PRESTIN MCHUGH WRITES — At a coffee shop on a Tuesday afternoon last month, I started talking to a young woman named Kaitlyn, a Marketing major at Loyola Marymount University. We went out to dinner a couple of nights after we met. We exchanged stories, compared music, and discussed our…
Category: East Asia
CHINA’S POPULATION POLICY: CHILD’S PLAY OR MISTAKEN VISION?
RACHEL KAUFMAN WRITES – It has been seven years since China’s one-child policy was officially revoked. For so many of us in the west, this seems like light years ago; but this unique policy and stunning experiment in grandiose social engineering will be impacting Chinese society for generations. What can…
JAPAN: IS THE COMPANY ‘FAST RETAILING’ SELLING OUT ON HUMAN RIGHTS?
MARISA TORRE WRITES – Despite the flurry of major retailers halting business in Russia, the major Japanese clothing retailer Uniqlo, with its 49 stores in Russia, has no plans to follow the trend. Tadashi Yanai, the CEO of Uniqlo’s parent company, Fast Retailing, maintains an anti-war stance but described clothing…
BOOK REVIEW: MY ANNIHILATION (2022) BY FUMINORI NAKAMURA – A SADISTIC NEW THRILLER THAT QUESTIONS YOUR REALITY
BOOK REVIEW EDITOR ELLA KELLEHER WRITES – What exactly is the ‘self,’ and how can it be defined? From modern psychology, we know that human minds can be usurped through drastic techniques such as brainwashing, manipulation, and even hypnosis. Elusive and slippery in nature, the malleable ‘self’ forms and reforms…
ENDING THE WAR: BUT IS BEIJING UP TO THE HISTORIC CHALLENGE?
ASIA MEDIA INTERNATIONAL FOUNDER TOM PLATE WRITES — In global diplomatic circles, what is not uttered publicly can reveal more than that which is out in the open. Perhaps no one captured this with more spice and sauce than Charles Maurice De Talleyrand-Périgord, the acknowledged French maestro of European diplomacy…
BOOK REVIEW: LONGING AND OTHER STORIES (2022) BY JUN’ICHIRŌ TANIZAKI – A CLASH OF DIFFERENT GENERATIONS.
ELLA KELLEHER WRITES – Through a vulnerable child’s eyes, parents represent stability, protection, and even eternity. What happens when eternity grows small and seemingly insignificant? Adolescents, ostensibly indestructible and infinitely hot-headed, get their first taste of personal freedom and start to detach from their nurturers. As one generation grows stronger and…
CHINA: THE RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR HEATS UP ON SOCIAL MEDIA
ARYANA KHALILZADEH WRITES-Social media has become a source of information, misinformation, and conspiracy theories on topics such as the pandemic, U.S. elections, and global insurrections. As Russia launched its full-scale military invasion in Ukraine, social media became flooded with various posts in the form of memes, photos, news, and heated…
JAPAN: YET ANOTHER SUPERSTAR PLAYER SCORES BIG FOR HIS COUNTRY
TRISTIN CLINT WRITES – The prowess of Japanese baseball players is recognized internationally, and a couple of talents have personified athletic greatness just this century. Seiya Suzuki could very well join Ichiro Suzuki and Shohei Ohtani as an unforgettable Japanese ballplayer. Shohei Ohtani famously took over Major League Baseball in…
INTERVIEW: WAR AND PEACE BETWEEN CHINA AND AMERICA
Interview on US-China relations, Professors Thomas Plate questioned by Michael Genovese EVENT — This interview is part of an ongoing Institute for Leadership Studies series, “Top Scholars/Hot Topics”, in which leading LMU professors are interviewed on current topics of great importance. Professor Plate is founder and president of Asia Media…
POWER GAME: UKRAINE’S FATE WILL BE SHAPED BY DECISIONS FROM RUSSIA, CHINA AND AMERICA
TOM PLATE WRITES — Power is not always angelic. When the power to do something exists, it often gathers like a storm, ready to be unleashed. Power is also agnostic; it can be used for evil as well as for good. One thing is for certain. Without concentrations of power, not…
CHINA-US RELATIONS: MUDDLING THROUGH IS BETTER THAN BLOWING IT UP
CLINICAL PROFESSOR TOM PLATE WRITES — I look back in anger. There’s no other way emotionally to cope with the sense that, ever since the exit of the Clinton administration two decades ago, relations with China have gone from “the good and the bad” to mostly bad. It’s not that…
BOOK REVIEW: THE WAITING (2021) BY KEUM SUK GENDRY-KIM
BRIANNA HIRAMI WRITES — Historians often skip over the pain that war leaves on the countless hearts of those who have lost their loved ones to senseless violence. Whether it is a soldier caught on the battlefield, a parent praying for their drafted child, or a refugee actively escaping a…
US-CHINA RELATIONS: ALL HOPE IS NOT LOST DESPITE THE TENSIONS AND TEPID VIRTUAL SUMMIT
TOM PLATE WRITES — Can it be that fresh air is being permitted to enter the closed casket of American foreign affairs thinking? The other day, a critique of U.S. policy toward China flat-lined on my computer screen that raised my hopes: it amounted to a reasoned plea for exactly…
KOREAN PENINSULA: RESPONDING TO SKEPTICISM ABOUT AN END-OF-WAR DECLARATION
MOON CHUNG-IN WRITES — Since South Korean President Moon Jae-in asked the international community to support formally declaring the end of the Korean War during his speech at the UN General Assembly on Sept. 21, the issue has been at the forefront of the government’s diplomatic efforts as Moon’s presidency…
JAPAN: WILL GLOBAL TRAVELERS GET TO SEE THE CHERRY BLOSSOMS THIS YEAR?
BADER ZAINAL WRITES — Like many countries around the world, Japan has suffered significant negative impacts to its tourism industry during the COVID-19 pandemic, but signs of travel restrictions easing bring hope for recovery. The beauty and mystique of Japan have long enticed visitors from international locales, with tourism soaring…
BOOK REVIEW: WINTER PASTURE (2021) – THE BEAUTY AND COMPLEXITY OF WALKING THE WORLD
ALEC FARMER WRITES – Nature is a brutal place with harsh conditions that can push anyone to their limits. Despite the vastness of its glory, nature can also be a place of unmatched serene beauty. This dichotomy of truths is ever-present for those who live and move alongside the Earth.…