It ain't Hollywood, BUT...

Asia: the land of street food, sticky air, and pop tunes and starlets galore. And some of it is trickling into the United States, too, with first a multitude of kung-fu movies, then Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, and now more and more celebrities of Asian descent making dents into the mainstream.

Instead of doing two sites, each on a different country, I chose to critique two sites, one on entertainment in Asia, and the other on entertainment in the United States starring Asian-Americans.

ASIAN-AMERICAN ENTERTAINMENT

Beyond Hollywood shows off sexy photos in an informative section featuring profiles of mostly Asian-American actresses and celebrities. For example, Yunjin Kim (above) who was on "Lost": I'm heartened to see that Asian-Americans are slowly trickling into mainstream media, and I had no idea that there was an Asian starring on "Lost." Considering the number of guys (I feel, just a casual observation) who are fascinated by the Asian face, Hollywood would do well to integrate more Asian-American actresses into movies and TV as lead roles, not just supporting characters. (But where does that leave the effeminized Asian male actor? There is still progress to be made!) As a former producer of theatre/improv shows for the nation's oldest Asian-American theatre company (www.lcctheatre.com), I know that there is plenty of talent out there but literally zilch roles. http://www.beyondhollywood.com/asiancelebs/?cat=1

The website is at least testament to the fact that Asian-American actresses have some pretty rabid fans. Says one commentor on the Beyond Hollywood site: "Here she [Yunjin Kim] is in the latest 2007 issue of Maxim looking goooooooood. Not just 'good', but 'gooooooooood'."

The website also features other celebs such as Kelly Hu, Michelle Kwan, Lucy Liu, and even a half Asian starlet named Kristin Kreuk.

Speaking of Lucy Liu, she seems at the top of the Asian-American acting scene, and the lone one at that. I'm glad to see Yunjin Kim featured in a mainstream mag like Maxim, but the question in my mind remains: How far have Asian-Americans come since the first prominent Asian actress Anna May Wong came on the scene? http://thetyee.ca/Entertainment/2004/03/23/Where_are_Asians_on_Screen/

Even then, Wong played all the Asian stereotypes: "Dragon lady, lotus blossom, seductress...during her film career, which began more than 80 years ago, during the silent film era. More often than not, the characters she portrayed were killed, by either murder or suicide." This analysis comes from a second site, which I found useful for an article that looked critically at Asian-Americans in film today -- have they really made inroads into the industry?

No, says the article. "None of the actresses in The Joy Luck Club are working in mainstream Hollywood films, not unless you count Ming-Na as the voice of Mulan in Disney's animated film Mulan and its upcoming sequel...In U.S. cinema today, only one Asian American actress seems to be working regularly - Lucy Liu."

And then follows a fascinating analysis of the roles that Liu has played: dominatrix, detective, and secret agent -- not all that diverse. The diversity of options to Asian-American actors looks grim.

In any case, right now we shall remain easily satiated with more pretty pictures of women:























ENTERTAINMENT IN ASIA
I'm not particularly obsessed with those hunky actors or doe-eyed pop singers that come a dime a dozen (albeit some are more lasting, like Boa and Zhang Ziyi), so I looked for a site that would give me an overview of what's hot now.

Amped Asia (http://www.ampedasia.com/) is an excellent place to start. Lots of titillating photos, of course:












This is of Panward Hemmanee, a new-ish Thai actresss. Her legs strike me as waifishly skinny, but wait -- we're in Asia, I forget: everyone is expected to be Kate Moss bony. The site is aethetically advanced, but all they had to do was include lots of high-quality photos of celebrities. It's easy to be a website when you're not talking about the oil crisis, nuclear weapons, wrinkly politicians or environmentalism.

Women of all shapes and sizes, I'm happy to say, are featured: from the typical impossibly skinny Asian figure to a more busty one:


The main page displays a very useful Top Five Most Viewed Babes and Top Five Most Viewed Hunks, which allowed me to get up to speed on the Asia entertainment scene in a glance: yes, Boa is still hot, at Number Two.

The writing, though terrible, could be effective in surprising ways (law of unintended consequences?). The review on Peach Girl, a Taiwanese TV drama series, is pure summary rather than a bona-fide review. However, by summarizing the plot (girl named "Xiao Tao" or "Little Peach" pursued by two boys -- one the guy she liked since high school and the other a newcomer, a troublemaking playboy), it made me want to watch it even more...if only because I'm a sucker for formulaic love stories starring cute boys and girls.




Some of the writing lacks clarity; with the open nature of the website (where anyone can post articles or comments), you get the good with the bad: the insightful bits with rocky sentence structure: "Although this series is different than some of the other ones, it is well worth watching for people who like school romances and a story based on revenge, jealousy, love, and friendship." And the recommendation at the end is tepid at best: "Overall, I would have to say the series is worth a watch." It's posted by Roger, and I figure English is his second language, for better or worse.

HOKAY. More pictures:












Uh-oh, I think in the course of my research for this posting, I've fallen newly in infatuation with Daniel Henney, a "South Korean/British actor and model." Questions abound: is he actually ethnically half Korean, half white? The profile on him is relatively short and unhelpful. But "he has often been praised by directors of his mastery of languages and accents." Perhaps it doesn't matter if he's ethnically British, I think to myself: as long as he works the accent!

Amped Asia also hosts discussion threads that display the attitudes of those who follow Asia entertainment culture. One post criticizes "Zhang Ziyi, most pitiful actress," reinforcing the rumor that she's not popular in her home country China. It's unfortunate that she should be judged so harshly by other Asians in Asia by perhaps jealous, morally traditional onlookers. There seems less intense criticism coming from Asians in the U.S., since at worse, most people I talk to seem to have a lukewarm reaction to her, instead of a hatefu one. Apparently, "most Chinese people look down on women who are too aggressive in pursuit of fame and fortune. Zhang Ziyi's quick rising in showbiz is considered as rampant careerism."

One respondent posted a scathing observation: "Is it just me, or does she always take up the roles where she gets all dirty with a guy? I was shocked to see her keeping her clothes on for the most part in MoG [Memoirs of a Geisha]." Can't a girl just be sexy without becoming a pariah?
http://www.ampedasia.com/forums/showthread.php?tid=2560&pid=26632#pid26632

Also informative were the occasional articles on Asia entertainment containing a societal spin, this one on plastic surgery in Korea. No doubt the young (or old) women in Korea are influenced by the pretty, clone-like singers and actoresses, all bearing the same double eyelids, tummy tuck, and boob jobs. http://www.ampedasia.com/forums/showthread.phptid=2549&pid=26424#pid26424

The article is excerpted from Chosun, one of the three major newspapers in Korea; it contains numerical data on cosmetic surgery in Korea. Surgery is incredibly prevalent in Korea, which I already knew: my Korean friends tell me that eyelid surgery is the most common. ("Double eyelids" are considered almost a must-have, and the procedure is so often done that it's relatively quick and risk-free.) Statistics on Korean women are shocking: "As to whether cosmetic surgery is necessary, 72.6 percent of respondents said it should be done if needed, while only 20.4% said it should be avoided if possible." This is the sad truth. The female exterior is considered so important in Korean society that it becomes a source of stress for women. It sounds like the United States but a touch worse, maybe.

"Asked to identify which areas of their appearance they were most dissatisfied with, 17.1 percent said their lower body, followed by the abdomen (14.6 percent), body weight (12.5 percent), height (11.6 percent), skin (11.1 percent), face (9.6 percent), and upper body (9.5 percent)."

And we thought Hollywood was bad.

Look into the Rising Sun: discover Japan's culture, politics, and economics online

Japan, the land of mesmerizingly cute food and meticulous people. So powerful, yet mysterious; how can a person gain understanding of this historied nation without actually visiting?

Well, for one, watch "Lost in Translation," which we did in Asia Media I last quarter. Funny, realistic, and illustrative of Prof. Tom's life (or so he says), the film -- albeit full of "national narratives" (stereotypes held about a particular country) -- illustrates the pulse and the flavor of Japan's big cities.


I explored some online pathways to Japan, and here's what I found:

GOOD #1
I'm a big fan of websites that compile news from various sources, because a single newspaper or magazine source can only cover so much; you go to the Mainichi Times for stories on, say, the Japanese stock market, and in 20 minutes, you've exhausted their content.

A tastefully selected medley provides for a wealth of different stories, angles, and tones. Take the New York Times DealBook on business and finance, for example. Compiled daily by Andrew Ross Sorokin, it is clear, aesthetically delightful, and comprehensive. It's well organized into sections covering Mergers and Acquisitions, Legal, Private Equity, Venture Capital, I.P.O.'s and other major topics. http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/.nytimes.com/

I bring up the DealBook as a parallel to News On Japan, an excellent site for news on Japanese politics AND business. http://www.newsonjapan.com/

News On Japan seems to follow the same model: it's a compilation of news from both domestic and international sources (Reuters, NYTimes, Asahi). Even though it's not as visually pleasing as the NYTimes DealBook, I would argue (if you allow me to compare two sites covering disparate topics) that News On Japan is actually better than the DealBook, one of my favorite news sites. This is because unlike the Dealbook, News On Japan features, along the left hand side, a list of blogs and "RSS feeds" covering Japan. (For those like myself who aren't technology-saavy, RSS feeds automatically check websites for any updates and new published material, presumably so that the person using the RSS feed does not have to visit all the websites individually.) The News On Japan site does not just feature the viewpoints of those in the established press. Instead, I found a variety of useful blogs and other sources, from the established press to the man-on-the-street. For example, one interesting blog contained the writings by a regular guy named Ken Yasumoto-Nicolson who is authors a blog called "What Japan Thinks: From kimono to keitai; explore Japanese views through the medium of translated opinion polls and surveys." http://whatjapanthinks.com/

The latest topic is: "Should be giri chocolates (the obligatory chocolates that women must give even the semi-significant men in their life on Japanese Valentine's Day) be at work?" Many women found this custom to be an expensive nuisance, while others didn't seem to mind to much.
The poll results and observations in What Japan Thinks are telling because they are perhaps indicative of Japanese society as a whole. How are women's attitudes changing? This resource adds a micro level to the macrocoverage of traditional media sources. It contributes to the richness of News On Japan, which is already a solid source even without the blog and RSS feed component.

With that said, the compilation of traditional sources is also interesting and diverse. Below are three articles from the site, which illustrates the comprehensive, yet diverse, nature of the content:

First, a report on the ever-important topic of international progress of the multilateral effort to get N. Korea under control. And News on Japan of course has some solid pieces covering this topic. With any conflict in the Asia Pacific region, Japan always seems to have its hands tied behind its back. Because the atrocities committed during WWII are still fresh in the minds of many, Japan's goodwill and charitable deeds go largely unnoticed by the community, whereas any threatening move, even if it is just to protect itself (from the looming gloomy N. Korea!), is met with suspicion from China and smaller Asian countries.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/15/world/asia/15japan.html?_r=1&oref=slogin%5C



Second, a CNN article discusses Australian journalist Ben Hill's refusal to apologize for a book he wrote on Japanese Princess Masako's life. The government feels that the book contains factual errors and insults the royal family. I was fascinated to hear that the "43-year-old Masako is a Harvard-educated former diplomat, whom many had hoped would help modernize Japan's staid imperial family when she married Crown Prince Naruhito in 1993...But she has been suffering from a stress-related mental illness caused by the pressures of adapting to rigid royal life." Apparently, there is real-life turmoil in the life of a princess with real-life smarts! I love fairy tale stories, and this one seemed like one gone terribly wrong. How stressful the royal life must if it is causing her to develop mental disorders!
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/02/14/japan.princess.reut/index.html?section=cnn_latestprincess.reut/index.html?section=cnn_latest

Third, a Bloomberg article informs readers about how Merrill Lynch is beginning to expand it's operations in Japan, based on a hiring spree: "The company in January and December hired at least seven bankers in Japan, including five from Morgan Stanley and one from Goldman Sachs Group Inc., said Tokyo-based Hiroto Yamada." Useful information for anyone involved in the financial services industry.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601101&sid=aNmucBiHcyss&refer=japanucBiHcyss&refer=japan

GOOD #2
Mainichi Times, one of the most prominent papers in Japan, also yielded me some interesting articles on the society. I learned about some new trends.























One trend indicates that some of Japan's populace is better off. For example, the appeal of joining yakuza, or Japanese gangs, is on the decrease, probably due to a rising quality of life for Japanese youth. One yakuza member explained:"I joined up because I wanted to get laid by a sexy woman every night. I thought it was cool. The day I went over and enlisted, the boss gave me 50,000 yen and I went out to a massage parlor and had the time of my life. Just as I'd finished, though, another gang member came to the parlor, dragged me out and took me back to the gang dorm." There he was only allowed out at certain times and was forced to wake up at 6 in the morning to clean the dorm. "When I'd finished, I had to wash all the other members' clothes, then sit in the office and answer the phone all day." Gangs need phones answered? Who would call a gang? The guy from the opposition gang across town calling in threats? No wonder Japanese kids don't want to join yakuza anymore! Basically, with the Japanese economy robust, they could make a better living elsewhere. Domestic chores and office drudgery, nothing like the glamourous life of sex, violence, and drugs that they'd imagined. If only gangs in the U.S. required their members to wash dishes and file paperwork, too; perhaps that would provide enough incentive for kids to avoid joining gangs!
http://mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/waiwai/archive/news/2002/06/20020629p2g00m0dm999000c.html

Another trend indicates that not every is doing better. I am in total disbelief at the second story I find. Apparently, over the past two or three years, the number of people living out of net cafes has been growing. People live in net cafes?! I guess that's not surprising, given the sky-high expensive living costs that the Japanese must endure. One of the people "was a 32-year old man who and been living in a net cafe for the previous 18 months, occupying a cubicle at the rate of 100 yen an hour." He said, "There's no shower, and no sofa...I sit on a wood chair that doesn't recline, shove the keyboard over to the side of the table and doze there, face down." And "not all cafe inhabitants are young. Take Yasushi, age 59, who's been staying at such places for the past four years."
http://mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/waiwai/archive/news/2007/03/20070303p2g00m0dm001000c.html

U.S.-China energy competition with American enemies and allies

CHINA GOOD:

I searched "energy," "competing," and "China" and came across a very thorough, well-written article published in the Winter 2006 issue by Flynt Leverett and Jeffrey Bader, two China and Middle East specialists from the Brookings Institute. It's called "Managing China-U.S. Energy Competition in the Middle East," a perfect complement to our in-class discussion. http://www.twq.com/06winter/docs/06winter_leverett.pdf

First, I wanted to make sure that the article comes from a credible source. Published by CSIS (The Center for Strategic International Studies), The Washington Quarterly online seemed like it would be an authoritative and scholarly resource, since it's a compilation of diverse voices associated with established think tanks (CSIS and Brookings). The TWQ lists topics that it covers as: "the U.S. role in the world, the emerging great powers, missile defenses and weapons of mass destruction, global perspectives to reduce terrorism, regional issues and flashpoints,the implications of global political change, [and] views from the U.S. Congress."

The article brought up thought-provoking points that lent in-depth color to the in-class examples that Prof. Tom gave about U.S.-China competition for energy in Sudan. For example, let's talk reasons for China's "charm offensive" in Africa: if the U.S., it's hands locked up in a self-righteous moral handcuff, refuses to deal with Sudan's totalitarian, genocidal governement, then China certainly will -- to make a point ("We're not jerks like those two-faced Americans!") and to secure more oil to fuel its swelling economy.

Same goes for China's V.I.P. treatment of the Middle East, say Leverett and Bader. In Iran, NORINCO is helping expand the subway systems in Tehran, a Chinese fiber-optic company is helping build a broadband network, and Chinese automobile and TV manufacturers are building factories.



"From a strategic perspective, these investments are meant to bolster China's positive image in Tehran as a long-term customer of Iranian oil and gas at a time when Iran's options for international economic cooperation are limited because of its poor political standing with the U.S. ," they write.

















China continues to develop export and investment ties indiscriminately, even with long-time U.S. ally Saudi Arabia, to satisfy its voracious hydrocarbon appetite and perhaps, as Leverett and Bader write, to communicate clearly to the U.S. that China is a "serious player" on the global stage. The TWQ article itself paints an equally clear picture: both Iran and Saudi Arabia have responded positively to China's diplomatic come-ons and China, as a member of the U.N. Security Council AND the IAEA Board of Governors (really? I was surprised -- doesn't China provide nuclear technology to smallish rogue countries? Isn't it otherwise nuclearly involved in some irresponsible way?), is a desirable suitor hard to refuse. That is, countries with distressed or hopefully developing economies cannot afford implement idealistic, discriminatory policies like the U.S. Most countries (Singapore and China come to mind) must take practical measures, and that means China will continue to make them offers they can't refuse.

I value the TWQ as a source for news about China's energy contention with the U.S. because it was more in-depth than a typical magazine or newspaper source, full of background statistics and examples to support its points, and less simplistic and knee-jerk reactive to the issue.


CHINA EVEN BETTER:

But of course the Middle East would be a major region of contention between China and the U.S. After all, those extremist, terrorist infested countries (right?) are insidiously anti-U.S. in every way possible -- almost downright eeee-VIL. What about Canada? Would good ol' neutral, nonoffensive Canada, always happily beholden to its world superpower neighbor, ever betray Uncle Sam?

Yes. The New York Times Business section turned out a great resource on U.S.-China competition for energy in, lo and behold: Canada.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/23/business/worldbusiness/23canada.html?pagewanted=2&ei=5088&en=bec439e3e7482281&ex=1261458000&partner=rssnyt
"Canada, the largest source of imported oil for the United States, has historically sent almost all its exports of oil south by pipeline to help quench America's thirst for energy," says the NYTimes in the article published in December 2004. But not anymore.

China is more than making friends with traditional enemies of U.S.: it's now encroaching on "places such as Venezuela, Saudi Arabia and Canada that are well within the American sphere," said Gal Luft for the New York Times article, a Washington-based authority on energy security issues who is writing a book on China's search for oil supplies around the world.

And the Times doesn't state outright, but it hints at the fact that countries like Canada are getting tired of being taken for granted. "Even so, there is the perception among many in Alberta's oil patch that Canada's rapidly growing energy industry remains an afterthought for most Americans." Uh-oh, and a little word of warning: "That might change, industry analysts say, if Canada were to start exporting oil elsewhere."

Refreshing pair: online I found Canada contrasted with Saudi Arabia/Iran, after the Prof. Tom's example of Sudan in class.