Asian Studies 2018

This past weekend I had the pleasure of finally going to the movie theaters and watching  'Crazy Rich Asians'  a film I've been intrigued to watch since its release date in mid-August. I learned that this movie is the first major studio film since  'The Joy Luck Club'  opened almost a quarter-century ago in which an Asian filmmaker has told an Asian-American story with Asians in all of the leading roles.  Crazy Rich Asians  is an American romantic comedy-drama film directed by Jon M. Chu, from a screenplay by Peter Chiarelli and Adele Lim, based on Kevin Kwan's 2013 novel Crazy Rich Asians. The film follows a Chinese-American professor Rachel Chu (Constance Wu) who accompanies longtime boyfriend Nick(Henry Golding) to his best friend's wedding in Singapore. She's surprised to learn that Nick's family is extremely wealthy and is considered one of the country's most eligible bachelors. Rachel must contend with jealous societies, quirky relatives an...

It  lo oks like my blog from last week didn’t post so here it is again! Last week I discussed the Desi Hoppers, which is a dance group from Mumbai, India that competed on the World of Dance competition show here in the United States. I wanted to point this group out because in their dancing during the competition they incorporated traditional Indian dance moves with Western dance moves demonstrating how versatile they are with dance. On this second season of World of Dance I have seen more dance groups come on the show from all parts of the world and it’s a delight to watch dance bring together people from all different backgrounds. I have posted a video below of the Desi Hoppers during the competition so please enjoy!

On TV, there's a dance competition show called World of Dance. Dancers from all parts of the world enter the competition and on this second season a group called Fabulous Sisters from Fukushima, Japan entered the competition. These girls are young but extremely talented. For their performance on last week's episode their dance routine was based on the holiday Hinamatsuri also called Girls Day celebrated every year on March 3rd. On this special day in Japan, platforms are covered with a red carpet material are used to display a set of ornamental dolls, which represent the emperor, empress, attendants, and musicians in traditional attire of the Heian period.  Fabulous Sisters costumes represented dolls and they incorporated the color red with their props, enjoy the full performance video  below!

On Thursday, an earthquake paralyzed the northern island of Hokkaido. They have reported that at least one person was killed and 32 are still missing. This triggered landslides and knocked out power to its 5.3 million residents. It is reported that 120 people have been injured after the 6.7 magnitude quake. Dozens of landslides exposed barren hillsides near the town of Atsuma in southern Hokkaido. According to an article, "the entire island was without power after Hokkaido Electric Power Co said it conducted an emergency shutdown of all its fossil fuel-fired power plants following the quake." The quake hit at exactly 3:08 a.m. Luckily it did not pose a tsunami risk. However, it was still registered as a strong 6 on Japan's 7-point earthquake scale. Other agencies reported after shocks but it did not cause major damage. https://japantoday.com/category/national/1-dead-at-least-32-missing-after-M6.7-quake-hits-Hokkaido