JOANNE PANG WRITES – COVID-19 continues to spread amongst communities, and Hong Kong’s zero-case streak has been reset now to over 100 cases daily. The government urges citizens to stay at home unless necessary; but for the gamers out there who want to play with their friends, what can be…
Author: Asia Media Staff
SOUTH KOREA: BIG GAINS AND NOTHING LOST IN TRANSLATION
ANDREA PLATE WRITES — Imagine watching your mother and grandmother being stabbed to death in a random attack on Christmas Eve, and showing no emotion. This is Yunjae, the protagonist of Sohn Won-Pyung’s Almond (HarperVia), first published in 2017 and translated into English this May. Why the title Almond? First, because the human brain…
THE INTERNATIONAL ECONOMY: IS THE WORLD STILL AT RISK OF THE “JAPAN DISEASE” ?
KISHORE MAHBUBANI WRITES — No one knows what the post–Covid-19 world will look like. But we know it will be very different. Many countries are likely to suffer from low growth and high debt, the “Japanese disease.” Poor developing countries will certainly suffer from this condition. Yet for developed economies, the…
U.S. AND ASIA: A NEW WORLD ORDER OF ENVIRONMENTALISM
PATRICK POLESHUK WRITES — If the Covid-19 catastrophe has benefited us in any way, it is in teaching us that humanity is never absolved from vulnerability. In the wake of global pandemic panic, thoughts about what is going to happen soon are beginning to overshadow thoughts on our long-term existence. How will…
HONG KONG: YEARS OF LIVING DANGEROUSLY
TOM PLATE WRITES – I wouldn’t mind being 20-Something again. It was the only time in my life that I had not yet made blunders of which I was aware, and – as best as I can recall – it was the only time I felt sure I knew just…
KOREA: NEW WAVE LITERATURE AS WOMEN’S LIBERATION (PART TWO)
(This is the second in an original series about new wave feminist writers in Korea) ANDREA PLATE WRITES — Is this the face of modern-day feminism in Seoul? If I Had Your Face, Frances Cha’s debut novel (Ballantine Books), tells the story of four young women struggling to succeed in…
CORONAVIRUS CHRONICLES: THE ARC OF A HISTORIC CRISIS
CHARLES E MORRISON WRITES — About two turbulent months ago, former Vice President Joe Biden had established a commanding lead in the Democratic nomination campaign, although his two more liberal competitors had not yet ended their efforts; and the looming coronavirus pandemic was threatening to fundamentally transform the political landscape. And…
CORONAVIRUS CINEMA: 5 EASY MOVIES
NATHAN RIVAS WRITES — Perhaps you’ve found yourself scrolling through Netflix for hours on end because you’ve already binged on the Tiger King so much that you’ve begun to grow a furry mustache! If that’s you, we have a few solutions. Amid the crisis of COVID-19, theaters have been shut…
CHINA-US RELATIONS: THE MADNESS OF THE BILATERAL RELATIONSHIP
THE ORIGINAL VERSION OF THIS COLUMN BY TOM PLATE WAS PUBLISHED EARLIER THIS WEEK BY THE SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST – No time to be polite: the most disgraceful and unnecessary deterioration amid the global health and economic crisis is the China-U.S. relationship that continues to sour. Casualties from a…
KOREA: NEW WAVE LITERATURE AS WOMEN’S LIBERATION
ANDREA PLATE WRITES – (This is the first in an original series about new wave feminist writers in Korea). It was big news in 2016 when the novel Kim Ji-young, 1982, by author Cho Nam-Joo, awakened a semi-somnolent women’s movement in South Korea. The book sold one million copies—only the second novel in the…
INDONESIA AND COVID-19: A YEAR OF LIVING DANGEROUSLY?
STUART MULJADI WRITES — Ever since Trump publicly announced to the world back in March that COVID-19 will vanish by April due to “warmer weather,” researchers, data analysts and ‘self- proclaimed’ experts have been trying to answer the question: Does warmer weather halt the spread and development of COVID-19? Weather…
CORONAVIRUS EXCEPTIONS: LIFE IN THE SOUTH PACIFIC PARADISE
SEAN SINGH WRITES – Due to popularity among tourists, it appears that coronavirus spread more quickly to French Polynesia than to other islands of the South Pacific, where it looks to be well contained. Paradise uninterrupted! For example, Tonga has a population of approximately 100,000 and is less developed compared…
RUSSIA UNDER COVID-19: FROM MOSCOW BUT NOT WITH LOVE
‘VICTOR B’ WRITES — How do clashes in Russia, between police and the public, look right now, when most other nations are struggling to maintain safe and healthy environments? Not good. Orwellian, in fact? The Russian government now requires issuance of a ‘QR’ code to every citizen wanting to walk…
QATAR: FIFA WORLD CUP 2020 MIGRANT WORKER RED CARDS
NICHOLAS WILCOX WRITES – Since FIFA, the international governing body of football, awarded the 2022 World Cup to Qatar, more than a few eyebrows were raised as to just how the Persian Gulf nation secured the games. Rumors of bribery and corruption surfaced. So did stories about the exceptionally poor…
NO ZOOM GLOOM: FROM LOS ANGELES TO SEOUL
While spring semester study abroad and global immersion trips have been canceled due to the ongoing pandemic, Tom Plate, clinical professor and Distinguished Scholar of Asian and Pacific studies, is continuing to facilitate cross-cultural learning experiences for Loyola Marymount University students. From opposite sides of the Pacific, LMU students collaborate with Yonsei University students…
CHINA VERSUS US: MAHBUBANI’S MARKER
TOM PLATE WRITES – On one hand, let me ask you: Would you be foolish enough to persist in advocating a balanced-sensible approach to the People’s Republic of China amid this murderous coronavirus-crisis for which so many blame the PRC? At a time when global suspicion and recrimination converge on Beijing/Wuhan…