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.…
Full Article LOS ANGELES: 2014 U.S.-China Summit & Gala Dinner
ASIA MEDIA STAFF WRITES – Congratulations are in order for Joko Widodo, the governor of the massive metropolis of Jakarta. After an arduous nationwide campaign against a tough, determined and extremely well-financed opponent, this personally modest but overly reformist former furniture salesman won by a margin of four-to-five percentage points. In…
Full Article Congratulations to Indonesia
YVONNE EPPS WRITES – Anime Expo, the biggest anime and manga convention in North America, was held in Los Angeles this July. The event celebrated the pillars of Japanese pop-culture through industry guests, panels, and premieres. But the main attraction was the thousands of attendees dressed as their favorite characters.…
Full Article LOS ANGELES: Celebrating Japanese Pop-Culture in CosplayTOM PLATE WRITES – Before graduating with their degrees, Asia Media Magazine managing editors Jeremiah Fajardo and Stephanie Garcia spent time with Asia Media’s editor-in-chief for a final panoramic interview on Asia today. The interviews can be viewed below. Jeremiah’s Interview Stephanie’s Interview A collated version for classroom usage can…
Full Article HOW NOT TO MISUNDERSTAND ASIA: The Farewell Interviews by Editors Fajardo & Garcia
MIA MARTIN WRITES – When I first met Eriko Lee Katayama last spring she was a classmate of mine in Professor Plate’s Introduction to Media and Politics of Asia. At the time, I was unaware of the details that make her a one-of-a-kind competitor for this year’s Miss Asia USA…
Full Article Q&A with Miss Asia USA Contender Eriko Lee Katayama
TOM PLATE WRITES – Who and what is an Asia Media Staffer? Pictured in the photos within this post are most of the staff members of Asia Media after a couple Tuesday staff meetings. By this weekend (May 10-11), more than half of them will have received their undergraduate degree and…
Full Article GOODBYE TO OUR GRADUATING SENIORS!
The British Museum in London has mounted an extraordinary exhibition of explicit and beautifully detailed paintings, prints and books going back to at least the 16th century. Called Shunga (the term of curators and art historians) this Japanese visual celebration of the erotic has inspired artists such as Picasso, Rodin…
Full Article JAPAN: The Fine Art of Pleasure
TOM PLATE WROTE the following for the lead newspaper of Dubai, United Arab Emirates — the Khaleej Times. It is one of the most influential daily newspapers of the Gulf States and Arabia. The following essay appeared in a special edition of that newspaper celebrating its 35th anniversary. “THIS…
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Haruki Murakami was born in Japan during the post–World War II baby boom. Although born in Kyoto, he spent his youth in Shukugawa (Nishinomiya), Ashiya and Kobe. His father was the son of a Buddhist priest, and his mother the daughter of an Osaka merchant.[8] Both taught Japanese literature. Since…
Full Article MURAKAMI MAKING BOOK
TOM PLATE WRITES — Thanks to the brilliant recent book “UNIVERSE IS FLUX,” by John Teramoto with Stephen Addiss and David Rosand, our art spotlight goes to the late Tawara Yusaku, whose Tawara’s artistic vision was highly influenced by Buddhist concepts of cosmology and space. As the book’s authors tell…
Full Article FROM TOKYO: THE UNIVERSE IS FLUX
BY TOM PLATE — The term ‘noir’ is rather difficult define but instantaneously recognizable. In the American literary tradition, many of our greatest writers have been associated with the tradition of ‘noir’ (French for ‘black film’). They would include Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, James M. Cain, Ross Macdonald and Elmore…
Full ArticleASIA MEDIA seeks to spotlight outstanding talent from the Asia-Pacific region that speaks to the cutting edge of our contemporary political concerns and emotional needs as human inhabiting a troubled planet. This issue’s featured art comes from Australia. It is perhaps hard to believe, but this fabulous 46 x 61…
Full Article ‘YESTERDAY’S NEWS’
ARGO, the thrilling film that copped the Oscar award for Best Picture last month, was anything but a documentary. Canadians will argue that the CIA role was greatly romanticized — and blunders smoothed over. But the opening newsreel footage was commendable. It quickly depicted the sordid history of Western intervention…
Full Article FACT VERSUS FICTION: SOURCES OF IRANIAN ANTI-AMERICANISM
This Thursday 6pm, LMU’s Von der Ahe Suite, William Hannon Library 322……a public lecture and discussion (with free food). The main attraction: Dean and former Singapore Ambassador Kishore Mahbubani, on his new book “The Great Convergence.” Be there!
Full Article COMING SOON!
