Tag: Japanese American

Interview, Star Trek, Streaming

Hiro Kanagawa on Joining ‘Star Trek: Discovery’

Swara Salih

Hiro Kanagawa has been on our tv screens for decades, appearing in such favorite shows as Smallville, iZombie, Legends of Tomorrow, Inuyasha, The X-Files, Altered Carbon, and much more. Now, joins the critically acclaimed Star Trek: Discovery as the inquisitive Dr. Hirai, one of the Federation’s leading specialists in astrolinguistics, xenophonology, and theoretical semiotics in the 32nd Century. As the Federation prepares to engage with the extra-galactic Species 10-C, Dr. Hirai is pivotal to establishing first contact.

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Animation, Interview, Marvel

Ally Maki Brings the Asian American Girl Club to Hulu’s ‘Hit-Monkey’

Keith Chow

On November 17, Hit-Monkey, Hulu’s latest TV-MA rated animated Marvel property, makes its debut on the streaming platform. Based on the comic by Daniel Way and artist Dalibor Talajić, Hit-Monkey tells the tale of a Japanese snow monkey who seeks revenge against the gangsters that decimated his family. One of the characters drawn into Hit-Monkey’s orbit is Detective Haruka, played by the incomparable Ally Maki.

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Horror, Movies, Reviews

‘Ouija Japan’ Summons Greatness but is Cursed with Being Decent

Bray Lawrence

Something that has always fascinated me in horror movies is that through the sheer bombastic embrace of all things repulsive in society, it can often be the best mirror image society has of itself. Whether it be through nightmare dream logic, campy visual stylization, or an over abundance of gore, when you strip the horror genre to its core there is a meaning behind the madness.

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Horror, Television

‘The Terror: Infamy’ Doesn’t Need Ghosts to be Scary

Laura Sirikul

In the third episode of The Terror: Infamy, one of the main characters told his wife, who put up some items to protect from evil, “It may protect us from spirits, but not from human evil.”

The latest installment of the supernatural anthology series by Alexander Woo and Max Borenstein explores a dark part of history in America during World War II — Japanese American internment and the ghosts (yūrei) that haunt them.

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Martial Arts, Streaming3 Comments

‘Cobra Kai’ and Cultural Appropriation

Steven Barnes

by Steven Barnes | Originally posted on his website

Some time back, I watched a documentary about master Fumio Demura, one of the first to bring authentic Japanese karate (Shito-ryu) to the United States. I thought of him because he was Pat Morita’s stunt double for the Karate Kid movies.

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Movies, Music, Theatre4 Comments

See George Takei’s Broadway Musical Allegiance on the Big Screen

Keith Chow

If you missed out on George Takei’s Allegiance during its acclaimed, but brief, Broadway run, Fathom Events is giving you an opportunity to see the musical — that made Hamilton’s Lin-Manuel Miranda sob — in a cinema near you!

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Fantasy, Movies1 Comment

Yamasong: March of the Hollows Releases Trailer, Poster

Keith Chow

In 2010, Los Angeles-based filmmaker Sam Koji Hale released an award-winning and critically acclaimed short film called Yamasong that featured Japanese-style puppetry set to the pulsating rhythm of the contemporary taiko group On Ensemble. Now, five years later, Hale has returned to the world of Nani and her tortoise compatriot Shojun in the full-length feature Yamasong: March of the Hollows. Only this time, he’s backed by an all-star voice cast and the scions of two legendary puppeteering families: Heather Henson and Toby Froud.

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Animation, Guest Post, Marvel, Movies5 Comments

Seeing San Fransokyo: Thoughts on Big Hero 6

Guest N.O.C.

by Sean Miura | Originally posted at Down Like JTown

Last week was a big week for Big Hero 6. Not only did the film take home an Oscar, but its DVD and Blu-ray releases hit stores Tuesday and owned the Best Sellers list on Amazon.

I’d been anticipating Big Hero 6 since the first teaser slowly revealed a jaw-dropping rendering of San Fransokyo, the Tokyo/San Francisco hybrid that sets the stage. Though I am wary of any films that feature Asian… anything, there was a certain nostalgic familiarity in the Kingdom Hearts-style pan over the city.

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