Author Archives: Lisa F.

Takaki CH. 10-13

Ch. 10

For me this chapter was a bit of a review because I had already studied last quarter about WWII and the internment of Japanese Americans. I was happy to learn, however, some new things about the experience from the perspective of other Asian Americans.

For instance, the Filipinos were ready to fight next to American soldiers. I was very surprised to read that 40% of the Filipino Americans in California registered for the first draft (359) and I was happy to read that they were able to receive citizenship because of how bravely they fought.

As for Korean Americans, it came as no surprise to me that they celebrated Japan’s bombing of Pearl Harbor, as this was an opportunity for the United States to take down Japan especially after Korea’s brutal history with Japan. I also understood why the Korean National Association produced a set of ‘rules’ and that one of the rules was to wear a badge that identified them as Korean and not Japanese. I feel as though more frequently, it is the Japanese and Koreans who get mixed up when people are trying to figure out which ‘one’ they are. My mother frequently gets mistaken for Korean when she is actually Japanese or sometimes she mistakes someone whose Korean for Japanese and I have seen the frustration on both of their faces when this mix up occurs. It also makes a lot of sense when Koreans would get mistaken as a Japanese that they would be furious and even more so that the Alien Registration Act classified Korean immigrants as subjects of Japan (365) . I also found it very interesting that 109 Koreans organized a Korean Unit for the national guard and called themselves the Tiger Brigade and that Koreans gained greater acceptance for their work within the unit.

As for the Chinese Americans go, with the events of WWII and the internment of the Japanese Americans they found it as an opportunity to take back some jobs that they felt was taken from them from Japanese Americans, even going as far as stating that “WWII was the most important historic event of our times. For the first time we felt we could make it in American society (373).” and it seems that this was mostly due to the fact that TIME magazine released an article that “helped” Americans tell apart the Japanese and Chinese even though it was still blatantly racist, it still wanted to show that there was a difference.

With this chapter however, my anger had reawakened from the slumber that was winter break and I was reminded yet again of the unfair treatment of Japanese Americans and the reasoning for their internment. It was very frightening to read that a Congressmen (John Ford) could say such cruel words  like “…stop fucking around. I gave them twenty-four hours notice that unless they would issue a mass evacuation, I would drag the whole matter on the floor of the House and of the Senate and give the bastards everything we could with both barrels.” (391) This excerpt has probably been of the most blunt statements I have read in regards of White Americans in a position of power that bred such hateful words towards Japanese Americans.

Ch. 11

Throughout this chapter and within the book, I have really appreciated topics of struggle and racism through the perspective of other Asian Americans. However, what I noticed the most about this chapter is that earlier in the chapter, Takaki discusses the second wave of immigrants from the country first started with “having dreams of success in America” and then eventually leading up to heartbreaking stories of escaping war and  the memories they retained of watching  those close to them suffer or even fall to their death, Takaki painted a vivid picture of the loneliness that the recent immigrated Asian Americans felt lost and uncomfortable not being in their home country. Takaki writes about the Hmong experience and quotes the experiences of a Hmong refugee: “Here, maybe the American Indians believe in spirits, but those (pointing int the direction of the nearby Laguna range) are their mountains, not ours.” (468).

A quote that really spoke to me in this chapter was “No matter how long you are here in America, you will always be an Asian, always an outsider, not an American.”(461). It makes me sad that to this day, that that statement is still so very true. Especially with the semi-recent interests in Japanese culture. With the rising popularity of Japanese culture, and the lack of Japanese Americans in Olympia, I have found that even though I was raised in the United States, people still approach me with obscure questions about Japan and expect me to know that answer because I am Japanese. With incidences like this, I feel as though I will truly never be an American here so long as I have yellow skin.

Ch. 12

I began reading this chapter in the place of my work, where I have spent many days from last quarter in a quiet section of the restaurant, reading the books that were assigned to us as I silently cried as the carpet that had hard truths about Japanese American history tucked underneath it was revealing itself to me. I thought that perhaps since I was already aware of the hard truths from last quarter that maybe I wouldn’t experience this again but it was with this chapter that my feelings of defeat overwhelmed me yet again and the tears welled up in my eyes.

Now I really appreciate reading about the Model Minority Myth because it is very important to discuss especially in a class that focuses on Asian American pop culture and how the people and the media has a tendency to view us. It was something that I dabbled in a little bit last quarter for my final research project, yet, this chapter painted this picture for me that no matter how hard I try in school, no matter how well I do, there is a chance that whatever career I go into with my life, that I will not be able to acheive higher positions and that if you were to put me side by side with someone who had the same qualifications as me but they were of European descent then they automatically have the upper hand and that I would be left struggling to find a job all because of the color of my skin, something that I will never be able to control.

As a Japanese American, I also agreed with this statement: “Asian Americans blame the education system for not including their history in the curricula and for not teaching about U.S. society in all of its racial and cultural diversity.” (482) I was amazed by the things that I learned last quarter in regards to what the U.S. did to Japanese Americans because while I remember briefly learning about WWII, I do not recall any time in my life when someone has sat me down and told me that Japanese Americans were put into concentration camps and that is upsetting to me because I feel like this country doesn’t want to discuss a part of their history that they are ashamed of yet as a Japanese American that was in the school system from 1st to 12th grade, it’s kind of a big deal to me that the school district decided to utterly skip this huge part of history!

Ch. 13

I am really happy that even though I am half white, I am still able to claim my Asian pride. I am happy to see that there are more and more people everyday whether I meet them or not, are beginning to look more like me. It makes me feel like I have more people to relate to whether it’s about our celebrations or about our struggles. My life has been so interesting because of the two different cultures that I have in me and that I have the freedom to celebrate both parts.

I love living in a time now where I can date someone who is white and neither of us will face the sort of discrimination that people in the 1940′s faced for being in an interracial relationship. I’m not saying it’s perfect and previous partners and I have faced the obstacles of people despising our relationship because I am Japanese or making very strange assumptions about our relationship. At the end of the day though, I get to share with my partners, a different part of myself, and invite them into my mothers home that smells like tonkatsu, gohan and takuan and share with them a taste of a distant home and my partner graciously accepts my invitation with love and respect.

Hiroo Onada dies at 91

How interesting that I am seeing the story of Onada again. I remember coming across it on Reddit a couple years back and briefly read about this persons adventure in the Philippines. I even recall going to work and telling my friends about it just because I felt like this was a story like no other.

It made for a unique story because at the time because it seems as though many people were trying to communicate with Onada that the war had been over for 29 years but he refused to believe it, thinking that it was all propaganda. In one of the articles I read from over a year ago, apparently a helicopter flew over the jungle that Onada had possibly been staying in and just dropped TONS of leaflets over the jungle in hopes that they would find it. Stating things like “The war is over! Come down now!” but he refused to believe it because at the time of WWII, his commanding officer Major Yoshimi Taniguchi promised to him and Onada’s men that he would come back for them.

Then this strange layer was added when an explorer named Norio Suzuki was on a mission around the world in 1974 to find three things:  Lieutenant Onada, a panda and the abominable snowman. Suzuki seemed to be very specific that it needed to be in that order exactly. I guess I really love Suzuki’s story in particular is partially because the three things that he was on a mission to find seemed so random. Suzuki ended up finding and even befriending Onada and tried to convince him to come out of the jungle, yet Onada still refused.

It wasn’t just Onada was camping in this jungle either, he was still pillaging Philippine villages and harming people. The Japanese Government had to step in and relocate Major Yoshimi Taniguchi who had long since retired and was working at a small book shop. They brought him to the jungle and had them speak to each other and it was then that Onada had learned that the war was over.

He ended up receiving compensation for the additional 29 years he served in the military. In some ways people looked up to him as an incredibly strong, and loyal person and to strive to be like him but from what I remember reading from the old article, he became very depressed that when he returned back to Japan, so much had changed especially with how the youth were treating their elders and he was not very proud of his actions in the Philippines and felt a lot of embarrassment. He ended up donating a lot of money to the Philippine villages that he pillaged but they still do not forgive him.

 

Paull Shin’s Retirement

After 17 years in Senate, Paull Shin announced an immediate retirement due to his recent diagnosis with Alzheimer’s disease. His life story is pretty fascinating in that he first began his life as an orphaned boy in Korea, was adopted by an American Soldier during the Korean War when he was 16 years old. He came to the U.S. not knowing the language or even knowing how to read. However, according to The Herald, a newspaper in Everett, Shin “consumed knowledge like water” and went onto graduate from U.W. with a doctorate. He found his passion with education and became a professor of East Asian studies and later became the first Asian American to ever to be elected into the Washington State Legislation. A very well respected man, he seems to be loved by many of his peers.

Paull Shin

New Photos of the ‘Challenger’!

A part of me thought that the new news on the ‘Challenger’ was the controversial sample that was used in one of Beyonce’s new songs ‘XO’. See link below:

http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/5855074/beyonces-use-of-challenger-disaster-audio-angers-nasa-astronauts

However, it wasn’t and that’s okay and the newer news is pretty exciting and I was immediately able to see the connection to Asia America.

Last quarter, we learned that when the Japanese Americans were getting ready to go to into the internment camps, they entrusted some of their treasures either to their white neighbors or hid them within their home in either the attic or basement, but with the conclusion of WWII a lot of the Japanese Americans never made it back to their old home to retrieve their treasures either because it wasn’t their property anymore or they wanted to be far from the city that condemned them to the camps. Throughout time since then, old photographs and dolls were being found. With the photographs, it allowed us to see what kind of lives the Japanese Americans lived within that time. Some of the people in the photographs were also found and when they were shown the pictures they remembered either everything that was happening in the photo or even able to remember any people that were in the photographs with them. It allowed us to dig up a part of american history that was swept under the rug.

The person who found photos of the ‘Challenger’ tragedy found it at his deceased grandfathers house in the attic and posted his findings onto the famous website Reddit. There, people reminisced about where they were and what they were doing when the Challenger exploded. It’s been 28 years since the Challenger tragedy so in a sense, it had turned into forgotten history, but the findings of the new photographs, in some sense re-awakens that part of our American history.

HIMYM *headdesk*

I immediately got home today after lunch to Google what was happening with a T.V. show that I am a fan of and to tell you the awful truth, I am not at all surprised by their actions for choosing to put their ‘yellow face’ on. Why? Because this show is problematic LEFT AND RIGHT.

It is heartbreaking to see someone like Neil Patrick Harris, a proud father of two in a same sex marriage, to play a character (Barney) that is so. incredibly. misogynistic.  Ted Mosby (played by Josh Radnor) is no saint either! His constant whining about not finding a wife throughout the show is incredibly immature and it takes several times for Robin (played by Cobie Smulders) to say ‘No’ to him when he wants to have a romantic relations with her.

I’m sorry, it’s just too hard to point out every single thing they do on this show that is fucked up so I provided you with a link that has a list of all the awful things this show portrays:

http://maybegenius.blogspot.com/2012/12/how-i-met-your-mother-cuddly-sexism.html

So how do I feel about ‘yellow face’? Well, unfortunately,  it probably was on it’s way anyway.

Besides, doing ‘yellow face’ is like so TOTALLY okay, it’s not racist but please let’s just avoid black face, we don’t want to be THOSE kind of people. African Americans were oppressed, and in fact, we are just poking fun at how talented all Asians are with Kung Fu because we LOVE Kung Fu too! Please note my sarcasm in that.

Man, sometimes I can’t believe it’s 2014 with the entertainment industry still pulling these stunts. Did not one person through the writing process of that episode think or mention “Wow, this is blatant racism guys.”

The co-creator did issue an apology after people on twitter started tagging their stuff with #HowIMetYourRacism. I sort of wish they didn’t issue the apology via Twitter only because you only have a certain number of characters you can insert and therefore shortens it but I also understand that in this day and age, Twitter is one of the major ways that celebrities or writers can directly respond to an audience.

 

*barf*

… Damnit Ted.

 

The only good thing about this picture is Jason Segel.

Better Lemon Tomorrow

Our skin compared to the color of lemons. Yellow, such an inviting color on the outside, however when you cut a lemon, whether you eat it or the juice creeps into a cut that is on your hand, it stings, it’s not inviting, the look of uneasiness on your face. A fruit that looks so juicy, but tricks everyone.

Go beyond, get through the uneasiness, and one finds that it’s still just a fruit. A fruit that provides good health just as any other fruit. A fruit that is commonly used to help ease the burn of alcohol in your mouth, refreshing. A hot summer day, lemonade.

Yet at the end of the day, we still equate lemons to sourness. A lemon does so much good but is only seen for it’s color and acidity. So which can part of a lemon can we trust? Does a lemon ever get tired of it’s bright color and is that the reason why it’s so bitter on the inside?

Yessss! New Sailor Moon merch from Bandai

Chibi Moon, Sailor Uranus, and Sailor Neptune accessories. Heck yeah!

Bandai has been on such a kick with the amazing Sailor Moon 20th Anniversary merch that is being released. From information I have gathered it seems like you can only buy it in Japan. Not that it’s surprising, a lot of other great merchandise has been released only in Japan.

Their merchandising has been really important for Sailor Moon fans because everything that is being released seems to be incredibly high quality and made for people in their 20′s and not for children. Also, the people who are responsible for the new Sailor Moon series has remained incredibly hush hush about what to expect from the new series. There hasn’t even been any art that has been released as to what the animation will look like and so the merchandise seems to helping us Sailor Moon fans remain calm.

The Beautiful Country

The Beautiful Country poster

I was really nervous when we began the movie. This photo (above) was the first image of the movie we were shown and so I immediately made my assumptions about what the movie could possibly be about. Looking at the image now, I still feel like this does not sum up what the movie is about. I’m not really sure why Binh is essentially the smallest person in this image especially when he was the protagonist of the movie. It’s also really weird seeing Ling wearing a fairly revealing dress when there was another dress in the movie that she wore more often than the one in the poster (but hey, sex sells right?!) Do I even need to point out the obvious about the two white characters who were probably in the movie for a total of 30 minutes having the largest images? Gross.

The movie was beautifully tragic. There was heartbreak left and right and I didn’t know what to expect next. I was on the edge of my seat and would gasp when something I wasn’t expecting would happen. I cried a total of two times but came close to crying a few other times. I really appreciated that the movie shows the struggle between those who are mixed breed and the struggle that they face when neither country really acknowledges or accepts you.

I am also really glad that they made Tim Roth’s character (the captain) an evil white man instead of a white savior, and I am also glad that we were not shown to pity him.

The big question that a lot of us were left asking ourselves was: “did Binh’s father realize Binh was his son?” My answer? Totally. The scene where his father touches his face a couple times in silence was when I felt that he realized it. I loved that there was no dramatic mention from Binh saying things like “CAN’T YOU SEE I AM YOUR SON?!” (yes, I know, his dad is blind), it was subtle and unconventional. I loved that they ended the movie with Binh cutting his dad’s hair and that he was asking questions about sweets in Vietnam. It makes me think that they did this on purpose as a way to showcase what Binh’s father and mother’s meeting was first like. “What goes around, comes around” in essence.

“47 Ronin” – Impressions

I watched this movie over winter break with my boyfriend. I didn’t want to make any critiques on it until I heard the opinions of my class mates and professor.

 

Update:

I am basically going to be categorizing this as the pro’s and the con’s of the movie.  I’m not sure which to start with so maybe I’ll start with the cons.

Cons:

When I initially first saw the movie (today was my second time seeing the film) I didn’t really think that the film focused too much on Keanu Reeves (Kai) saving the day. But after seeing it again, I am realizing now that if the ronin were viewed as a tall building, then Kai would be playing the role of  the strong base of the building. The reason I say this is because he saved  Yasuno from the beast at the beginning of the film, he warned Ôishi about the witch and later received an apology from him, he provided most of the weapons for the ronin and planted the seed in Ôishi’s head about using their death status as an advantage into sabotaging Lord Kira.

Throughout the film, we were shown on numerous occasions that we should really pity Kai. That these people were treating him as an outcast or a freak. Also, we are shown to feel sympathy for Kai because of his love for someone with higher power than him (Lady Asano).

Dragon lady stereotype. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon_Lady

Lady Asano’s costuming seemed very strange and not correct with the time period (but I am also stating this without full knowledge of what sort of clothing was worn in that time period).

Overweight character to be seen as comedy relief. Most likely a favorite character among people, shown from the beginning he has a good heart but what the hell, let’s kill him off anyway.

The narrator at the beginning says that we first needed to know the story of old Japan but apparently old Japan had dragons?

White director.

They should have really just stuck with the original story of the 47 Ronin instead of adding the whole mystical element to it. I highly recommend people to do their own investigation and read the original story.

Pros:

There were only two characters aside from Keanu, Ôishi and the Shogun that I had seen in various other movies. Everyone else on the other hand was pulled right out of Japan. Rather refreshing. Great to finally see in our modern times that the casting director can utilize talented actors from other countries!

The movie was originally filmed in Japanese. Would have been better if they had just KEPT the movie in Japanese. But I also understand why they would need to dub it over in English for U.S. audiences.

The colors were beautiful.

One thing that I noticed and this could be me looking too far into things is that the samurai’s from Akô were all clad in red, whereas those from Lord Kira’s land were dressed in a very deep dark blue. It reminded me a lot of the Montagues and Capulets from Romeo and Juliet.  Once the Akô Samurai’s were stripped of their rank, when we see them later, they are all wearing grays/blacks and then at the end of the film I found that most of them were primarily wearing black but with small pieces of red back into their costuming which I thought was great symbolism of their growth.

I also enjoyed that they kept the seppuku ritual at the end of the movie. We, as an audience are so used to seeing happy endings where everyone lives, so it was nice that they steered somewhat away from the happy ending and did what they had to do.

 

So that’s all I can think about for now. I might come back and edit here and there but I just wanted to get this all out before I forgot. Sorry if nothing makes sense as well, I’m running on about 4 hours of sleep. Gonna go take a nap now.