Speaking of Hello Kitty, I heard while listening to NPR‘s radio show “Wait, wait, Don’t Tell Me” this past Sunday, that earlier this April, Guatemalan anti-narcotics police seized 1.2 tons of cocaine wrapped in “Hello Kitty” on its way to Mexico. Maybe the drug smugglers were big fans of Hello Kitty or thought that this would fool custom agents?
She’s one of the most recognizable Japanese faces in the world, and I think we’d all agree that she is super, super cute. Now, at age 32, she’s breaking into high-fashion modeling for luxury brands.
No, she’s not Utada. It’s not Ayumi either. I’m talking about the famous Miss Hello Kitty.
In the current issue of the Japanese edition of Vogue magazine, Hello Kitty gets decked out in Dior’s new fall and winter designs, strutting her stuff while posing in Paris.
Cute factor aside, it’s interesting to guess what this says about Dior’s marketing strategy in Asia – a market obsessed and fanatically loyal to big brands. Unlike the US or Europe where the luxury goods market is dominated by the middle-aged upper class, Asia’s high-fashion consumer market consists largely of young, 20-something, brand-obsessed women. I suppose these are the same women who would know and love Hello Kitty.
This is the first time in history that the Christian Dior brand has used a cartoon character to model an entire fashion line. Minnie Mouse, Daisy Duck – eat your heart out.
Earlier this week, I came across this disturbing article in The San Francisco Chronicle, “The Imprisoned Stanford MBA – Stanford grads work to free pal held in China.” The article profiles Jude Shao, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Shanghai who is a Stanford MBA graduate, who is currently serving a 15 year sentence in China and has been imprisoned for the past 10 years. As an American-born, Taiwanese-American professional with an MBA who has traveled to China and Hong Kong a few times and have considered working abroad, this story gripped me:
“[Jude] Shao, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Shanghai, started China Business Ventures after graduating from Stanford and exported medical equipment from the United States with offices in San Francisco and Shanghai. In July 1997, tax auditors in China arrived for a special audit and took his accounting books. Twice, his friends say, Shao was asked for a bribe to stop the investigation, but he refused because he had paid all his taxes… In April 1998, Chinese authorities arrested him and threw him into a crowded jail, where he was held incommunicado for two years. They charged him with falsely issuing value-added tax invoices and tax evasion. He was barred from meeting his attorney, who was hired 10 days before his trial started. He was convicted in March 2000, and the court sentenced him to 16 years in prison, later reducing it to 15 years. His appeal was rejected by the Shanghai People’s High Court a few months later.”
Assuming Shao is innocent (you can examine Shao’s case at www.freejudeshao.com ), this is truly an injustice. Shao’s fellow Stanford MBA classmates have been trying to get the attention of members of Congress, as well as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice (a former Stanford professor and provost). If Shao isn’t innocent, 15 years is ridiculous for tax evasion. Recently, the actor Wesley Snipes was sentenced to three years in federal prison for willfully failing to file tax returns. Given how common bribes are supposed to be in China, I am doubtful that Shao was willfully non-compliant with paying the taxes owed which led to his 15 year sentence.
Apparently, the United States and China plan to some sort of official human rights dialogue in the next four to six weeks and that the subject of Jude Shao will probably come up. China certainly needs to improve its international image prior to the summer Olympics starting (in less than 100 days). I sometimes wonder if I will ever be denied a visa to visit China or be arrested within China if I ever visit, given my 8Asians posting (discussing my distaste for the Chinese Communist government and its policies and my thoughts on Taiwan)… Maybe I should register www.freejohnof8asians.com now..
China Celebrates Its Status As World’s Number One Air Polluter
You may have heard of the satirical printed and online newspaper The Onion, the self-proclaimed “American’s Finest News Source.” Well, they also have a satirical news program called the Onion News Network. My friend sent me today this news segment above, “China Celebrates Its Status As World’s Number One Air Polluter.” after I sent him a New York Times article on, “In Beijing, an Air Terminal of Olympic Size.“
The Japanese have some of the craziest shows ever. Distributed by Monster9 whom eventually did Viking: The Ultimate Obstacle Course. And you know it’s definitely a big deal if ESPN picked up US distribution rights for Viking. G4 picked up distribution on Sasuke but gave it the American title Ninja Warrior.
On the twentieth competition which will air here in the States on May 18th, it consists of one hundred competitors that try to battle it out against a four stage obstacle course which consistently gets more difficult at each stage. The course requires an enormous amount of stamina and arm strength along with agility being that there are many things that require balance and I personally couldn’t imagine ever completing.
I will say that there’s definitely a perfect body type and size for this competition. In past competitions, there’s been some Europeans and even a couple Marines that tried their luck at it. But while they conquered the first stage easily, eventually their size actually became a detriment since their arm muscles would have to carry a lot more body mass over the stamina and endurance stages.
A competition of this sort would do very well in the US in my opinion, depending on if someone could get around the liability issue since Sasuke is done with no equipment at all pretty much. Creation of such a course here would definitely bring many to compete along with a huge viewer base for telecast. Think about it, if this was produced in the United States, this challenge in my opinion is actually way more interesting than something like American Gladiators. It also would not be the first time a Japanese show has been redone in the US. Kitchen Arena, anyone? Oh yes. I speak of Iron Chef.
Photo Credit: (ninjapoodles)
I got my copy of the latest May 2008 issue of National Geographic the other day, and the issue is focused on: “China – Inside the Dragon.” As we approach the 2008 Beijing Olympics, I think we’ll be seeing a lot more China-focused special issues, which I think is a good thing, considering American’s general ignorance of people, country and customs beyond its own borders. Here are some selected stories, photographs and videos from the issue:
The guys over at Fallout Central recently got a red carpet press pass to the 2008 Asian Excellence Awards and do what press people do best: interview a bunch of Asian American celebrities about their upcoming projects. Guests included Kaba Modern and Jabbawockiez (as nominees for Best Reality Star, since Yul Kwon can’t win four years in a row) as well as Lucy Liu’s two-episode boyfriend from the now canceled Cashmere Mafia and Indian-Canadian comedian Russell Peters, which led to this gem of an exchange:
Albert, the interviewer: How can I get my Indian accent to be as good as yours?
Russell Peters: Uhm, you know. Just listen when people are talking. What are you, Albert?
Albert: Korean.
Russell Peters: Well, how can I get my Korean accent to be as good as your parents?
Albert: [nervous laughter]
Zing! Also, Ron Jeremy was there, although no one really knows why.
Mild snarkiness aside, former 8A columnist Min Jung and I had done something like this seven years ago, heading down to the LA Convention center to cover the AMMY awards. AMMY, like an Asian Emmy! Except it was the year 2000, which meant that hob-knobbing in the Green Room was pretty much eating snacks and taking photos with the cast of the Joy Luck Club, a pre-Grey’s Anatomy Sandra Oh, and Rufio from Peter Pan. Lucy Liu won all of the awards, where she was promptly whisked away by her publicist afterwards because she was getting mainstream, baby.
And therein lies the thing about Asian awards – because there aren’t a ton of Asians in the media, it’s not so much an awards show as it is for Asian musicians and actors to hang out in Vera Wang dresses. And the winner is essentially the most mainstream person who didn’t play a negatively stereotypical role. (WHICH MEANS YOU WILL NEVER WIN, JACKIE CHAN.) And what exactly IS “Asian Excellence,” anyway? Besides getting a perfect score on your SATs?
The Onimusha series for Sony’s Playstation 2 has had a wide following including the fan girls of Takeshi Kaneshiro. And it seems that with the movie in pre-production status currently, there are few things that we know except for the fact that the protagonist Samanosuke Akechi, will indeed be played by Kaneshiro.
Considering the fact that Samanosuke’s character design was entirely based on Kaneshiro, it was the obvious choice to have this actor play the live-action part. On top of that, Christopher Gans, of the film Silent Hill fame, will be directing. I personally found Silent Hill to be one of the few movies that could stand up to the whole wishy-washy effect of “game to big screen” cheesiness.
Hoping that with Kaneshiro’s fan base, and Gans directing, there will be a lot more people that don’t know the storyline to actually go see this movie. Currently slated for December of 2009.
Photo Credit: (Gaira House)
The 24th Annual Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival starts today and runs through next Thursday, May 8th, as mentioned in The Los Angeles Times / The Guide, “Evolution of L.A.’s Asian film festival.” Seeing how Hollywood is in Los Angeles, and there are a lot of Asians/Asian Americans in Los Angeles, I find it surprising that San Francisco’s Asian American International Film Festival is the larger festival.
WHERE: Various locations in West Hollywood and downtown L.A.
WHEN: Today-next Thursday
PRICE: $8-$10, screenings; $12-$15, seminars; $24-$100, opening night; $16-$20, closing night
INFO: (213) 680-4462, Ext. 68; http://www.vconline.org/festival
I’ve never been on a cruise before (unless you count “The Love Boat” 🙂 ), nor has my mother (she’s been wanting to go on one for a while.) Well, it looks like a lot of Asians haven’t gone either. From the Wall Street Journal article, “Cruise Operators Target Asian Travelers, Pitching Short Trips From Local Ports,” it sounds like there is a huge opportunity for cruise companies in Asia:
“Although Asia accounted for less than 5% of the global cruise market last year, the number of Asians taking cruises annually will swell to 1.5 million by 2010, up 40% from 2005, according to a forecast by Ocean Shipping Consultants Ltd. That’s faster growth than the 30% rise expected over the period in the more mature North American market, which had about 9.3 million cruise passengers in 2005…Teddy Tsang, a 48-year-old publishing plant manager in Hong Kong, took a four-day cruise on the Rhapsody in February with his wife and daughter after seeing “a lot of newspaper ads” in local Chinese-language papers touting the company’s cruises and hearing recommendations from friends. His only previous cruise on a gambling ship had left him unimpressed. “I went a few times to the casino, but I didn’t want to spend the whole day gambling,” he says. But after the latest cruise, which cost around $385 per person, he enthused about a dinner of herb-crusted cod with saffron-champagne sauce and the staff’s swift delivery of extra towels to his cabin.”
One of my mother’s friend’s family has gone on quite a few cruises. I wonder – how common is it for Asian Americans to go on cruises? To be honest, I really don’t know that many people who have gone on cruises. If you’ve gone on a cruise – where did you go? And did you have fun? I’m always seeing those Royal Caribbean tv commercials and have always wondered if people have as much fun as the commercials make out cruises to be (of course, you never see an Asian Americans in those commercials…that’s an untapped market – especially for all those Asians and Asian Americans who like to gamble. :-).
May is Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month. The White House said it, so it must be true, right?
Please join the artists, cast and crew of the United States of Asian America Festival 2008 for the 11th Annual Gala Opening event. Partake in local food and drinks while sampling some of the festival art and performances offered by Bay Area Asian Pacific Islander artists and organizations.
VENUE: SomArts Cultural Center 934 Brannan Street, San Francisco, CA
Thursday, May 1, 5 – 8:30 pm
ADMISSION: FREE
For info: (415) 864-4126 or [email protected]
http://www.somarts.org
My Top 10 Asian Dog Breeds
Asian American Cognitive Decline varies by Ethnic Group
PANDA ATTACK!!!
Plot Twists of Attack on Titan (Spoilers)
In a Post-Apocalyptic Zombie World, Asian American Man Gets White Girl
Asian Guys and that One Long Pinky Fingernail
Paper Star Earrings
Jollibee returns to San Francisco after six year Permitting Struggle