Goofy Asians

According to a recent study by the College Board and New York University, they think so. Math and Science apparently are no longer the “main domain” for Asian Americans. The College Board and New York University had this to say:

The report found that contrary to stereotype, most of the bachelor’s degrees that Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders received in 2003 were in business, management, social sciences or humanities, not in the STEM fields: science, technology, engineering or math. And while Asians earned 32 percent of the nation’s STEM doctorates that year, within that 32 percent more than four of five degree recipients were international students from Asia, not Asian-Americans.

Another interest bit of information found in their report is that there’s a correlation between students’ SAT scores and their parents earnings and education levels…also found in other Americans.

Guess we can’t consider most Asian-Americans to be mathematically/scientifically inclined anymore?

To check out the report click here.

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From wikipedia:

“Bento is a single-portion takeout or home-packed meal common in Japanese cuisine. A traditional bento consists of rice, fish or meat, and one or more pickled or cooked vegetables as a side dish. Containers range from disposable mass produced to hand crafted lacquerware. Although bento are easily available in many places throughout Japan, including convenience stores, bento shops, train stations, and department stores, it is still common for Japanese homemakers to spend considerable time and energy producing an appealing boxed lunch.

Bento can be very elaborately arranged. Contests are often held where homemakers can compete for the most aesthetically pleasing arrangements. The food is often decorated to look like people, animals, or characters and items such as flowers and plants. This style of elaborate bento is called kyaraben.”

Bento is an interesting take on lunch, definitely a step up from the typical sandwich and chips I eat, lol! The thing that intrigues me the most about bento is the endless amounts of possibilities, the colors, and creativity that can be had.

I stumbled upon a bento community website a while back that specifically shows off member’s bento creations, very cool. From the traditional to the not-so-traditional…they’re all “fun” regardless!

To check out the bento community website for more neat pictures, check it out here!

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Jerome White Jr. is on stage and is about to perform. With his hip hop garb of baggy jeans, oversized shirt, do rag, and baseball cap, one would think he’s about to perform some hip hop songs…but instead he sings maudlin love ballads…in perfect Japanese.

Growing up in Pittsburgh, “Jero” (as he’s called in Japan) got hooked on enka music played by his Japanese-born grandma. Enka music is quite similar to country music, it wallows in heartache and hopeless love. Starting from age 5, Jero began singing the enka in broken Japanese. Now 26, he sings in Japanese perfectly.

image credit: imprinttalk.com

He has quite the following in Japan and does quite well with the ladies, between the ages of 8 to 85. His great vocals have been praised by the public, and critics say he has a new sound, being “crisp and fresh”. When I first saw him singing on youtube, I was quite amazed. Jero has quite an interesting story…from growing up in the working class in Pittsburgh and attaining stardom singing enka in Japan. Hopefully Jero will spark interest within the younger generation for this genre of music. Good luck Jero! His first single came out on February 20, 2008.

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Siliconvalley.com recently published an interesting article discussing about Vietnamese returnees playing an important role in bringing the high-tech culture to Vietnam. This is particularly happening in Ho Chi Minh City, otherwise known as “Little San Jose” (Referring to the area in California which Silicon Valley is). Longtime Vietnamese Silicon Valley residents are heading back to their motherland due to the business potentials and economic opportunities available. According to the article, it happens quite often when former Silicon Valley residents bump into each along the busy streets of Ho Chi Minh City and in places like Highlands Coffee (the Starbucks of Vietnam).

” ‘Everywhere I go, I see someone from the valley,’ Henry Liem, a lawyer and instructor at San Jose City College, said while sitting at the upscale Mojo cafe.”

image credit: www.siliconvalley.com

Some of these Vietnamese returnees are the same children of parents who fled from Vietnam in 1975 on board U.S. military helicopters. Vietnam over the years has taken a ‘pro-business path’ similar to it’s neighbor, China. Because of that, the economic opportunities are great, and many Viet Kieu, the term used by locals for Vietnamese who lived overseas and have returned (Is there a Vietnamese reader here? I’m not exactly sure, lol), are launching high-tech startups or heading up companies. Estimates report that they’re pumping billions of dollars into the country!

The article brings up several points, such as more Western amenities/luxuries, more personal freedoms, being careful about opposing the government (aka, stay out of politics!), hardships of being in a poor country, etc., but one thing that was mentioned which found particularly ironic and interesting: Older generations must be thinking, “We left the country so you could have a better life. Now you are going back?”. Sorry, but I can’t help but laugh!

image credit: www.siliconvalley.com

An interesting read, give it a look here:

“You left a traitor, but you come back as a patriot.”

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Here are some interesting news articles I found about animals

What are Japanese training/feeding/etc. birds these days?

image credit: www.alalam.ir

Nagareyama, Japan. In the outskirts of Japan, a poor little parrot named Yosuke got lost and what does a parrot do when he gets lost? He recites its name and address! This African grey parrot was rescued by police and transferred to a close by veterinary hospital. Apparently, while the police were trying to figure out the owner, he started to speak, “I’m Mr. Yosuke Nakamura”. Yosuke also gave out his address as well. Case solved!

Even the pandas are shaken by the earthquake.

image credit: www.motherjones.com

Eight pandas, which are going to be sent to Beijing later in this week to go on display for the Olympics, are in severe shock for the terrible disaster. According to officials from the Wolong Giant Panda Reserve, which the pandas are from, are saying some of the pandas are still quite nervous. Poor pandas.

Australia…saving wildlife by killing it?

image credit: www.hartz.com.au, animals.nationalgeographic.com

Tasmania, the only place Tasmanian devils exist in the wild, has just reclassified the Tasmanian devils from vulnerable to endangered. This is mostly due to a contagious cancer epidemic among the animals which reduced its population by 60 percent. At the other end of the spectrum, kangaroos are in abundance and are actually threatening their own survival, according to scientists. So the Tasmanian government has begun administering lethal injects of 400 kangaroos…does any one else find this a bit weird? I mean, although scientists say this and that, it just doesn’t seem right. This has caused quite a stir with the Aboriginals, which view the eastern gray kangaroo as a sacred symbol. Both the Tasmanian devil and kangaroo are the country’s most iconic and beloved animals.

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I’ve been completely unaware of this…maybe I’ve been living under a rock? For those that do not know, the bile and gall bladder of bears are used in traditional Asian medicine, which are believed to have medicinal properties. This in effect causes approximately 12,000 bears to be raised in captivity, and the conditions they live in are horrible. Most of these bears live in cages about the size of a telephone booth positioned sideways…therefore, they cant even stand or turn around easily. To add on to this, they are forced into painful procedures to extract their bile.

Jackie Chan is passionate about animal advocacy and is actively doing something about this. It’s great to see that people such as Jackie are going outside of their normal boundaries and are doing something sincere and positive in the world. He has teamed up with the World Society for the Protection of animals (WSPA) to tackle this issue and have filmed a nice PSA for the end to this cruel practice.

A synthetic alternative has been in existence since the 1950s and other alternatives, such as herbal remedies and acupuncture, are deemed to be just as effective by experts. So is bear farming even necessary anymore?

Here’s the PSA by Jackie Chan and WSPA:

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Being a federal employee, I was able to attend the 7th annual Asian Pacific American Federal Career Advancement Summit. It was held at a swanky hotel in Washington D.C. (Marriott Renaissance) and lasted from 7:30 am to 5 pm (unfortunately, my supervisor only gave me 4 hours to go to this). This event is hosted by the Secretary of Labor, Elaine Chao, and Director Linda Springer of the Office of Personnel Management.

So, what is this whole thing all about? The summit started back in 2002 to address the issue of the shortage of Asian Pacific Americans in the senior executive or management positions within the federal government. Through the day, there were various workshops that one could attend, which provided management insight and skills training to help Asian Pacific Americans advance in their federal careers. Various governmental agencies were also on site with tables promoting their agency and giving away some free stuff. Here was this years agenda (taken form the apasummit.gov website):

I was unfortunately only able to attend one workshop (Emotional Intelligence) due to the limited time I had,to but I thought it was a good experience and definitely worth the trip. The presenter for the workshop I went  was very good. Elaine Chao also did a speech in the morning and that was excellent also (I even think she was winging some of it)! She touched on subjects of Asian culture, how America used to be, and how America is changing for the better. She peppered her speech with personal stories which gave it a nice touch, and made her come off as someone you could really relate to.

Overall, I thought this was well-organized. Plus, we even got free lunch and lots of Star Bucks! Mmmmm, steak.

Since Elaine Chao is approaching the end of her tenure, I wonder if this summit will still continue after she is gone (Maybe not? Seems like they went all out. I was sensing a “going out with a bang” feeling). It would be a shame if it did disappear however, because I think this event helps/empowers the Asian Pacific American in many ways.

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For a while, I’ve noticed this. A situation occurs where your ethnicity is mentioned, and it feels like most of the time, non-Asians automatically assume you’re chinese. Two things can be basically going on in your mind:

1) You are Chinese and are like “Wow, you have a sixth sense of Asianness!”

2) You aren’t Chinese and are like “Wow, you suck!”

And depending on where you live, this may happen quite often. This is somewhat understandable…I mean, I can’t usually tell what ethnicity an Asian is. Particularly in the U.S., Chinese are one of the biggest (if not the biggest) percentage of Asians in the country as well. So maybe there’s some validity to all this, but still, it can be annoying, especially if you fall under number 2. This annoyance stems from Chinese essentially representing all Asians.

image credit: www.lukechueh.com

Does this happen to you quite often or is it a rare occasion and I’m just goofy?

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So I was talking with my sister a while ago and she brought up something I found quite amusing. Apparently she said something along the lines of her not being Asian enough, and she doesn’t have the “aura”…On the other hand, apparently she said I do, lol. Weird thing is though, I hardly know any Chinese…while she’s nearly fluent!

image credit: wesandjo.files.wordpress.com

It’s not like she hangs out strictly with non-Asians either. In fact, she has a lot of Asian friends…maybe even more than me! I had to take a step back as I began to ponder about all this. I’ve been thinking, is it our subtle differences in lifestyles which gives me a lead in our so called “Asian-ness”? Here are some brief examples:

-Music: Both my sister and I listen to English music, however I also listen to Asian music, albeit a small amount.

-Food: I’d prefer eating a bowl of pho than a bowl of spaghetti. Although we both like Asian food, I have more of a tendency to eat it I guess?

-Entertainment: This is also similar to music. We are both into Western movies/tv shows/ etc., but I also have an taste for the Asian arts as well, particular anime and manga.

-Events: My sister would be more interested in going to a Chris Brown concert, and I would be more interested in checking out the Cherry Blossom Festival.

-Appearance: I’ve been told by my sister that I just look more “Asian”. It’s weird, I mean I don’t try to wear Asian clothes, in fact I’m usually wearing some American Eagle stuff, lol! I guess it might be due my hairstyle or just physical features?

In conclusion, I’m still lost as to what makes me more “Asian” than my sister, because even with all things considered…does it actually make me more “Asian”, or just more aware of Asian culture? I guess being more “into” the culture is essentially part of the equation…but how does this all fit into the “aura”? Or maybe this “aura” is some convoluted theory or idea thought up by my sister…which it probably is.

So how Asian are YOU?

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Shanghai Kiss is a romantic comedy that came out in 2007 as a direct to dvd movie. The main character is Liam Liu(Ken Leung). Two other important characters are Adelaide Bourbon(Hayden Panettiere) and Micki Yang(Kelly Hu). This is a movie about Liam Liu, a Chinese American, who grows up trying to live the American dream of becoming an actor. Liam doesn’t appreciate his Chinese roots. Liam one day meets a high school teen named Adelaide bourbon and unwillingly gets into an one-sided relationship with her. One day a turn of events places Liam in China. Liam finally gets to experience his Chinese culture and then he must make some big decisions regarding his life.

Shanghai Kiss was a good movie that depicts how some Asian Americans live their life not liking their own heritage. Sometimes they continue the way they feel, and sometimes they go through an experience which changes their views like in this movie.

Here’s a trailer of the movie:

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