By Andrew Hamlin Northwest Asian Weekly It began with a coin purse. Hello Kitty, soon to conquer the world, made her debut on a tiny coin purse made from see-through plastic. The year was 1975. The “Hello! Exploring The Supercute World Of Hello Kitty” exhibit at the EMP Museum includes a replica of this coin […]
From Bellevue to Bangkok: UW alumni around the world
By Ana Mari Cauce Special to Northwest Asian Weekly Before my recent trip to Southeast Asia, I knew that the University of Washington (UW) <!–more–>was a global university. We are rated 15th among the world’s universities in Shanghai Jiao Tong University’s much publicized rankings, and 14th in the world in the US News and World […]
COMMENTARY: The siren song of “Hello Kitty is not a cat”
By Tiffany Ran For Northwest Asian Weekly “Ceci n’est pas une pipe (This is not a pipe),” a cheeky statement made famous by Rene Magritte’s painting The Treachery of Images came to mind recently. But Magritte’s painting is of a pipe. It is very clearly a pipe, despite it saying otherwise. Mais non, argued Magritte, […]
COMMENTARY: Ask, don’t tell us who we are
By Tiffany Ran Northwest Asian Weekly When I tell people that I cook for a living, I get, on multiple occasions, “Do you make sushi?” or “Do you
Runway ready: Japanese fashion at SAM
By Deanna Duff Northwest Asian Weekly For many people, back-to-school shopping was the last time they seriously considered how clothing impacts identity, but Seattle Art Museum’s newest exhibition may spur new thought.
Father and kid bonding
The weekend before Father’s Day, kids and their dads made the most of the good weather and hit the great outdoors. Some went running, some rode bikes,
‘Glamorous, elegant, timeless, revolutionary,’ pearls of wisdom from The Shanghai Pearl, burlesque dancer
Jenny Ku’s apartment is cloaked in sequins, feathers, and fishnet stockings. Her laptop is red — a shade almost as bright as her lipstick — and so is her tea kettle, which brewed jasmine tea on one of spring’s sunnier days. But that doesn’t compare to the 17 pairs of peep-toe pumps peeking out from her rows of boas, dresses, and masks.
Behind the Masks: For allergy season, Japan turns to surgical masks
TOKYO (AP) — Everybody, it seems, is wearing them. It is impossible to go anywhere in Japan this time of the year and not notice that the Japanese love surgical masks and wear them just about everywhere they go.