PRSRT STD U.S. Postage Paid Permit No. 746 Seattle, WA
VOL 41 NO 25 JUNE 18 – JUNE 24, 2022
FREE 40 YEARS YOUR VOICE
NORMAN MINETA A life well lived By Ruth Bayang NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY
“I am so proud to be your son.” David Mineta was one of several people who spoke at a memorial service for his late father—Norman Y. Mineta. David Mineta The first Asian American to hold a Cabinet position, Mineta died on May 3 at age 90. “To be sure, living a public life has not always been easy for our family… there were some tough years but as I’ve grown older, I cherish being Norm’s son,” said David. At the June 11 service in Washington, D.C.—the first of three memorials for the former Transportation Secretary—Speaker Nancy Pelosi called him the “patriarch” of the Asian American community, a trailblazer and mentor for a generation of AAPI public servants. “I was humbled to partake in this special memorial,” said Elaine Ikoma Ko, who traveled from Seattle for the service, along with former Uwajimaya CEO Tomio Moriguchi. Ko said, “I was overcome with a sense of respect and gratitude for this humble man. His accomplishments and contributions to this country makes him equal to the greatest American leaders of all times.” Civil rights advocate Karen Narasaki worked with Mineta
while he served as Secretary of Commerce, and then Transportation. “Secretary Mineta was an accomplished law maker and civil rights leader. He taught all of us how much could be Karen Narasaki achieved when one does not care who gets the credit.” Narasaki also credited him for creating the current infrastructure of national AAPI advocacy and leadership building. “At a time when he would joke there were so few APA members they could meet in a telephone booth, he worked to create the Congressional APA Caucus that includes members of Congress who are not APA but have 5% or more in their district.” Narasaki added, “Many AANHPIs who are elected officials, presidential appointees, congressional or agency staff today, owe their opportunities to the institutions he pushed to be created.” Beyond his life of public service and resume, all those who paid tribute spoke of Mineta’s kindness. “Dad loved family,” said Stuart Mineta. “He loved the sense of togetherness and closeness that family provided … and Dad see MINETA on 16
Credit: Weber Thompson architects
New building a possible transition between CID and downtown
By Mahlon Meyer NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY The artist’s first rendering of the proposed 29-story tower was not too popular with activists, who were once again, well organized with several speakers who oppose the project. The opposition, voiced at a June 14 International Special Review District (ISRD) review board meeting, was partially about the project’s height and thus its potential to block sunshine to surrounding areas. But the architect for the project, dubbed Fujimatsu Village, came in hand with a
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series of slides that showed how his firm had repositioned the tower from the south side of the site to the north and had broken it up into smaller wedges that appear less imposing. The changes also seemed to indicate there would be less blockage of sunlight. Members of the review board were pleased with this “evolution,” as the architect described it, and said that it more fully coalesced the proposed construction into the landscape of the buildings around it. Board member Ming Zhang said see ISRD on 12
Stuart Mineta
U.S. Ambassador to Cambodia to meet with local community
U.S. Ambassador to Cambodia W. Patrick Murphy will visit Seattle later this month, to share his views and experience on recent developments affecting Cambodia and its future. Murphy will attend a Cambodian American Community Dinner Reception at China Harbor Restaurant on June 27 in Seattle. William Oung, chair of Seattle-Sihanoukville Sister City Association, will also speak at this event. The dinner cost is $50 per person. If you are interested in attending, RSVP by June 17 to any of the following: Pakun Sin (206) 579-0960, pakun.sin@caccwa.org Bill Oung (206) 437-2079, william.oung@caccwa.org Thyda Ros (206) 850 -9180, thydaros@gmail.com
Washington justices: Race a factor in analyzing police stops
By GENE JOHNSON ASSOCIATED PRESS SEATTLE (AP) — A person’s race and ethnicity must be taken into account when deciding whether they were free to leave an encounter with police, the Washington Supreme Court said on June 9 in its latest decision seeking to counteract bias in the justice system. The unanimous ruling concerned Palla Sum, a man identified in court records as Asian Pacific Islander. When a Pierce County sheriff’s deputy found him sleeping in his car in Tacoma in 2019, Sum gave a false name and birth date, drove off as the deputy was checking for warrants, and
crashed in someone’s front yard. Whether Sum was free to leave when he did was a key point in his case. At his trial, he sought to suppress evidence of his false statements, saying they were made only after the officer detained him by implying that he was under investigation for car theft. In reality, the car was not stolen, and the officer had no reason to detain him until after he sped off, the justices said, meaning the initial detention was unlawful and a lower court judge should not have allowed evidence of the false statements at trial. While the court might have reached the see POLICE STOPS on 13
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40 YEARS
JUNE 18 – JUNE 24, 2022
■ NAMES IN THE NEWS Credit: Kim DesMarais’ Facebook page
DesMarais accepted into prestigious US Naval Academy
Laird DesMarais (left) with Rep. Kim Schrier who nominated him to the U.S. Naval Academy
Kentridge High School graduate Laird DesMarais is headed for training for his first year at the United States Naval Academy—one of the hardest universities in the country to get into, with only an 8% acceptance rate. From the Naval Academy website, a nomination must come from an official source, like the vice president or a member of Congress. A few days before Christmas 2021, DesMarais received a principal nomination from U.S. Rep. Kim Schrier. DesMarais, who is of Chinese descent, hopes that the military will enhance his “sense of structure and discipline” and allow him to become a better leader. “It gives me the opportunity to defend and represent the U.S. abroad,” he told the Kent Reporter. DesMarais plans to study aerospace engineering at the Naval Academy. If he goes into aviation after graduating, it will require an additional eight years of service in the Navy.
lease. “From being a bubble tea shop to extending our offerings to include tea tastings and event catering, Young Tea has always received tremendous support from the CID community. To us, CID is where we are founded and it will always be a special place,” it said on Facebook. “While we don’t know when we will be able to have another location in the CID, we will keep an open mind about returning to the neighborhood in the future.” The Wallingford location is still up and running and Young Tea may open another location in Bellevue.
CACA banquet
Locke, Yang keynote AAAE annual conference Honorees and CACA board members
On June 5, the Chinese American Citizens Alliance (C.A.C.A.) Seattle held an in-person banquet—the first since the pandemic. Almost 130 attendees filled 13 tables at China Harbor Restaurant, representing Cathay Post #186, Chinese Information and Services Center, International Community Health Services, Kin On, OCA Greater Seattle, Taipei Economic & Cultural Office, Wing Luke Museum, and many community members and friends. Prizes were awarded to local winners of the C.A.C.A. National High School Essay Contest. Diane Sun, eleventh grader at Interlake High School, won $500 as the first prize. Other winners were Sophia Zhang, tenth grader at International School; Tessa Han, eleventh grader at Woodinville High School; and Gavin Zhou, tenth grader at Issaquah High School.
Young Tea closing CID location
Young Tea posted on social media that it is closing its Chinatown-International District (CID) location permanently after June 26, due to the expiration of its
A fireside chat between Washington’s former first lady Mona Lee Locke and Seattle fashion designer Luly Yang was the highlight of the 2022 American Association of Airport Executives (AAAE)’s Annual Conference on June 8. Held at the Seattle Convention Center, Yang shared how her “human experience focused approach” allowed her business to adjust and adapt to the changing needs of customers as well as new trends. Both Yang and Locke were introduced by Port of Seattle Commissioner Toshiko Hasegawa.
Mona Lee Locke (left) with Luly Yang at the June 8 AAAE conference
Tai Tung Chinese Restaurant 655 South King Street, Seattle, WA 98104
Let's celebrate our fathers at Tai Tung! HAPPY FATHER’S DAY! (206)-622-7372 (206)-622-7714 Open Daily 11 a.m. - 8 p.m. taitungrestaurant.com
YOUR VOICE
■ COMMUNITY NEWS
JUNE 18 – JUNE 24, 2022
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Starting off on The Good Foot LOCAL ORGANIZATION EDUCATES YOUTH ON HEALTHY RELATIONSHIPS
By Samantha Pak NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY In 2005, about 30 young artists gathered in the basement of a Seattle home. They shared a vision of starting a more positive hip-hop scene for young people—wanting a scene with more purpose than what was there at the time. From that meeting came a hip-hop dance outreach event held in 2006 in the Chong Wa Benevolent Association building in Chinatown. The jam, dubbed 4theluvofit, went beyond seeing who was the best b-boy or b-girl. May Praseuth, who was at that meeting more than a decade and a half ago, said people also shared the work they were doing to give back to the community. The Good Foot Arts Collective, which Praseuth co-founded alongside her husband Louie Praseuth, also emerged from that basement meeting. “The good foot” was inspired by the Godfather of Soul, James Brown (as many breakers know and dance to his music), and “collective” represents the different skills, talents, passions, characters, and identities an artist brings to the table. The organization started with a focus on ending violence before it begins, and has since refined that focus to provide domestic abuse awareness and youth violence prevention advocacy through arts education, according to its website. “We believe the platform of mentorship, [hip-hop] expression and culturally relevant youth programs through the arts is essential for young people to express themselves creatively as we provide a safe space to learn, grow and thrive,” The Good Foot website states. CREATING A COMMUNITY THEY WANT TO SEE As an organization with its roots in hiphop, May said at The Good Foot, they have the highest respect for those who came
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before them and work to pay homage to the Black and brown folks who started it all. The culture, which began in New York, came from folks who were not allowed in certain spaces because they were dark skinned. So, May said, they created their own community. Since then, hip-hop has touched people of all walks of life, cultures and ethnic backgrounds. And in Seattle, it touches kids of color more deeply because the culture comes from struggle. While violence prevention has always been part of The Good Foot’s ethos, the organization started out as a highperformance arts space, holding dance workshops and bringing in choreographers. May said it was around 2010 or 2011 that they began centering their work on domestic abuse education and advocacy. May said issues of toxicity kept coming up—female members of their community weren’t feeling heard or seen and all of a sudden, they were no longer a part of the scene. It was around this time that May was working at a domestic violence center and started learning about such issues in intimate partnerships. But what she was learning was coming from mostly middleaged white women who had no real stake in Black, Indigenous, or people of color (BIPOC) communities, which is who The Good Foot focuses on serving. May also realized that in order to address The Good Foot’s issues, she needed to address those same issues in her own relationship. You can’t operate a well-oiled machine if there are rusty pieces, she noted. One of the things to come out of this is The Good Foot’s No Excuses campaign, which “advocates for safety and empowers youth to build an environment of NO tolerance for violence, sexual misconduct, toxic behavior, or abuse in BIPOC youth communities and in the [hip-hop], street dance community,” according to its website.
In addition to a prevention training curriculum manual, No Excuses has produced educational flipbooks. These books—which were illustrated and designed by Chris Kaku, in collaboration with South Seattle youths, Ayiana Hernandez-Kiehn, Kymberli Owens, Ajani Kemp, Jermaine Ly, and Kaycee Casio— cover topics of jealousy, destructive anger, peer pressure, threats, gaslighting, and mental health. At last month’s Massive Monkees Day, May spoke to the crowd about No Excuses, offering free flip books as well as sharing training resources for those interested in learning how to keep their communities safe. With breakin’ coming to the 2024 Olympics, May told Northwest Asian Weekly that creating safe spaces for young people wanting to participate is especially important. BRINGING IT INTO THE CLASSROOM In addition to No Excuses, The Good Foot has developed Creative Leaders Affirming Youth (CLAY), a 10-session healthy relationship, social/emotional support, and youth violence prevention curriculum. They started in 2014 at Rainier Beach High School and in 2017, when the CLAY curriculum was formalized, they were also in Franklin High School. CLAY is taught in ninth-grade health classes—May said they wanted to reach students as young as possible—and teaches students about teen dating violence awareness, warning signs, sexual assault education, healthy community, gender stereotypes, and gender-based violence. Through the program, young people are equipped and empowered to address domestic violence directly. As May puts it, CLAY is practical and provides young people with resources on how to talk to someone they think might be in a bad situation.
“We have a super strong partnership with the schools and we’re so thankful,” May said, adding that with sexual harassment and domestic violence increasing exponentially—as well as an uptick in cyberbullying and harassment—during the pandemic, The Good Foot’s partnership continued with remote learning and CLAY was taught virtually. The folks who teach CLAY are all BIPOC and many have gone through the program as youths themselves. May said they’re either contractors with The Good Foot or on staff. GETTING YOUTH READY FOR HIGH SCHOOL As the school year comes to a close, The Good Foot also offers a summer program for incoming ninth graders at Rainier Beach and Franklin high schools, called Level UP and Power UP, respectively. The four-week program focuses on preparing students for the transition into high school and covers topics ranging from social and emotional literacy, identity development, public speaking and organizational skills, to financial literacy, red-lining, and generational wealth. At the end of the program, scholars will receive a 0.5 elective credit and 10 service hours toward graduation. This summer, Level UP and Power UP will run from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Monday through Friday, from July 1-29 (with days off for observed holidays), with Fridays reserved as field days or field trips. Each program has 60 spots open and The Good Foot is accepting applications through June 17. To apply, visit thegoodfootarts.org/summer-programs. Samantha can be reached at info@nwasianweekly.com.
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JUNE 18 – JUNE 24, 2022
40 YEARS
■ NATIONAL NEWS
Court pauses Washington tribe’s evictions for ousted members BELLINGHAM, Wash. (AP) — The Washington Supreme Court has temporarily halted evictions for people living in certain households on Nooksack Tribal Land who were contentiously disenrolled from the tribe. On June7, a panel of justices granted an injunction requiring the Nooksack Indian Tribe in northwestern Washington to pause the evictions while the high court determines whether to take up the case, Cascadia Daily News reported. The households involved in the suit are home to members of a group of more than 300 people who were formally removed from the Nooksack Indian Tribe in 2016 and 2018. They have been facing the threat of eviction for years.
Tribal leaders have said the families known as the “Nooksack 306” were incorrectly enrolled in the 1980s and cannot prove their lineage adequately. The Nooksack members being threatened with eviction are both Filipino and Native
Grants available to small business owners APPLY THROUGH JUNE 26, 2022
SEATTLE — The Ready for Business Fund formed by GSBA—Washington’s LGBTQ+ and allied chamber of commerce—and Comcast is now accepting applications from small businesses throughout Washington seeking financial assistance. Applications opened on June 13 and small businesses owners may apply through June 26, 2022, at theGSBA.org/ ready-for-business. More than $200,000 in grants will be allocated to at least 80 small businesses
throughout the state. According to a news release, the grant application is short and easy to complete. All grant applicants will be notified by the last week of July. The Ready for Business Fund was founded in the summer of 2020 with a $100,000 investment from Comcast and GSBA as the fund manager. Over the past two years, the fund has distributed $2,500 cash grants to more than 130 small businesses in Washington.
American, or what some call “Indipino.” Gabe Galanda, attorney for the families, told KNKX Public Radio his clients are being singled out in part because of that, though he said this kind of mixed identity is common among Native peoples.
Galanda has said nearly all the homes in question were developed as rent-to-own, which means his clients should own their homes or hold equity. Earlier this year, experts from the United Nations called on the federal government to intervene and prevent the evictions, raising concerns about the welfare of the residents. The families and Galanda have contested the ousting efforts, gaining attention as leading opponents of tribal disenrollment, an increasing practice that can involve struggles over power and resources, and questions about culture and identity. In central California, the Picayune see EVICTION on 13
Andrew Yang to endorse Suraj Patel in NY congressional race NEW YORK (AP) — Former Democratic presidential candidate and New York City mayoral candidate Andrew Yang is getting involved in a New York congressional primary that’s pitted two veteran lawmakers against each other. But Yang, who became known for his call for the government to issue a universal basic income, is not backing U.S. Rep. Jerry Nadler or U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney in the primary race for a heavily Democratic district: In the race for New York’s 12th District, he is instead backing Democrat Suraj Patel, who worked
on President Barack Obama’s presidential campaigns and in his White House. New redistricting maps have merged parts of Nadler’s Upper West Side district with parts of Maloney’s Upper East Side district in Manhattan, setting two of New
York’s longest-serving members of Congress against each other in an August primary. Patel has unsuccessfully challenged Maloney in the past and says Nadler and Maloney are “career politicians” who are not entitled to any seat.
JUNE 18 – JUNE 24, 2022
YOUR VOICE
■ WORLD NEWS
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China calls COVID ‘lab leak’ theory a lie after WHO report BEIJING (AP) — China on June 10 attacked the theory that the coronavirus pandemic may have originated as a leak from a Chinese laboratory as a politically motivated lie, after the World Health Organization recommended in its strongest terms yet that a deeper probe is needed into whether a lab accident may be to blame. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian also rejected accusations that China had not fully cooperated with investigators, saying it welcomed a science-based probe but rejected any political manipulation. He also reiterated calls for an investigation into “highly suspicious laboratories such as Fort Detrick and the University of North Carolina” in the United States where China
has suggested, without evidence, that the U.S. was developing the coronavirus as a bioweapon. “The lab leak theory is totally a lie concocted by anti-China forces for political purposes, which has nothing to do with science,” Zhao said at a daily briefing. “We always supported and participated in science-based global virus tracing, but we firmly opposed any forms of political manipulation,” he said, repeating China’s long-standing explanation for delaying or rejecting further investigations into the virus’s origins. Zhao said China has made major see COVID on 14
Vietnam’s health Malaysia agrees to minister arrested over abolish mandatory COVID test gouging death penalty HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — Vietnam’s health minister and the mayor of the capital Hanoi have been arrested as part of an expanding investigation into massive price gouging of COVID-19 tests, Chu Ngoc Anh state media reported. Nguyen Thanh Long was dismissed from his ministry post and Chu Ngoc Anh, who previously was the science minister, was fired as Hanoi mayor, Tuoi Tre online news outlet reported on June 7. They are being investigated for abuse of power, according to the Ministry of Public
Security, and have been expelled from the ruling Communist Party. An investigation concluded earlier that mismanagement in the science and health minisNguyen Thanh Long tries had allowed Viet A Technology Corporation to inflate prices for test kits supplied to hospitals and health centers in Vietnam. Nearly 60 suspects including ministry officials, public health leaders and military generals have been detained or are being see VIETNAM on 14
ASSOCIATED PRESS KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysia has agreed to abolish the mandatory death penalty and allow judges to set alternative punishments for a range of offenses, the country’s law minister said on June 10. The government will study other proposed punishments for 11 offenses that currently trigger a mandatory death sentence and also for the more than 20 offenses that carry a potential death sentence at the court’s discretion, Wan Junadi Tuanku Jaafar said in a statement.
Amendments to the law would still need to be tabled and passed in Parliament before they would take effect. “The decision on this matter shows the government’s priority to ensure the rights of all parties are protected and guaranteed, thus reflecting the transparency of the country’s leadership in improving the dynamic criminal justice system,” the minister said. More than 1,300 people are on death row in Malaysia, with most cases involving see DEATH PENALTY on 13
Japanese man arrested in Indonesia over COVID relief fraud By ANDI JATMIKO and NINIEK KARMINI ASSOCIATED PRESS JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Authorities on Indonesia’s Sumatra island arrested a Japanese fugitive accused of helping steal $7.3 million intended for small businesses in Japan hurt by the coronavirus, police said. Mitsuhiro Taniguchi, 47, was arrested on June 7 at a house owned by a fish trader in Central Lampung district by Mitsuhiro Taniguchi immigration officers backed by local police, National Police spokesperson Dedi Prasetyo said. “He told the house owner that he wants to invest in fisheries in the area,” Prasetyo said, adding that Taniguchi
had stayed at the house for about two weeks before authorities located him. Taniguchi was wanted by Japanese police for COVID-19 subsidy fraud and left Japan for Indonesia in October 2020, Prasetyo said. Taniguchi and a group of acquaintances allegedly submitted about 1,700 false applications for COVID-19 relief funds. The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department believes they received subsidies for more than 960 of those applications totaling an estimated $7.3 million, Prasetyo said. Taniguchi, who has been wanted by Japanese police since early May, has been handed over to the Directorate of Immigration’s Supervision and Enforcement Division, he said. The suspect, wearing a face mask, short pants and an immigration detainee’s orange vest, was brought by police to a June 8 news conference in the capital, Jakarta. He made no comment. Nyoman Gede Surya Mataram, an immigration official,
said at the news conference that days before the arrest, Japanese Embassy officials informed his office that they had revoked Taniguchi’s passport and that the suspect had last been seen in the Lampung area. “His presence in Indonesia became illegal after the Japanese authorities revoked his passport,” Prasetyo said. A diplomat at the embassy, Miyagawa Takayuki, said authorities of the two countries are coordinating on his deportation. Tokyo police arrested Taniguchi’s ex-wife and their two sons on May 30 on suspicion of fraud and placed Taniguchi on an international wanted list, according to the Japanese newspaper Mainichi Shimbun. It said the three are suspected of defrauding the government of $22,500 in COVID-19 subsidies from June to August 2020. The scheme was uncovered in August 2020 when the office offering the subsidies consulted with Tokyo police. Taniguchi is believed to have fled Japan two months later, the Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun reported.
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JUNE 18 – JUNE 24, 2022
40 YEARS
■ COMMUNITY CALENDAR THRU JUN 19 VIRTUAL DIWA FILIPINO FILM FESTIVAL Register at facebook.com/ diwafilmfest 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 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-arechanging-the-tide
JUN 16
CLUB MEETING WITH KELLY WOLFFE SUNRISE NUTRITION 11:30 a.m.– 1 p.m. For Zoom link, contact rotaryofseattleid@gmail. com
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THE SEATTLE POLICE DEPARTMENT IS HOSTING A “COFFEE WITH COPS” Eastern Cafe 2:30-4 p.m. monica.ly@seattle.gov
VIRTUAL EVENT: THE FUTURE OF JAPAN-U.S. RELATIONS, THE QUAD, AND INDO-PACIFIC COOPERATION WITH AMBASSADOR OF JAPAN TO THE U.S. KOJI TOMITA 11 a.m.-12 p.m.
THE LATEST INTIMATE PORTRAIT FROM HONG SANG-SOO, “IN FRONT OF YOUR FACE” Northwest Film Forum July 8, 8-9:30 p.m. July 9 & 10, 5-6:30 p.m. Tickets at brownpapertickets.com/ event/5453104
CID FOOD WALK Seattle’s C-ID 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Sign up for a booth https://bit.ly/3O1tE4g
17 & 18 LIVE2DANCE’S 12 HOURS OF DANCING, 10 BACK-TOBACK CLASSES, 12 INSTRUCTORS, WITH PRIZES AND BREAKFAST 6 p.m.-6 a.m. (yes, overnight!) live2danceseattle.com
18 CID FOOD WALK Seattle’s C-ID 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Sign up to be a vendor, https://bit.ly/3O1tE4g WALK FOR RICE Jefferson Park, Seattle 9 a.m.-12 p.m. walkforrice.org
23 VIRTUAL EVENT: DR. JULIE PHAM DISCUSSES, “7 FORMS OF RESPECT” 7 p.m. Register at https://tinyurl.com/ bdhhwzcb
Register at https://bit.ly/3NRmY9r
JUL 7 CLUB MEETING WITH JENNIFER ADAMS VEHICLE RESIDENT OUTREACH 11:30 a.m.– 1 p.m. For Zoom link, contact rotaryofseattleid@gmail. com
8 IN-PERSON EVENT WITH BETSY AOKI, IN CONVERSATION WITH COOKIE HIPONIA, “BREAKPOINT” Third Place Books 7 p.m. Register at thirdplacebooks.com
9 OUTDOOR PARTY IN CANTON ALLEY Canton Alley South, Seattle 1-6 p.m. Register at https://bit.ly/3mpIW7h
9 & 28 SEATTLE ASIAN AMERICAN NATIVE HAWAIIAN/PACIFIC ISLANDER WOMEN ARTISTS UNITED IS A VISUAL CAMPAIGN TO FIGHT THE TIDE OF ANTI-ASIAN VIOLENCE AND XENOPHOBIA Posters will be free to public
16 & 17 THE LATEST INTIMATE PORTRAIT FROM HONG SANG-SOO, “IN FRONT OF YOUR FACE” Northwest Film Forum July 16, 4:30-6 p.m.; July 17, 3:30-5 p.m. Tickets at brownpapertickets.com/event/5453104
28 MICHAEL POLLAN WITH JANE C. HU, “THIS IS YOUR MIND ON PLANTS” Town Hall, 720 Seneca St., Seattle 7:30 p.m.
AUG 20
CID FOOD WALK Seattle’s C-ID 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Sign up for a booth: https://bit.ly/3O1tE4g
13 & 14 THE LATEST INTIMATE PORTRAIT FROM HONG SANG-SOO, “IN FRONT OF YOUR FACE” Northwest Film Forum July 13 & 14, 7:30-9 p.m. Tickets at brownpapertickets.com/ event/5453104
View the solution on page 14
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JUNE 18 – JUNE 24, 2022
YOUR VOICE
■ ON THE SHELF BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS GEARBREAKERS
THE VERIFIERS A CLASH OF STEEL: A TREASURE ISLAND REMIX By Samantha Pak NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY GEARBREAKERS By Zoe Hana Mikuta Feiwel & Friends, 2021 In Godolia, tyranny runs rampant, thanks to the giant mechanized weapons, known as Windups, aiding the rulers. And for the people of the Badlands, life under their Godolia overlord brings war and oppression every day. Enter Eris Shindanai, a brash young rebel and Gearbreaker, specializing in taking down Windups from the inside. When things go wrong on a mission and Eris ends up captured, she meets Sona Steelcrest, a cybernetically enhanced Windup pilot. Naturally, Eris sees Sona as the enemy, but she quickly learns that the other young woman has the same goal as her—to destroy Godolia. And like Eris, Sona is working from the inside. Once Sona gains Eris’ trust, the pair make their escape and Sona joins the cause against Godolia. And as the
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LGBTQ folks saving the day
two work together and prepare for their deadliest mission yet—alongside Eris’ team and other Gearbreakers—the pair grows closer, first as comrades in arms, then friends and eventually, something more. There are all sorts of villains in stories, motivated by any number of reasons—some might even seem justified. But here, the baddies’ evil acts seem to be motivated by the need for power. Power for the sake of power. So, it was great to see Eris, Sona, and the rest of the Gearbreakers standing up and fighting against the ones who rule them. I love a good underdog story and the Gearbreakers are the ultimate underdogs, fighting against oppressors who literally built deities to keep them down. Stories about dystopian worlds, where young people are somehow tasked with saving everyone (where are all the reasonable adults?), are not uncommon. And “Gearbreakers” is just that. But what sets it apart is that at the center of all the action are two queer young women of color— something we rarely see—doing all the saving. Mikuta doesn’t treat Eris’ and Sona’s sexualities as a big deal (because they’re not), but for readers out there who might be questioning those parts of themselves, it might well be a big deal to see someone like them saving the day.
THE VERIFIERS By Jane Pek Vintage, 2022 Claudia Lin is used to disappointing her family. She’s got no desire for the typical, nineto-five career or to meet a nice Chinese boy. She’s also used to keeping things from them. For example, she actually prefers girls. Also, she was recruited by and works for Veracity, a referrals-only online-dating detective agency focused on verifying people’s online lives and lies. As a lifelong mystery reader and Jane Austen fan, Claudia thinks she’s landed her ideal job. But then a client—who seemingly had an agenda beyond figuring out her online matches’ lies—vanishes and ends up dead under suspicious circumstances (at least to Claudia). So Claudia breaks protocol to investigate the matter. What she uncovers is a web of lies and deceit on the personal and corporate levels. As a fellow book nerd, I greatly appreciated the meta see SHELF on 15
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40 YEARS
JUNE 18 – JUNE 24, 2022
■ ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
A-pop! A column about Asian-y stuff in popular culture!
! K C A B G IN M O C ‘SQUID GAME’ IS
‘Iron Chef’ should stay retired.
By Stacy Nguyen NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY Happy Pride Month! In this column, I spontaneously made the decision to stop giving Netflix my money because I suddenly realized how much they are taking from me each month. I also get a little hypercritical of a handsome dude who is just trying to live his dream. But then, that’s probably not really new, is it? NETFLIX NEEDS VIEWERS DESPERATELY, THUS ANNOUNCES “SQUID GAME” IS COMING BACK! Guys, Netflix is not doing good. I know nothing about how money, the economy, or how stocks work, so I can’t tell you what exactly happened. I just know that after years of prosperity, after slaying former video giant Blockbuster, Netflix recently announced a $50 billion loss. Netflix says its victims (its subscribers) are sharing passwords too much. Netflix also said that it lost so many subscribers by doing the right thing, by pulling from Russia amid its invasion of Ukraine. Netflix reminded me it has hiked up its prices repeatedly over a fairly short period of time. Netflix reminded me that its algorithm is so opaque and subscribers never know the numbers or the real reason certain shows get canceled. Netflix is promising its shareholders that it will right the ship by cracking down on password-sharing and boosting quality programming. Apparently one of its moves toward that is announcing that it is bringing back “Squid Game” for another season. “Squid Game,” created by director and writer Hwang Dong-hyuk, was Netflix’s biggest release ever.
The move totally makes sense. If I were hemorrhaging money, I’d be holding onto my golden goose real tight, too. However, let’s not forget how Netflix seemingly underpaid Hwang for the first season of “Squid Game” and also how Netflix was so coy about renewing the show for the longest time while it went ham renewing crap like “Lucifer.” While Hwang deserves to make the second season of his dreams, I need to think about canceling my Netflix subscription—like for real, y’all. After all the stuff I read
to write this column, I discovered that Netflix is kind of a big ass! And I refuse to be in an abusive relationship, so we have to break up. Also, Netflix is the most expensive streamer, at $15.49 a month! And for what! For what! Ryan Reynolds action movies that don’t make sense, plot-wise? No thank you! see A-POP on 16
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YOUR VOICE
■ COMMUNITY NEWS
Off the (pi) ! s t r a h c By Juliet Fang NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY Emma Haruka Iwao started programming when she was in elementary school. Now, she’s broken the world record for computing the most digits of pi—twice. On June 8, 2022, Iwao, a Japanese computer scientist and Cloud Developer Advocate at Google in Seattle, became the first person to calculate 100 trillion digits of pi, surpassing the previous world record of 62.8 trillion digits set by Swiss researcher Thomas Keller and Iwao’s personal record of 31.4 trillion, which she achieved in 2019. “It is very exciting,” says Iwao. In the simplest terms, the number pi is a mathematical constant that describes the ratio of a circle’s circumference to
a Haruka ttleite Emm
Sea
its diameter. The first calculation of pi was completed by Archimedes, a Greek mathematician and inventor approximately 2,200 years ago. For many centuries afterward, digits of pi were calculated by hand. Then, in the 20th century, the invention of the digital computer exponentially increased efforts to estimate pi to the millionth, billionth, and, eventually, trillionth decimal point. By 2009, Daisuke Takahashi, a professor at the University of Tsukuba, had calculated 2.6 trillion digits of pi. When Iwao worked in a lab at the University of Tsukuba, she found that one of the professors there was Takahashi. She was familiar with his work and excited to work with him. She was also motivated by Shigeru Kondo, former world record holder, who did pi calculations in his own home.
KATHARINE (KAY) MULLER BULLITT 02/22/1925 — 08/22/2021 Memorial Picnic Wednesday, July 20, 2022 6:30–9 p.m. 1125 Harvard East Seattle, WA 98102 Please bring your own picnic supper and blankets or camp chairs. Memorial Program 7:30–8:15 p.m. Sing along and tribute video in lieu of eulogies
Iwao broke
the world pi
asianweekly northwest
record
“I had all these people close to me breaking records, which definitely motivated me to want to do the same,” she says. “Know-
ing these people first hand gave me a kind of see PI on 16
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asianweekly northwest
40 YEARS
JUNE 18 – JUNE 24, 2022
■ PUBLISHER’S BLOG
Frank Irigon Photos by Assunta Ng
The fighter and father Frank Irigon accepts UW Charles Odegaard award in May 2022
Frank Irigon and his family and friends
By Assunta Ng NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY Everything about the University of Washington (UW)’s 2022 highest community service award was ironic. The recipient of the UW Charles E. Odegaard Award was Frank Irigon last month. Along with his friends, Irigon had fought UW hard not just once, but thrice, against its policies, systems, and assumptions. “I was stunned and surprised!” said Irigon when he learned of the award. “Me, who was arrested and jailed for occupying Schmitz Hall. Me, who spent more time at the HUB than at the library. Me, who with other members of the Asian Students Coalition planned our protests and demonstrations at the Ethnic Cultural Center.” Known as a troublemaker, radical activist, and protester at the forefront of numerous social justice movements in the 1970s and 1980s, Irigon has been jailed twice, including once for protesting South Africa’s apartheid. Recently, he has been involved in the fighting of the anti-Asian hate crimes since 2021. The protests led to changes in UW’s past unjust policies towards Asian American students in the 1970s and 1980s. The assumptions UW carried were that Asian American students were a model minority, and didn’t need help like other underprivileged students. That misconception squeezed out those who didn’t excel academically or in science and math, including Irigon. So many Asian students were left out, said Irigon. To get UW to change, Irigon said its personnel, admission, and financial aid departments needed to hire Asian Americans. Yet, these departments had hired Black and Latino recruiters and financial aid officers to help their own communities. The lack of Asian American representation in these offices would translate into messages that hiring Asian Americans wasn’t important, that they wouldn’t be considered, and that job opportunities were not open to AAPIs at UW, period. But the implication in the financial office was even more detrimental. Those who couldn’t afford higher education wouldn’t be aware of the financial help and resources available
to them. And yet, Asian American students were the largest minority on campus, then and now. Ironically, the third protest Irigon and other students fought had to Gala menu served includes hummus and crudite, roasted beet salad with pomegranate molasses do with the Equal Opportunity and sunflower seeds, five-spice braised beef brisket served cold with chili garlic oil, chirashi sushi bowl, steamed pork hom bao, fresh vegetable rolls, corn salad with lime, chili, and cotija cheese, Program (EOP), part of the current miser wat injera rolls, and dessert including baklava, cream puffs and fresh berries Office of Minority & Diversity Affairs (OMDF), the organizer of the Odegaard award. To join the EOP, students were required to have three letters of recommendation from teachers and counselors, plus a good SAT score and GPA. Irigon contended that EOP then, was more interested in retention of the current students and not recruitment of new students. “I wouldn’t be able to get in (EOP) with those requirements,” said Irigon. “My teachers would never write me one (letter of recommendation).” It’s a burden for students to fulfill those requirements, he added. Since these protests, UW has gotten rid of all those outdated rules. Not only that, the head of OMDF, Rickey Martin, called Irigon personally to inform him that he was the award recipient. Earlier that day, Irigon, who had run for the Newcastle City Council in 2021, got the news that he had lost by 10 votes. This was the second time he ran for the seat. A bittersweet moment, he said, “It’s the best consolation prize.” It’s better to be “recognized by UW than the voters of Newcastle.” What’s unsaid is that the award is a full circle moment for Irigon. He might have fought the university in the past, but he was also an alumnus, a former one-time employee, and an ardent supporter of many of UW’s programs for students of color for decades. Also, he is the first Filipino American to have received the award since its inception in 1973. That’s the beauty of America, building on the foundation of democracy, embedding it in its education system. Students have the right to speak up against injustices, sue the university, and can still get a degree from that institution. It’s part of leadership development. Don’t ever try that in Russia or other autocratic countries, it will be a totally different story. see BLOG on 15
JUNE 18 – JUNE 24, 2022
YOUR VOICE
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■ WORLD NEWS 9 arrested after vicious assault on women in north China By ZEN SOO ASSOCIATED PRESS HONG KONG (AP) — Chinese authorities arrested nine people on suspicion of violently assaulting several women at a restaurant after surveillance footage of the attack sparked widespread outrage. Footage from a barbecue restaurant in Tangshan in northern Hebei province, time stamped 2:40 a.m. on June 10, showed one of the men approaching a table where a party of four women were seated and placing his hand on a woman’s back. She rebuffed him several times before he flew into a rage and slapped her, prompting her to fight back. A brawl ensued, with a group of men entering the restaurant and brutally attacking the woman and her dining partners, including shoving them to the ground, kicking them and even throwing a chair at them. Footage taken from outside the restaurant also showed the attackers dragging the woman who had rebuffed the man’s advances out of the establishment and beating her viciously
while most passersby and patrons looked on Photographs of her lying on a stretcher, with a swollen and bloodied face, as well as footage of the attack, went viral online. The assault and the public outcry renewed a conversation about misogyny and mistreatment of women in China. Earlier this year, a viral video of a woman being chained to a wall in a hut drew public backlash after authorities initially denied that she was a victim of human trafficking. She was later found to have been sold as a bride. All nine suspects were arrested on June 11, according to a statement by authorities issued on microblogging platform Weibo. Two women had sustained non-life-threatening injuries and were receiving treatment in a hospital. Their condition was reported to be stable. Two others were slightly injured. The footage of what happened both inside and outside the restaurant was just under five minutes. The Weibo user who was among the first to post the videos said in a post that it was “heartbreaking” to watch.
“Does that mean that dining out is so unsafe now, do we have to bring men with us everywhere we go?” the post read. “(These men) are no different from thugs.” When reached, the user declined to reveal the source of the videos, stating that it was “inconvenient” to do so. By the end of the weekend, the video of footage filmed inside the restaurant had garnered over 68 million views, while the footage showing the graphic assault outside the restaurant had been taken down. Social media users have condemned the attack and criticized Tangshan police for being slow in arresting the suspects. “I’m a woman, and I have a daughter,” said one Weibo user with the handle BaobaomaoDaren. “I wonder—as I’m creating value for society and spreading positive energy, will this society protect me and my child?” State broadcaster CCTV said in an online commentary that the suspects must be arrested as quickly as possible and “punished severely in accordance with the law” in order to account to the victims and the public.
Survivor of abusive facility searches for lost Korean roots By KIM TONG-HYUNG ASSOCIATED PRESS SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The earliest photo Joo-Rei Mathieson has of herself was taken when she was about 4. Her head is shaved, her eyes cast downward. She has just arrived at perhaps the worst place a child could be sent in South Korea. The black-and-white mugshot is from a November 1982 Brothers Home intake document that describes Mathieson as a lost street kid brought in by police. It notes that she’s “capable of labor”—chillingly for a government-sponsored vagrants’ facility that survivors have told The Associated Press often worked children to death. She spoke no words for days, the document says, after
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entering Brothers, a now-destroyed facility in the southern port city of Busan where thousands of children and adults—most of whom were grabbed off the streets—were enslaved and often killed, raped and beaten in the 1970s and 1980s. “She was so scared and traumatized,” Mathieson said of herself, as she imagined in an AP interview the feelings of the girl in the photo who’d been given the name Hwang Joo Rei, because of the Jurye-dong district where Brothers once stood. Mathieson was one of the lucky ones. In August 1983, she and 21 other young children from Brothers were transferred to an orphanage in another part of the city. Her escape may have been made possible because of overcrowding at the Brothers’ sprawling compound.
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Mathieson then slipped into an international adoption system that separated thousands of Korean children from their families as part of a lucrative business under the military governments that ruled South Korea from the 1960s to the late 1980s. She was given an approximate birth date and other arbitrary details to accommodate a haphazard immigration process that was designed to send more children abroad as fast as possible. Mathieson was then flown to meet her Canadian adoptive parents in November 1984, becoming part of a child export frenzy that created the world’s largest diaspora of adoptees. Mathieson said she spent most of her adult life in a see SURVIVOR on 15
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asianweekly northwest
JUNE 18 – JUNE 24, 2022
ISRD from 1 having the tower at the north end of the site also “made perfect sense” because it would contribute to “the transition between Chinatown and downtown.” The design team describes the site—the corner of Fourth Ave South and South Jackson Street—as the “gateway” to the ChinatownInternational District (CID). SUPPORTERS: IT INCREASES SAFETY One argument of the developers, which involves a partnership between Da Li International and Fujimatsu LLC—owned by Tomio Moriguchi and the Moriguchi family— is that the project will increase the safety of the area. “Hundreds of new residents and patrons of retail shops will bring eyes on the street, and with that, safety,” states the briefing materials. “Young people are scared here,” said Brittany Wu, echoing that point, who identified herself as the manager of the Refresh Café and Smoothie Bar in the CID. “It’s really dark when it’s night. So I think we really need some new buildings coming here to bring people interested in Chinatown and to bring more retail stores.” Fujimatsu Village is designed to have two stories of retail space rising from the ground floor. Proponents of the project argue that the large retail space, along with an increase of foot traffic and street amenities, such as lighting and trees, will lift that part of the district out of darkness and what they say are many drug deals that go on in the parking lot. “This is not only what I and others in my generation want to see, but it’s also what my grandma, who lives adjacent to the Danny Woo Community Garden on South Main Street, would want to see. Whether it’s me or my 75-year-old grandma, we get scared and feel unsafe walking around Chinatown. We have to tiptoe around broken glass on the street or keep our distance from those consuming drugs,” said Lawson Wong, who said he lives and works in the CID. He referred specifically to a bus stop near the parking lot that would be replaced with the building. OPPONENTS: IT GENTRIFIES THE COMMUNITY Those opposed to the project said the many low-income residents in the district could be priced out of the area with the advent of more luxury housing. “Could the average resident of the neighborhood afford this building?” asked Max Chen, who has lived in the neighborhood for 15 years. Sue Kay opposed the project because she saw it as another manifestation of the forces that had eaten away at the community, including stadiums, light rail, and luxury condominiums. “It saddens me to see the disappearing view of Elliott Bay,” she said. “And the loss of tree canopy, fresh air for our seniors and residents—I see more shadows coming.” Kay also said that an earlier development by Da Li had failed to keep “some promises,” although she did not name them. The architect, John Stout, of Thomas Weber, in his presentation, was careful to spell out what the review board was tasked with considering, and what were its goals. Among them, he
noted, was to make sure the CID remained a “predominant” neighborhood in the area. Still, it was not clear precisely what that referred to. MORE STUDY NEEDED Board member Elizabeth Baskerville asked Stout to undertake more intense and more frequent community engagement (there had been no interpretation provided in earlier outreach). She reiterated that the review board cannot consider issues of affordability. It’s outside “our purview,” she said. Zhang said there seemed to be two predominant views in the community about the project—one in favor, one against. He recommended that Stout not only engage in more outreach but bring more scientific studies to the table. For instance, he said Stout could undertake a study to gain data about the impact of the building’s shadows on nearby establishments, including the Danny Woo gardens. Board members voiced enthusiasm for increased foot traffic and more housing. The design team proposes to “preserve the street trees along Main Street and upgrade the sidewalk…which includes widening the sidewalk by six feet.” The design team is also proposing to widen the sidewalk along Fifth Avenue by setting the structure back. It also seeks to address community concerns about affordability. Some of the units will be offered as affordable housing. But Stout was not entirely clear about how many. Out of approximately 250 units, about 78 will be “some form of affordable housing,” he said. A LEGACY PROJECT The project is named after the father of Tomio Moriguchi. Moriguchi chronicled the history of his family, with the arrival of his father in Tacoma in 1923 and then two decades later the incarceration of his family during World War II. Moriguchi said the project was to be a legacy for his family, and family members would own part of it. But one opponent also invoked the history of racism in this country and even the same mass imprisonment of Japanese Americans as a reason to oppose the project. She argued the gentrification of the district was one more step along the same path starting with the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. Christina Shimizu said her multi-generation family business had been ruined by the closure of the Washington Medical Clinic, which was once part of land donated to the Keiro nursing home. Keiro closed in 2019 amid intense rancor over who was to blame (Moriguchi was one of its founders). Shimizu linked past acts of racism with current gentrification. “Who is the development for if we are priced out of the neighborhood?” Still, Pui Leung, a supporter, said the CID needs “a balance between affordable and market rate housing.” THE AIM: A TRANSITION BETWEEN THE CID AND DOWNTOWN For Moriguchi and the design team, the concept is a transition between the character
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40 YEARS (and height) of the buildings in the CID and those bristling across the way in downtown. One slide shows a neat white arrow rising up at a vector that starts in the low valleys of the CID, accelerates upward like a gust of air over the planned development, and rides up, cresting over the roofs of downtown’s high rises. The building goes up to 270 feet but could go further depending on how the top is utilized, said Rebecca Frestedt, coordinator for Columbia City Landmark District and ISRD. Because of the location, inside the Asian Design Character District, its design is required to conform to preexisting motifs. During the presentation, Stout showed designs of buildings in the neighborhood, seeming to promise that the new building would resemble their appearances. He also mentioned his firm is known for sustainability, affordable housing, and high rises. Melanie Mandry, an opponent, said the project was “exploitative” of the culture in a “fetishistic way.” She called it a “vanity project” and said the community did not need to attract tech workers. “It is not going to be for us, and I also mentioned Da Li is an international developer and so the interests are not for the people currently living in the CID, carrying on the legacy, so please, I’m begging you to reconsider this project,” she said. A LARGE RETAIL SPACE BUILDS CONSENSUS As the board members considered the project, the ghost of a consensus seemed to emerge—that the retail space, slated for the first and second floors, would
be key in determining whether or not the building could indeed serve as a transitional space. Baskerville asked if it would be “welcoming” to the community coming from lower income areas. She also asked if the space could accommodate smaller businesses—like many of those that constitute the neighborhood. Stout assured her it could. Supporters said they hoped the project could bring new types of commerce to the district. “I hope to see more variety of retailers, such as clothing or salons or personal goods and products coming into the Chinatown-International District,” said Young Ye who works in the CID. SOUND TRANSIT? One area that was not addressed, and that could potentially complicate plans, is the future of the light rail construction planned by Sound Transit—either through the CID (on Fifth Avenue) or around it (on Fourth Avenue). Amanda Keating, a senior principal in Weber Thompson, responded to an email about this. “Regarding future Sound Transit, the project does not rely on either scenario for the light rail line and can be constructed in either configuration on Fourth or Fifth,” she said. There was also no discussion of how any space within the building might be used to honor or preserve the history of the Moriguchi family or Nihonmachi (Japantown). Mahlon can be reached at info@nwasianweekly.com.
YOUR VOICE
■ ASTROLOGY
JUNE 18 – JUNE 24, 2022
asianweekly northwest
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Predictions and advice for the week of June 18–June 24, 2022 By Sun Lee Chang Dragon—Keep an important conversation on course by coming to the discussion with an agenda and sticking to it.
Monkey—It’s easy to become sidetracked if you let it happen. Don’t let excuses stop you from getting the job done.
Ox—Are you too close to the situation to see it objectively? A second opinion could be quite useful.
Snake—Are you nervous about a meeting this week? Do your homework beforehand to minimize any surprises.
Rooster—Did you sign up for something on a whim? To your surprise, you may enjoy it far more than you expected.
Tiger—While you are excited for a homecoming of sorts, not all will be the same as it was before.
Horse—Avoid making too many major changes all at once. When possible, tackle one before moving on to the next.
Dog—Whether it is a leisurely walk or listening to music, carve out some time to unwind and destress today.
Rabbit —Your eyes are set on an unusual prize. Likewise, the path you take may also be out of the ordinary.
Goat—A little consideration in terms of scheduling should earn you some goodwill in an upcoming get-together.
Pig—Throw yourself into some creative activities that are sure to be as fun as they are relaxing.
Rat—Don’t be fooled by a seemingly perfect picture. It may not reflect what is actually behind the image.
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.
drug trafficking. The death penalty in Malaysia mandates hanging as punishment for a range of crimes, including murder, drug trafficking, treason, kidnapping and acts of terror. Foreigners account for 526 of the 1,355 people on death row in the country, according to the Anti-Death Penalty Asia Network. In 2018, Malaysia said it would abolish the death penalty for all crimes and halt all pending executions. But it backtracked in 2019, saying that the death penalty would
no longer be mandatory for selected offenses. The ADPAN said the mandatory death penalty “deprives judges of the discretion to sentence based on the situation of each individual offender ... (which) has resulted in absurd sentences that have led to public outcries.” Rights groups welcomed the announcement but said the agreement was only a starting point. “Before everyone starts cheering, we need to see Malaysia pass the actual legislative amendments to put this pledge into effect because we have been down this road before, with successive Malaysian governments promising much on human rights but ultimately delivering
very little,” said Phil Robertson, the deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. Katrina Jorene Maliamauv, Amnesty International Malaysia’s executive director, said the move was a step in the right direction but urged the country to go further and work toward full abolition of the death penalty. “The government should table the necessary amendments in Parliament without delay and establish a full review of all cases involving the mandatory death penalty with a view to commuting these sentences,” Maliamauv said.
EVICTION from 4
POLICE STOPS from 1
Rancheria of Chukchansi Indians voted to expel dozens of members in 2019 from a share of casino profits and other benefits of tribal membership. The Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde in Oregon in the past decade also disenrolled tribal members they said no longer satisfied enrollment rules. Tribal expulsions started in the 1990s along with the establishment of casinos, and have continued as gambling revenues skyrocketed. Critics say the disenrollments have also been used as a way to settle political infighting and family and personal feuds. In a statement, the Nooksack Indian Tribe said it owns the land and the housing in question, manages the properties, and is the landlord on the leases with all the tenants involved in the case. “We are confident that once the Court examines the true facts, rather than unfounded claims for the disenrolled tenants, that it will dismiss the case,” the statement said.
same conclusion in the case of a white defendant, it used the case to emphasize that people of color have different experiences with law enforcement, as borne out by data showing that police have long disproportionately arrested and used force against Black people and other minority groups. Because of those experiences, they might have different perspectives regarding whether they are free to leave an encounter with officers. This makes minority status one factor in determining whether a person has been “seized” by law enforcement, the court said. “Today, we formally recognize what has always been true: in interactions with law enforcement, race and ethnicity matter,” Justice Mary Yu wrote. “Therefore, courts must consider the race and ethnicity of the allegedly seized person as part of the totality of the circumstances when deciding whether there was a seizure.” Some other courts have recognized that race and ethnicity are among the factors that can determine whether a police interaction rises to the level of a seizure. The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which covers Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin, has held that race is “not irrelevant” in such determinations, and the New Hampshire Supreme Court in 2020 ruled that “race is an appropriate circumstance to consider.” The decision did not affect Sum’s convictions for attempting to flee police and unlawful possession of a firearm, which he did not challenge. While the state’s attorneys agreed that race and ethnicity can be considered in determining whether someone is free to leave a police encounter, they said race wasn’t relevant in Sum’s case and that an officer asking for his identification did not amount to a detention. “Unfortunately, this decision will likely further confuse law enforcement officers about their interactions with the public,” Pierce County Prosecutor Mary Robnett said in an emailed statement. “Police officers and trial court judges,
especially, are facing some confusing and uncertain times ahead as they try to correctly apply the court’s ruling.” The ruling was the latest in a series of actions by Washington’s justices to counteract implicit and sometimes explicit bias in the justice system. The court previously singled out racially biased prosecutorial misconduct for heightened scrutiny on appeal, struck down the death penalty in the state because it had been applied in an arbitrary and racially disproportionate manner, and adopted a first-in-the-nation rule aimed at improving the racial diversity of juries. That rule forbids prospective jurors from being dismissed without cause if “an objective observer”— one aware of the effects of institutional or implicit bias, in addition to purposeful racism “could view race or ethnicity as a factor” in the dismissal. The state Supreme Court adopted similar language in its decision, saying that whether someone’s interaction with law enforcement escalates from a conversation to a “seizure” is based on what a similar objective observer would think. Civil rights and public defense organizations praised the ruling. The King County Department of Public Defense, American Civil Liberties Union of Washington, and the Korematsu Center for Law and Equality at Seattle University School of Law filed a friend-of-the-court brief urging the justices to side with Sum. Ruling for Sum recognizes that people of color have long faced excessive policing in the U.S. and sometimes find it necessary to over-comply with law enforcement as a survival strategy—and not feel free to leave in a situation where a white person might, the groups argued. “We are pleased that the court has recognized the lived experiences of our clients and the significant harms they face due to racialized policing,“ Anita Khandelwal, director of the King County Department of Public Defense, said in an emailed statement. “It’s not often that our clients have their truths lifted up in this way.”
DEATH PENALTY from 5
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VIETNAM from 5 investigated for involvement in the price gouging, according to the Ministry of Public Security. The report said the two officials’ violations had harmed Vietnam’s response
COVID from 5 contributions toward virus tracing, sharing the most data and research results. That “fully reflects China’s open, transparent and responsible attitude, as well as its support for the work of the WHO and the advisory group,” he said. The WHO’s stance in a report released on June 9 is a sharp reversal of the U.N. health agency’s initial assessment of the pandemic’s origins. It comes after many critics accused WHO of being too quick to dismiss or underplay a lab-leak theory that put Chinese officials on the defensive. Following a tightly controlled visit to China last year, the WHO concluded that it was “extremely unlikely” the coronavirus might have spread to humans from a lab in the city of Wuhan. Many scientists suspect the coronavirus jumped from bats to people, possibly via another animal. However, in the report, WHO’s expert group said “key pieces of data” to explain how the pandemic began were still missing. The scientists said
to the COVID-19 pandemic and were costly to the state budget. A deputy science minister, Pham Cong Tac, also was arrested and accused of violating regulations on managing state assets. Viet A took in $172 million for supplying
the group would “remain open to any and all scientific evidence that becomes available in the future to allow for comprehensive testing of all reasonable hypotheses.” Identifying a disease’s source in animals typically takes years. It took more than a decade for scientists to pinpoint the species of bats that were the natural reservoir for SARS, a relative of COVID-19 The expert group also noted that since lab accidents in the past have triggered some outbreaks, the theory could not be discounted. They said China has not presented any studies to WHO that assessed the possibility of the coronavirus resulting from a laboratory leak. The new report is indicative of a more confrontational relationship between China’s authoritarian Communist leadership and the WHO, which had initially been accused of being overly deferential to Beijing, particularly by the former U.S. Trump administration. The coronavirus has killed more than 6.3 million people worldwide, forced dozens of countries into lockdown and
its test kits in 62 localities. Its general director was arrested in December and allegedly admitted his Ho Chi Minh Citybased company had inflated the selling price of a test kit to about $20, or 45% more than the original, to earn a difference of $21.5 million.
upended the world economy. It was first detected in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019 and was initially linked to a traditional market where wild animals were sold for food. China was accused of responding slowly and covering up the extent of the outbreak, before it locked down the entire city of Wuhan and surrounding areas in the first of a series of draconian measures labeled “zero-COVID” which continue today as much of the rest of the world is opening up again. Last month, the WHO called “zeroCOVID” unsustainable, pointing to increased knowledge of the virus and the cost to the economy and civil rights. China rejected the criticism as “irresponsible.” China was also accused of leading a disinformation campaign, suggesting the virus was detected elsewhere before the Wuhan outbreak and putting forward other theories aimed at diverting attention from China. Investigations by The Associated Press found that some top WHO insiders were frustrated by China during the initial outbreak even as
Phan Quoc Viet allegedly confessed to investigators that he paid illegal kickbacks worth $34 million to his state-owned partners who bought his test kits at inflated prices.
WHO heaped praise on Chinese President Xi Jinping. They were also upset over how China sought to clamp down on research into the origins of COVID-19. Zhao appeared to imply that China would reject any criticisms or suspicions of it. “Research on the origin of the virus must adhere to scientific principles and should not be subject to political interference,” Zhao said.
SOLUTION from SUDOKU on page 6.
JUNE 18 – JUNE 24, 2022
YOUR VOICE SHELF from 7 nature of how Claudia went about trying to solve the mystery. I also loved how she was slightly judgmental toward others’ reading choices—because that is something I can relate to. “Verifiers” is a mystery, wrapped in an immigrant family story, inside a deep-dive examination of how technology shapes our lives. When a story has multiple plot lines, it can be easy for one subplot to catch my interest more than others. But Pek does a great job of balancing all the elements of her story and having readers wanting to know more about each of them— whether it’s trying to guess the culprit or waiting to see the latest Lin family drama. Pek’s details about technology and how big corporations use the information we so freely provide for them will have you thinking twice about how you spend your life online. While some of it seems a bit out there, I also wouldn’t be surprised to learn that it’s already happening (not disturbing, at all). Also, I don’t know if this was Pek’s
SURVIVOR from 11 “tunnel vision moving forward,” never questioning her past and living as a Canadian while traveling around the world, before settling in Hong Kong to work in the hospitality industry. But her Korean past “jumped back” at her in recent months as she began to feel she was “on a mission” to discover her roots and locate her Korean parents if they are alive. Because of privacy worries, she used the name on her adoption documents in a 2019 AP report that broke the news that Brothers was in the adoption business. Mathieson, however, is now willing to speak publicly for the first time to improve her chances of finding her Korean relatives, including a possible sibling named Lee Changkeun. That name appears on the adoption papers of another Korean adoptee who, along with his younger brother, was sent to a family in Belgium in 1986. Mathieson connected with him in October last year after commercial DNA tests—increasingly used
intention, but I’ve never used online dating sites or apps, and after reading “Verifiers,” I don’t think I ever will. A CLASH OF STEEL: A TREASURE ISLAND REMIX By C. B. Lee Feiwel & Friends, 2021 The year is 1826 and the sun is setting on the golden age of piracy. The Dragon Fleet, scourge of the South China Sea—and its ruthless leader, a woman only known as the Head of the Dragon—are nothing more than stories 16-year-old Xiang has grown up with her entire life. But when she learns about the Head of the Dragon’s treasure and discovers a piece of a map possibly leading to said treasure, found inside the pendant of a necklace gifted to her by her late father, Xiang sees it as the chance to prove herself to her shrewd business-woman mother. So Xiang joins Anh, the 17-year-old girl who stole the necklace and actually revealed the pendant’s true nature, and her motley crew in search of the treasure—with the promise to help
by Korean adoptees seeking reunions—found that they were most likely siblings. Mathieson said it was “exhilarating” to discover a blood relative and gain a tangible connection to her biological roots despite not knowing her true name, birthdate or hometown. “I think no other human on this earth except for adoptees will understand what it’s like to go through life with no link to their origins. It’s something that normal people will take for granted,” Mathieson said in a Zoom interview, using air quotes for the word “normal.” “To see someone that looked so much like me was so exciting.” The finding also raised disturbing questions about the circumstances of her adoption and that of her newfound kin, who didn’t respond to AP’s requests for comment. His paperwork says he and his younger brother were adopted from an orphanage in Anyang, a city near the capital, Seoul, that is about 190 miles away from Busan. It says the boys were found abandoned in August 1982, months before Mathieson’s arrival at Brothers, and
BLOG from 10 It’s also a sweet moment for the UW. This was the first in-person event since the pandemic, raising more than $410,000 for scholarships. There were 245 in-person attendees and 168 virtual attendees for a total of 413 people ogether for the evening. IRIGON, THE FATHER For those who were on the opposite side of Irigon, who see only his tough-guy image, they would not know that he is also a gentle human being. Although Irigon lamented to the Asian Weekly that he “wasn‘t a good father” for “spending too much time in the community,” his three grown children think otherwise. They appreciate his sense of humor and his love for his friends and family, and are proud of his social justice stance. Theressa Irigon-Rachetto described his dad as “passionate and resilient. He is
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decode the clue left behind by Xiang’s father. But both girls quickly learn that the sea, especially the ones who sail it, are much more dangerous than stories and legends have led them to believe. In this remix of the classic tale “Treasure Island,” Lee takes us to Asia—from China to Vietnam—and gives us a story as swashbuckling and adventurous as any pirate story. Prior to reading “Steel,” I wasn’t too familiar with the original story, but I’ll admit, I’m definitely curious now. Xiang, though naive and sheltered, is a strong young woman who wants nothing more than to be able to choose how to live her life—from what she wants to do, to who she loves. Seeing her come into her own and learn to stand up for herself is great to see. And Anh complements Xiang’s naivety with a worldliness that comes from a life at sea. As the two become close, we see how their feelings become more— showing readers how friendship can serve as a foundation for love. Samantha can be reached at info@nwasianweekly.com.
that they had another brother, Lee Chang-keun, who was at a different Anyang orphanage. There’s no mention of whether Lee was adopted. Mathieson hopes Lee remained in Korea and that she can now find him. She’s desperate for information about her Korean parents, and how they were separated from their children. Neither Mathieson’s adoption papers nor those of the brothers in Belgium describe any meaningful effort to locate their original families despite the years they spent in the orphanage system. Mathieson says she’s filled with questions: Did her parents leave her with a relative in Busan while scrambling to search for their missing sons? Was she kidnapped by police, like many other inmates at Brothers? “A lot of the adoptions, rather, were from new parents that had to give up their child right after birth,” Mathieson said. “For a family to relinquish, voluntarily relinquish, three kids between the ages of four and six? It just didn’t add up for me . I knew that (the) true story was so far deep.” Through documents obtained
so loving towards everyone, even after a meeting where he may have yelled at you to fight for what is right. “He is incredibly intelligent, always reading and studying. He is constantly giving back to the community. Volunteering—everything from helping at food banks to using his skills for grant writing for nonprofits.” Both of Irigon’s sons, Jean-Mario and Paixi, also echoed their sister’s sentiment that their dad is “extremely passionate about his causes.” “Family dinners and celebrations are always jovial events,” said Jean-Mario. However, “should politics or inequality of any means, with racial and economic disparity, being his trigger points,” there will be “a discernible change in him.” Jean-Mario said his dad influenced him to “take into consideration and care about the bigger picture of community, of ethnic Filipino pride, and being a voice for those that have none. But also, to take no B.S.”
from officials, lawmakers or through freedom of information requests, the AP found direct evidence that 19 children were adopted out of Brothers between 1979 and 1986, and indirect evidence suggesting at least 51 more adoptions. Mathieson’s memories from before she left Korea—of watching children playing in an almost empty outdoor pool, of towering black iron gates, of flowers in a garden courtyard where she was hurried out for a photograph—were all vague and benign before the AP first told her that she’d been at Brothers in 2016. She now connects those memories with Brothers photos showing children playing in the low water of a concrete pit behind huge barred gates that confined thousands — including homeless and disabled people as well as random pedestrians who’d been snatched off the streets — before a prosecutor exposed the facility’s horrors in 1987. Brothers was the largest of the nationwide facilities that accommodated aggressive roundups ordered by military
Jean-Mario has also inherited his dad’s “loud laugh and sense of humor…and the immense love he has for his family and friends are benchmarks.” “The incident that resonated with me the most was when he was arrested for protesting apartheid in South Africa at the local embassy,” said Jean-Mario. “I was exposed to politics and unjust practices from birth, I had listened to dinner table conversations, read Time Magazine articles, and watched news segments on 60 Minutes. South Africa was a land so far away but the fact that our father took part, LOCALLY, to affect change was awesome. “I also remember our mother Felicita was, understandably, not thrilled but also proud and supportive of him. They share the same passions when it comes to inequality and disparity.” “Committed” is Paixi’s way of thinking about his dad. “If he had to describe his father in one sentence, it would be, ‘Whatever he does,
leaders eager to clean the country’s streets. Adoptions were another way to remove the socially undesirable, including children from unwed mothers or poor families, and to reduce the number of mouths to feed. About 200,000 Korean children were adopted by families in the West in the past six decades, including 7,924 in 1984, the year Mathieson was adopted. Roots are often untraceable because most of the children were listed as abandoned, even when they had known relatives, which made them easily adoptable. Mathieson plans to bring her case to Seoul’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which has interviewed hundreds of Brothers survivors or their families, but so far no adoptee. While still determined to get information about her biological parents, Mathieson treasures the snippets of her past that have emerged as she presses on with her search. “It was nice to get additional photos,” Mathieson said about images recently sent from the Korea Welfare Service, her adoption agency. “I will cherish them.”
he gives it his all. His family, the causes he supports or even eating all the food on his plate.’ “I love, and admire, how my dad always remembers people’s names and he makes it a point to introduce us. He also has a gift to bring people together and build strong relationships. I also love and hate my dad’s humor.” What does this Father’s Day mean for Irigon’s children? “I love that my children have a strong relationship with them (elders) and learn to be proud to be Asian and Filipino American,” said Irigon-Rachetto. “I want my children to continue (dad’s) work for justice and equality.” Remembering his dad had gone through a heart-transplant more than a decade ago, Paixi said, “When your dad has a hearttransplant, every Father’s Day is special.” Assunta can be reached at assunta@nwasianweekly.com.
asianweekly northwest
40 YEARS
JUNE 18 – JUNE 24, 2022
Photo by Elaine Ko
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MINETA from 1 extended that idea of closeness to beyond just our family.” He recalled fondly a time when the elder Mineta blocked off an afternoon off his busy schedule “to take me to a go kart track and arcade.” Stuart said, “Dad took more than a roll of pictures of me going around a track in a go-kart over and over again, and then took another roll of me playing video games in the arcade.” Attendees laughed as David detailed how Norm “was a kind father with a sometimes bad sense of humor.” He recalled the time when he was confirmed for a position at the
Tomio Moriguchi attended Mineta’s service in Washington, D.C. on June 11.
White House drug policy office. “One day, I invited [Dad] to the White House mess for lunch,” said David. “I was pretty proud of myself that I could share that special privilege with him. But it turned into another life lesson of ‘humility 101 with Norm.’ ‘Hi, Mr. Secretary! Norm, good to see you! Who are these people?’ It felt like he worked at the White House and he was taking ME to lunch!” David continued, “It actually got to be fairly annoying. As he walked out of the White House that day, I think he knew that I was annoyed because he had that little twinkle of mischief in his eyes… it was a half sorry and a
A-POP from 8 ‘IRON CHEF: QUEST FOR AN IRON LEGEND’ HAS A WEIRDLY REPETITIVE TITLE, BUT ALTON BROWN IS STILL HOST! The original Japanese “Iron Chef” series was one of my favorite things to watch when I was in college. I watched it via satellite dish on the Food Network and had to fight occasional static because I think my parents were bootlegging cable, so technically, we did not have legit access to Food Network. The American version of the show never quite captured the campy magic of the original—“Iron Chef America” was too competitive and its cadre of revolving guest B-list celebrity judges were often too wrapped up in cracking corny jokes to realize the real star of the show should be the food—the food, duh! Well, the next American iteration of this show seems to be turning the dial on all the things I hate about American cooking shows today. Like, it’s not really even about cooking anymore! “Iron Chef: Quest for an Iron Legend” seems to be about drama and competition and an off-putting seriousness. On the plus side, Alton Brown is returning as host. Joining him is “Top Chef” winner Kristen Kish. Mark Dacascos also returns as the chairman character. I love seeing these people on my screen, but still, yawn. NICO SANTOS JOINS ‘GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 3’ Our beloved Mateo from “Superstore” (played by Nico Santos) has joined ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.’ I have no idea what kind of character actor Santos will play, but I do know that his presence in this upcoming superhero movie makes me slightly more likely to maybeee check out said superhero movie. Most of all though, I’m glad Santos is getting that money! He was so hilarious in “Superstore,” and it’s nice to see his career progress. Also, he’s joining fellow APIs Dave Bautista (who plays Drax) and Pom Klementieff (Mantis). I hope they all high-five each other on-screen at some point. I hope director James Gunn makes that moment happen for us. HENRY GOLDING JOINS “THE OLD GUARD 2” “The Old Guard” is a pretty cool action flick from 2020 starring Charlize Theron and her team of immortal mercenaries. Notably for me, it also featured Vietnamese actor Veronica Ngo aka Ngô Thanh Vân.
half ‘hee hee hee’ look.” “He was polite, courteous, humble, helpful, a servant to others, and, most importantly, loving,” said Stuart. “Thank you for setting that example of that life well-lived for us. I really, really miss you.” “I hope that I will be able to live out my life living up to the example you set for us,” said David. “I will try to be a positive influence in my community trying to make it better than when I found it, while being the best husband and father that I can be.” Former President Bill Clinton was set to speak at a June 16 memorial for Mineta in San Jose. There will also be a June 25 celebration at the Japanese
She’s Norwegian Vietnamese and carved a career in Vietnam as a pop singer, then an actor, then a director. She’s a badass action star, and I’ve watched her in Vietnamese films, so it was really exciting to see her in a Hollywood production with a prestigious cast. “The Old Guard” ended on a cliffhanger involving her character Quynh, so I’m really excited to see where “The Old Guard 2” goes with the story. And it looks like fellow API Henry Golding will be part of this progression. Guys, I’ve been very blah on Golding for years because I am always suspicious of handsome Asian men, but he’s been slowly earning good will with his projects. Dare I say I might actually be kind of fond of him now? Can’t wait for this one to come out! KEVIN FROM “BLING EMPIRE” HAS A MATCHA COMPANY, AND I’M EMBARRASSED FOR HIM Kevin Kreider, a handsome Asian man, wormed his way into some hearts (not mine) when the first season of reality show “Bling Empire” first came out. “Bling Empire” features a bunch of super rich Asians living their life doing rich Asian things, like buying jewelry, throwing lavish parties, and letting their inlaws dictate what goes on in their uteruses. Kreider isn’t one of the super rich Asians. Rather, he was a model and a friend and beneficiary of the super rich Asians. I actually found him compelling to watch because he was pretty grounded in reality. Well, he founded a fitness supplement brand called Be More Matcha, extolling the virtues of matcha for energy—and I’m kind of embarrassed for him. Here’s why: Kreider has over 500k Instagram followers; his company has less than 1,500 followers. His company keeps acting like matcha, a tea tradition that has existed for a bajillion years in Japan, is in a one-sided competition with coffee—and worse yet, his company keeps acting like coffee is winning this rivalry that it doesn’t even know it’s in! His company keeps promising that new branding is coming, but admits that only the old packaging is available for order; empty promises are awkward. I’m not sure 2022 is the time to name a company “Be More Matcha” (a play on “be more macho”?). Toxic masculinity is not really the look anymore. I don’t mean to rag on Kreider for trying something. I think I just expected that a handsome man with more than 500k followers, who is on TV, would put out something more polished, not something that my dad would come up with, you know? Stacy Nguyen can be reached at stacy@nwasianweekly.com.
Photo by Elaine Ko
A band played at Mineta’s June 11 service.
The program for Mineta’s June 11 service.
American National Museum in Los Angeles. Ruth can be reached at editor@nwasianweekly.com.
PI from 9 confidence that I could do anything if I had the right tools and timing.” But it wasn’t until Iwao began working at Google that she felt she had the resources to break world records. “Working there, I sort of realized, ‘Hey, we have fast enough computers!’ We had the software to break the current record and decided to give it a try,” she says. The process wasn’t easy. According to Iwao, the biggest hurdle was ensuring she and her team had the right configuration for the Google Cloud computers. “We spent a lot of time writing scripts, automating some of the operational processes we have, and measuring the performance of our computers using those tools. We made sure we were confident that the technology could run for several months without any issues.” Eventually, Iwao and her team prevailed. Using the power of Google Cloud and y-cruncher, a program that was developed by software engineer Alexander Yee, Iwao calculated 100 trillion digits of pi in 157 days, processing a total of 82,000 terabytes of data. What’s more, she was able to calculate more than three times her previous record of pi digits (31.4 trillion in 2019) more than twice as fast. Iwao believes that this new record demonstrates how far computers have come in the past decades. “Calculating digits of pi acts as a measurement of computer progress. The fact that we were able to compute more than triple the number of digits in a similar amount of
time, from 2019 to 2022, truly shows that we are still making computers faster. There’s been some speculation about an upper limit to the speed of computers, but the amount of progress we’ve been able to make in just three years is just one of the examples of where computer technology continues to make exponential progress.” Indeed, the number 100 trillion is practically unimaginable. In a blog post by Iwao, she notes that 100 trillion inches of pie crust could stretch from Earth to the moon and back approximately 3,304 times and that it would take 3,170,979 years to read all 100 trillion digits of pi out loud. So, what’s next for Iwao? Continuing her passion of making computers efficient and easy to work with, she says. “I really want to use these kinds of experiments and demonstrations as a tool to help more people learn about computers, cloud technology, and programming so that more people can use computers to solve problems.” Iwao is very optimistic about the future of the tech industry. “Computer science is such an exciting field. If anyone wants to become a software engineer or any sort of computer scientist, know that it is always a great time to jump in and start learning because there are always so many things happening. There are always new things to learn that come out every single month.” “Truly, technology is still evolving, improving, and progressing.” Juliet can be reached at info@nwasianweekly. com.