As a cultural icon for Asian American and mainstream audiences alike, Bruce Lee is considered an inspirational figure. The upcoming release of “I Am Bruce Lee,” which Canadian filmmaker Pete McCormack directed, explores Lee’s life through archival footage and interviews with people who were close to him. Lee, whose thinking was both revolutionary and controversial, [...]
Asians nominated for Oscars
February 2, 2012 By 1 Comment
The 84th Academy Awards by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will air on Sunday, Feb. 26. Some 5,783 members will have cast their votes for the outstanding film achievements of 2011, with films from 63 countries. The awards ceremony will take place at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center in [...]
iTOUR THROUGH HISTORY: New app allows digital media to teach about the Japanese American incarceration experience
January 20, 2012 By 2 Comments
Have the days when students learned about Japanese American history through textbooks gone by the wayside? As consumers latch on to the latest tech gadgets, some companies are using digital media to teach about the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II. From iPhone applications to video games, the emerging trend signals the innovative [...]
Buying American, Japan bashing in the post-industrial
January 20, 2012 By 1 Comment
UPDATE: It appears I was mistaken, and this was all just a clever ruse. I rescind my offer and reactionary knee jerk reaction. What? Something wrong happened on the Internet? Well LOOK OUT BLOGOSPHERE BECAUSE I’M A SHARK AND I JUST CAUGHT THE SCENT OF BLOOD. No, I’m not talking about SOPA or PIPA, which are [...]
Nisei Writers Explore the ‘Aftershock’ of War
January 1, 2012 By Leave a Comment
MAKING HOME FROM WAR: Stories of Japanese American Exile and Resettlement Edited by Brian Komei Dempster (Berkeley, Calif.: Heyday Books, 2010, 224 pp., $18.95, paperback) “Making Home From War” captures the “odyssey of Japanese American resettlement” through the stories of 13 writers exploring their personal and collective experiences returning and recreating home in the aftermath [...]
How Allen Say found his way: His journey to becoming an artist
January 1, 2012 By Leave a Comment
DRAWING FROM MEMORY By Allen Say (New York: Scholastic Press, 2011, 64 pp., $17.99, hardcover) Here is the personal story of acclaimed artist/storyteller Allen Say. In this memoir he tells us how he found his way to become an artist. He includes photos, sketches and drawings. Born in 1937 near a fishing village near Yokohama, [...]
Growing pains
January 1, 2012 By Leave a Comment
J-BOYS: KAZUO’S WORLD, TOKYO, 1965 By Shogo Oketani and translated by Avery Fischer Udagawa (Berkeley, Calif.: Stone Bridge Press, 2011, 212 pp., $9.95, paperback) A wonderful and poignant story told through the eyes of 9-year-old Kazuo Nakamoto, who comes of age in Tokyo. Shogo Oketani manages to entice the reader, through simple everyday images and [...]
Solving hunger and poverty, one tree at a time
January 1, 2012 By Leave a Comment
THE MANGROVE TREE: PLANTING TREES TO FEED FAMILIES By Susan L. Roth and Cindy Trumbore (New York: Lee and Low Books Inc., 2011, 36 pp., $19.95, hardcover) Dr. Gordon Sato, a scientist, wanted to help villagers in Eritrea on the African coast. His efforts to ease hunger and poverty involve planting mangrove trees by the [...]
The princess phenomenon
January 1, 2012 By Leave a Comment
CINDERELLA ATE MY DAUGHTER: Dispatches from the Front Lines of the New Girlie-Girl Culture By Peggy Orenstein (New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2011, 256 pp., $25.99, hardcover) While true gender equity has yet to be achieved in this country — women are still underrepresented at top levels of government and industry — we’re at least at [...]
The building blocks of baking
January 1, 2012 By Leave a Comment
FLOUR: SPECTACULAR RECIPES FROM BOSTON’S FLOUR BAKERY + CAFE By Joanne Chang with Christie Matheson (San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 2010, 340 pp., $35 hardcover) The new cookbook by pastry chef and owner of Boston’s Flour Bakery + Cafe begins with an unlikely analogy to theoretical math. Says author Joanne Chang “theoretical math class … taught [...]
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