The United States Vs. Takaichi Sakai: Renunciant, Part 3 of 5

Posted on July 26, 2011 by Koji Steven Sakai

After my grandparents answered “No No” to questions 27 and 28, the whole family was sent to Tule Lake, Northern California. A camp that was designated for “bad” Japanese Americans – in other words those who had answered the loyalty questionnaire negatively or had caused “trouble.”

It was in Tule Lake that my grandparents, and thousands of Japanese Americans like them, willingly gave up their American citizenship and asked to be sent to Japan. His decision would forever brand him a traitor – within the Japanese American community and the nation at large.

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Posted in Discrimination, History | 2 Comments

Chinese Couple Sells Kids For Video Games

Posted on July 26, 2011 by Moye

According to ABC News Radio, a Chinese couple has been arrested for selling their two children for video games: “In 2009, Li Lin and Li Juan welcomed their second child, a baby girl, and came up with the idea to sell her for money to fund their online game obsession.  They did so, receiving RMB 3,000 (less than $500), which they spent entirely shortly after.  The couple then proceeded to sell their first child and got 10 times as much for him — RMB 30,000, or about $4600.” This can’t be true, right?

Posted in (simple), Family, Lifestyles, Video Games, WTF | 12 Comments

Asian American Commercial Watch: Target’s Back-to-School Suggestions

Posted on July 26, 2011 by John

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glquKfXhLFo

Target has launched its back-to-school push, highlighting a “2nd Grade Teacher” discussing all the school supplies your child needs for the new school year. The teacher seems to be a bit too excited, enthusiastic and energetic for my tastes. But I do have to say, I’ve always enjoy the beginning of a new school year or semester – that feeling of starting new all over and a sense of possibility.

Target has been great showcasing Asian Americans in their commercials and this marks the 6th commercial by Target that I’ve covered – the first being the best with “Cool Mom,” “Over-protective Mom,” “Exasperated Mom,”  “Tiny Tree,” and most recently, “Trail Mix.”

[EDITOR’S NOTE: The actress is Tania Gunadi, an Indonesian American who you may have seen in recent campaign for the Honda Civic.]

Posted in Entertainment, TV | 26 Comments

New Internet Fad Owling Looks Suspiciously Like the Asian Squat

Posted on July 25, 2011 by Ernie

You know, I don’t get the whole planking trend, where people lie face down in weird places and other people take photos of them. But wait — planking is SO nine months ago, because according to Newsweek’s tumblr page, the new trend is owling: “to perch atop a surface—high or low—and crouch in the style of an owl.” Wait, isn’t that the Asian squat? Dude, that’s totally the Asian squat. Joe Jonas isn’t owling, he’s doing the Asian squat on a barstool. Dear Internet: we want our squat back, without the goofy look on your face. <3, Asian people everywhere.

Posted in (simple), WTF | Leave a comment

The 8Asians Talk About: David Sedaris’ Fear of Chinese Food

Posted on July 25, 2011 by Ernie

Our internal e-mail lists have us discussing all kinds of stuff: Asian American identity, representation in the media, the experiences of activism in an academia setting and its progression as we transition to the working, adult world. And sometimes, we talk about popular essayist and This American Life contributor David Sedaris and a controversial essay about his recent trip to China. Read our thoughts — including my opinion which will probably be not-so-popular with 8asians commenters — after the jump.

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Posted in Observations, TalkAbout, The Arts | 101 Comments

DUDE WTF ASIA: Korean Skyscraper Evacuated Due to Tae Bo and Snap!’s The Power

Posted on July 25, 2011 by Jeff

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z33tH-JdPDg

On July 5, the Korean Techno-mart skyscraper was evacuated because of mysterious tremors shaking the building.  Korean scientists have discovered the cause: middle aged exercisers doing Tae Bo to Snap!‘s 1990s Dance Hit, “The Power“.  Apparently the combination of doing Tae Bo to the rhythm of the song was at a resonance frequency that triggers the building wide shaking.   A famous case of resonance destroying a structure involved the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, which ripped itself apart when strong winds set up a resonance.  During an inspection of the building, Korean scientists recreated the exercise and the building vibrations.

The reported cause and effect do not surprise me at all.  Middle aged people are often getting kind of heavy, and although life can be getting kind of hectic, they can exercise to show that they still got the power.  Besides, The Power always gets this middle aged guy up and shaking.

Posted in DUDE WTF ASIA, Music | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

SF Weekly: SF Mayoral Candidate Leland Yee Can’t Erase His Past

Posted on July 25, 2011 by John

The latest issue of the San Francisco Weekly has a scathing cover story on San Francisco mayoral candidate — and current California Senator — Leland Yee reviewing Yee’s past questionable dealings and behavior over his thirty years as a public servant, politician and member of the community. I’ve seen Yee at a few political events, but don’t really know the man; he seems like the type that gets late to an event and leaves early to be seen – but that could describe a lot of politicians whose schedules are packed tight. But Yee has given me the wrong vibe at times and seeing him portrayed as “sketchy” definitely did not surprise me.

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Posted in Local, Politics, San Francisco Bay Area | 8 Comments

Giveaway: Snow Flower and the Secret Fan Book or Autographed Poster

Posted on July 25, 2011 by jozjozjoz

UPDATE 7/29/2011: Congrats to our winners! Weenie & Stephanie Downie will both be receiving autographed posters! Jennifer Rico will be receiving the book!

Between myself (trailer), Edward (review), and Dino (interview of the director), we’ve said a lot about the film Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, directed by Wayne Wang and based on Lisa See’s bestselling novel.

We’ve got 2 posters, signed by Wayne Wang, Lisa See, Executive Producers Florence Sloan and Wendi Murdoch (yes, that would be THE Wendi Deng Murdoch) and an (unsigned) copy of the book Snow Flower and the Secret Fan for three lucky 8Asians winners!

Synopsis of the film:

In 19th-century China, seven-year-old girls Snow Flower and Lily are matched as laotong – or “old sames” – bound together for eternity. Isolated by their families, they furtively communicate by taking turns writing in a secret language, nu shu, between the folds of a white silk fan.

In a parallel story in present day Shanghai, the laotong’s descendants, Nina and Sophia, struggle to maintain the intimacy of their own childhood friendship in the face of demanding careers, complicated love lives, and a relentlessly evolving Shanghai. Drawing on the lessons of the past, the two modern women must understand the story of their ancestral connection, hidden from them in the folds of the antique white silk fan, or risk losing one another forever.

What unfolds are two stories, generations apart, but everlasting in their universal notion of love, hope and friendship.

Ok, ok, you just want to know how to win? Read on!

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Posted in Books, Entertainment, Movies, Promotions | 1 Comment

Six Dead After Father Opens Fire at Roller Rink at Son’s Birthday Party

Posted on July 24, 2011 by jozjozjoz

Sad news out of Grand Prairie, Texas: Ongoing marital problems were apparently behind an awful shooting at a North Texas roller rink late on Saturday at a party for Tan and Trini’s 11-year-old son. At the party, Tan Do, 35, killed five family members, including his wife (Trini Do, 29), and wounded four other people before turning the gun on himself and fatally shooting himself in the head. Others who were killed included Trini Do’s sisters, Lynn Ta, 16, and Michelle Ta, 28; her brother, Hien Ta, 21; and her sister-in-law, Thuy Nguyen, 25. The couple’s two children were not harmed, and are in the care of other family members.

Posted in (simple), Current Events | 1 Comment

Should Vegetarian Hindus Sue Over Being Served Meat?

Posted on July 22, 2011 by jozjozjoz

Poor Moghul Express of Edison, NJ. An Indian restaurant in the heart of Edison’s Indian community owned by a Hindu, Moghul Express (reported at CNN as “Mughal Express”) is being sued by a group of 16 Hindus who felt harmed “emotionally and spiritually” for accidentally being served meat in a tray of samosas two summers ago and want to be flown to India to “purify their souls.”

Strict vegetarian Durgesh Gupta and Sharad Agrawal had ordered samosas, making sure to ask that there was no meat in their order of the traditional Indian snack.

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Posted in Food & Drink, New York, Religion | 3 Comments

DUDE WTF ASIA: Social Darwinist Chinese Dad

Posted on July 22, 2011 by akrypti

Yay. More WTF news from China gone viral. This time, it’s: “Tiger dad” cheers for kids’ brutal fight.

A little girl beats the crap out of a little boy and not only does the girl’s father record the whole fight and post it online, but he cheers his daughter on. Messed up, right? No worries, the little boy’s parents will certainly take care of this. Actually, the boy’s parents are in full support of what the girl’s father did, which he refers to as a “natural selection and survival of the fittest” method of educating children. They all seem to believe that what the little boy is learning in the above video is “building character.”

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Posted in DUDE WTF ASIA, Family, Lifestyles, WTF | 12 Comments

Corporal Punishment and Racial Identity

Posted on July 22, 2011 by Tim

Recently, someone put out a request on Twitter for Asian views on spanking after reading a blog post on Racialicious.com on the same subject, but from the African American point of view. Our humble editor, Ernie passed it on to our internal mailing list, and the response was immediate.

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Posted in Ask an Asian, Education, Family | 18 Comments