KATIE TRINH WRITES – Everyone has a story, a unique and personal story. Both my parents were born in Vietnam. Their roots originated in China but they emigrated to Vietnam to escape Communism. Communism eventually spread to Vietnam and my family escaped once again. They migrated to the Philippines and…
JAY SEO WRITES – When I first heard about the documentary Under the Sun, I assumed that the filmmaker used a hidden camera to catch a glimpse of the real lives of citizens in North Korea. I was wrong: Russian filmmaker Vitaly Mansky was permitted by North Korean authorities to…
It’s been a while since I’ve reviewed a film for Asia Media, but after seeing Makoto Shinkai’s “Kimi no Na Wa.” (君の名は。), also known by its Western title, “your name.”, I felt compelled to return to spread the word about what could go down as one of the greatest animated…
ALEXIS CRUZ WRITES – Here we go again – another dilemma of foreign journalists arrested for trying to report on migrant workers. This time, police arrest Danish journalist Niels Borchert Holm and his crew who planned to film a documentary about the country’s preparations for the 2022 World Cup. Police…
JAMES ROYCE WRITES —You’d think Australia — a rich, resourceful, forward-thinking country surrounded by Asian neighbors — would have broadband speeds comparable to or better than most. Sadly you’d think wrong. It wasn’t quite enough of an issue to push the ruling coalition out of power in Australia’s recent federal…
LEXIE TUCKER WRITES – “Politically correct.” Rarely do you come across a phrase that will elicit so many different reactions. There’s a thin line between offensive and funny, and lately it seems as if it always leans more towards the former than the later. But is this a phenomena exclusive…
MIRANDA PAK WRITES – For the first time since the release of the Pokémon franchise 1996, the games have been launched in simplified and traditional Chinese in China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. Traditionally, according to BBC reporting: “Pokemon characters’ names used to be translated differently in different parts of the…
KATIE TRINH WITES – Whether it’s religious influences, social norms, or human nature, society tends to view a “relationship” as exclusively between an individual man and an individual woman – or in today’s increasing acceptance of various sexualities, a man and a man, a woman and a woman, and so…
ALEXIS CRUZ WRITES- Qatar has been fairly confident about keeping the 2022 World Cup. The country has passed some labor reforms and FIFA still backs them, but the country’s officials might have to be more cautious. Harvard professor John Ruggie wrote a FIFA-commissioned report on the organization’s human rights responsibilities…
MERLIN EVANS WRITES – A US Presidential election victory for Donald Trump could force Australia to more than double its defense budget. A former defense official who now heads the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), Peter Jennings, warned the reduction in US involvement in Asia that Trump proposes would force the…
AMANDA KRETSCH WRITES – Taiwan’s Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. has sealed the deal to take over and revive Sharp Corp, making this acquisition the first time a foreign company will acquire a Japanese electronics manufacturer. Hon Hai and Sharp negotiated for months, but with the downturn of Sharp, a…
ASIA MEDIA WRITES – On April 6, LMU had the esteemed honor to bestow an Honorary Degree of Humane Letters on United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon. The UNSG gave a keynote address on the morning of the degree conferral ceremony, wherein he gave a short policy speech. Afterward, Ban…
JAMES ROYCE WRITES — Unless you have spent the last couple months under a rock, you’ve been keeping up with, or at least have heard about, the wild presidential election currently going on within the United States. And although Australia’s capital of Canberra is located more than 16,000 kilometers away…
ERISA TAKEDA WRITES – Is PM Abe following in the footsteps of Xi regarding clamping down on the media? Japan has a different media system from China’s, so that is quite a dramatic statement and therefore I do not think that Abe is exactly following Xi’s footsteps regarding media censorship.…
BRADLEY JAMES CAVANAGH WRITES — In central Shanghai, a two-story building has been plastered with images of Xi Jinping, as if to protect it, and – through this attempted power of symbolism – granted a short reprieve from demolition. Pictures taken of this building went viral on social media, prompting…
KATIE TRINH WRITES – China’s antics are getting out of hand and Vietnam, along with Malaysia and the Philippines, will not be bullied by the Asian hegemon. The conflict between the Association of South East Nations (ASEAN) and China began when China reclaimed larger portions of the islands in the…
