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Golden Gate Park is San Francisco is usually the place you take your out-of-town tourist friends; you got the DeYoung, the Academy of Sciences and it’s a short walk from the oldest Japanese tea garden in the United States. But many Japanese American city leaders are pissed that the garden’s tea and gift shop, owned by a Chinese American, isn’t culturally sensitive enough:
Dawkins [the great-great-grandson of landscape designer Makoto Hagiwara] and other would like to see more high-quality, traditional types of green tea offered, plus servers who are dressed appropriately and trained in traditional Japanese tea service.
That’s a fancy way of saying, “WE’RE PISSED THAT THE TEA SERVERS ARE CHINESE-AMERICAN AND NOT JAPANESE-AMERICAN AND WE’RE EVEN MORE PISSED THAT TOURISTS CAN’T TELL THE DIFFERENCE. ALSO WTF THIS ISN’T A RANCH 99.”
Let’s all be honest here: Japanese-Americans in the Bay Area are fairly assimilated in American culture. Japantown sells manga and delicious crepes and the stores around it cater to Korean immigrants. Hell, the the great-great-grandson of the park landscape designer has the last name of Dawkins. I’m all for cultural authenticity, but from what I understand, Japanese cultural authenticity in the Bay Area? You’re looking at it.
One of the challenges for the current operator has been balancing what’s traditional with what sells, said Vince Lo, whose family also holds the concession at Coit Tower.
“We now dedicate a whole section of the gift shop to selling books about Japanese gardens and origami, even though they don’t really make money,” he said.
YOU HEAR THAT? THEY SELL ORIGAMI! They also sell Gundam toys by the main gate. Schooled ya, muthafuckas.
5 Comments | Posted in: Current Events, Lifestyles
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Me and the husband marching with the queer married folk, SF Pride 2004
According to an article in today’s San Jose Mercury News, a poll taken by researchers across California reports that Asian Americans are soundly against California’s Proposition 8, a referendum designed to end same-sex marriage by putting in an amendment in California’s constitution. Their findings conclude that 57% of those polled (out of 1100 Asian Americans) would be voting against the proposition.
On the one hand, it’s very encouraging to hear these results, especially since there has been a push by most California Asian American politicians as well as Asian American LGBT groups to get the word out against putting something in the state constitution. However, I’m wary about getting too excited about this, especially given that there’s a strong movement by conservative Asian American Christians to vote for the proposition. Just last Sunday, there was a rally in San Francisco’s Chinatown to get Chinese Americans to vote for Prop 8, and while there were groups such as Asian Equality there to counter-rally and demonstrate against it, it does send a disturbing message. (I happened to be in San Francisco Chinatown at the same time of the rally, but gave it a WIDE berth so that I wouldn’t get caught up in the hoopla — for obvious reasons.)
Also, the term “Asian Americans” is so amorphous that it limits a lot of people who’d be able to participate in these surveys because of their lack of fluency in English and American culture, and so it helps to not read too much into this. I think it does help that since the same-sex marriages that have happened in 2004, the Asian and Asian American media has done a lot to dispel many of the misconceptions and stereotypes of queer Asian Americans (and I’m proud to say that I played a small role in that).
But of course, there is rhetoric by those who are for the proposition, such as Bill Tam, a San Francisco (!!!!) native who’s leading the drive to get the proposition passed, and who’s quoted by the Merc as saying:
“We hope to convince Asian-Americans that gay marriage will encourage more children to experiment with the gay lifestyle and that the lifestyle comes with all kinds of disease,” he said.
Experiment?! Uh, Mr. Tam, most of us who are queer don’t experiment — we already know, we just want to confirm. And obviously, Mr. Tam has never bothered to look at all the efforts that Asian Americans have done in San Francisco to prevent the spread of HIV and other STDs all over San Francisco and nationwide, especially by groups such as API Wellness Center.
Anyway, regardless of your political beliefs, if you are an American citizen and can vote, please do so. And if you’re for Prop 8, please don’t tell me.
6 Comments | Posted in: Current Events, LGBT, Politics
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I’ve often blogged about how apathetic Asian Americans have been when it comes to political involvement and voting, so I was pleasantly surprised to read in Sunday’s New York Times about New York City’s Chinatown community organizer Eddie Chiu making a difference:
“Mr. Chiu, 60, is a very small man who speaks in a very loud voice. A retired Chinatown banker and restaurateur, he is quick to point out that he receives no financial compensation for what he calls his second career as a sort of 21st-century ward healer for Chinatown’s estimated 100,000 residents… When Mr. Chiu took the association’s reins in 2002, mainstream politicians had frequently dismissed Chinatown as a place where residents far outnumbered registered voters. But in the past few years, partly because of Mr. Chiu’s success in encouraging political participation, a growing number of mainstream candidates have visited Mr. Chiu in the hope of gaining his support and, by extension, Chinatown’s… his political awakening occurred in 2005, when he helped deliver Chinese votes to Mayor Bloomberg, who, he said, agreed to appoint a number of Chinese-Americans to his staff.”
Mr. Chiu apparently has turned himself into quite the “kingmaker” - all three candidates he endorsed this year for their primaries won. In a democracy, one man can make a difference. In America, one Asian American can make a difference.
In this presidential election, Asian Americans are getting involved on both sides - Asian Americans for Obama and Asian Americans for McCain. In certain swing states like Nevada and Virginia, there are sizable Asian American populations that can really help make the difference.
Maybe because I’ve been blogging for only the past 1.75 years, I have noticed more activity and interest in political involvement in this election cycle than in 2004. Or maybe, which I think is more the case - overall involvement - especially in the Democratic side, has increased dramatically, especially with the epic primary race between Clinton and Obama. In either case, I hope to read many more stories about Asian Americans in the future getting involved.
4 Comments | Posted in: Current Events, Observations, Politics
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Former SF supervisor Ed Jew (from fogcityjournal.com)
Oh, how the mighty have fallen.
Over a year after he was accused of extorting people who wanted to open Quickly Tapioca branches in the Sunset District in San Francisco, Ed Jew has now pleaded guilty to all federal charges against him, including mail fraud, extortion and soliciting a bribe.
Soon after these allegations came to light, a state investigation was launched where Jew was accused of actually living in Burlingame, a suburb south of San Francisco, instead of actually living in the Sunset. On top of the long federal prison sentence he already faces, he could face even more jail time after the state is done with its investigation.
According to SFGate.com, his lawyer came up with this explanation: Jew’s attorney said his client believed his actions were legal because that’s how he learned to behave in politics.
No wonder there weren’t any supporters waiting for him this time after he pleaded guilty today.
If anything, this embarrassment has led to a huge increase in Asian American candidates running for supervisory positions in SF, including my new home district: the Richmond; and they’re finally not focused on just the Sunset.
1 Comment | Posted in: Current Events, Politics, WTF
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As I had blogged earlier this year, there was a presidential election in Taiwan in the Spring. The KMT’s candidate, Ma Ying-jeo, won in a landslide, after 8 years of Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)’s Chen Shui-bian presidential rule. I don’t really follow Taiwanese politics all that much, usually only around election time - especially if my mother flies back to vote.
The San Jose Mercury News had an exclusive interview with President Ma published in the newspaper today. This really is not a huge surprise considering that Taiwan & Silicon Valley have a very close economic inter-dependency as well as cultural ties, especially given the number of Taiwanese immigrants and Taiwanese Americans living in Silicon Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area overall.
Ma answers many questions in the interview, including:
None of the answers are too surprising, but if you don’t follow what’s going on with Taiwan, Chinese-Taiwan or U.S.-Taiwan relations, you may find it educational. I think from an American point of view, Ma’s engagement with China has been less confrontational than the past administration. Of course, for those who are strong DPP supporters, I’m sure they have a different opinion.
No Comments | Posted in: Current Events, Technology
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At the United Nations Association 50th anniversary gala last week the United Nation’s Secretary general Ban Ki Moon showed off his rapping skills, probably out of inspiration from one of the guests of honor, Jay-Z, who was there to be honored for his work with Water for Life.
It is pretty impressive knowing that English is not the Secretary’s native language and he manage to pull this lame trick off without embarrassing himself. Even though politicians and delegates tend to NOT mix well with rapping, I think the Secretary General is somewhere in the middle ground if by absolute disaster is personified Karl “MC” Rove and actually being enjoyable to listen to would be Philadelphia’s mayor Michael “The Rapper’s Delight” Nutter.
Dont Quit your day job Ban Ki Moon…
No Comments | Posted in: Current Events, WTF
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That’s right, a Thai politician (not to be confused with the infamous fighting Taiwanese politicians) kicked and punched a TV journalist on-air during an interview for asking confrontational questions.
Known as Thailand’s King of Sex, Chuwit Kamolvisit (also reported as Chuvit Kamolvisit) was once the country’s biggest massage parlor owner who went on form his own political party to run for office.
[He] later apologised for losing his temper and assaulting host Visarn Dilokwanich after the interview.
“I admit I did it. I couldn’t stand it when he humiliated me on air,” said Chuvit, a stocky former bodybuilder who owned a strip of girly bars before entering politics a few years ago.
“What I did was a petty crime and I am happy to pay the fine for elbowing him and kicking him,” Chuvit said at his campaign headquarters next to a park he built and gave to the public. [full story]
He ended up losing the election, admitting that the assault might have negatively affected the outcome.
h/t: Bamboo Nation; Photo courtesy: Sry85
4 Comments | Posted in: Current Events, Politics, WTF
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Did you see the first Presidential debate where John McCain throws out a random statistic, while talking about the North Korean’s regime, he mentions how they are also 3 inches shorter than the average South Korean? A brief Youtube clip here (warning: clip also comes with editorial flourishes).
New York Times‘ Tara Parker-Pope also delves into the random statistic in her recent health blog entry, where the 2004 study published in Economics and Human Biology showed that North Koreans were 2 inches shorter than their South Korean counterparts. (Fact check alert, Senator McCain!)
I’m surprised to see that there was actually a study done comparing the heights of the two populations, with an interesting and thought-provoking study result. And whenever my mom returns to Korea she is thrilled that people have grown taller, thereby making her less of a “tall freak” as a woman of 172 cm. I once rode the subway with the Yonsei basketball team, and needless to say, they were very tall. My sister used to say that Stanford (her school) guys were somewhat shorter than the average, which she claimed very unscientifically to “stress-related dwarfism”. Of course there will always be anomalies; when I read the article, it made me think why I was not as tall as both my parents, who were both born in South Korea. Being born in the U.S. and growing up on In-N-Out hamburgers and lots of great nutrition and exercise, I’m wondering why I’m not 5′8″ like my mother.
I think McCain’s statistic is thought-provoking, but definitely “needs more research”, and probably not scientifically supported enough to throw out in a Presidential debate (my humble opinion, of course). On a non-Asian note, if you want to read more about how Americans are shorter than Western Europeans, the New Yorker has a fascinating article about that as well. I guess a richer country = not always a taller population? Interesting theories, definitely!
6 Comments | Posted in: Current Events, Observations
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“Sol Food” sounds like a place that I want...
