industry, it would change the framework of who we are as humans.”

Kudos to Roy Choi on his success! Read the rest of the interview directly on CHOW.

Of course, this doesn’t mean we condone any sort of bad behavior. No, you shouldn’t lie about getting job offers and you shouldn’t try to steal money from cute boys. Actually, what am I even saying? These people make us look bad. Maybe I shouldn’t write about this.

So I’ll just say that I’ve been enjoying the case of 19 year old Rachel Lee and her burglary “bling ring”. If you’ve ever needed proof that paparazzi sites like TMZ are bad for society, then here you go: thanks to the proliferation of Hollywood gossip blogs like TMZ (and probably Google Maps), Lee and her friends were able to track down and rob the homes of Paris Hilton, Rachel Bilson, Lindsay Lohan, Audrina Patridge and other famous people who probably deserved it.

(I mean, let’s be real. They didn’t even have to break in: these people never locked their doors. Plus, like Paris Hilton ever wears the same outfit twice? Rachel probably put good use to those diamond watches.)

Conclusion: Rachel needs a book deal so she can tell us what exactly is inside Lindsay Lohan’s house. Cocaine? Discarded hair extensions? What’s left of her career?

Rachel. You’re Asian. You should be smart enough to get yourself out of this mess. Make us look good!

The mouth-less kitty will be celebrating her 35th anniversary this year, and Sanrio is throwing a special birthday party with a special art exhibit, Three Apples, at the Royal T cafe in Los Angeles.

The exhibit features contemporary artists like Martin Hsu, Buff Monster, Camilla d’Errico and Luke Chueh, all of whom reveal their personal take on the female cat. The show officially opens this Friday, October 23rd and will be open to the public for the next three weeks. A portion of the art sales will also be donated to LA Works, so you can be sure that even on her birthday, Hello Kitty works for the greater good.

For those of you interested in more than art, Hello Kitty has also planned a series of events at Royal T to ring in her mid-thirties: there will be karaoke nights, workshops, a special brunch and even a photo op with Hello Kitty herself (OMG I WILL TOTALLY BE THERE. WHO WANTS TO COME?).

So Happy Birthday, Hello Kitty! Thank you for providing about 98% of my beach towels, kiddie bags, functional pencil erasers and fancy pencil cases. Without you, my childhood growing up in California wouldn’t have been as cute, pink and well accessorized. Now, if I only I could find a human version of this costume, I’d be all set for Halloween.

No, I’m not kidding you. Aside from the heavy cultural significance of the word, the leaders of this protest also cite that giving the bar with such a name would help support sexual harassment, mental illness, and a negative economic impact with its indirect support for the sex trade and/or pornography. Oh yeah, and don’t forget that rapist in the area who was targeting Asian women. Wait, what? These are all related?

I hate to be the one to say this, but I can’t help think these folks are overreacting in this situation, and wrongly defining the history of Japanese geisha. They were dancing and musical entertainers, and nowhere did violence and overt sexuality come to play in their formal occupation. No, geishas aren’t prostitutes. Maybe some of them were but hey, it’s the oldest job in the world.  If anything, they should be focusing their outrage on two Asian American businessmen with a tired and unoriginal idea for a new bar, or at least ask why someone would want to go to a Geisha bar in the heart of Chinatown. Wrong culture, people.

Also, what does the NorCal rapist have to do with this? Did he have a geisha fetish or something and this bar is his one chance to finally hang out in the open? I don’t see the connection.

It’s good to see politically active Asian Americans keeping an eye out for their community but I’m finding it hard to support a group who base their protests on a narrow, sensational definition of a single word, especially when it directly affects two men bringing more business to Chinatown.

PS. And I will say that I used to live down the street from the Geisha House in Hollywood; while I disliked the name, never once did I experience a down turn in the civic quality of life. All of that was caused by the Hummer driving douchebags who would congregate in the neighborhood.

(h/t: spamfriedrice)

Go go bento box go!

[Via Serious Eats]

We brought you the news of dangerous Panda attacks in China, but this weekend we learned that Japan faces their own threat from four legged barbarian of their own.

Nine tourists  at a rest stop in Nyukawa, a small mountain town, were seriously injured by a hungry black bear yesterday. The animal terrorized visitors on a bus until a hunter managed to shoot it dead in a souvenir shop.

No one suffered life-threatening injuries in the attack, which lasted about an hour, reports said.

A photograph from the scene showed the bear mauling a prone person in a parking lot while a man attempted to scare it off.

Thanks to the advancement of 21st century technology, footage of the BEAR ATTACK (caps required) were soon found online (posted above). And yes, the bear was only 4 feet tall. Cue jokes about how short Asian people are….here.

Though bear attacks are rare, we hope that future tourists will understand the importance of being prepared for crazy animal onslaughts when traveling to the Land of the Rising Sun. With ninjas all over the place, it’s scary to think how quickly and dangerously these deadly animals approach to their enemies.

“In the beginning, I think, adoption from China was a very good thing because there were so many abandoned girls. But then it became a supply-and-demand-driven market and a lot of people at the local level were making too much money,” said Ina Hut, who last month resigned as the head of the Netherlands’ largest adoption agency out of concern about baby trafficking.

The stories come as no surprise in a complex situation like foreign adoption in America, where issues of culture, racial identity and misplaced intentions always come to play. Could life get even more complicated for these adopted children?

Canadian vlogger and aspiring filmmaker Peter Chao has been making Internet waves over his YouTube videos, featuring his opinions on topics from Kanye West’s outburst at the MTV VMA’s to hot women, all while donning shades and a thick Chinese accent. He boasts over 20,000 subscribers and a YouTube ban on his record (where they suspended his original account supposedly over racist content). G4’s Attack of the Show even featured Chao in their segment, Who’s Who on YouTube.  So what is so appealing about this semi-anonymous Internet celeb?

Honestly, I don’t know. I have a personal vendetta against vloggers (Read about your life? Sure! Watch you ramble in front of a camera? Uh…No thanks.) so the last thing I’d want to watch is some random Chinese Canadian guy talk about things on his mind.

But I will admit: he’s pretty funny. If I was a vlog watcher, I’d subscribe to Peter Chao in an instant. He knows exactly what YouTube viewers want (aside from make-up tutorials): an angry, in-your-face, testosterone dripping voice with a spot on fobby accent. And Peter openly refers to himself as a comedian, too–meaning everything he does and says is done tongue in cheek. For those of you offended by his Engrish, calm down. It’s a joke and somehow enhances (at least to me) his loud messages about hot women, all the haters out there and crazy mudafuckas.

On the other hand, I can’t believe I’m defending a young man who earns laughs by perpetuating Asian stereotypes. Can’t Peter do the same without the accent, or are people only listening because of the way he talks? How far can he go until he realizes that his fans are enjoying his rather offensive accent more than his actual jokes?

I personally don’t know, but they’re legitimate questions that deserve legitimate answers. So what say you, 8Asian readers. Peter Chao: friend or foe?

(FYI, his videos aren’t very work friendly. You’ve been warned!)