The Metropolitan King County Council held a ceremony on Feb. 21 to recognize it has been 75 years since President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066. 9,600 Japanese-American residents of King County were among the incarcerated. “As one of the 120,000 persons of Japanese ancestry who were uprooted and removed from the West […]
WSCRC president
Mercy Kuo was recently named the president of the Washington State China Relations Council (WSCRC). She authors a weekly column on U.S.-Asia policy at The Diplomat, an international affairs magazine for the Asia Pacific. Kuo was formerly the managing director and director of research at the Committee of 100, a New York-based U.S.-China relations leadership […]
Saleem Juma to represent WA at Mr. United States competition
Saleem Juma, a fitness model who once suffered from depression and lives with an ostomy bag attached to his stomach, is Mr. Washington state and will represent Washington in the next Mr. United States competition. Juma is also a candidate for Mr. America 2017 and has been on radio shows and featured on many news […]
Iron Chef Morimoto visits Seattle
Masaharu Morimoto of Iron Chef fame visited Seattle on Feb. 13 and shared a meal with Jerry Quinn Lee of MG2 Foundation at Tai Tung. Morimoto reportedly gave Tai Tung’s owner, Harry Chan, a thumbs up, despite having to eat his meal in the dark during a power outage.
Seattle Asian Art Museum to undergo renovation
The Seattle Asian Art Museum will close its doors starting Feb. 27. The original home of the Seattle Art Museum (SAM), the Asian Art Museum building has not been substantially restored or renovated since its inception in 1933. The structure is in need of seismic and climate control upgrades, and the museum’s program and exhibition […]
Special delivery: US-born panda cub Bao Bao back in Central China
After a 16-hour flight, American-born panda celebrity Bao Bao landed at Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport in Sichuan Province at 7:10 p.m. local time on Feb. 22. Quarantine officials cleared Bao Bao to disembark from the FedEx Boeing 777 freighter, painted with picture of a giant bamboo-eating panda, at 8:00 p.m. The 3-year-old female panda was […]
Man at head of Bay Area prostitution ring sentenced
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A San Mateo man at the head of a Bay Area prostitution ring that trafficked women from overseas has been sentenced to nearly four years in prison. The San Francisco Chronicle reported on Feb. 15 that 60-year-old Allen Fong pleaded guilty to 32 counts, including racketeering and money laundering, for running […]
TV footage appears to show deliberate attack on North Korean
By EILEEN NG Associated Press KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Security camera footage obtained by Japanese television appears to show a careful and deliberate attack last week on the exiled half brother of North Korea’s ruler, while Malaysia said on Feb. 20 it had recalled its ambassador to North Korea amid rising tensions between the […]
China closes live poultry markets amid deadly H7N9 flu outbreak
BEIJING (AP) — China is ordering the closure of live poultry markets in its south-central regions as it grapples with the worst outbreak of bird flu in years that has killed at least 87 people. State media reported on Feb. 17 that the National Health and Family Planning Commission ordered closures anywhere with cases of […]
COMMENTARY: Response to ‘Was the relocation of West Coast Japanese racist?’
By Kristina West (Kristina West is from Pasco, Wash. and currently resides in Tokyo, Japan.) On Jan. 29, The Tri-City Herald published an op-ed, entitled “Was the Relocation of West Coast Japanese Racist,” denying the racist motivations of Japanese American incarceration. I was shocked to see this in a newspaper. Some people would use Japanese […]