AMBER VERNETTI WRITES: China’s influence over outside media outlets is increasing in countries like Australia, analysts report. This ‘soft power’ approach is China’s way of keeping in touch with one million Chinese Australians while censoring what is included in the Chinese language news sources and favoring state-generated content. John Fitzgerald,…
DYLAN FIELDS WRITES – L.A. EigaFest 2014 hit the town last month, bringing fans of Japanese cinema from East to West to Hollywood’s main drag. A mash-up of the Japanese word for film, eiga, and ‘festival,’ the annual gathering, now in its fourth year, showcases Japanese and Japanese-influenced films for American…
LEXIE TUCKER WRITES – Japan was shaken on September 27 when Mt. Ontake erupted, resulting in the death of 47 hikers. Located 125 miles west of Tokyo, the ominous volcano’s explosion also injured 70 other hikers who sustained bruises, cuts, and broken bones after being pelted by flying rocks and other debris.…
ANNIE LUNDGREN WRITES – A Chinese production company recently launched the 3D cartoon series “Princess Fragrant,” which follows a Uyghur girl’s adventures along the Silk Road. The character, who sports a traditional Uyghur hat and long braids, was inspired by the ancient Chinese legend of “Fragrant Concubine,” the Uyghur consort…
RYAN LIPPERT WRITES – Miracles happen every day, and the Korean Peninsula’s latest political development proves this. How else can you explain the fact that North and South Korea appear to be discussing a return to peaceful negotiations? At the Asian Games’ closing ceremony earlier this month, North Korean officials…
KELCEY LORENZO WRITES – K-Pop boy band Infinite became the first Korean music group to chart No. 1 on Billboard’s Twitter Emerging Artists chart for the week of Sept. 20, 2014 with their song “Last Romeo,” the promotional track off of their second full album entitled Season 2. According to the…
BRIAN CANAVE WRITES — The media in Taiwan has been buzzing these past weeks, so here’s a quick rundown starting with Hong Kong. Although the media focuses on the events unfolding in Hong Kong, many sources such as The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), New Tang Dynasty television (NTD), and BBC, reported on…
YVONNE EPPS WRITES — The next generation console war is heating up in the West as Sony’s PS4 and Microsoft’s Xbox One are neck and neck. In the East, however, Sony has had Microsoft on the ropes. According to Arcade Sushi, the Xbox One launched in Japan in September and was…
LEXIE TUCKER WRITES – Can you remember the last CD you bought? I’m not talking an album on iTunes. I mean an actual, physical compact disc. Can’t recall? Ask anyone in Japan this question, and you’ll most likely get an answer without much thought. After the U.S., Japan is the…
RYAN LIPPERT WRITES – Certainly a country with the title “The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea” is all about freedom and equality…right? Earlier this year, the United Nations published a report on the state of human rights in North Korea. It found that the country has one of the worst human…
JEREMIAH FAJARDO WRITES – From potato salad to Oscar nominated films, the popular crowd-funding site Kickstarter has been at the forefront of rethinking project funding. Surprisingly, some of the most successful campaigns have come from Japan’s risk-averse entertainment industry. The time for change has come and it’s in the hands…
LEXIE TUCKER WRITES – Paying for college isn’t easy. Either you were lucky enough to have parents who started saving from the time you were born, or you’re forced to take out loans in ungodly amounts to help fund your outrageously expensive education. Of course, part-time jobs are an option. You…
RYAN LIPPERT WRITES – Could sports succeed where years of diplomacy have fallen flat? On the heels of Dennis Rodman’s visits to the Hermit Kingdom, an international group of wrestlers, including athletes from Japan and the US, journeyed to North Korea recently to compete in a match before thousands of…
THIS SYNDICATED COLUMN ON POLITICAL TURMOIL IN HONG KONG WAS PUBLISHED 8 SEPTEMBER IN THE ‘SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST’, HONG KONG’S LEAD NEWSPAPER. A VERY SIMILAR VERSION WAS PUBLISHED 10 SEPTEMBER IN ‘CHINA DAILY’, THE LEADING ENGLISH-LANGUAGE DAILY OF CHINA: “Hong Kong is one of the world’s great metropolises, most…
Join the Asia Society Southern California for an exciting evening to celebrate the U.S.-China Film Relationship. As in the past, the Gala Dinner will feature high-profile honorees and guests from China and the U.S. This year’s full-day conference will draw on the Film Summit’s roots in U.S.-China co-production.…
LEXIE TUCKER WRITES – Retracting a story is a bold move in the field of journalism and tends to suggest a lack of research. On August 5, The Asahi Shinbun decided to retract not one story, but all stories that included a quote made by a Japanese man who claimed…
