VOL 41 NO 18 | APRIL 30 – MAY 6, 2022

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VOL 41 NO 18 APRIL 30 – MAY 6, 2022

FREE 40 YEARS YOUR VOICE

Provided by mayor’s office/Kendee Yamaguchi

Harrell stole the spotlight during Biden’s visit THE MAYOR IS DOING MORE THAN DRAWING ATTENTION

By Assunta Ng NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY When President Joe Biden visited Seattle last Friday, Mayor Bruce Harrell’s photos were all over in the media, more than other politicians.

Never mind that Harrell is only a mayor, not the governor of Washington state. Never mind that he didn’t wear

blue, the Democrats’ color. Never mind that he carries a lesser rank compared to the U.S. Senators and Congressional members, who were also present at Seward Park when Biden signed his executive order to celebrate Earth Day. Harrell was on the front page of the Seattle Times, showing him grabbing see BIDEN on 16

Hullabaloo over Japanese program at Lindbergh High School

Photo by Mahlon Meyer

Provided by Seattle Sports Commission

After layoff, the Clipper Race finally stops in Seattle

Bruce Harrell asked for Joe Biden’s pen moments after the president signed an executive order.

“Seattle” battles waves on the Mighty Pacific Leg of the Clipper Race

By Jason Cruz NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY Chinese crew member Robert Mark’s moment to sail the ocean is finally here.

“I’ve been waiting for 3 years to step on this journey,” he explained as the Clipper Venture race continued its annual race around the world this year. The previous two years had been stalled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I’ve dreamed about the ocean since I read 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea as a child,” said the 39-yearold. The book opened his mind to adventure around the world. “I quit my job in 2018 to become a sailing instructor,” stated the former policeman. “My friends and family thought I was crazy and my family didn’t talk to me for two years.” Mark said that he’s now communicating with his family.

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The Clipper Race allows people from all walks of life to become ocean racers. Participants sign up to compete in one or multiple legs, or even the entire journey, estimated to be 11 months. It is a 40,000 nautical mile race around the world on one of 11 70-foot ocean racing yachts.

The race is divided into 8 legs and between 13 and 16 individual races.

The Seattle leg is the end of leg 6.

The race began in China and ends with leg 8, which goes from New York City back to China.

The Clipper Race, which was paused in 2020, returned with an official restart on March 24, 2022 in the Philippines and arrived in Seattle this past week. The race was officially postponed in March 2020 due to the global pandemic and the last 3 legs of the 8-leg races were put on pause. A quarantine was put on see CLIPPER VENTURE on 14

Aleyna Yamaguchi speaking Japanese with her grandmother

By Mahlon Meyer NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY Right below a photo of him in military fatigues holding an automatic weapon is a caption that he served in Korea “circa 1994.”

That and other posts on Facebook have contributed to speculation among Japanese American community leaders about why a high school principal with exposure to Asia

would terminate a highly-popular Japanese language program.

The principal, Thomas Caudle, who owns the Facebook page, came to Lindbergh High School two years ago and encountered arguably the most popular teacher, whom her students call Hiromi Sensei (her full name is Hiromi Weir). see JAPANESE PROGRAM on 11

THE INSIDE STORY

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT Asian stand-up: Two stories, two cultures, two funny ladies

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ON THE SHELF Watari and Wu’s new picture book inspired by daughters

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PUBLISHER’S BLOG Oak Tin celebrates buying another Chinatown property and more

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412 Maynard Ave. S., Seattle, WA 98104 • t. 206.223.5559 • f. 206.223.0626 • editor@nwasianweekly.com • ads@nwasianweekly.com • www.nwasianweekly.com

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asianweekly northwest

40 YEARS

APRIL 30 – MAY 6, 2022

■ NAMES IN THE NEWS Courtesy of The U District Partnership

Seattle Boba Fest

White Rabbit Candy Milk Tea from Oh Bear Cafe and Teahouse, Ube Milk Tea from Sip House, and Honey Green Milk Tea with Pearls from Sharetea.

For more details and the event menu, go to udistrictseattle. com/bobafest. 

Supreme pitcher Yu

Washington Supreme Court Justice Mary Yu has been practicing throwing a ball 60 feet!

Yu will throw the honorary pitch at a Seattle Mariners game on May 24, which will be AAPI Heritage Night. $5 of every ticket sold for that night’s game will benefit the Wing Luke Museum. 

AAPISTRONG Small Business Roundtable

Justice Mary Yu

Photo by Assunta Ng

Boba tea drinker

The U District is hosting the first Seattle Boba Fest in celebration of National Bubble Tea Day on April 30.

The event will feature boba drinks and desserts from 18 local shops and cafes. A few of the featured flavors include State Reps Mia Gregerson and My-Linh Thai, and Burien Mayor Sofia Aragon.

More than 70 people attended the AAPISTRONG Small Business Roundtable Series at the China Harbor Restaurant on April 22.

It was organized by local community leader Shiao Yen Wu and the National Asian/Pacific Islander American Chamber of Commerce and Entrepreneurship (ACE), a nonprofit organization that gives a voice to the business interests of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.

Aside from challenges from Covid and the anti-Asian hate climate, AAPI businesses also receive less federal funding support compared to white businesses, according to Michael Fong, Small Business Administration regional director.

The attendees included small businesses and members of the Filipino Chamber of Commerce and Greater Seattle Chinese Chamber of Commerce. 

“We Hereby Refuse” creators win 40th Annual AKCHO Award

The Association of King County Historical Organizations (AKCHO) announced the recipients of its 40th Annual AKCHO Awards.

The annual AKCHO Awards honor people, projects, and organizations who have done outstanding work to promote, preserve, and share history and Frank Abe heritage in King County.

Award winners this year include Frank Abe, Tamiko Nimura, Ross Ishikawa, and Matt Sasaki for their graphic novel, “We Hereby Refuse: Japanese American Resistance to Wartime Incarceration.”

Eugenia Woo was also awarded the Willard Jue Memorial Award for Staff for her work as Director of Preservation Services at Historic Seattle. 

YOUR VOICE

■ COMMUNITY NEWS

APRIL 30 – MAY 6, 2022

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Police are investigating after a man was stabbed and shots were fired in the ChinatownInternational District (CID) earlier this month.

At 10:02 a.m. on April 11, multiple 911 callers reported a man was shooting a rifle near 13th Avenue South and South Lane Street. When police arrived, the shooter had fled, but officers found a man with stab wounds to the arm and torso. The 45-year-old man was taken to Harborview Medical Center in serious condition.

Through information from witnesses, officers learned the following: The stabbing victim lives with a woman in a tent in an encampment near 13th Avenue South and South Lane Street. The two of them have not been getting along with another encampment resident— the stabbing suspect—described as a Hispanic female in her 20s, wearing a teal hat, camouflage jacket, and dark leggings. That

Seattle Police Department

Stabbing, shots fired in CID

Weapons recovered from the tent of an encampment resident near 13th Ave S and S Lane

woman stabbed the victim and then fled up the Lane Street stairs leading to 12th Avenue South.

After the stabbing, someone retrieved a rifle from the victim’s tent. A Black male with dreadlocks was seen firing the gun up the stairs after the suspect. Witnesses

also reported seeing the gun put back into the victim’s tent, and the shooter fleeing.

The 39-year-old woman who resides with the stabbing victim would not allow police to search the tent for weapons, and she repeatedly tried to go in the tent

herself. When officers attempted to arrest the woman for obstruction, she bit an officer on the leg and scratched another officer. She was arrested for third-degree assault and was booked into King County Jail.

Police served a warrant on the

tent inhabited by the stabbing victim and the biting suspect, and recovered three rifles and multiple rounds of ammunition.

As police began to leave the scene, one of the first responding officers who had provided first aid to the stabbing victim discovered her medic kit had been stolen. Incar video revealed that the same man who had fired the rifle had also stolen the medic kit from where it was placed near a patrol vehicle.

The kit contained hundreds of dollars’ worth of medical supplies and police equipment.

Officers searched the area for the stabbing suspect and the shooting/theft suspect, but neither was found.

Police continue to investigate this incident. Anyone with information about the stabbing, shooting, or theft should call the Violent Crimes Tip Line at 206233-5000. 

23-year-old man fatally shot in CID SEATTLE (AP) — Police are investigating after a 23-yearold man was shot and killed in Seattle’s ChinatownInternational District.

The Seattle Police Department said officers responded to the intersection of Fourth Avenue South and South Main Street around 12:30 a.m. on April 20 for reports

of a shooting. When officers arrived, they found a man suffering from a gunshot wound, KING5 reported.

Officers and Seattle Fire Department medics attempted lifesaving measures on the man, but he was pronounced dead at the scene. A witness told police an altercation between “several people” happened before the shooting,

according to a police blotter post.

Homicide detectives and members of the police department's Crime Scene Investigation Unit responded to the scene. 

House passes bill to study new Asian Pacific American museum WASHINGTON (AP) — Efforts to create a national Asian Pacific American museum in Washington, D.C., pushed ahead on April 26 with House passage of legislation that would create a commission to study the issue.

The bill approved unanimously by the House would establish a new commission to consider the feasibility of a new National Museum of Asian Pacific American History and Culture.

The measure now heads to the Senate.

The commission would be tasked with studying the costs involved with the proposed National Museum of Asian Pacific American History and Culture, whether it should be considered as part of the Smithsonian Institution and possible locations in the Washington-area.

“It’s a joy to see this AAPI museum study bill arrive at this point today,” said Rep. Grace Meng, D-N.Y., referring to Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.

During the floor debate, Meng see MUSEUM on 14

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40 YEARS

■ ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT Asian stand-up: Two stories, two cultures, two funny ladies

By Andrew Hamlin NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY The path to stand-up comedy, like the path to any other creative endeavor, can run along seemingly infinite routes.

For Seattle’s Bernice Ye, who grew up in Wuhan and was

at one point the top-ranked student in that Chinese city, that path didn’t seem appetizing at first.

“I remember going to my first live stand-up comedy show. It was Jim Gaffigan at the Paramount Theater back in 2008,” she said. “Everyone else was laughing, but I was like, ‘What’s a pop tart?’ I didn’t get the reference, and I

felt stupid. Not only did I not think I could do stand-up, I stopped going to stand-up shows as an audience member.”

Fate lent a hand, however.

“Around the year 2016, I started watching comedy see STAND-UP on 15

■ WORLD NEWS World’s oldest person, a Japanese woman, dies at 119

By MARI YAMAGUCHI

Kane Tanaka

TOKYO (AP) — A Japanese woman recognized as the world’s oldest person, Kane Tanaka, has died at age 119, just months short of her goal of reaching 120.

Born on Jan. 2,

1903, Tanaka loved playing the board game Othello and had a penchant for chocolate and fizzy drinks. She was certified by Guinness World Records as the oldest living person in 2019 when she was 116. In media occasions, she said she was still enjoying life and hoped to live until 120.

Tanaka died of old age on April 19 at a hospital in Fukuoka, her hometown in southern Japan where she spent all her life, city officials said. Tanaka, who had lived at a nursing home, was in and out of hospital only

recently, they said.

Fukuoka Gov. Seitaro Hattori said in a statement he was shocked and saddened by her loss as he was looking forward to marking the Respect for the Aged Day later this year in person over chocolate and fizzy drinks, as he had to miss the occasion last year due to the pandemic.

“I could only see her in a picture showing her with the bouquet and making a ‘peace’ sign (with her fingers), but that cheered me up,” Hattori said. “She gave the people hope

for a healthy long life.”

With her death, the world’s oldest human is now Lucile Randon, a French nun known as Sister Andre, aged 118, according to the The Gerontology Research Group. In Japan, the new record-holder is a 115-year-old woman, Fusa Tatsumi, of Osaka, the Japanese health ministry said.

Japan, whose population is rapidly aging and declining, had 86,510 centenarians, 90% of them women, according to the latest ministry figures. 

Leaders of 2 Koreas exchange letters of hope amid tensions

By KIM TONG-HYUNG ASSOCIATED PRESS SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The leaders of the rival Koreas exchanged letters expressing hope for improved bilateral relations, which plummeted in the past three years amid a freeze in nuclear negotiations and North Korea’s accelerating weapons development.

North Korea’s state media said leader Kim Jong Un received a personal letter on April 20 from outgoing South Korean President Moon Jae-in and replied the following day with his own letter appreciating Moon’s peace efforts during his term. Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency said their exchange of letters showed their “deep trust.”

Experts say North Korea’s announcement of the letters,

which came as Kim possibly prepares for a nuclear test and other major provocations, is aimed at dividing public opinion in South Korea and discouraging Seoul’s new government from taking a hard line toward Pyongyang after its inauguration in May. KCNA said Moon told Kim he would continue to campaign for Korean reunification even after he leaves office in May, basing his efforts on their joint declarations for peace issued after their summit meetings in 2018.

Kim and Moon shared views that “inter-Korean relations would improve and develop as desired and anticipated by the (Korean) nation if the (North and the South) make tireless efforts with hope,” KCNA said.

Moon’s office confirmed the exchange of letters shortly see KOREA LEADERS on 13

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KING COUNTY, WASHINGTON NOTICE TO PROPOSERS Sealed bids will be received for KC000559, ARPA Telecom and Network Cabling WO 2022-2024 REBID; by the King County Procurement and Payables Section, via the E-Procurement system, until 1:30pm on 5/10/2022. Late bids will not be accepted.

The public bid opening will only be conducted on-line following the Bid Close Date and Time; see Section 00 10 00 for details.

There is a 5% minimum Apprentice Utilization Requirement on this contract.

There is a 5% minimum requirement for King County Certified Small Contractors and Suppliers (SCS) on this contract.

Brief Scope: The Contractor will provide design, installation, repair, emergency repair, move/add/change services, training, consultation, quotes, walk-throughs and procurement required to support the telecommunication and Data network cabling infrastructure needs of King County on a Work Order basis.

Estimated contract price: NTE $1,000,000 Prospective bidders can view more details at: https://kingcounty.gov/procurement/ solicitations Complete Invitation to Bid Documents, including all project details, specifications, and contact information are available on our web page at: https://kingcounty.gov/procurement/ supplierportal

YOUR VOICE

■ NATIONAL NEWS

APRIL 30 – MAY 6, 2022

asianweekly northwest

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Chinese man gets over four years in prison for pandemic fraud

By LARRY NEUMEISTER ASSOCIATED PRESS NEW YORK (AP) — A Chinese man was sentenced to more than four years in prison on April 21 after admitting that he fraudulently tried to get $20 million in federal coronavirus-relief funds meant to rescue distressed businesses.

U.S. District Judge Richard M. Berman announced the four-year, four-month prison term for Muge Ma at a sentencing hearing in Manhattan.

The judge said the prison term was necessary because of the seriousness of the crimes and the need for others to be warned against abusing government programs meant to help people in a national emergency.

Ma, 38, was arrested in May 2020 by

federal authorities who said he had applied to at least five banks to try to get over $20 million in government-guaranteed loans from the Paycheck Protection Program and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program. Both programs were designed for businesses harmed by coronavirus shutdowns.

Authorities said he falsely claimed to be paying hundreds of employees millions of dollars in wages through two companies he controlled. To support the claims, he submitted fraudulent bank, tax, insurance and payroll records and provided banks with links to websites that described the companies as “global,” prosecutors said.

In fact, they said, Ma at the time was working alone out of his $1.5 million Manhattan condominium, falsely claiming that one of his companies was representing

New York state and was helping then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo to procure COVID-19 test kits and personal protective equipment for frontline workers.

Ma, a lawful permanent resident jailed since his May 2020 arrest, repeatedly said he was sorry before the sentence was imposed. He came to the U.S. in 2011 on a student visa.

“I love America,” Ma said. “I’m very, very sorry to my country, America.“ Besides decrying jail conditions over the last two years as “dirty, harsh, extremely cruel,” he repeatedly apologized for his crimes and said: “I detest myself so much.“ The self-criticism reached such a point that Berman interrupted Ma, telling him: “Mr. Ma, I don’t have any doubt about how sorry you are.”

“I’m not seeking blood from you,” the

judge said before he urged Ma to stop dwelling on his crimes and focus on how he can be successful in the future.

Prosecutors said Ma’s fraud convinced one bank to approve and disburse over $800,000 in loan funds for one of Ma’s companies, although the money was frozen during the investigation. They said another $650,000 in loans had been approved and a $10,000 loan advance had been provided.

In a release, U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said Ma carried out his crimes within days of Congress authorizing billions of dollars to help small businesses harmed by the pandemic.

“Muge Ma saw it as an opportunity to enrich himself by applying for millions of dollars in funds to pay wages to hundreds of employees that never existed,” Williams said. 

Alexander Wang returns to runway after sexual assault claims

By JONATHAN LANDRUM Jr. AP ENTERTAINMENT WRITER

Alexander Wang

LOS ANGELES (AP) _ After taking a break amid sexual assault allegations, fashion designer Alexander Wang’s comeback to the runway was greeted with adoration during his highly anticipated show in Los Angeles.

Some shouted “This is amazing!” and “I love it!” while others cheered on Wang’s 50-look collection for his “Fortune City” runway show that celebrated AsianAmerican culture in the historic Chinatown area on April 19.

Wang held his first show since 2019, just before several people accused him of sexual assault and drugging male and transgender models.

Wang initially denied the allegations—which first came in late 2020—calling them “baseless.” Last year, he said in a statement that he disagreed with some of the accuser’s details adding he would “set a better example” as a public figure. A lawyer for the alleged victims later said Wang had met the accusers, saying, “We acknowledge Mr. Wang’s apology and we are moving forward.”

The accusations tarnished Wang’s brand, but did not fully cripple it—especially in China. He still dressed popular figures like Rihanna and Julia Fox while releasing a recent campaign with Lucy Liu. His brand is still being carried in some major retailers.

The April 19 event had the support of 800 invitees who lined up to enter Wang’s show, where a red flood light covered the Central Plaza area. It was a splashy event with stars like Kimora Lee Simmons and Lisa Rinna sitting in the front row while others such as rappers Gunna and Coi

Leray, actor Harry Hamlin, K-pop singer CL and model Behtai Prinsloo-Levine watched the 15-minute show.

Wang incorporated models with different ethnic backgrounds and sizes—including a pregnant Adriana Lima who received most of the applause for prancing down the runway with her exposed baby bump. The models sported a variety of pieces with shades of indigo and brown, denim and leather coats, red velour sweat suit, heavy wools shrunken into bike shorts, crop tops and oversized wool coats.

Once the show finished, Wang ran onto the stage with a big smile, waved at attendees—who were mostly dressed in all black—before he darted backstage. The show closed out with a heavy dose of red-colored confetti cascading over everyone, creating a party atmosphere—especially for those who attended the Asian night party that featured a market with local food vendors.

In the market, Wang had cameras following him the whole time. He had numerous people who greeted him with handshakes, hugs and lauded him for his work. 

Justices allow admissions policy at prestigious high school WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has turned away a plea from parents to block a new admissions policy at a prestigious high school in northern Virginia that a lower court has found discriminates against Asian American students.

The high court did not explain its order on April 25 allowing the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science & Technology to continue using its admissions policy while the Fairfax County School Board appeals the lower court ruling.

Justices Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch and Clarence

Thomas said they would have granted the request from the parents’ group, Coalition for TJ, to suspend the admissions policy.

In February, the group persuaded U.S. District Judge Claude Hilton that a new policy that has boosted Black and Hispanic representation amounted to impermissible “racial balancing” at the selective school near the nation’s capital. It is often ranked as one of the best public high schools in the country.

Asian American students constituted more than 70% of the student body. Under the new policy, used to admit

the school’s current freshman class, Asian American representation decreased to 54%. Black students increased from 1% to 7% and Hispanic representation increased from 3% to 11%.

Hilton had ordered the new policy suspended, but the federal appeals court in Richmond, Virginia, said it could be used while the case continues to play out in the courts.

In a statement, Coalition for TJ said: “We were hopeful that we would win this battle to vacate the stay in the highest court of the land, but our struggle for justice is not over. We are not at all dissuaded.” 

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40 YEARS

■ COMMUNITY CALENDAR NOW THRU JULY 10 EMBODIED CHANGE: SOUTH ASIAN ART ACROSS TIME Seattle Asian Art Museum, South Gallery Fri-Sun, 10 a.m.–5 p.m. seattleartmuseum.org NOW THRU FEB 19, 2023 EXHIBIT, “WE ARE CHANGING THE TIDE: COMMUNITY POWER FOR ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE” The Wing Luke Museum, 719 S. King St., Seattle Thu-Sun, 10 a.m.–5 p.m. wingluke.org/we-are-changingthe-tide

APR 30

LUNAR NEW YEAR CELEBRATION Seattle’s Chinatown– International District 11 a.m.–4 p.m.

PUBLIC HUMANITIES TALK, “THE SAMURAI CODE: HOW BUSHIDO CHANGES LIVES ON” WITH LORI TSUGAWA WHALEY 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m.

Via Zoom, register at https://bit.ly/3JiHkGb HEALTH & WELLNESS FESTIVAL Attendees will be able to receive mammograms; COVID-19 vaccinations and testing kits; blood, glucose and cholesterol screenings; and HIV testing Rainier Beach Community Center, 8825 Rainier Ave S, Seattle 10 a.m.-2 p.m.

SEATTLE BOBA FEST TO CELEBRATE NATIONAL BUBBLE TEA DAY U District Station on NE 43rd and Brooklyn Ave. NE 12-6 p.m. udistrictseattle.com/bobafest

MAY 1

ASIAN PACIFIC ISLANDER HERITAGE MONTH CELEBRATION Seattle Center Armory 12-5 p.m.

5 CLUB MEETING WITH TIFFANI MCCOY ON SPEAKING ABOUT REALCHANGE NEWS AND A NEW SOCIAL HOUSING INITIATIVE FOR SEATTLE 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m.

For Zoom link, contact rotaryofseattleid@gmail.com

6-29 ARTIST AKIO TAKAMORI WITH A GALLERY SHOW Vashon Center for the Arts, 19600 Vashon Hwy. SW, Vashon 5-8 p.m., First Friday Free admission gallery. vashoncenterforthearts.org

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ARTIST AKIO TAKAMORI AND A COMPANION LECTURE Vashon Center for the Arts, 19600 Vashon Hwy. SW, Vashon 2 p.m.

Free admission gallery vashoncenterforthearts.org

UW OFFICE OF MINORITY AFFAIRS & DIVERSITY CELEBRATION UW Hub Ballroom 6 p.m. washington.edu/omad/ celebration/

7&8 BLOOMING BONSAI AND FESTIVITIES IN THE FOREST: BONSAIFEST IS BACK Pacific Bonsai Museum, 2515 S. 336th St., Federal Way 10 a.m.-4 p.m.

Admission is free Suggested donation: $12 pacificbonsaimuseum.org

JUN 2

24 ASIAN AMERICAN & PACIFIC ISLANDER HERITAGE NIGHT T-Mobile Park 6:40 p.m. $5 of every ticket sold through this special offer will benefit the Wing Luke Museum Tickets: mlb.com/mariners/tickets/ specials/asian-americanpacific-islander

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CLUB MEETING WITH ILONA LOHREY AND AHI MARTINMCSWEENEY ABOUT WA STATE LBGTQ+ Chamber of Commerce 11:30 a.m.–1 p.m.

For Zoom link, contact rotaryofseattleid@gmail.com

4 DENISE LOUIE EDUCATION CENTER 2022 DINNER & AUCTION, “THE FUTURE IS BRIGHT!” Magnuson Park Hangar 30 Seattle 5:30 p.m.

In person or via Zoom Register at https://bit.ly/371tvOh

VIRTUAL PROGRAM: THE APIA SCHOLARS 2022 STORY SLAM 8-9:30 p.m.

Register at apiascholarsstoryslam2022. vfairs.com

17 LANGUAGES OF MEMORY: A SOUTH SOUND JAPANESE AMERICAN DAY OF REMEMBRANCE Washington State History Museum, 1911 Pacific Ave., Tacoma 6-8:30 p.m. washingtonhistory.org

View the solution on page 14

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APRIL 30 – MAY 6, 2022

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APRIL 30 – MAY 6, 2022

■ ON THE SHELF

Watari and Wu’s new picture book inspired by daughters

By Samantha Pak NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY

Korey Watari

As a young girl in the 1980s, Korey Watari could not find books with characters who looked like her.

Once she became a mother, she thought the literary landscape would have improved. And it has—just not by much. It’s still difficult for Watari to find children’s books highlighting the Asian American experience.

To fill this void, she decided to write her own children’s book with a main character her two daughters—now 4 and 9—could relate to. The idea for the story

came to her a few years ago, but it wasn’t until the pandemic hit, and the rise in anti-AAPI racism that came with it, that Watari really sat down to write the story.

“It was a sign to me that this book had to be written,” Watari said.

The book in question is “I Am Able to Shine” (Two Lions, 2022), which she partnered with her husband Mike Wu to write. Written

by Watari and illustrated by Wu, the story is set to be released May 1 and follows a young Japanese American girl named Keiko going through life—from childhood to adulthood. Keiko is kind and has big dreams to change the world. But sometimes she feels invisible and people misjudge her. As Mike Wu the story progresses, Keiko realizes she’s also loved. So she perseveres and stands strong, her confidence growing as she shares more of herself and helps lift up others.

A STORY FOR ALL KIDS “Shine” is a story about finding where

you belong—something Watari feels young Asian American kids need to hear.

“We have a place (in this country),” she said, adding that Keiko’s story is so personal to her because it highlights feelings she’s had throughout her life as a kid—such as feeling invisible as a result of growing up in the suburbs with a small Asian American population—and even now as an adult.

The Bay Area couple wants a better world—not just for their kids, but for all kids—and with so much negativity

associated with the pandemic, Wu said the timing felt right for a book like “Shine.” He added that in addition to kids finally seeing themselves represented on the page, books like theirs highlight new voices and expose kids of all backgrounds to different faces and ways of life, which helps build empathy for others.

“It’s for all kids,” he said.

A FAMILY AFFAIR While this was not the first time Watari see WATARI AND WU on 14

Congratulations to

Gee How Oak Tin Family Association for acquiring a new property from

Joyale Seafood Restaurant

Tel: 206) 623-1318

900 South Jackson St., #203, Seattle, WA 98104

Business hours: Monday ~ Friday: 11:00 am ~ 9:00 pm, Wednesday: Closed,, Saturday & Sunday: 10:00 am ~ 9:00 pm www.joyaleseattle.com • Free Parking, 24-hour security at the garage

Dim Sum • Lunch • Dinner

YOUR VOICE

■ PUBLISHER’S BLOG

APRIL 30 – MAY 6, 2022

asianweekly northwest

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rmed outside the newly International Lion Dance team perfo n-cutting ceremony. ribbo the re befo acquired building

By Assunta Ng NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY The Year of the Tiger may belong to the Gee How Oak Tin family association, representing members with last names of Chin, Chan, Chen, Tran, Woo, and Yuen. It’s Seattle’s only Chinese family association so far, able to host a Lunar New Year community banquet on April 24, even though it has long passed since Feb. 1, the first day of the lunar calendar.

The reason is obvious. Covid-19.

Washington state has reopened for large indoor events and the mask mandate has been lifted since March. Checking for vaccine cards is no longer required at restaurants.

About 300 people gathered for the first time in two years at Joyale Restaurant to celebrate its accomplishments. It has bought a building at 414 8th Avenue South, in ChinatownInternational District (CID), one block from its own headquarters for $3.3 million.

The building has 10 residential units, three retail spaces, and a huge basement, all fully occupied. Built in 1900, the building has an interesting history. It was one of the CID buildings being cut in size to accommodate the I-5 freeway construction in 1969. About 30% of the building was reduced in size.

One of its storefronts housed the first location of the Wing Luke Museum for two decades, and then the Northwest Asian Weekly for five years. In 2013, a temporary outlet for the post office was set up inside Associate Travel, which had moved out in 2015. But the agency’s name is still on the building. And three characters, Oak Tin Building, is now added on top of the building.

Other accomplishments were showcased at the newly acquired building’s ribbon-cutting ceremony. Dignitaries included Lt. Gov. Denny Heck, Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell, and First Lady Joanne Harrell. It reflects the

members’ political involvement, especially in 2021. The association’s elder Michael Chen told the Northwest Asian Weekly that last year, Oak Tin members who lived in Seattle voted for Harrell. That’s a large block of Asian votes.

Also, 51 members of the Oak Tin from Canada and the U.S. chapters representing 29 chapters, joined the celebration. Among the out-of-town guests, the highest ranking member of the association, the East Coast National President of the Oak Tin National Association of America, came. The West Coast National President is none other than Larry Chan from Seattle’s chapter, who was elected in China in 2019 during its global convention. He was unopposed out of 80 delegates. Larry, 67, is a retired manager of Honeywell.

Why another building?

“Our ancestors came, and they didn’t know English and they were afraid to invest in properties,” said Michael. “But the banks’ interest is so low and the stock market is so unstable.

“Our association has been doing a lot of calculations. We have the ability to buy properties. We approached the Eng family association a few months after their building burned. But Eng members said they were not selling,” said Michael.

In his late 70s, Michael, who came to the U.S. in 1984 from China, said his English speaking skills are not strong, but he understands the language. He also doesn’t see this as a handicap.

“I mentor people who speak good English.

And they listen to me. I explain my vision and they agree with me.” An accountant for a state-owned factory in China, Chen said he had quietly learned to be a leader, rising from see BLOG on 14

Photos by Assunta Ng

Oak Tin celebrates buying another Chinatown property and more

10

asianweekly northwest

■ EDITORIAL

40 YEARS

APRIL 30 – MAY 6, 2022

When does the pain end? outside forces continue to shrink the size of the CID

Photo by Han Bui

Size matters—especially in Seattle’s Chinatown-International District (CID).

Especially now that the neighborhood is under threat again—this time by a Sound Transit project to expand a transit hub, and possibly shutting down part of the CID for up to a decade.

Two options are on the table and community advocates fear that if Sound Transit chooses the 5th Avenue route, the CID will lose— again.

The construction on I-5 in the 1960s took a chunk of the CID and, literally and figuratively cut the neighborhood in half, and destroyed many Chinese and Japanese-owned businesses and homes.

In 1941, a portion of the CID was demolished to build the Yesler Terrace neighborhood.

In 1886, Seattleites came to the neighborhood with guns to drive out residents

Again and again, outside forces continue to shrink the size of the CID. A smaller CID means fewer people and residents, fewer businesses, fewer voters, and therefore less political power and less funding.

Yes, size is a big deal in the CID. On top of that, this latest Sound Transit project is a threat to the overall health of residents, especially the elderly.

Life expectancy in the CID averages 79 years, which is seven

years less than the longest life expectancy experienced elsewhere in King County, according to data from Public Health-Seattle & King County.

The project will bring increased noise. Sound Transit told the Northwest Asian Weekly that noise levels are expected to be between 84 and 88 dBA at a distance of 50 feet for station construction. The American Academy of Audiology states that over 85 dB for extended periods can cause permanent hearing loss.

Not to mention pollution.

The CID, along the Yesler Terrace, rank in the top 1% most disproportionately impacted areas

in the region, with high traffic volumes and more air pollutionrelated hospitalizations (asthma, COPD, cardiac-related) than 99% of other neighborhoods in the region, according to the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency.

This new construction project would mean dump trucks coming to the CID to multiple staging areas, where tunnel dirt is extracted and loaded, every 10 to 15 minutes up to 21 hours a day. It will mean a line of trucks waiting on 6th Avenue, virtually all hours of the day perhaps with their engines idling— generating more air pollution in a neighborhood with one of the most vulnerable populations in the city.

For generations, the CID has endured the brunt of major changes in the city.

When does the pain end or at least, get shared by other (wealthier? whiter?) neighborhoods? 

■ WORLD NEWS

Korean American female pastors push back against patriarchy When the Rev. Kyunglim Shin Lee was ordained in 1988, it angered her in-laws for contravening long-held Korean cultural values subordinating women’s roles in society. Even her husband, a pastor, told her he understood intellectually “but his heart couldn’t accept it.”

Those reactions broke Lee’s heart— and steeled her resolve. Today she is vice president for international relations at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C.; has traveled to 60 countries as the seminary’s ambassador; and once served as interim lead pastor at a Korean American church for 11 months. Along the journey, she visualized herself as a speeding train.

“People would either have to get in for the ride, or step out of the way,” she said. “Once I became convinced that God can use me, no one or nothing could stop me.”

Lee’s success story is rare in the realm of Korean American churches, where women are seldom seen in the pulpits. In a time when women make up about 20% of Protestant pastors in the United States, Korean American female pastors still struggle to gain acceptance in their home churches and often end up assuming leadership roles elsewhere.

Women like Lee who have broken barriers in these spaces remain pessimistic about the pace of change and are concerned by the resilience of patriarchal attitudes even among second- and third-generation Korean

AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin

DEEPA BHARATH ASSOCIATED PRESS

The Rev. Kyunglim Shin Lee, Vice President for International Relations at the Wesley Theological Seminary, poses for a portrait on March 10, 2022, in the chapel at the Seminary in Washington, D.C.

Americans. More representation in church elder boards and in the pulpit is needed to promote equality and provide role models for younger women considering ministry, they say, but bringing about such cultural shift has proved a formidable challenge.

Gender equality in Korean American churches lags well behind congregations in South Korea, according to the Rev. Young Lee Hertig, executive director of Innovative Space for Asian American Christianity, which supports Asian American women in ministry. There are more female lead pastors in South Korea, she said, “because culture changes faster when it is mainstream.”

“Korean American churches are the most patriarchal among Asian American churches. ... Things should have changed by now, but they haven’t,” Hertig said.

Male dominance in traditional Korean society has roots in Confucianism from centuries ago, when women were subject to the authority of their husbands and fathers and in many ways barred from participating in public life. Many immigrants from Korea still hold such notions, and churches especially have been slow to embrace equality, said Grace Ji-Sun Kim, a theology professor at the Earlham School of Religion in Indiana.

“It’s hard for Korean women to be ministers because they are expected to be obedient to men,” she said. “It’s difficult for (Korean) men to listen to a woman who is preaching because this idea of superiority is embedded in their psyche.”

The Rev. Janette Ok, an associate professor specializing in the New Testament at Fuller Seminary and pastor at Ekko Church, a nondenominational congregation in Fullerton, California, agreed that “representation matters.”

She was fortunate to have a role model while growing up in the 1980s in Detroit, where she saw a Korean woman leading her church’s English-language service every Sunday—but at the time didn’t grasp how exceptional that was.

“I watched her give sacraments, give the benediction.

I still have this image of her in a pastoral robe and stole,” Ok said. “Without her example, I would’ve never imagined I could become a pastor.”

That woman was the Rev. Mary Paik. Now retired and living in Hawaii, Paik said she was only hired as a last resort because the male applicants’ English wasn’t good enough. She received a “lot of strange looks” as an unmarried, 30-year-old female pastor.

Male church elders were patronizing and treated her like a daughter, while some of the younger men flirted with her or refused to acknowledge her. Many of the older women seemed to find her presence inconceivable.

“But some younger women were standing up a little straighter because I was there,” Paik said. “They felt good about it.”

She has seen some progress. When the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) started a group in 1991 for female Korean American clergy in the denomination, there were just 18. Today there are 150.

“When I started this, I was alone,” Paik said. “Now there are other women who talk to each other, share their struggles with one another. As long as we do it together, it’s bearable. And we do it not because it’s easy or hard, but because it’s a calling.”

But Ok said that while there are more of them in see PATRIARCHY on 13

APRIL 30 – MAY 6, 2022

YOUR VOICE JAPANESE PROGRAM from 1 What followed was not entirely clear, but resulted in the only remaining Japanese language program in the Renton School District reportedly being put on the chopping block, only to be reinstated after students, parents, and Japanese American groups raised an outcry.

The details that emerged appear to outline a story of the murkiness and frustrations surrounding school districts, as they seek to reestablish themselves after coming out of years of dark times with remote learning and COVID policies.

Caudle did not respond to multiple emails for this story, nor did the school board, the superintendent, or the deputy superintendent.

In the end, a spokesperson for the district said that it was only a “rumor” that the program was going to be cut.

“The Japanese language program will continue. There is no plan now or in the future to cut the program,” said Randy Matheson, Executive Director Community Relations, Renton School District.

A DIFFERENT HISTORY According to Weir, who has taught Japanese for 14 years at Lindbergh, Caudle told her he was planning to cut it and replace it with American Sign Language (ASL), despite the fact that more students had shown interest in Japanese per teacher than any other language course.

Matheson said Caudle was only making an “inquiry” about ASL because it would allow students “to earn credit for two programs at the same time.”

He did not offer clarification for which programs. Students are required to complete two years of foreign language study in high school in Washington state.

According to Weir, however, after Caudle told her about the program cancellation, she asked him why.

Weir had initially planned to retire before the pandemic, but stayed on to usher the program through hard times and make sure it continued as it was as popular as it had always been—so that it would be in good shape for a new teacher to take over.

As of this month, 190 students had expressed a desire to take one of the courses she teaches, putting it above French, with 109 students, and Spanish with a total

of 350 students—175 for each of two teachers.

“It was more than a full-time job,” said Weir.

So when she told Human Resources, during Spring Break—the first week of April— that she was planning to retire the following year, she expected the sheer number of interested students, not to mention the ongoing popularity of the program, to ensure its survival.

The following Monday, she was meeting with the assistant principal about the course.

“The assistant principal said, ‘Congratulations, Hiromi, on your retirement,’ and then she told me the principal wanted to know if I had any interest in coming back to teach part-time next year,” said Weir.

The offer being presented was to help those students who had finished their first year of Japanese complete their second year. There would be no new students, and the entire program would be dropped, said Weir.

“When I saw him the next day, I asked him, ‘How can you drop my program?’ And he said, ‘I don’t have to tell you that,’” she said.

In her previous dealings with Caudle, who had joined the school two years earlier, she had found it necessary to have union representation and vowed never to meet with him alone.

Upon hearing that her program was going to be canceled, Weir said she was shocked and did not know what to do. But she eventually reached out to a number of the organizations that regularly provided support to the school districts for Japanese language classes, such as the Japan-America Society of the State of Washington (JASSW), the Japanese Consulate, and the Washington Association of Teachers of Japanese (WATJ).

COMMUNITY REACTION Dale Watanabe, executive director at JASSW, said the loss of the course would have prevented the restoration of a language and culture which the forces of assimilation stripped away.

“Many of our members are either Japanese companies doing business in Washington or American companies who do business in Japan. Language skills broaden job opportunities.

Many Japanese Americans of my generation don’t speak Japanese, but wish we did. Lindbergh should be treasuring the very popular Japanese language program that

Hiromi Sensei

Hiromi Sensei built,” he said.

One of his daughters was able to study Japanese in Tacoma, while the other in another school district took French because it wasn’t offered.

Chris Johnson, chair of the Renton-Nishiwaki Sister City Association, said Renton has a 50year history of cultural exchanges with Japan.

“The language programs in our middle and high school curriculums have prepared thousands of students for life in the global community in which we now live,” he said in an email.

“The loss of a language program like this would seriously impact our future ability to work with Japan, who is one of Washington state’s largest trade partners.”

STUDENTS It was only when her former students heard about the possible ending of the program that the real change apparently took place.

One former student, Aleyna Yamaguchi, 29, organized a petition and wrote letters to the board, the superintendent, and the deputy superintendent, and encouraged others to do so. Other students spoke out forcefully for this article, reacting with shock and sadness to the apparent end of a beloved program that had changed their lives (as with the community groups, they were interviewed before Renton announced the program would continue).

It is not clear if their outcry, along with Yamaguchi’s campaign, and the dismay of parents, led to a reinstatement of the program.

But their collective reactions to the possible cut gave voice to the profound impact a single language program and a single teacher can have on a whole generation of students.

For Yamaguchi, who took Japanese from Weir a decade ago, gaining fluency has allowed her to communicate with her 92-year-old grandmother, who has reverted to

speaking almost entirely Japanese since developing Alzheimer’s.

On a recent weekend afternoon, Yamaguchi talked with the whitehaired older woman for an hour, holding a scrapbook of photos of her trip to Japan with Weir and offering the old woman treats.

Other students credit the program, and Weir’s nurturing, with their career successes.

Orm Wei, 28, was inspired by Weir to apply to the University of Nagoya, which he chose over the University of Washington, and where he studied mechanical engineering. He now does extreme weather and emissions testing design for the automobile industry.

“During the time I was there, it was very mundane, everything had to be done in a certain way,” he said. “I felt, in her class, things opened up.”

Jenna Louie, 24, was nominated

by Weir to visit Japan on a scholarship and take part in the rebuilding of the Tohoku region after the earthquake and tsunami that wiped the area out in 2011.

In Japan, she was exposed to a woodworker who lost his children in the flooding that followed. As part of his return to life, he built a playground called “the rainbow bridge.”

Louie was so inspired that she studied civil engineering at the University of Washington (UW) and then went to graduate school in structural engineering at UC Berkeley. She now works at a company that builds schools, offices, residences, and commercial structures.

Other students posted comments at the bottom of the petition saying they owed careers at Amazon or as a Japanese interpreter to Weir’s teaching.

Weir herself said that some of her students had gone on to work at such companies as Honda USA, Uwajimaya, and even Genki Sushi. Some had used their Japanese in military careers in Japan and some proselytizing.

“And also a couple of kids came back with their wives to meet me,” she said.

But in the handful of interviews conducted, and during a classroom observation, it was clear that it was much more than language skills that Weir had imparted.

“She has made me a better human being,” said Yamaguchi.

“She was like a second mother to us, really caring about our whole lives.”

Said Louie, “She was an exception—I do not know any other teacher in high school where everyone loved her.”

asianweekly northwest

11

Yamaguchi also said there was something about the Japanese language and culture itself that encourages different ways of being for young people.

“It’s a culture where listening to others is so important, as well as understanding things from other people,” she said.

A TREND? The WATJ said there has been a decrease of Japanese language courses in this state.

“It is true that there appears to be a recent trend in more Japanese language programs being canceled than added in western Washington, where most WATJ member teachers reside and teach. It is also true that nationally, numbers of Japanese language programs and students appear to be rising,” said Kei Tsukamaki, WATJ President, in an email.

However, Tsukamaki said, “As of my most recent communication, it is my understanding that the Japanese language program at Lindbergh High School will not be discontinued at this time.”

For her part, Weir pointed out multiple schools in the area that have done away with Japanese language programs.

But both she and the community organizations say it’s not for lack of teachers.

“I know that there are a number of younger, qualified Japanese teachers who can succeed her when she retires,” said Watanabe.

One reason for the reduction in Japanese programs, Weir speculates, is related to the Chinese government’s willingness to fund Chinese language classes over the past decade.

In her school, it is still not entirely clear what happened.

The district did not respond to questions about budget cuts, school politics, or personal preferences on the part of the principal.

Nor is Weir sure that the current assurances can be counted on long-term.

She hopes to have a oneon-one conversation with the superintendent.  To view the petition to save the program, go to: https://www. change.org/p/save-lindbergh-sjapanese-language-program Mahlon can be reached at info@nwasianweekly.com.

12

asianweekly northwest

APRIL 30 – MAY 6, 2022

40 YEARS

■ WORLD NEWS

Cambodia cuts quarantine for unvaccinated visitors to 7 days PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Cambodia has reduced the required quarantine period from two weeks to one for arriving travelers who are not fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, acting after recording consistently low numbers of new infections in recent days.

The Health Ministry also said that travelers arriving by air who have not been fully vaccinated must take a rapid antigen test on the last day of their quarantine.

Arrivals by land—mostly Cambodian workers in neighboring countries— are required to take rapid antigen tests on arrival as well as on the last day of quarantine.

Cambodia had already opened its borders to fully vaccinated travelers on Nov. 15 in an effort to revitalize its tourism-reliant economy.

The changes announced on April 21 come about a month after another easing

of pandemic-related restrictions for visitors from abroad, including the dropping of mandatory COVID-19 tests for travelers who have been vaccinated. Visas on arrival were also restored last month .

Before the pandemic, Cambodia had developed its tourism industry into an important source of revenue, and in 2019 welcomed a record 6.61 million foreign tourists who spent about $5.31 billion, just under 20% of the county's gross national

product, according to Tourism Ministry statistics.

The number of tourist arrivals in 2020 plunged to 1.31 million, accounting for $1.12 billion in revenue, or just over 4% of GNP. Tourist arrivals last year declined even further to 196,495, accounting for just $184 million in revenue.

About 92% of Cambodia's almost 17 million people have received at least one COVID-19 vaccination. 

Yoshinoya beef bowl chain executive fired over sexist remark

Report: Fake Twitter accounts spread Chinese propaganda

By MARI YAMAGUCHI ASSOCIATED PRESS

BEIJING (AP) — A U.S.-based intelligence company says it uncovered a network of more than 600 inauthentic Twitter accounts that spread a positive narrative of China’s far-western Xinjiang region, as Beijing was being accused of human rights abuses and locking up hundreds of thousands of Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities there.

According to a report released on April 25 by Nisos, 648 Twitter accounts posted several thousand tweets with hashtags such as (hash)xinjiang, (hash)forcedlabor and (hash)humanrights, with seemingly innocuous content such as traditional dancing and scenic photos, as well as videos with individuals denying that forced labor exists in Xinjiang.

The network and its tweets appear to be intended to promote “a positive narrative regarding Xinjiang and Uyghur treatment within the People’s Republic of China” and actively targeted a foreign audience, the report found.

The report comes as China is being criticized internationally for its treatment of Uyghurs, a Turkic ethnic group native to the Xinjiang region. In recent years, China held hundreds of thousands of Uyghurs in what Beijing calls “vocational education and training centers” but are widely believed by experts and academics to be internment camps.

China has also been accused of using forced labor in programs that transferred Uyghurs out of Xinjiang and assigned them to different factories around the country. Global brands across the world including Nike and H&M expressed concern over the use of forced labor, confirming that they will not use products such as cotton from the region and will strengthen oversight of their supply chains.

While Nisos researchers did not reveal who is behind the network of inauthentic accounts, they said the majority of tweets

Masaaki Ito

TOKYO (AP) — A popular Japanese beef bowl chain, Yoshinoya Holdings Co., has fired an executive over sexist remarks he made about a marketing strategy aiming to get young women “hooked” on its products as though turning “virgins into drug addicts.”

Masaaki Ito, a managing director at Yoshinoya, known for its “gyudon” beefover-rice dish, made the inflammatory remarks at a marketing lecture at Tokyo’s Waseda University on April 17.

Gender disparity runs deep in Japan, where only a small percentage of women hold decision-making positions in business, academia and politics.

The comments made by a rising marketing strategist that only surfaced at a seminar outside the company suggest how gender bias and other discrimination are still widespread and tolerated in the Japanese corporate world.

The revelation of the Yoshinoya case came only days after the Nikkei business daily came under fire for publishing a full-page advertisement for a comic book featuring a high school girl in a mini-skirt uniform with bulging breasts, prompting complaints from UN Women that it was “unacceptable” and violated guidelines against stereotypes.

Ito was asking participants in the lecture to devise a marketing strategy that would “get country girls hooked on (Yoshinoya) like drug addicts while they are still naive virgins,” according to a participant who complained about the remark on social media. Ito continued, saying “they won’t eat (gyudon) once they start getting treated to expensive meals by men.”

The participant who posted the message expressed disappointment and anger over the content of the lecture, which was part of an expensive course at a prestigious university.

Ito’s comments quickly sparked outrage on Twitter and other social media, where people said the remarks insulted women as well as people from the countryside, prompting the company to apologize and dismiss Ito. In an April 18 statement, Yoshinoya apologized for “causing trouble and unpleasant feelings.” It said “the choice of words and expression used during the lecture were extremely inappropriate and could not be tolerated.”

The following day, Yoshinoya said its board had decided to fire Ito, adding that the company will organize a compliance session for executives.

Japan remains far behind other advanced nations and ranks 120th in the World Economic Forum’s 2021 Global Gender Gap index of 156 countries. 

were posted during business hours in China, between 9 a.m. and 7 p.m. Many of the accounts were created after August 2021, using stock images for their profile pictures, and the tweets were often posted within minutes of each other.

The accounts would often quote other accounts within the network to gain visibility on the platform, although at times they would also amplify content from Chinese diplomats, such as Zhang Meifang, the consul general of China in Belfast, as well as Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian, Nisos said.

Many of the Twitter accounts mentioned in the Nisos report have since been suspended for violating Twitter rules.

This is not the first time that researchers have uncovered networks of inauthentic accounts posting propaganda to influence perceptions of China.

Last year, researchers at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute found that more than 2,000 Twitter accounts were pushing narratives by China’s government on what was happening in Xinjiang, many of which expressed anti-Western sentiment or labeled the accusations against China as lies.

China often uses social media as a way to spread its messages, with an investigation last year by AP and the Oxford Internet Institute finding that armies of fake accounts amplify propaganda by Chinese diplomats and state media tens of thousands of times to reach a wider audience while masking the fact that the content is state-sponsored.

Earlier this year, China launched a discreet social media campaign in which it paid a U.S.-based agency to recruit influencers in the U.S. with the aim of promoting the Beijing Winter Olympics on social media platforms Instagram and TikTok. 

YOUR VOICE

■ ASTROLOGY

APRIL 30 – MAY 6, 2022

asianweekly northwest

13

Predictions and advice for the week of April 30–May 6, 2022

By Sun Lee Chang Rat—Curious about the details of the whole story? Be patient as it is revealed to you in due course.

Dragon—If your initial strategy is not working, then try modifying to better suit the current conditions.

Monkey—There are other things that you would rather do today, but be sure to meet your obligations first.

Ox—Don’t mistake an easy route with the right one. A little extra effort will pay off down the line.

Snake—Although you are tempted to throw in the towel, one more attempt may be warranted for a worthy endeavor.

Rooster—On track to be ahead of schedule? Rather than slow down, keep up the pace until you are done.

Tiger—While you are normally firm on certain rules, circumstances could call for a bit of leeway this week.

Horse—A trained eye can discern things that others cannot. It simply takes practice to get there.

Dog—Why make things more complicated than necessary? It’s all about getting back to basics today.

Rabbit—Are you trying to work with a new group?

If so, it might be helpful to set some expectations upfront.

Goat—Meet the challenge of an unusual situation by using your creativity to figure out a path forward.

Pig—In case things don’t work out exactly as you planned, it is a good idea to have a backup available.

WHAT’S YOUR ANIMAL SIGN? RAT 1912, 1924, 1936, 1948, 1960, 1972, 1984, 1996, 2008, 2020 OX 1913, 1925, 1937, 1949, 1961, 1973, 1985, 1997, 2009, 2021 TIGER 1914, 1926, 1938, 1950, 1962, 1974, 1986, 1998, 2010, 2022 RABBIT 1915, 1927, 1939, 1951, 1963, 1975, 1987, 1999, 2011 DRAGON 1916, 1928, 1940, 1952, 1964, 1976, 1988, 2000, 2012 SNAKE 1917, 1929, 1941, 1953, 1965, 1977, 1989, 2001, 2013 HORSE 1918, 1930, 1942, 1954, 1966, 1978, 1990, 2002, 2014 GOAT 1919, 1931, 1943, 1955, 1967, 1979, 1991, 2003, 2015 MONKEY 1920, 1932, 1944, 1956, 1968, 1980, 1992, 2004, 2016 ROOSTER 1921, 1933, 1945, 1957, 1969, 1981, 1993, 2005, 2017 DOG 1922, 1934, 1946, 1958, 1970, 1982, 1994, 2006, 2018 PIG 1923, 1935, 1947, 1959, 1971, 1983, 1995, 2007, 2019

*The year ends on the first new moon of the following year. For those born in January and February, please take care when determining your sign.

PATRIARCHY from 10 ministry now, most end up serving in mainline or multiethnic congregations rather than Korean American churches.

“There is this sense that I love my home church and I don’t want to abandon my home community,” she said.

“But they don’t affirm me as a leader. It’s heartbreaking.”

Ok’s own church is largely Asian American, but not specifically Korean. Several years ago she served as interim lead pastor for nine months.

“I was afraid people would leave because I’m a woman, but they didn’t,” she said. “That was very encouraging.

Change doesn’t happen overnight. You have to create pathways and pipelines.”

KOREA LEADERS from 4 after KCNA’s report, but spent hours before releasing its version of what was said, which indicated that the North didn’t coordinate with Seoul before announcing the exchange. KCNA’s report wasn’t published on the North’s official Rodong Sinmun newspaper, read by its domestic audience, showing that the message was intended for the South.

According to Seoul, Moon in his letter to Kim acknowledged setbacks in inter-Korean relations but insisted that their aspirational vows for peace during their summits in 2018 and an accompanying military agreement aimed at defusing border area clashes remain relevant as a foundation for future cooperation.

Moon also expressed hope for a resumption of nuclear talks between Washington and Pyongyang and for Kim to pursue cooperation with Seoul’s next government led by conservative President-elect Yoon Suk Yeol, Moon’s spokesperson Park Kyung-mee said.

While sending a letter to the North’s leader is a courtesy as the South’s leaves office, analyst Cheong Seong-Chang at the South’s private Sejong Institute said, the North publicized the personal exchange with an aim to create division in South Korea ahead of a government change.

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Soo Ji Alvarez is in a similar situation. After growing up in a conservative Korean immigrant church in Vancouver, British Columbia, that had no female pastors, today she is lead pastor of The Avenue Church, a multiethnic Free Baptist congregation in Riverside, California.

The move away from her home church was not intentional but happened organically, she said, and she embraces her pastoral position as a role model.

“It’s a big deal for me (as a woman of Korean descent) to lead a congregation,” she said. “I hope I can help pave the way for others so they know it’s possible. Ministry should be like any other career—your ethnicity or gender should not affect your chances.”

As for the pastors’ male counterparts in Korean American churches, Kim, for one, expressed anger that

so many stay silent on the issue: “They feel like fighting social justice issues shouldn’t be the church’s business. But to me it is God’s work. It’s important, necessary work.”

But Lee, whose ordination was objectionable to her family, said it pleases her to see some male pastors welcome women to the pulpit—as her husband eventually did.

The Rev. John Park, who leads Numa Church in Buena Park, California, is one male pastor who embraces such allyship. He called on men to consciously work to empower women, citing Scripture in the words of the Apostle Paul: “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

“The Bible is clear on the issue of equality,” Park said.

“But this is an internal battle in our community. We’re fighting our own past.” 

“Considering indications that North Korea is preparing for its seventh nuclear test, it’s questionable whether it was appropriate for President Moon to send a letter to Chairman Kim to express his warm greetings,” Cheong said.

Yoon, who takes office on May 10, has harshly described Moon’s foreign policy for being “subservient” toward North Korea and said he wouldn’t pursue “talks for talks’ sake.” He has vowed to strengthen South Korea’s defense in conjunction with its alliance with the United States, which he says would include enhancing preemptive strike capabilities and anti-missile systems to deter North Korean attacks.

Tensions on the Korean Peninsula have risen since a series of North Korean weapons tests this year, including its first flight-test of an intercontinental ballistic missile since 2017 in March, reviving the nuclear brinkmanship aimed at forcing the U.S. to accept it as a nuclear power and to remove crippling sanctions.

South Korea’s military has also detected signs that North Korea is rebuilding tunnels at a nuclear testing ground it partially dismantled weeks before Kim’s first meeting with then-President Donald Trump in June 2018, a possible indicator that the country is preparing to resume nuclear explosive tests.

Staking his single presidential term on inter-Korean

rapprochement, Moon met Kim three times in 2018 and lobbied hard to help set up Kim’s meetings with Trump.

But the diplomacy never recovered from the collapse of the second Kim-Trump meeting in 2019 in Vietnam, where the Americans rejected North Korea’s demands for major sanctions relief in exchange for dismantling an aging nuclear facility, which would have amounted to a partial surrender of its nuclear capabilities.

Kim has since vowed to bolster his nuclear deterrent to counter “gangster-like” U.S. pressure and sped up his weapons development despite limited resources and pandemic-related difficulties.

North Korea also severed all cooperation with Moon’s government while expressing anger over the continuation of U.S.-South Korea military exercises, which were curtailed in recent years to promote diplomacy with the North, and Seoul’s inability to wrest concessions from Washington on its behalf.

Analysts say North Korea is likely to escalate its weapons demonstrations in coming weeks or months to force a reaction from the Biden administration, which has been focused on Russia’s war on Ukraine and a rivalry with China. 

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MUSEUM from 3 said Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders have shaped the nation’s history from its earliest days, from the Chinese laborers who helped build the transcontinental railroad to today’s contributions made in culture and the economy.

“Those contributions are often unheard of and simply forgotten,” she said. “It is time to change that.”

The legislation comes as visitors have flocked to the latest addition to the National Mall, the National Museum

WATARI AND WU from 8 and Wu have worked together (they’ve partnered on a clothing line in the past), this was the first time they’ve worked on a book.

“Shine” is Watari’s first picture book, while Wu is the author and illustrator behind the “Ellie the Elephant” book series.

“I’m lucky because I have an in-house teacher,” said Watari, whose background is in animation and fashion and has worked

for companies such as Disney and the Gap. In response, Wu, who is also a Pixar artist and has worked on a number of the studio’s films including its latest, “Turning Red,” laughed and said, “I don’t know about a teacher.”

He added that it was fun working with his wife as they talked about the book all the time—even during everyday tasks around the house such as making dinner— and described it as a nice back-and-forth process. Because the pandemic had them

BLOG from 9 the lowest level to the top.

Chen said the association plans to improve the building over time. As soon as one tenant moves out, they remodel the unit. So far, it has remodeled two units.

“After remodeling, it’s beautiful. It rents out quickly.”

“I have great confidence in Chinatown’s prosperity,” Michael said. “Yes, we have many public safety issues now. But I believe the government will fix the problem,

CLIPPER VENTURE from 1 the crews that had stopped on the racing leg in Subic Bay, Philippines. The fleet was due to leave for Seattle later that month.

Almost two years to the day the race stopped, it returned with the destination of crossing the Pacific to Seattle. Most of the boats racing made it to the Bell Harbor Marina on Seattle’s waterfront on April 24. The Qingdao, one of the boats in the race, did not race this leg although it will start its leg next month out of San Francisco.

Mark, who is in Seattle to welcome the end of this leg, will travel to San Francisco to join the Qingdao for the next part of the race. The next leg goes through the Panama Canal and eventually makes its way to New York City.

The time on the boat is regimented

of African American History and Culture, which opened in 2016. Plans are underway for two other museums, the National Museum of the American Latino and the Smithsonian Women’s History Museum.

Republican Rep. Cliff Bentz, R-Ore., said that while he supports the bill, he has concerns he hopes will be answered about the financial and operational challenges that an additional museum to the Smithsonian’s portfolio could pose.

The commission would have 18 months to report its

homebound, it was difficult to keep their work and personal lives separate. But one of the benefits of working with your spouse, Wu said, is being able to discuss your work without being judged.

“We would inspire each other,” he said.

The book’s original inspirations, Watari and Wu’s daughters, also enjoyed the book and the two girls see themselves as Keiko.

In addition, for a scene in which Keiko is protesting with her loved ones, Watari and Wu’s eldest created the posters the fictional

and make it safe. Chinatown’s future is great. Our job is to ensure the economic vitality of Chinatown.”

At the dinner, Larry Chan mentioned that Seattle’s chapter of 122 years has a much longer history than the San Francisco headquarters of 102 years—something the Seattle chapter takes pride in. It was established earlier because the first wave of Chin immigrants arrived in Seattle, not San Francisco. Chin is one of the top five last names in the U.S. However, challenges remain with the Seattle chapter and

as crew members have shifts and spend most of their off time either eating or asleep. Maintaining the racing yacht in the ocean requires lots of work so many of the crew stated that after their shift, they went to sleep immediately. Crew members do make a road diary of their trip and send it in to the race office.

Michael (Tang Lin) of China is looking to sail around the world by himself if this race goes well. “I look to do adventure.” He has already ridden his motorcycle from Alaska to Panama.

“Now is the chance to do the same around the ocean.” The small business owner stated that he thinks he will enjoy the journey. “If this is real, then I am going to get a boat and sail around the world,” said the 52-year old.

Cheok In Lo, from Macau, who completed his first race after crossing the Pacific and docking in Seattle, was amazed at the enormity of the ocean.

findings back to Congress and the president. The bill was approved without objections or the need for a roll call vote.

Rep. Andy Kim, D-N.J., spoke of having endured taunts about his heritage and wanting his own young sons to grow up proud of their background.

“I don’t want my kids to understand who they are through sources of hate and discrimination,” he said during the floor debate.

“I want them to feel pride,” Kim said. “Our story is not just an Asian American story, it’s an American story.” 

Samantha can be reached at info@nwasianweekly.com.

other Chinatown community organizations.

“Our organization needs the younger generation to take over, to get involved,” said Larry. “Ten years from now, we won’t be here. We did the right thing to buy the building. It strengthens our organization’s finances for the future. We did our part. And we need the younger generation to carry the torch.”  Assunta can be reached at assunta@nwasianweekly.com.

“It was like I was dreaming. It was very exciting.” He trained for four weeks in the United Kingdom to get used to the rigors of the ocean. Also, each crew member has a specific job during the race.

“The waves were huge and daunting,” said Wan Chio, who works for Clipper and serves as one of the dedicated members of the crew. She noted that some of the wind speeds reached 57 miles per hour. She recalled the need to change the sail of their vessel in the middle of the night, which required her to take the helm.

But with the strength of the ocean, there is also beauty.

“The blue color of the ocean is something that I will never forget.”  For more on the race, visit clipperroundtheworld.com.

family is holding up—a contribution she describes as “embarrassing,” according to Wu. But for Watari, having “Shine” be a family affair—from getting Wu involved, to their daughters’ input—was her favorite part of writing the book.

“That was really special,” she said. 

Jason can be reached at info@nwasianweekly.com.

SOLUTION from SUDOKU on page 6.

YOUR VOICE

Photo by Derrick VanSoolen

STAND-UP from 4

Deborah Tahara at a comedy club in 2019

specials on Netflix. I noticed more comedy from diverse voices speaking of experiences that I can relate to. Also my English was better by then. I was watching Ali Wong, Hasan Minhaj, Chris Rock, Gad Elmaleh… [and I thought], maybe I should give it a try!

When 2018 came, I made a New Year’s resolution: by the end of the year, I would go to at least one open mic. It’s quite powerful how the universe responds to our wishes once we set our minds to it. I signed up for a stand-up class in February, and the rest is history.”

For Deborah Tahara, a funny lady and filmmaker who grew up in Hawaii, peer pressure proved important.

“The two people who made me want to do stand-up are my co-workers who invited me

out to try an open mic,” Tahara recalled. “I told them, ‘No way! I could never do standup!’ But I went anyway to go watch and support them. When I saw them bomb, I thought, ‘I can do that.’ So I wrote some jokes and the next week, I went to the same open mic to perform stand-up for my very first time. After that, I was hooked!

“I’m the only one of the three of us still at it. If they didn’t bomb, it might have turned out differently.”

Asked about discrimination, the two agree that they don’t see much of it outright.

“I don’t know about outright racism on the scene,” Ye elaborated. “But in my experience, it is more the gatekeepers (bookers) making assumptions that their white audience won’t like me or relate to me, as a result not giving me the booking opportunities.”

Explained Tahara, “Fortunately, I have not experienced outright racism. I sometimes feel overlooked or invisible, but I blame my own insecurity rather than discrimination.

Making people laugh and hustling to improve and get booked are the ways I try to be seen and respected by comedians and audiences.”

Asked about the best places to perform, Ye’s quick to praise Nate Jackson’s Super Funny Comedy Club in Tacoma.

“First of all, Nate is a very funny comedian with lots of industry credits and experience, he respects and loves the craft of comedy, and is genuinely interested in nurturing talents. Second, he is an authentic, generous, and giving human being, and he creates a very supportive and safe environment where everyone treats each other with respect and no judgment, which is crucial for young talents to experiment and grow.

“Lastly, it’s one of four black-owned comedy clubs in the nation and arguably the one with top state-of-art stage. Nate books extremely funny veteran comedians and draws full crowds, so it’s amazing to learn from the pros and it’s a super fun stage to perform.”

Tahara holds her own preferences.

“I have a soft spot in my heart for open

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asianweekly northwest

Bernice Ye at Caroline’s on Broadway

mic at dive bar Tony V’s Garage in Everett, because that’s where I started and it’s a great place to take risks in trying new material.

Every week, the place is full or near-full of audience members, which is rare for a free open mic show. I’m a regular at Club Comedy on Capitol Hill. Their new location is classy and they get crowds even for weeknight shows.

“Theater shows are my favorite over bar shows,” she adds. “In theaters, the audience wants to laugh and they’re rooting for you to make them laugh. In bars, you have to win over the audience, but when you do, it’s totally rewarding. Awesome theater venues for comedy are the Carco Theatre in Renton and Red Curtain Center for Arts in Marysville, both of which I just performed at in the last two weeks.”

Both women have also tried booking comedy nights. During the pandemic, Ye moved to Camano Island, which she describes as “a predominantly-white, retirement community.”

“There wasn’t any comedy going on so I brought the comedy to my local community. I also started bringing comedians with diverse backgrounds (POC, immigrants, LGBTQ+, etc) to an audience who had very little exposure to these voices. And it’s absolutely beautiful to see people connect and laugh together.”

As for Tahara, “I just produced my own

show on April 8, 2022, at the Red Curtain Center for the Arts in Marysville. It was my first time producing, so I viewed it as a learning experience. We had a lineup of five comedians from the Seattle area, including me, and one from Portland. The comedians were amazing and the crowd enjoyed it.

We did not sell out, but I hope to grow the audience with future shows. There are no other comedy shows in the Marysville area as far as I know, so I think the venue has real potential.”

Asked about future plans, Tahara said, “I plan to keep improving as a writer/performer and continue to create experiences that bring audiences together in laughter, whether at a comedy show or watching a film. Watch for more episodes of my web series ‘Funny and Fearless.’”

For Ye, “My mission and passion behind my stand-up have always been: bridging cultures and empowering immigrants through my personal stories. I want to continue to hone my craft and unique voice in stand-up with that vision in mind, but also get into acting and screenwriting. I’m a firm believer that the more people hear and see authentic immigrant stories, the more we are humanized and the more connected we will be with each other.”  Andrew can be reached at info@nwasianweekly.com.

Show us how you celebrate AAPI (Asian American Pacific Islander) Heritage Month in May. Whether it’s a family gathering, adorable children (and adults!) celebrating traditions, in all forms including arts and craft, or the awesome family cook showing off a delicious meal, we’d love to see the unique ways in which you and your family celebrate AAPI heritage. There will be two categories of competition: videos and photos.

Prizes: Judges’ Choice awards and People’s Choice Awards (readers vote). The winners will be announced in early June. Winners will receive gift certificates to restaurants and grocery stores, and Asian snacks.

Deadlines: submit photo(s) and video(s) by May 20.

Please submit your photo(s) and/or video(s) to james@nwasianweekly.com. For videos (not to exceed 60 seconds), please submit it by posting on your Facebook and tag us #NWaapi to consider. The winning video will be posted Northwest Asian Weekly’s YouTube channel. All photo and video submissions must be original content. Fill out the information below. You may also submit via mail to: Northwest Asian Weekly, 412 Maynard Ave. S., Seattle, WA 98104.

2022 Winners of Lunar New Year Photo Contest

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APRIL 30 – MAY 6, 2022

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Provided by mayor’s office/Kendee Yamaguchi

16

Bruce Harrell and other officials walk towards Biden

Bruce Harrell stood off-center in this photo, but still visible in the camera’s viewfinder

the president. That’s two consecutive days. If you saw the photo, you might have thought only the Harrells were there to receive Biden.

Actually, there were three couples, Gov. Jay Inslee and wife Trudi, and SeaTac Mayor Jake Simpson and wife Jessica.

“It was a great honor to have President Biden visit Seattle and Seward Park—a recognition of our efforts to ensure a healthy environment, take on climate change, and create good jobs,” said Harrell. “President Biden and I share a commitment to a strong economy and safe, thriving communities.

Meetings and visits like this put us on a path toward shared progress—and needed federal support. I look forward to continuing to work with President Biden to move this agenda forward and support Seattle residents.”

This wasn’t the first time Harrell met with the president. He was one of nine mayors invited to the White House last December after the victorious election, as well as other two Asian mayors, Boston’s Michelle Wu and Cincinnati’s Aftab Pureval. At the White

BIDEN from 1 the president’s pen after he had just signed the order for the counting of old-growth trees at Seward Park. And Harrell was the only one wearing a beige coat among a sea of blue coats worn by other Democrat politicians, including the president.

Was that a calculated move or a fluke? It was Biden’s people who picked Seward Park, Harrell’s territory, to sign the order as the park is full of old-growth trees. Harrell knew how to seize the moment, asking for the president’s pen as did the Times photographer Daniel Kim, who caught that shot with his camera. Let’s put it plainly, he’s media savvy and put his charisma to work. He learned it after being on the city council for 12 years.

Being mayor now, he knows exactly what he is doing and is at ease at big, as well as small, public events.

When Biden arrived at the airport with Air Force One, Harrell and his wife Joanne were also featured in the Seattle Times photo with

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House, Harrell asked Biden if he could see his office, according to Harrell’s wife, Joanne.

Biden said “yes” without missing a beat.

So far, Harrell is the only mayor who has made a conscious effort to be in ChinatownInternational District (CID) as much as possible. The mayor has visited the CID 12 times since taking office, according to his press office. And he has been mayor for just over four months.

At a recent news conference in Little Saigon, the Asian Weekly asked what the community should do when a couple of homeless camps returned to 8th Avenue South and South Jackson after the City had cleared the area. Harrell responded that the problem of homeless encampments in the CID is “decades in the making” and the City will continue to “lead with compassion in housing strategy.”

The Asian Weekly staff accidentally walked by the site a few days later, and those two homeless camps disappeared. Harrell listened. The City did follow up after the

news conference.

In February, when the United Chinese Americans of Washington organized a rally to remember the Chinese being pushed out in Seattle’s waterfront more than a century ago, the committee was asking for the deputy mayor instead of the mayor.

“Don’t count me out,” Harrell replied when he learned of the event. And he showed up that day, not only for the rally, but he was one of the newly elected officials to walk with the whole group all the way to the waterfront.

This past Sunday, he was at the ribboncutting ceremony of the Gee How Oak Tin family association. You call and he comes. It is as straightforward as that. You tell him a problem, he’ll fix it. Maybe not immediately, but he doesn’t forget.

Harrell is the kind of mayor that we’ve been hoping for a long time—he doesn’t just show up, he gets things done.  Assunta can be reached at assunta@nwasianweekly.com.