The International Examiner

BY Grace Felleisen, 7, and her mom Lorraine Lee Poppy was a pot-bellied pig who had many dreams. She wanted to be a star. One dream was to be a ballerina. But her talents were not suited to be a ballerina in Swan Lake when she tried out for a part in the famous ballet. [...]

BY ADAM ROSENBECK Japan has been called a land of contradictions. Both isolated and integrated, aggressive and refined, old and new. Perhaps it is no surprise then that the country’s contemporary art, a reflection of these qualities, may appear bewildering. Their subjects, compositions, and themes often have no parallels in Western art. In “See/Saw,” Ivan [...]

In her bestselling novel, “Shanghai Girls,” published two years ago to wide acclaim, Lisa See chronicled the lives of two sisters, Pearl Chin and her younger sister, May, and their privileged life in pre-World War II Shanghai, then known as the Paris of Asia.  Pearl, the alluring older sister, and May, her docile sibling, made [...]

BY TRACEY FUGAMI It’s August in Sea-Tac, Wash., and the sun blazes and heats the water in my blue kiddy-pool. On our back patio, I’m splashing and frolicking, the smell of plastic and water from the hose wafts through the air. My inner tube is my best friend. Soon the sun will disappear behind the [...]

BY LEONARD RIFAS Some of the most-circulated Japanese words in American popular culture have been linked to military suicide: hara-kiri, kamikaze pilots and banzai charges. Shigeru Mizuki’s “Onwards Towards Our Noble Deaths” tells a “90 percent fact” story about how his buddies died in World War II suicide attacks. (The cartoonist survived because at the [...]

BY JADA LEE The guy drops down on one knee, pops the question, and plants the ring on her finger – what happens next? Does he really know what he is in for? In “Scenes from an Impending Marriage,” Adrian Tomine takes a witty approach in illustrating the days leading to his wedding with his [...]

In his introduction to this collection of Hmong American writing, Burlee Vang gives us an idea of why this book is a particularly important one. Given that Hmong history and culture has been passed down mainly through “oral stories, oral poetry, textile art, and the playing of various bamboo instruments,” this anthology heralds the inception [...]

Part investigative journalism and part political commentary, Amitava Kumar’s latest book “A Foreigner Carrying in the Crook of His Arm a Tiny Bomb,” is a thought-provoking, incisive, and intelligent look at America’s war on terror and its linkages to terrorism in India. As two of the world’s largest democracies, both the United States and India [...]

BY APRIL DE NONNO Can you tell the truth in the words of your oppressor? Will his language become the voice of your memories? Will his history be your own? These questions circulate like currents of air through Myung Mi Kim’s five poetry collections, beginning in 1991 with “Under Flag.” Book by book, she has [...]

SEATTLE – A time traveler seeking a glimpse of the International District’s past would do no better than to take its measure through the eyes of its Asian-Pacific Islander American storytellers.  A good place to begin is the Panama Hotel.  The historic local landmark figures prominently in Jamie Ford’s debut novel, “Hotel on the Corner [...]

BY TAMIKO NIMURA When I was in college, my Japanese American culture club wrote and performed skits based on the narratives of the hibakusha, the survivors of the atomic bombings in Japan. These skits asked us to inhabit — even perfunctorily, even tangentially — the bodies and the experiences of the hibakusha. Images of black [...]

“Voices of the Second Wave: Chinese Americans in Seattle” is a collection of 35 interviews of Chinese immigrants of the “lost generation” who settled or lived in the Seattle area. This “second wave” refers to Mandarin-speaking Chinese who came to America between 1934 and 1968, many as college students to escape the Japanese invasion or [...]

There aren’t many Nisei writers who have achieved literary success of the kind that gets them attention from more mainstream critics. One of the few is Wakako Yamauchi (disclosure: she is a friend of mine) and her plays and writings have been produced and praised for their sensitivity, for their portrayal of life in the [...]

It looks the same today as it did almost a century ago, like the abandoned set of an old Western movie, with two story buildings and wooden sidewalks. This is tiny Locke, located in the Sacramento Delta in California. Founded in 1915, it has the unique distinction of being the only town in the US [...]

BY LILY WOO Fujimini Island is a unique place to its animal inhabitants. Excitement fills the island as the animals make preparations for the Moon Festival. This is a cute story in which animals personify many emotions ranging from jealousy, arrogance, anger, remorse, and happiness. The lessons exemplified by the story include demonstrating the power [...]

There was a time in the 1980s/90s when tape recording was available on the cheap to consumers. Anyone with a tape deck would have the power to record mixed-tapes. You’d be able to record from the radio or other professionally recorded tapes or vinyl records. A certain type of sonic craft came about from this [...]

BY NAN MA “How many lives can we live? How many can we steal back and piece together?” asks Janie, the protagonist of award-winning author Madeleine Thien’s new novel “Dogs at the Perimeter.” In this captivating narrative, Thien deftly weaves together the past and the present, the personal and the historical, official narratives and folklore, [...]

Highlights The Seattle Chinatown-International District Street Fair has a new name this year. Now called “Dragon Fest”, the event takes place on July 9 & 10 at Hing Hay Park. Sat. hours are noon – 8 p.m. and Sun. hours are noon – 6 p.m. Includes a “Food Walk” with $2 tasting menu at area [...]

A series of postcards, bearing messages scrawled in bad handwriting, introduces the unfolding horror of 1937 Nanking, China. Japanese soldiers there have overtaken the capital city and no escape remains for its Chinese residents. Unfortunately, the postcards (written in English) flash by too quickly to be read clearly although the carnage that follows needs no [...]

Derek Nguyen is a multifaceted artist with a diversity of career accomplishments and personal experiences. He has worked as a writer, director, producer, and playwright on both films and stage dramas. And he is also very active in the Asian American arts scene, as he’s collaborated with Greg Pak, Risa Morimoto, Soomi Kim, as well [...]

The new “Love You Better (EP)” from Seattle reggae band Kore Ionz can be summarized in one word: awesome. The title track is a poignant love letter that once you hear it, you can’t help but sign on to wholeheartedly yourself. The Korean American lead singer Daniel Pak, wrote the lyrics in a rush of [...]

“The Elements Within” exhibit at Mithun — running until June 21 — features a collaborative show of artisanal slab furniture and calligraphic wall hangings. Calligrapher and choreographer Yoko Murao was invited to include her works alongside Gudrun Onkels and Eric Holder, makers of fine furniture and woodcrafts at SlabArt. The exhibit’s title alludes to the [...]

Highlights The long awaited grand opening for the IDEA Odyssey Gallery will be on First Thursday, July 7 from 5 – 8 p.m.. This collective gallery was founded by Carina del Rosario, SuJ’n Chon and Minh Carrico. The inaugural exhibition “A Sense of Place” guest-curated by Seattle artist Juan Alonzo is on view throughout the [...]

Born in Saigon, Vietnam and raised in Orange County, California, filmmaker Stephane Gauger aims to tell universal stories with a global outlook and a distinctly Vietnamese point of view. “The best films are the universal ones,” said Gauger. He added that, in his newest film, “Saigon Electric”, which recently made its Seattle premiere at the [...]

The Wing Luke Museum’s current exhibition, “Dual Nature: Contemporary Glass and Jewelry” sets out to explore the parallel histories of glass and jewelry in the Pacific Northwest through the work of eight emerging and established Asian and API artists. It succeeds in delving deeper than a simple compare-and-contrast of the two media to reveal dualities [...]

Apart Together In 1949 war-torn Shanghai, a couple is forced apart when a Nationalist soldier escapes to Taiwan leaving behind his pregnant girlfriend. In 1987, the elderly former soldier returns for her. Ignoring the fact that his ex-lover already has a mate (a former Communist soldier), several adult children (including the Nationalist’s son) and grandchildren, [...]

First came the Butoh Wave last autumn. And now comes the Daipan Butoh’s Next Wave Seattle Butoh Festival, to be held from June 3 – 18. This upcoming festival will include performances, workshops, and public lectures on the Japanese-originated dance form of butoh, and includes not only local butoh artists, but also a range of [...]

Highlights Young Sub Lee is an up-and-coming performer of Korean traditional music and his specialty is the “daegeum” or Korean bamboo flute. He will perform and talk about Korean traditional music and instruments while accompanied by janggo drums. Lee is the musician-in-resident for the UW Ethnomusicology program and will be teaching in Spring. Witness this [...]

Early in the 1990s, provincial officials in Henan, China, launched the Plasma Economy campaign. Residents would be paid for their blood, which would in turn be sold to biotech companies. Due to high demand on the part of these companies, the blood business boomed. Induced by financial reward and by dishonest local officials, poor peasants [...]

In honor of the contributions and diversity of APIs in the Seattle music scene, we profile three music personalities who are proud and passionate about their craft.