8Asians is a collaborative online publication that features original, diverse commentary by Asians from around the world on issues that affect our community. Established 2006.
Although relatively less known in the States, Hokkaido is a common travel destination for people in Asia, so I’ve known quite a few family and friends who have visited this most northern part of Japan, and I’ve commonly seen pictures of the Fort Goryokaku shared in travel photos. I had originally thought that it was just an interesting architectural design choice for a public space. Little did I know the deep historical significance of this place until I finally visited Hokkaido for the first time and explored the site myself.
When I read John’s review of Quiz Lady, I was particularly amused at his last sentence that said it probably would not be eligible for an Oscar. While I did see the movie and enjoyed it, I thought that even if it was released theatrically, it would not have much of a chance to win any award much less be nominated. It looks like I was totally wrong! Quiz Lady picked up a Critic’s Choice Awards for Best Movie Made for Television Movie.
Best Actor in a Limited Series or Movie Made for Television (Steven Yeun)
Best Actress in a Limited Series or Movie Made for Television (Ali Wong)
Best Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie Made for Television (Maria Bello)
If you asked me 10 years ago whether a TV miniseries with Asian Americans that actually talked about Asian American issues and culture would win eight Emmy awards, I wouldn’t have believed you. Let’s hope excellent work like this keeps emerging.
“When the head of a powerful Taiwanese triad is shot by a mysterious assassin, his eldest son, Charles (Justin Chien) heads to Los Angeles to protect his mother, Eileen (Michelle Yeoh), and his naive younger brother, Bruce (Sam Song Li) — who’s been completely sheltered from the truth of his family until now. But as Taipei’s deadliest societies and a new rising faction go head-to-head for dominance — Charles and Bruce must figure out what brotherhood and family truly means before someone takes them out.”
Another notable Asian American film, Past Lives, had five nominations. Its nominations were for Best Director – Motion Picture (Celine Song), Best Motion Picture – Drama, Best Motion Picture – Non-English Language, Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama (Greta Lee), and Best Screenplay – Motion Picture (Celine Song). It did not any Golden Globes in these categories. A24 was involved with both Beef (production) and Past Lives (distribution).
“L Sam Zhang, author and illustrator of The First Chinese Festivals series of picture books, speaks on on the process of becoming a self-published author/illustrator, how her Cornell experience shaped her trajectory, and more!”
I had passed along the webinar to a friend who I thought might be interested in the topic, She watched and loved the webinar, so I watched it myself after the recording became available. I enjoyed learning about L Sam Zhang’s journey from Cornell to getting her Ph.D. in Neuroscience to self-publishing her books. She has published three books so far:
The First Lantern Festival: To help a servant girl see her family again, the famous Dongfang Shuo convinced everyone that the gods were coming to burn down the city! Even the emperor believed him. Come discover the legend of how the Lantern Festival began over 2,000 years ago. Along the way, you may learn a few Chinese words and meet some interesting historical figures.
The First Dragon Boat Festival: The Dragon Boat Festival celebrates the first Chinese poet, Qu Yuan. And before the poet came along, this Chinese holiday was all about getting rid of creepy crawlies at the beginning of summer! Come explore the many traditions of the Dragon Boat Festival. Along the way, you may learn a few Chinese words and get to know some interesting historical figures.
The First Moon Festival: After saving the world, Houyi the hero received a pill of immortality. When a villain went after the pill, Houyi’s wife Chang’e made a choice that got her trapped on the moon. Join us for a visit into the world of Chinese mythology, and maybe learn a few Chinese words while we’re at it.
The books are relatively inexpensive ($11 each), so I bought all three of them. Call me a banana, but I have never heard of the Lantern Festival. I kind of knew about some elements of the Dragon Boat Festival, like eating zongzi (glutinous rice wrapped in bamboo leaves). For the Moon Festival (also known as the Mid-Autumn Festival), I am well aware of mooncakes (which are not very healthy for you – lots of fat and sugar!). While growing up in Western Massachusetts, I’d attend Chinese school on Saturday’s north of Springfield, near Amherst or later on Sunday’s near Hartford, and sometimes the Chinese language books would have stories about Chinese history or mythology. Maybe I had known some of the background and history of some of these festivals and had long forgotten. But it’s great that we have Asian American authors filling a gap, especially for non-Chinese reading/speaking U.S. mass market.
The books are very approachable, as they are geared toward young children. The books are illustrated by Zhang as well, and the characters are classy, simple and approachable and aid in the storytelling. The books include Chinese characters and romanization of those characters for pronunciation to help teach a little Chinese. I think any parents of young children would be happy telling these stories to their kids, especially if they are Chinese ethnic background or live an area where these festival are celebrated widely like the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, or New York City.
Earlier this year when Princeton University men’s basketball team reached the NCAA Tournament “sweet 16” round for the first time in 50 years, I as an interested alum watched them play on national television and noticed an Asian player on the team. That player was Asian Canadian Xaivian Lee, who as a freshman, averaged 4.8 points a game in that 2022-2023 season. This year, he is averaging 18 points per game. What made the difference? This article from Sportsnet talks about his history and how his offseason helped him elevate his game.
Similar to another Ivy league guard of Asian descent, Xaivian Lee had trouble getting recruited to a division I college. After his freshman season, he concentrated on putting on muscle and improving his shot (now making 40% on threes). He also played for Team Canada in the Under-19 World Cup, where he learned a lot playing against international competition.
Xaivian’s ultimate goal is to make it to the NBA.
Being doubted has kind of been like a common thing my entire life. Every single level I’ve gone to, there’s always been doubts if I could play at that level and if (I) can get to the next level.
Even if he doesn’t make it, at least he will have a Princeton education to fall back on. We followed Jeremy Lin early in his career, and we hope that Xaivian Lee’s dreams come true in a similar way.
I ordinarily do not review children’s books, but I couldn’t help myself after The Wife gave me the book When Lola Visits to wrap as a Christmas present for one of her nephews. “Lola” means grandmother in Tagalog. This book evoked cherished memories of when my children’s Lola would take care of them. The Wife’s mother and father lived with us for many years, and her Mom did many of things of the things in the book like singing to my children in Ilocano and Tagalog and cooking for them. I was pleasantly surprised that the author Michelle Sterling made a trailer for the book – it gives a good idea of the book’s content without giving everything away.
I cannot definitely say if my wife’s nephew will like the book, but I think he could really relate to it as his Lola often stays over to take care of him. The illustrations by Aaron Asis work wells the story. While the book is about Filipinos, I think it could be enjoyed by children of any ethnicity as it tells a story about family and summer days. When Lola Visits get my recommendation.
If you are interested in giving Filipino-oriented Christmas gifts like When Lola Visits, Sterling made this list. It has recommendations not just for kids but people of all ages.
If you can’t get enough of Michelle Yeoh, January 4 will be your chance to see her in action again in the Netflix series The Brothers Sun. She stars as Eileen, the mother of Charles and Bruce Sun. Charles and Bruce’s father, a triad crime boss, is assassinated, but Bruce, living in southern California with his mom, has had no idea that that the rest of his family are actually gangsters.
One of the co-creators of The Brothers Sun, along with executive producer and showrunner Brad Falchuk, is Byron Wu. In this interview, Wu describes it as a dark action-comedy:
Too comedic to be a drama, too dramatic to be comedy, but exactly what I’m aiming for.
“The researchers found that Republican-majority and swing states showed indications of greater stereotyping of Asian-born and Asian Americans, with European Americans more likely to see them as foreign. Such states with high implicit bias included West Virginia, Iowa, South Carolina, Ohio, and Wisconsin.
At the same time, states with older median ages and greater percentages of Asians were associated with the less explicit bias against Asians and Asian Americans. These included Hawaii, the District of Columbia, California, Nevada, and Texas, according to the study.
“Our study shows that experiences of Asians and Asian Americans are likely to significantly differ depending on their state of residence, with residents of some states expressing more biased views that Asian Americans are not as ‘American’ as whites,” Yoo says. “These insights should guide future research and interventions to address biases effectively at the state level.”
Violent assaults and verbal abuse against Asian Americans climbed during the peak of the COVID pandemic, bringing heightened attention as well as research to the problem. In order to improve understanding of Asian Americans’ diverse experiences of racism, Yoo and her coauthors in this study looked at state-level variations in implicit and explicit bias, as well as macro-level factors, such as racial density, political climate, and socioeconomic conditions that have been shown to influence racial attitudes.”
