This election year was one of the most exciting election years that we have had for more than a decade, some said in history. Many people were busy watching or directly participating in the election by phone banking and canvassing. I had the pleasure of speaking to James Yee about what happened on the night of the election in his neck of the woods. Here follows what he shared with me:
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Tags: APIA, asian american, Barack Obama, Ehren Watada, internment camp, james yee, japanese, Olympia, Ron Oshima, Sam Song, Seattle, Washington state, World War II

http://www.digitalarchives.wa.gov/governorlocke/bios/bio.htm

http://www.mltsf.com/lawyer-attorney-1067081.html

On Friday October 3, 2008, James Yee and other notables attended an Obama Victory Fund event at the home of Laurie and Scott Oki in Bellevue, WA. The Asian American Finance Committee also headed the event.

Representative Mike Honda was scheduled to attend this event, but he was unable to attend, because he was voting on the Emergency Bill to bail out Wall Street. The first person that spoke at this event was Washington State Senator, Maria Cantwell. She talked about why Obama is good for Washington State and for America. There were several people who were there from the Microsoft community. It was not surprising, because Microsoft is headquartered in Seattle.
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Tags: Asian American Finance Committee, Bellevue, Chinese, civil liberties, Dale Minami, Didi Saluja, election, Emergency bill, Fred Korematsu, Gary Locke, Indian American, james yee, japanese, Laurie Oki, Maria Cantwell, Microsoft, Mike Honda, National Asian Pacific American Bar Association, Obama Victory Fund, Scott Oki, Seattle, wall street, Washington

http://www.boston.com/ae/tv/articles/2008/09/05/samurai_girl_fights_with_might/

I watched this miniseries this weekend all by myself in my living room. I was skeptical of it at first sight due to the murder of Jamie’s brother Jack Yang. I was like “oh here we go again, someone who could of served as a strong Asian male character was murdered within the first 15 minutes of the show yet AGAIN”. After that I wanted to grind my teeth out of my head. I proceeded to watch it moaning and groaning. Then I found out my mind was getting very biased, so I tried to make it as unbiased as possible.

So the plot involves what they call a “Japanese princess” whose destiny is written from a 500 year old scroll to become a sort of savior. She was adopted into a family that turns out to be warring with a rival Yakuza clan, equipped with a ninja assassin army. How many of us haven’t seen a ninja, samurai, or yakuza movie in our time? BUT it’s all about delivery. I feel that this mini-series wasn’t delivered well at all.

It left me feeling empty. I did enjoy some of the fighting scenes. I did not like the fact that her savior had to be someone non-Asian who happened to know all about the arts of the shinobi. He trained her to be such an excellent warrior. *rolls eyes really slow* Yeah, I’ve seen that before a blue million times. *yawns* What also pained me was that her “yakuza groom” to be was such a schmuck. He was annoying and uncaring. There was a part in the movie where he told her that he wished he was a better man. He said he was too selfish and weak for her. I was like omg! That certainly didn’t go over well for me with how an Asian male would/should be portrayed in the media. Her father was also uncaring and just about every Asian male on the show, save for her family’s driver, Sab Shimono.

Last mini-episode airs tonight.

Tags: abc, jack yang, jamie chung, japanese, martial arts, ninja, samurai girl, san francisco, yakuza