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Blog #10 Stereotypes for Asians 

When I stayed in Mississippi, I really hated that I was Asian. But not anymore, sometimes I still do, but after I changed my view, everything changed how it felt for me.

There were only few Asian in my high school the number of them were 3 or so including me. My school was pretty big, other small school that my friends went had no Asians. I felt like I should not be there because, somehow I felt like I was behind of everybody just because I am Asian. Somehow I felt like I was already loosing many things. And lots of the time, people made jokes about Asians in front of me and I could not say anything back, because most of the time they are making jokes form the facts.

After few months, I noticed that they were not just trying to be racist, majority of them just did not know about Asians, because we are unfamiliar for them. While I was in there, many people asked me random questions, such as “Do you know how to use knife and fork?”, “Do you wear other than Kimono?”, ”How long does it takes to go to China by car?”, “Are you good at Katana(sword)?” or “Where is Japan?”. Those questions clearly shows how they don’t know about Asia. They question me because they really don’t know and curious about it. How they get information or images is mainly from movies, like “Last Samurai” “Geisha“ “Kill Bill” “the Karate Kid” and so on. So I noticed that maybe I can be the one to teach them our real culture, and change their images, even though it would be small effect. Also it turns out to get people’s attention easily, and it made me easy to talk or make friends. I had never been proud of that I grew up I Japan like that in my entire life. felt like I could be something special for them. Thus, I could know that being Asian could be the uniqueness for my character. After that, I could have one of the best days out there in my whole life with my best friends, who asked me those questions at the first.

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Blog #8 Japanese in English

After I started to live in America, I noticed that there are many words that seems interesting and sometimes even funny for people who grew up in Japan.

Lots of Japanese words are used in English. Such as Sake, Toyota, Kimono, Karaoke, Sushi, Futon, Musubi, Maki, Sukiyaki, Hibachi and so on.

Some of words are used in correct way, but lots of them (over half of words that I listed) are little strange for Japanese. I was surprised that people who live in different states have different opinion for each word. And I noticed that what kind of Asian American live there is affecting to those meanings to words.

In west coast, there are lots of Asian Americans including pretty big number of Japanese. This is making less misunderstanding for lots of words that is happening to the other states, which do not have big population. In San Francisco, lots of people know what Musubi is. This is basically rice ball but triangle shape. But in other states, nobody could understand this words, even in East Coast which is pretty divorced city and of course not in the south or the middle America. For some food, such as Teriyaki, it changes its taste in states. In New York or in L.A. they have pretty much similar taste as traditional Teriyaki taste, but in San Francisco, it taste little bit different but became more like everybody’s favorite taste. In the middle or south states, it was changed to Americanized taste or similar to Chinese base tastes. In the east and in the middle, Japanese food = Sushi and Habachi(this does not make sense for us), but not in West Coast. I found it interesting that the Japanese culture has been represented in different ways according to the place, and once we look things closer, if there are Asian America, or which ethnicity has the bigger population, or there are Japanese or not, those facts are strongly affected to how they know about Japanese words or culture. More and more Asian Americans creates their culture in that city, and less and less Asian Americans, things will be rare and less words they know or food has been changed, even Asian food is really miner and lots of people don’t know the real tastes in some states. It might be my overthinking form my limited experiences, but that is how I thought about it.

Erika

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Blog #7 Sakura Matsuri – the Cherry Blossom Festival

 Last month, we had a festival called Sakura Matsuri, which means cherry blossom in Japanese. I worked as stuff, and I could know many things throughout that event. This was their 50th event for them. Japan Town exists from long time ago, and thy has been creating their culture and keeping the traditional Japanese culture in this San Francisco. Most of customers had been to this event, but a lot of them are not from here. I saw various kinds of people who are attached to Japanese culture somehow. Such as Anime, Japanese as language, Japanese traditional culture like Kimono, Tea Ceremony, and music, Food and so on. I thought this is interesting that people from other country is interested in to other country’s culture and some people were heavily into it.

In addition to that, when I go to Japan Town, I do not see many Japanese in there, but at those festival days, there are lots of Japanese. Gathering people who share the same culture in different land, and sharing those to people who lives here in America. That felt special that I had never felt when I was in Japan. Just sharing the culture, even though some people do not speak Japanese, but I felt connected somehow. I was amazed that some people had never been to Japan and do not speak Japanese, but they know our traditions, and cultures. It was really unique experience for me to feel in many ways and made me think of what is culture, how people feel.

Erika

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Blog Post #12 Asian Americans and Assimilation

Hey Guys! Today I'm going to be talking about the idea behind assimilation> I touched up on this previously in another blog post but I thought it was super important so I'm writing a blog post specifically for this. The reason why this is so important to me is because I don't think people should be who theyre expected to be. I think each individual should have their own voice separate from our parents. I know it isn't the exact same thing and I couldn't possibly understand the Asian American struggle but I don't think anyone should pretend to be something theyre not.

Assimilation is when a person's or group's culture come to resemble those of another group. This concept is still present in todays society and I honestly get it. Coming from another country you want the best for your family so you adapt to this new society and you want your kids to do same.

For me I personally believe that the people who are meant to be in your life will like you for who you are. There is still going to be racism out there but that shouldn't hold anyone back or make people feel like they have to change themselves and their values to fit in.

-Isabella

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Blog #6 Mid Term Review

On our midterm, our group studied and made documentary video about Ethnic Studies. Especially about the movement of Asian Americans in California, San Francisco, mainly about the riot in San Francisco State University in 1960s. There was a big movement in 1968, which is to raise up their voice from various races. This is because their education system was based on the white people’s culture or their education styles. Firstly, Black people started to make this action to change the education system, and also Asian American Students had started to make a movement, too. Colored people were really small rate as students not only in San Francisco State University, but also in other Universities in California. This movement actually affected on to other Universities such as UC Berkeley or UC Los Angels, and other Universities and collages. Because of this movement, now we have ethnic studies like our class, Asian American Studies. Without that riot, we might not have gotten those ethnic studies.

 Knowing those situations surprised me, because it is the school where I go now, but I did not know about it at all. We had chance to interview ethnic study’s professor, and there were so many facts that I could never imagined. Through learning those, it made sense in my mind that how Asian American people identifies differently than the other states. I have noticed about it since I have gotten here, but I was wondering why it is so different even though they are living in same country and sharing similar situations. It made me to open my eyes and made me more curious for many things, such as culture or history that made people how they are now. And also it created how SFSU is like now, and also other school or even to San Francisco’s culture.

 Erika

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Blog Post #11 The Great Wall movie controversy

Even though the movie The Great Wall wasn't that popular, it has sparked a lot of controversy. Many people thought this movie would be talking about the creation of the Great Wall of China, but it was actually a monster movie. Besides the misleading name, what has sparked a lot of criticism was the fact that the male lead was played by Matt Damon. The fact that the movie chose to go with a white male puts the idea that only white males can save the world.

The movie has many Chinese actor in it but what gets people upset is that a white male is the face other movie poster. It doesn't matter how many Chinese actors are in the movie, what reflects from it is that society needs a white male to save the world. This isn't the first movie that reflects that concept, and it certainly isn't the last. Maybe there will be a day where there will be a different face to the heros we see in movies, but society still has ways to go.

-Isabella

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Blog post #10 Asian Americans and Mental Health

One thing people dont like to talk about is mental health. This is a hard subject for every person because mental health is something that often scares people. According to the NLAAS (National Latino and Asian American Study), second generation Asian Americans are more likely to have emotional disorders than their immigrant parents.

The pressure of success plays a huge role in the fact that most people dont seek out help because they dont want to mess up their persona because of the respect of their family. According to the study, the lower the social status, the higher risk there is for a mental health disorder. This can be because alot is expected when it comes to how much money they are making.

The fact that second generations are more influenced by mainstream culture plays a huge factor because their parents expect them to be one way but they want to be like the rest of our society. These conflicts can cause mental health with Asian Americans.

Overall people should always talk to someone no matter the issue because mental health is something that should be taken seriously.

- Isabella

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Blog Post #9 Midterm Review

Hey guys! Soo today im going to be talking about the Midterm. My group and I decided to do our project on the Asian American involvment in the fight for Ethnic Studies. If any of you guys didnt know, our Ethnic studies department didnt start until the SF State strike of 1968 where student faculty and the community of SF came together in unity to fight for the very class were taking now.

One of the main topics we talked about in our paper was assimilation. Im sure you all know what this is but back during the time of the strike this was more prominent in many families. Many families wanted their kids to stay out of the strike because thats what they were expected to do. They wanted to blend in. But without those kids who wanted to break the social norms, we wouldnt have our Asian American studies class.

Im glad my group and i decided to do this topic because we got the chance to interview a professor here who participated in the strike. Listening to him made me realize that i personally take this class and many of the other ethnic studies classes for granted. Overall im happy with the topic we chose and i hope you guys liked our documentary!

-Isabella

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Blog Post #8 Is the show Fresh off the Boat racist?

Im pretty sure everyone has in one way or another seen the show Fresh off the Boat which is a comedy about the struggles Asian Americans have to go through in our society. The term in itself is racist because the term used is what many people i know for a fact call people who are obviously very new to the US and have not assimilated into the American society.

I can see why the show may be potraying racism but i think that most people can say it’s a representation of what Asian Americans have had to go through on a daily basis. I feel like it takes all the stereotypes head on and brings a comedic factor when addressing these issues.

In my opinion I think that I learned a lot from the show because its a lot easier for me to watch something if its funny but I still got the underlying seriousness to it. With a show like Fresh off the Boat, it makes people confront the idea of racism in our modern society.

-Isabella

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Blog #5 POP 2017 Reflection

Since I started to know about Asian American, from my friends and from this class. I did not know many things such as history or how elder generation was thinking or made an action to change things. I noticed that I am from Japan and I have been stayed or born in other states but never been to West Coast area. I see los of Asians unlike other places I stayed. I had never heard of studies called Asian American Studies, so it was interesting and everything was new to me to learn about it.

For the POP 2017, our group focused on “Asian Washing”. We have Hollywood in this California state. Every time when we think about famous movies or dramas, main character or the most important characters are white, we see Asian actors or actresses rarely on those screens. Especially in Oscars nominations, there are only white actors and actresses in past few years, it can be one of the “Whitewashing” fact. So, we decided to out Asian actors on screen as nominated for Oscar. We picked up some famous movies to present, and most of those movies, original versions are mainly white actors/actresses, we see almost none Asians in those movies, and the main character is always a white actor/actress. Such as Titanic, Forest Gump, The Wolverine and so on. It made me think about many things in many ways. For this issue, I think each person has own opinion and those are different by their background, culture, or the race.

Through watching every group’s performance, I was amazed by many performances. Everybody has different point of views and how they express themselves were totally different. People used their talent or ability to explain to the audience was really great. I enjoyed every performance, and as International student, it was great opportunity to take this class and could be part of this event.

Erika

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Blog #4Asian Americans & Education 

“Tiger Mothers”

I had never heard of this word until I study in this school.Asian Americans parents tend to be strict for their kids education, to be successful in the society, or for the future. I did not know about this, but since I go here and after talking with lots of Asian American friends, I could understand how those expectations became pressures for some of my friends. Some of my friends chose their major or future job from how their parents expected to do, but some of my friends did not follow how their parents told them. Some of parents did not tell them what they expect them to do in the future and let them do anything they want.

I had multiple host families who are not Asian, and none of their kids were told by parents like that. But I am sure that some of white parents expect their kids to have good career for the future. Since I did not grew up as Asian American, it is hard for me to know the truth about it, but I think it totally depends on the family and their background, not because they are Asian American. 

It is natural for people to think and expect their kids to have good job as how the society sees, but it should be totally up to that family that how much they want your kids to be perfect at their education.I had never thought about it until I heard that it is a thing and there is a word for it. Everyday what I see and what I hear is interesting and makes me think a lot, since those does not exist in my country or culture that I have experienced.

Erika

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Blog #3

Today I would like to talk about the documentary movie called “AKA Seoul” which we watched at CAAMFest 2017. I had never seen those kind of documentary before that only focused on Asian people who grew up in other countries which is not their birth place. In the movie, they were talking about their lie and what is up on their mind. All of them were born in South Korea, but with various reasons, they were adopted to other countries with new family. I was shocked for some of the facts and thought about them a lot how they felt.

One girl made me to have strong impression about her life. She was adopted from South Korea to other country when she was really young and she grew up in that country. Around her, there were and still are not many Asians. So she grew up with wondering why she looked different from others for her entire life. Going to summer camp that were lots of Asians (I believe that it was Korean camp), she felt like home, and when she visited South Korea, she felt like “this is my place”. Even though she grew up in that country, she felt more confortable by visiting the country that she was born, which she got the blood from. I think people would have different feelings, but how she described made think a lot and questioned, what is home.

When I stayed in Mississippi, there were countable Asians in the city even though is was pretty big city. Everybody was curious about Asia, because this was unfamiliar thing for people who are from there. When I buy something, most of cashers asked me where I was from. I was little annoyed that I was Asian and different from others, but it made me easy to make friends or get people’s attention. When I am in Japan, nobody care about me, because I am exactly same as others, just part of the entire country. My experience was temporary, so it became as valuable experience, but if it was whole life, I can not imagine how it would be like. 

By watching this. I could know there are many kinds of lives and how being Asian affects us in various ways. Watching this made me think many things, and made me realize lots of things.

Erika

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Blog Post #7 United Airlines Controversy

Today I'm going to be talking about what happened on the United Airlines flight that caused controversy all over the world. David Dao, a physician in Elizabethtown, Ky was forcibly dragged out of his seat when the flight they were taking was "overbooked". Later after the incident happened, it was reported that the flight was full and not overbooked, but that 4 passengers were chosen to be removed so that workers could report to Louisville the next day. Though the whole ordeal has caused controversy, I think what people should be focused on is the fact that this man is being overseen just because he is a doctor so they think it was fine for him to book another flight. I feel that if this incident occurred and it was any other minority group, it was cause a lot more controversy which isn't fair to Asian Americans. Every ethnic group has gone through their fair share of racism and just because this man was a doctor doesn't give people the right to treat him as though what happened to him doesn't matter. Just because he is making money doesn't discredit him and doesn't make him vulnerable to racism, he's expected to drop the whole thing. I feel like every person has gone through racism, and many people don't think about that when they think about Asian Americans and their constant struggle in our society.

-Isabella

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Blog Post #13: POP 2017 Reflection!

         In the beginning, I was very nervous to join the class. I thought it was just a regular lecture course, but I was so happy to stay in the class because of the first impression that the teacher gave us on the first day of class. I was very nervous in making a group, but I found Darryl and we connected on the first day of class. My home group was very friendly and I want to say thank you for the support.

           The group I had for the midterm was amazing where I found to amazing people, Troy and Chao. Even though we had our differences, we worked together and made an amazing midterm paper and video. The video was so funny to make. It was also nerve racking, but we made it! Thank you Troy and Chao.

I cannot believe this class is almost over, it has gone so quick. I had an amazing experience at POP. At first it was scary to be on stage, but eventually I grew past the nervousness and made it through the skit. I am never a fan of being in front of many people, but learning to go past the nervousness, it makes it a whole lot funnier. From this project I created new friends! There were so many amazing performances that happen on Tuesday.

           Even though my POP group was discussing back and forth for many days on what to do with the performance, but at the end we did an amazing job with the skit. We supported each other through the struggles and got us to the point where we could perform in front of an audience. Thanks for my POP group you made me feel comfortable and safe. Thanks again Troy! Thanks Daniel, Ashesh, and Badal!

           I really enjoy this class so much. This was very engaging compare to other Asian Americans studies courses. This was the first Asian American studies class that I actually enjoyed. The teacher and teaching team was excellent. They were supportive and engaging with the class. Thank you for such an amazing time, Irene, Khan, Mav, and Kevin! Thanks for making me feel safe and welcome in the class.

-Kyle

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Blog Post #12: Asian American and Science and Technology

         Asian American faced discrimination even in the science field. There is a concept called the “bamboo ceiling.” So what is the “bamboo ceiling?” The bamboo ceiling is concept made by Jane Hyun who focus on Asian in a workplace. Individual, cultural, and organizational factors that hamper Asian Americans’ career in an organization. If we look at the population of scientist today, we will probably see that there are mostly white males that run the science field. In addition, many Asian don’t get the job because of maybe how they look or their gender. When white males get the job for these science position, the job environment is not diverse so many Asians scientist feel uncomfortable working in those environment. It is crazy we still see that many companies are hiring just whites to run their business. So what is wrong with other race running your business? Do you not trust us, Asians? Even though the figure below is not current, but it still shows how much of a difference between white and Asian in these positions of business.

http://www.sciencemag.org/careers/features/2009/05/breaking-through-bamboo-ceiling-asian-american-scientists

https://www.forbes.com/video/4712257907001/

-Kyle

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Blog Post #11: Asian American and Food

           I always like to watch the Food Network, but I noticed that every time there is no Asian host or chef on the shows. I love food, but every time I watch on Food Network there is a non-Asian cooking. I want to learn how to make Asian dishes on television, but it seems to be difficult to find. But before there was a show called Iron Chef, but they cancelled it! It was such an amazing show where it was the only show that had an Asian host and chefs. Today, I see that some of these non-Asian have problems pronouncing “Sriracha” right. There are times where I want to learn how to make an Asian dish, but I cannot find anyone in Food Network who is Asian. Some the shows on Food Network mocks Asian dishes. I dislike how the media portrays Asian dishes as disgusting and exotic. There are so many amazing Asian chefs out there in the world, but Food Network decides not show these amazing Asian chefs on television. Some of these chefs are David Chang, Roy Choi, and many others. Why can’t Food Network get at least one of an Asian chefs on their network?

What do I believe? What should Food Network do?

           I think that Food Network does not want any Asian on their network because maybe there viewers are mostly whites and blacks so they want to make their viewers happy. In addition, I believe there is racism involve, but that is hard to prove. I don’t really want to assume, but that is what I believe in why Food Network is just showing non-Asian on their network. I believe that Food Network should shows a full range of different chefs rather than just have non-Asians.

Take a look at this video:

https://www.facebook.com/dumplingskin/videos/1531258810248301/

-Kyle

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Blog Post #10: Asian American and Interracial Dating

         Most Asian parents would not accept interracial dating because they want to keep the family line pure. I did a survey when I in my first year of college, I was in class where we went out to survey Asian student on campus to see if their parents allow their child to date another race other than Asian. I found about ninety-five percent of the Asian students I surveyed that their parents would not allow them to date another race. I was shocked that today Asian parent would still not allow their child to date another race even though that concept is way in the past. There were some students who dated another race without telling their parents. Currently, right now I am dating a Latino, but my parents accept who I date. When I go out with my girlfriend, Asian women look at me strangely, but I grew past that.

So Why Do Asian Parents Not Allow Their Child To Do Interracial Dating?

           So are parents trying to protect their culture or the parents being racist? Well it is hard to say if they are racist, but I know they Asian have a custom to keep their family line safe. It is custom to carry on their family last name. I learned in school, there was a time in where boys were wanted because they can carry the family last name and work in the fields. If the family gets a baby girl, they would be dumped or abandon somewhere close to a business so it can be found later on. My teacher knew a person who had to dump their baby daughter in front of a business in China. She told us that her parents pressured her to dump her baby daughter and in hope that the next bay would be a baby boy. She was so sad that she lost her baby girl. It much be custom for Asian family to keep their family line safe from any stranger. In addition, there is a language barrier that makes it difficult for parents and the date of their child to communicate together.

-Kyle