#AAS218EastonK

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Blog #1 - WHO I AM

Hey person reading this, my name is Easton Kishimoto and I am a second year student here majoring in Psychology. Although I am originally from a somewhat small city near LA called Torrance, I am familiar with NorCal because my mother grew up in Gilroy, my grandparents lived in San Mateo, and my oldest brother graduated here seven years ago and he lived in Oakland for seven years before moving to San Jose recently. If I am being honest, I love Oakland the best out of the places I have been in NorCal because the culture and the reality of the world captivates me.

I am the youngest of five children (my mother wanted ten), so I tend to lean towards older people and have the tendency to think like an old head. Of the five children, there is only one girl who is the middle child. We aren't really close, but we will protect each other in the end, at least I hope so lol. My mother currently lives in Texas because the Toyota headquarters moved there, and my father still lives in Torrance working at Honda. I also have two dogs that are twin toy poodles (one black and one white). I think that’s enough about my family though.

In my opinion, I am a pretty simple person; I love sports, especially basketball, and I love taking photos and listening to music, especially hip hop. I mainly focus on school and work, but I do occasionally hang out with friends. Getting in tough with nature, music, and life in general are big aspects of how I live my life, which is why I am a psychology major. I believe in having optimism in life and just living life to the fullest because there is not much else we can do while we are alive. The present and living in the now is important, but looking back to learn about history and looking forward to what’s to come is always necessary, too. I always say that if today is a bad day, there is always tomorrow to look forward to because every day is a new day.

Signed,

Easton Kishimoto

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Blog #5 - Iron Chef

For our Iron Chef group, we had the honor of representing the fascinating country of Malaysia and its cultural aspects, which, in a way, contributed to the development of one of its most popular foods: milo. Milo is a chocolate malt powder developed by the company Nestle. It arrived in Malaysia as a drink for athletes as an energy and sports drink, similar to Gatorade. It’s rise came after the introduction of Milo vans and trucks, similar to ice cream trucks, that would arrive in groups serving out free Milo drinks. Ever since then, Milo has become the staple brand of Malaysia, also promoting the slogan of Malaysia in their campaigns.

For our Iron Chef project, we wanted to include Milo since we wanted to make a nice and sweet dessert. We did not want to necessarily make a drink, so we decided on a New York styled cheesecake (nothing says American like New York and dessert). To mix the two, we substituted Milo as a flavor for a cheesecake, and it tasted great. Even though the first batch we made did not contain all the ingredients, it was still a good taste. The next batch was made to as perfect as perfect can be. We included banana leaves, although they are not necessary, in the presentation just to make things look nicer and because banana leaves are a traditional concept in Malaysian food.

We were fortunate enough to have Sai Men as our country ambassador because he really taught us a lot about the history of Malaysia as well as its culture. We even went out to eat at Banana Island with him to try on some Malaysian food to get a feel for what makes it unique. This was a unique experience and I am glad we were able to be introduced to a new culture.

New York Styled Milo Cheesecake Recipe:

-one cup of crushed graham crackers

-one cup of sugar

-three tablespoons of butter, melted

-five packages of Philadelphia brick cream cheese

-three tablespoons of flour

-one tablespoon of vanilla

-one cup of sour cream

-three eggs

-26 tablespoons of Milo

-coconut shavings

-condensed milk

-Kellog graham cracker pie crust

1) Preheat oven to 350

2) Mix the graham crackers crumbs and butter together and pour the graham cracker crumbs evenly on a circle pan. And press it firmly so it’s leveled

3) Beat cream cheese, remaining sugar, flour and vanilla in large bowl with mixer until blended. Add Milo and sour cream; mix well. Add eggs, 1 at a time, mixing on low speed after each just until blended. Add more milk. Then pour over crust.

4) Bake for an hour but check on it from time to time and take it out until it rises.

5) After the baking, refrigerate it overnight or for 5 hours before you serve.

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Blog #12 - POP

Hi y’all! It’s your man, Li Harvey. Let me just start this post by expressing the amount of joy and fun I had in this group experience that was filled with laughter and entertainment. This was one of the most fun I have had completing a group project because it allowed us to be creative while still dialing in on the point of the class. It was also a time for me to showcase the knowledge I have been accumulating throughout the years that I have been watching Family Feud. Now, we pretty much had our entire plot down for what we wanted to do for our skit, but the fundamental meaning of the performance was one of the more difficult aspects of the project. There was some confusion within our group on what the point of the skit was supposed to be, along with some confusion on how the game show actually worked. However, we worked it out in the end, and I would say that we did a pretty good job in terms of being entertaining while still leaving room for understanding of our theme.

Of course, our group was a little awkward and somewhat divided because it was a combination of two groups essentially. Each home group was more comfortable with each other rather than the other, but as production went along, we all grew closer through comedic relief and reconciliation through adversity (aka one group member, I won’t say names, had a leg injury while another had gotten sick). Eventually, our two groups became one group, that later became a family, a Li Harvey family. Just like economy, we needed some competition to allow for growth, so we started a feud. Then, we added the theme of Asian American culture and how there are certain people who are disconnected with their own cultures. We wanted to show and emphasize the difference between those who are connected with those who are disconnected. In the end, we also wanted to leave an imprint and somewhat of an epiphany towards our audience. At the end of the show, we asked the question that was asked to our “contestants”,  which was “what does being Asian American mean to you?”. It was to allow the audience to think to themselves about the amount of knowledge they have of their own culture. Hopefully, it got across. 

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Blog #11 - Asian Americans and Aspirations (My Choice)

For the topic of my choosing, I decided to write about Asian Americans and their choices, which, to me, can be considered aspirations. Many Asian Americans before did not have too many aspirations because they would have to grow up on a farm, commit most of their time to labor, or were forced to study a subject that would not have been the most desired for themselves. I think that times have changed for the better, but are not yet complete (although they will never be complete because nothing is even complete).

As Asian Americans, we now have more freedom to go into a subject of our choice, and even those who say that they were forced to go into engineering or nursing or whatever may not be telling the full truth. There are plenty of my friends who say so, but when listening to the full story, it just sounds like they are the ones who chose their major based on what they are accustomed to. For example, one nursing major claims to be forces into the study, but in actuality, she just knows that nursing is the one stable and reliable major she can go into with the knowledge that she will have help from her family. Life is not about being comfortable, but rather being taking the risk for a greater reward. Nothing worth gaining is ever easy, but society today loves to give millennials second tries, helping hands, and motherly love. There needs to be struggle to truly find a way to succeed, and with ambition and strength, they can find something worth gaining. From going on a tangent, I will bring the writing back to the idea that Asian Americans cannot choose what they want. We CAN choose what we want to do, and sometimes, it’s going to take everything you have in your life to commit to it.

I committed to psychology and moving 8 hours from home. I am almost entirely independent; my parents help with advice and how to do adult things like file loans and taxes. I know people who do not talk to their parents and moved across the country to live by themselves and sustain themselves without help, but they can do whatever they want. Everyone is always worried about risks and have trouble to just decide. You will gain respect later in life after people learn what you went through, and you can have fun after you have gained what you worked for. I am Asian American and I chose my own path.

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Blog #10 - Community Event (ASPIRE)

For the required ASPIRE event, I chose to go to the Cherry Blossom Festival held in Japantown. I went twice, on April 14 and April 21, and both days were quite different in all things considered. It was definitely more crowded, and on the last day, booths were moved around to make way for the parade. The parade was one of the highlights because I saw my AAS330 professor, professor Ueunten, participating in the Okinawan performance. The lines were long, food was great, cherry blossoms blooming, weather was perfect, and plenty of races walking around.

The most interesting part of the day was that I came to a realization that I should not have been so critical of the festival. I started the day with the preconceived idea that everything should be Japanese-centered, however, I failed to realize that the cherry blossom festival was a more Japanese American event rather than a traditional Japanese celebration. I wanted the cherry blossom festival to represent Japan the way I saw it fit, but I did not pay attention to the fact that this festival was made to be more Americanized. I am a second-generation Japanese American, also know as Nisei, so my father immigrated to the United States from Japan, along with his stories. Everything that I had known to be Japanese were the traditional Japanese characteristics that have carried on throughout the history of Japan. Anime, cosplaying, and other things that are similar, which I believe are for the hype, are things that I reject because they are things that I have not been used to. When I volunteered for Obon and Fujimatsuri festivals in southern California and when I visited Japan, things were not like this, so seeing them being the most prominent aspect of the cherry blossom festival angered me.

Now that I realize that the cherry blossom festival is meant for a more American community, I have more respect for it and just try to enjoy it was much as I can.

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Blog #9 - Midsemester Project

For our midsemester project, we had the privilege of utilizing A Place Where Sunflowers Grow by Amy Lee-Tai and Journey for Justice: The Life of Larry Itliong by Dawn Mabalon and Gayle Romasanta. These two books revolved primarily around the idea of discrimination with some acknowledgement to institutionalized racism. A Place Where Sunflowers Grow circled around the event of the internment camps exhibited on Japanese Americans while Journey for Justice: The Life of Larry Itliong focused on power through unity and overcoming laws and policies to gain a better position in labor.

We pretty much created our book and puppet show, the two mediums we were given to present, from the themes of the two books we read. We focused mainly on the institutionalized racism concept because it was easiest to create a story from unjust policies that have been planted in our society since the start of the United States of America, also known as the “land of the free”. Our group wanted to make sure that the idea we were trying to get across was easy to understand. However, we also wanted to make it fun or attracting to make sure their was some focus on our presentation.

Unfortunately, the book was a little difficult to portray without copying the puppet show, so we came up with a last-minute idea to present pictures with a powerpoint. Some of the pictures were actually taken during the procedure of the Oyama v. California trial, which we adapted to make it our own. For the puppet show, it was easier to make it appealing to the eye because we were free to make whatever designs and to make the actions of the puppets entertaining.

For both mediums, we mainly followed the story line of Amy Lee-Tai’s story A Place Where Sunflowers Grow, which showed how Japanese Americans and other immigrants were at risk of losing land if they were “aliens”. Using this, we had stories around a farmer losing property and going to trial to reattain it through loopholes in the Alien Land Law of 1913 and 1920.

Overall, this project was interesting because it allowed me to drop into the topic of institutionalized racism, which I was familiar with from high school, and input it into a story. This allowed me to better understand how the concept plays into society and also opened my eyes to current situations that follow that concept.

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Blog#8 - Asian Americans in Fashion/Cultural Appropriation

The media and society today has made it a huge deal on what a particular someone is wearing, whether or not they are a celebrity or just a normal citizen. Due to this, much of what people try to wear is not really to express themselves, but to fit in with whatever trend is going on or to completely stand out. I believe that people have the freedom to express themselves and to wear what they want, but there are limitations to the previous statement. In my opinion, clothing and attire with small calls to attention involving Asian symbolism is fine. However, for clothing that is considered or deemed traditional by that ethnicity or even if it is unsure if it may be considered in the slightest to be of formality to the culture should only be worn by that culture.

For example, a kimono should be worn by people of Japanese descent unless there is some special event involving kimonos, such as the cherry blossom festival or Obon festival. Even then, this attire should only be worn if it is understood as to why or what the clothing means to its respective people. Outside of these events, I believe it is best that people outside of the culture should not be wearing it just to avoid the sure-to-come criticism.

(The Japanese kimono.)

The culture should definitely be respected before wearing whatever fashion accessory is desired to be worn, and there should be specific guidelines to wearing it. All formalities regarding the outfit should be taken into consideration, which includes manners and style of dialogue.

(Katy Perry at the American Music Awards.) (Seriously, the AMERICAN Music Awards).

It does not matter what one thinks about how or what is determined to be cultural appropriation because in the end, the culture should be respected along with its people. I would say that most minorities follow these implicit rules because they understand what it means to own something since they have not had a lot to take under, but for those who have always been privileged enough to own everything, even people, they need to understand that they can no longer act like the alpha.

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Blog #7 - Asian Americans in Music/Visibility in the Music World

Now, let’s talk about music; one of the most intriguing creations the world has to offer, which also happens to be one of the most controversial and tantalizing centerpieces to disagreements today. There are Asian music groups that have come into fruition; most happen to be KPOP groups, but some are from America and are hugely popular among the younger generation. For example, 88rising is a trending hip hop group that has members who are Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, etc. Although more Asian artists are getting out there and being represented more, this has not always been happening and still doesn’t happen at the same rate as other races.

There are several reasons as to why I think that Asian Americans are not the first artists to come to mind for music. One of these reasons is that Asians do not have either the necessary storyline or the voice for the industry. The industry has revolved around either deep struggle or heavenly wealth, but not really the in between. I believe that Asian Americans are from the in between, and because the industry revolves around the aforementioned people, the voice that is sought after tends to be more characteristically related to those people.

(Part-Japanese artist Jhené Aiko.)

Another reason why Asian Americans are not portrayed often is because of the way they were raised. Asians are some of the strictest parents (often referred to as tiger parenting) and education is the highest attainable achievement in their eyes. Because of this, lack of creativity is often a flaw among Asians and the passion or will or drive to express oneself is suppressed. Their voices and the ways of expressing themselves are not as creative nor adept to the music industry.

In my opinion, Asian Americans from before were not designed or developed to be huge in the music industry. However, the Asian Americans today are further from their cultures, thus allowing them to connect more to an American society, which is the top country for music production (triple the amount of the second at around $15 billion). The word American in the term Asian American is becoming more prominent for Asian Americans.

(Korean artist Dumbfoundead.)

(Asian-American music group Far East Movement.)

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Blog #6 - Asian Americans in Film/Representation in Mass Media

In films today, Asian Americans are greatly underrepresented, and it is seen in media outlets. Now, coming into writing this, I already had a preconceived idea as to why Asian Americans are not in films that much, which was because Asians could not have the same experience nor background as Americans to portray most films that are big today. When I think of the issue of underrepresentation of Asian Americans in film, I am only thinking of American films. However, I did not take into the fact that the term is Asian American. There are Americans who are Asian as well, and most do have the same experience as some actors today.

The next thing that came to mind was that Asian American parents would be pretty strict on their kids, and going into acting or media would not be something that parents would be happy about knowing the slim chances of success. Again, I did not take into account of how many Asian Americans are out there looking for roles in acting, and as to why they are not being selected for roles.

My next point came to be that Asian Americans have less of a personality to use, and can’t portray the same emotions or facial expressions that great actors, such as Denzel Washington, can present. With this, I think that this is the main reason as to why Asian Americans aren’t selected to play most roles. Acting has a lot to do with showing emotions, scenes, and backgrounds without actually speaking. Because of the model minority myth and culture of Asian history, many Asians are more reserved and try to hide their emotions or true selves. Speaking out or expressing themselves is something that Asians are taught not to do because it presents a target. Acting would create a weird persona for Asian Americans trying to pursue it.

For myself, I don’t really see racism or discrimination as the reason to why there aren’t many Asian Americans in film or mass media today. I do think, however, that it is because we are Asian that is somewhat part of the problem, which I explained previously. Sometimes, people try to play the race card too much, and they fail to realize that discrimination is not the root for all issues. In the future, I do believe that, as our Asian American lineage expands in the United States, Asian Americans will become better at acting. If similar cases arise where Asian Americans are still not portrayed as much in film or mass media, then I do believe that there is some discrimination based on stereotypes that are currently being built today.

Ken Watanabe in “Godzilla” (2014)

Donnie Yen in “Ip Man” (2008)

Jackie Chan in “Who Am I?” (1998)

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Blog #4 - My Family

My immediate family has been in America since the 1960s. My grandparents on my mom’s side came to America a little bit after the closing of the concentration camps to Gilroy, where they started a farm in which my mother grew up on. She was a farm girl and did not have much of a childhood, which is why she is very lively and sometimes child-like. She attended the University of Southern California and joined a study abroad program that went to Japan (meanwhile, her parents moved to San Mateo and started a koi fish pond farm). While studying abroad, my mother met my father, whom was born in Osaka and attended Osaka University. When my mother came back to the United States, so did my father, one reason being for my mom and another being that there were issues going on in Japan. My parents lived in Torrance in southern California, where my father would work at Mazda, in which he befriended other Japanese people whom he didn’t even think were existing in California, and where my mother would finish schooling and eventually work at Toyota. My father knew no English coming to America, and it took awhile for him to get used to America. However, the people he met at Mazda helped him out since they spoke Japanese. He later switched to work at Honda when his coworkers decided to switch.

Based on their lives, they taught me what hard work was and how to experience life with memories shared. They only occasionally mentioned that if I work hard enough, I can get a job to make enough money to have a good life. Most of what I learned from them was just by me witnessing or listening to their lives. Although they were a big part of making me who I am, there was also my oldest brother to look up to. He stayed focus on his goals and did not let other things get in his way, and he is pretty settled now while still taking pride in being Japanese and being himself. He showed me what it was like to live in the ‘90s, and I think that he is what makes me think like an “old-head” today. I strive to be more successful than him and my parents, but only because I want our lives to be easier and I want to pay them back for everything they have done for me. I was given so much for not even being the best brother nor the best son, and I am grateful for the memories, experiences, and lessons that I have learned from them. The idea of even paying them back is something that I learned from them.

For tradition, my parents would celebrate children’s day and girl’s day, which are holidays in Japan. We would eat soba noodles on New Year’s and my father would hand us Japanese notes (money) for making it through another year. I would say that I would carry on these traditions, but I am more Americanized than them. They would celebrate all the American holidays as well, and if I am more Americanized, I feel as if I will lose some sense of my Japanese self. However, I will try my best to keep it.

This is a photo I already used, but I don’t have more of my whole family.

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Blog #3 - Asian Americans and Dating (Gender and Sexuality)

I learned about sexuality at a pretty young age because of my older siblings and from TV. I would say that fourth grade was when I understood what it felt like to be attracted to someone since I basically had my friends ask a girl out for me lol (She said yes but that didn't last long because...we were in fourth grade. The Wii just came out). I truly understood sexuality in I believe fifth grade, when we were shown a quick video, and sixth grade, when our teacher actually taught us on sex, sexually transmitted diseases, etc. It has never been an issue for me to learn about it nor do I feel uncomfortable to conversate with others on the topic. However, after Obama made gay marriage legal in I believe 2016, the idea of the different genders and sexualities started to become part of life. Of course, love is love, and I have no issue with it, so I do not have much to really talk about.

For the idea of Asian Americans and dating, I also never had the issue of my parents being selective of who I date. My father just wanted me to be responsible and respectful while my mother was SUPER ecstatic and proud of whoever I brought to a dance or went out with, which would kind of annoy me, but she is my mom. The only thing that would come into conversation would be about academics and ambitions, which is something I am pretty selective of anyways. If someone seemed like they had plans just to take it easy and expect things to be given to them, I knew my parents would be concerned for how I would handle that. They wouldn’t want me having to fully take care of someone else, and it didn’t matter what race they were, and we have had multiple races of people come into my life and my siblings lives. I guess that I grew up pretty lucky having parents who didn’t have a concern for race or ethnicity.

In terms of gender and sexuality, it never came into conversation with my parents. They don’t see it as a problem, and they had plenty of other stuff to deal with because of financial issues and with one of my brothers having a mental disorder that affects his health, and indirectly affected our family's health. For me and my future family, I will probably talk about gender and sexuality just to show that it doesn’t matter to me what my kids choose to be. I just want them to have high ambitions and optimism, and to not have them be lazy and needy.

I didn’t really know what picture to pick for this without being too corny or too offensive. 

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Blog #2 - Asian American Culture Means Pride

If one was to question how I think Asian American culture is represented and what it means to me, I would not be able to sum it up in short. There is a lot that comes to mind, both historically and emotionally. Growing up, I never saw “Asian American” except on standardized tests that my schools would hand out. I never realized the importance of trying to protect the ethnicity nor tried to keep others from using it as decoration or as a tool to make themselves different, unless it was a direct insult to myself or my family. The only real thing that really bothered me was if someone were to use the derogative word for Japanese people that was used around World War II. I never tried to stop someone from being themselves, and I saw people who used Asian American culture for clothing or music sampling as people just wanting to be themselves. To this day, I still am not too bothered by it unless it is used in a negative connotation or used to make it seem like being Asian American is an unwanted quality. I take pride in being Asian American, and I do so with both sides of the phrase taken into consideration. The Asian side of me is something I like to preserve and share with my children when that comes because I know that Japanese culture now in America is seen as either weird in the game shows that are focused on or as cool in the anime shows that people watch. There is so much more to it that people tend to be oblivious to just because Japan is doing well right now. The American side of me is proud to be American because of the opportunities I have and the good fortune I live with; being able to freely connect with who I want, do what I want, feel what I want, etc. There is so much good to both sides of being Asian American that I have no reason to be ashamed of or to ignore the meaning of it. I could write more on this, but I’ll probably explain it in another post.

This is me and me homestay from Fukuoka, Japan in the summer of 2013. I was on a basketball team that represented the United States while visiting Japan to play against their teams, such as the one my homestay was on. We learned more about Japanese culture and they learned about American culture.