#Asia Pacific.

[inatungulates]

Eden's whale "Balaenoptera" edeni

With menhaden Brevoortia sp.

Observed by haitongyu, CC BY-NC

[lilithism1848]

[herpsandbirds]

Little File Snake aka Little Wart Snake (Acrochordus granulatus), juvenile, family Acrochordidae, found in SE Asia, New Guinea, South Pacific Islands, and northern Australia

photograph by John Foenander

[3liza]

I'm glad western streamers have been gettinto indie games from Russia and Asia, especially horror games since horror is such a communicative genre and says so much about cultural mores, but I wish these cavalier white dudes would have a little more curiosity about the foundations of the imagery and neuroses the games are communicating with. whenever I see or play games from outside my home culture I'm always desperately curious about what I'm MISSING as a white American and it's always so satisfying and educational when I am able to have it explained to me or if I can look it up, even though I know I can only perceive it as an outsider. just stuff I'm ignorant about, like for some recent examples I can remember, stuff like Buddhist funeral objects or symbolism, Japanese vowel order, Russian Orthodox convent history, apartment layouts and community organization in Soviet housing blocs, uhhh let's see what else. candle and food symbolism around death and traditional forms of ghosts in the Philippines. customs and uses of, and gender issues around, communal bath houses in rural Japan. that kind of thing. i really really miss the few years where you really could type any of those topics into the Google search bar and usually get some kind of factual information written by humans. it's not impossible to look stuff up anymore but I can't express how easy it used to be.

[cid5]

Imperial Japanese Navy Air Force Kanoya Air Base circa May 1945 in Kanoya, Kagoshima, Japan.

[thepastisalreadywritten]

Prince William

Catherine, Princess of Wales

Prince Louis

2012 | 2024

[mtg-cards-hourly]

Plains

Artist: Rebecca Guay TCG Player Link Scryfall Link EDHREC Link

[theboxfort]

Drawing Fanny everyday until either TPOT 5 comes out or I miss a day

Day 4 - The Power of Two (1994) on the Game Boy

Hoping to god that this won't be resized when I post it. But that's the original size

[arkipelagic]

A lot of those who insist that Filipinos are Pacific Islander instead of (or, in addition to) Asian often rely on loose interpretations of the term Pacific Islander and the fact that the Philippines was used as a stepping stone in the Austronesian expansion to the east. What they ignore or may not know is that (1) the superficial similarities between Pacific Islanders and Filipinos are not unique to Pacific Islanders and Filipinos but with Austronesian-speaking peoples in general, including Austronesian-speaking Southeast Asians and (2) we Filipinos simply did not have as regular and as vigorous a contact with the Pacific Islands - if any - compared to the Asian continent. We still don’t.

Think about it: the earliest known trade network in the Philippines included what is now Taiwan and Southeast Asia, i.e., the Philippine jade culture which dates as far back as 2000 BC and lasted for 3,000 years. Nephrite jade from Taiwan was manufactured in the Philippines and distributed elsewhere in the nearby region. After that were the Sa Huỳnh-Kalanay Interaction Sphere from 500 BC through AD 100 and of course the so-called Maritime Silk Road during historical times. What followed was then the very familiar colonial era of Iberian, Dutch, and British presence in Asia.

The earliest Filipino artifact with a given calendar date is the Laguna Copperplate Inscription which was written in the year AD 900 using a Brahmic script in a combination of Sanskrit, Old Malay, Old Tagalog and/or Javanese. Upon the arrival of Magellan six hundred years later in 1521, it was a man titled rajah who greeted him in Cebu. Half a century later, the aged grandson of the sultan of Brunei was ruling Manila. To this day, among the lesser Hispanicized and Americanized ethnic groups across the Philippines, the Ivatan of Batanes speak a family of languages shared with the Tao of Orchid Island, Taiwan and the people of Bangsamoro have more in common with Bruneians, Indonesians, and Malaysians than they do with the Māori, Kanaka Maoli, or Fijians. Indigenous Borneans are closely related to Filipinos.

As for myself, I was raised in Davao where you’ll find Cebuano, Ilonggo, Kagan, Maguindanaon, Maranao, Mansaka, Mandaya, Manobo, Bagobo, Chinese Hoklo, Japanese, and Indian people live; no one local I’ve ever met has identified as Pacific Islander and there was never a question as to whether I was Asian or not because I was surrounded by fellow Asians. It’s certainly hard to deny it when your country of origin is one of the founding members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, attempted to make a Malaysian-Filipino-Indonesian confederation happen, and contains the title “Pearl of the Orient” as a lyric in the national anthem.

Does this look like an archipelago that kept close touch with polities and cultures across the Pacific Ocean for thousands of years? Does this look like a society that is more Pacific Islander than Asian?

[renegaedz]

HAPPY AAPI MONTH TO EVERYONE WHO QUESTIONS MY EXISTENCE

NOW ASK ME AGAIN (WHY I WEAR HIJAB)

[bekolxeram]

Time dilation is everyone celebrating the S8 premiere tomorrow, but you live in Asia, so technically you have 2 sleeps left before getting to see Tommy's face, and time feels extra long.

[inatungulates]

Irrawaddy dolphin Orcaella brevirostris

Observed by suebsa, CC BY-NC

[metalwright]

[herpsandbirds]

Cymbal Bubble Snails (Lamprohaminoea cymbalum), family Haminoeidae, off the coast of Okinawa, Japan

photograph by Ryan Hannan

[carbone14]

Chasseurs Curtiss P-40 Warhawk des Tigres Volants (1st American Volunteer Group) en formation au-dessus de la rivière Salouen (Salween River) à la frontière sino-birmane – Campagne de Birmanie – Guerre du Pacifique – 28 mai 1942

Photographe : R. T. Smith

©San Diego Air & Space Museum

[agentfascinateur]

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) condemns Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip, and the killing of more than 39,000 Palestinians