Ashley Beteta was always interested in Korean culture. In high school, she started a Korean culture club. She would research facts about Korea and present them to her classmates at weekly meetings. When she came to UCLA, she decided to study political science with a concentration in international…
Ramen shops, souvenir stores, hotels and a Japanese supermarket inhabit Little Tokyo. Amidst all this busyness, standing out the brightest and most colorful is Sanrio, a Japanese toy store dedicated to selling “kawaii” – or cute – trinkets, dolls, and Hello Kitty. Hello Kitty, along with all the…
Chinese Cultural Dance Club ended its year with its annual show Lotus Steps, a dazzling display of various ethnic dances from China. CCDC is both a dance and a cultural club. It is an “organization that aims to show and promote Chinese culture through dance,” said Gigi Cheng,…
On April 24, the UCLA Film and Photography Society hosted Freddie Wong, a Youtuber from the popular YouTube channel RocketJump and a co-director for the series Video Game High School. Wong discussed his early days, how he got into filmmaking and various video projects. A USC film school…
Valerie Soe, a former Pacific Ties editor-in-chief (1981) and currently an associate professor at San Francisco State University, is an award-winning filmmaker. Most of her works are shorts, focusing on one social theme such as dismissing the stereotype of all Asians looking the same in her short All Orientals look the same. Soe will be filming and conducting interviews in Taiwan for her full-length documentary Love Boat: Taiwan this summer.
Identifying herself as Taiwanese American, Hsu believes the heritage week is important to specify exactly who the Taiwanese are and to demonstrate that Taiwan is its own country. The political standing is extremely culture-specific, so in order to include more members of the community, including non-Taiwanese individuals, TASC Initiative emphasizes more on the cultural aspects: TAHW is a celebration of Taiwanese culture and history and an opportunity for the community to come together.