In 2009 I found myself completely immersed in K-Pop culture, especially with BIGBANG’s G-Dragon. As a K-Pop fangirl it wasn’t just about listening to their songs or knowing the names of the members, but also about...
Japan
Andrea Centeno
Tsuruko Hanzawa: the Japanese tea ceremony master living like a single flower
It all started with an NHK documentary titled “Tsuruko’s Tea Journey,” a 50-minute program I watched on YouTube one weary evening when I just wanted something frivolous. The documentary followed Tsuruko Hanzawa, a chaji...
Melanie Lee
Komako Kimura: the Japanese suffragist on the streets of New York
The Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Laurel Thatcher Ulrich wrote that “well-behaved women seldom make history.” About sixty years before Ulrich penned her words, on October 23, 1915, women marched en masse in New York...
Portia Chan
Amuro Namie: The Eternal Queen of J-Pop
I first visited Tokyo in 1997 and stayed at the home of a Japanese family. There was a girl a couple of years older than me, but we didn’t talk much during my week there. We were in that teenage stage of awkward self...
Youjin Lee
They Were Never Asking For It
How Trauma Shaped My Body Image And The Way I See Other Women Some months have passed since #MeToo broke and the movement of women standing against sexual objectification continues to strengthen. As I watch, I find...
Tara Footner
How Japan Became My Home – Again
As we go through life, the different phases are often marked by some significant changes. If you follow an educational path, then the marks are clear: high school and college/university years, master’s and PhD programs...
Hakone: A Japanese Weekend Getaway
Tokyo is unmistakably iconic with its hyper-eccentric, electric Akihabara district; or the quirky artisan boutiques and streets of high-fashion Harajuku; or even the upmarket posh and glam of Ginza. Wherever you go...
Lisa Cheung
What We Really Need To Talk About When We Talk About Logan Paul
[agg-ad id=”14519″ align=”left”][agg-ad id=”15486″ align=”center”] By now, we’ve likely all heard about Logan Paul and the infamous video that sparked a social media...
J Maraan
Book Review: ‘The Nakano Thrift Shop’ by Hiromi Kawakami
“When you get old and far-sighted, you can’t look your sweetheart in the eye from close up. You need a little distance, so that you can focus on each other. So that your faces don’t look blurry– anyway, you need a...
Marisa Jue
Ode to the Pretty Guardian Sailor Soldier
[agg-ad id=”14519″ align=”left”][agg-ad id=”15486″ align=”center”] 2017 marks the 25th Anniversary of the debut of Naoko Takeuchi’s love-action sensation Sailor Moon. Fans...