Category — Asian American

A bit slow off the mark here, but still worth a mention. America’s first Japanese Maid Cafe opened in Culver City a couple of months ago.

Maid Cafe is a Japanese anime inspired role playing cafe, where waitresses are dressed as a”maid” and treat you as a “master“. Maids will greet, “Welcome home, my master” at the door, pour tea for you, and play card games with you.

Has anyone been there yet?

Read more on Imprint

Via NotCot

Technorati Tags: America’s first Japanese Maid Cafe, Asian American, culture, Japanese, Japanese Maid Cafe

US phenomenon Haley Ishimatsu performs a dive in the finals of the women’s platform at the U.S. Olympic diving trials in Indianapolis, Sunday, June 22, 2008.

Via Big Picture

Technorati Tags: Asian American, diving, Haley Ishimatsu, sport, swimming

American bag maker, Lazy Monk, made a very intricate messenger bag for world famous cyclist, Lance Armstrong.

Lazy Monk is started by two artists, Ry and Aya, in 2007, striving to make simple bags that provide warmth and functional beauty. The very delicate pattern in front is called the Sashiko pattern, which are all hand-stitched by the founders themselves.

See more at LazyMonk.com

Via HypeBeast

Technorati Tags: cycle bags, Lance Armstrong, Lazy Monk, messenger bag, Sashiko pattern

Japanese pop culture themed Hotel Tomo is one of LostAtEMinor’s seven coolest and most individual themed hotels from around the world!

Hotel Tomo is located in the heart of San Francisco’s Japantown and is uniquely themed around Japanese pop culture.

Anime murals and other related art work are just the tip of this theme’s iceberg. The real reason that people love this theme hotel is because there are gaming suites that let adults plop into bean bag chairs and play video games as though they’re just kids hanging out in Tokyo.

The on-site Kabuki Springs Spa gives a little bit of a luxury adult edge to the hotel and reminds visitors that it’s a great place for grown-ups.

Read more on LostAtEMinor

Technorati Tags: anime, architecture, Asian American, design, Hotel Tomo, interiors, Japanese, Japantown, pop culture, Kabuki Springs Spa, San Francisco

Samurai warriors, Geisha women, street graffiti and sex come together in a series of new works by LA-born Japanese-American artist Gajin Fujita.

I unfortunately missed an exhibition last month in London, of Fujita’s work, but you can still view samples online and find out where he may next show.

From Wallpaper.com:

Fujita’s carefully crafted panel- and paper-based creations conflate the seemingly disparate aesthetics of American hip-hop culture with traditional Japanese woodblock Ukiyo-e-style print imagery.

Whether as a comment on contrasting artistic styles or as an attempt at personal cultural reconciliation, Fujita’s work feels modern, young and fresh – a pleasant graphic witness to the increasingly connected world in which we all live.



More on Wallpaper.com

See more of Fujita’s artwork on LALouver.com

Via FallOutCentral

Technorati Tags: art, artist, Gajin Fujita, Geisha women, Japanese-American, Samurai warriors, sex, street graffiti

A musical production about Bruce Lee is in the works and will be entitled “Bruce lee: Journey to the West“.

The elements of a quality Broadway musical can be difficult to master. It takes finesse, agility and poise. However, the elements of a Bruce Lee performance could prove even more difficult.

Notwithstanding, for the 2010-11 season, this martial arts master will see reincarnation in the form of a Broadway production.
David Henry Hwang will write the book. Hwang is known for M. Butterfly and Yellow Face.

Bartlett Sher will direct, who currently helming the revival of South Pacific at the Lincoln Center, which has garnered him 11 Tony nominations. David Yazbek, of The Full Monty, will compose the music and lyrics.

The plot will interweave Bruce Lee’s ascent to stardom with Chinese mythology about the Monkey King. The musical is also intended to weave Chinese pop and culture throughout, making for the full experience.

Via FallOutCentral

Technorati Tags: Asian American, Bartlett Sher, Bruce Lee, Bruce lee: Journey to the West, David Henry Hwang, musical, David Yazbek

A potentially interesting book called The Fortune Cookie Chronicles by Jennifer 8. Lee.

There are more Chinese restaurants in America than McDonalds, Burger King and Kentucky Fried Chicken combined.

In The Fortune Cookie Chronicles, author Jennifer 8. Lee takes readers on a remarkable journey that is both foreign and familiar: penetrating this subculture by traveling the world (and almost every American state) in her quest to understand Chinese food and the people who make it.

Her journey took her to the hometown of General Tso (a military hero immortalized as much for crunchy chicken as his conquests), the surprising origins of the fortune cookie (it’s not China), and to six continents in search for the world’s greatest Chinese restaurant.

The book also sparks debates as to who really invented chop suey and why Jews love Chinese food, or as she puts it: Why is chow mein the chosen food of the chosen people?

For more information, check out www.fortunecookiechronicles.com

Buy it at Amazon : The Fortune Cookie Chronicles: Adventures in the World of Chinese Food

Via BoldType

Technorati Tags: book, literature, Jennifer 8. Lee, The Fortune Cookie Chronicles

Lost At E Minor briefly interviewed Chinese photographer Shen Wei about his series Almost Naked and how he gets through those awkward moments of photographing naked people.

Who are your subjects and how do you go about finding them?
‘Most of my subjects are strangers; very few are people I know. I find my subjects through many different methods, such as at social events, through friends, on the Internet, and by approaching them on location’.

Born and raised in Shanghai, China. Shen Wei is a fine art photographer currently based in New York City.

Shen’s photographs have been widely exhibited, including Griffin Museum of Photography, Seattle Center on Contemporary Art, Zone: Chelsea Center for the Arts, Australia Center for Photography, Lincoln Center and Saatchi Gallery at the Zoo Art Fair.

His photographs have been featured in various publications such as American Photo, Chinese Photography, PDN, Vision and La Tempestad.

See more on ShenPhoto.com

Via LostAtEMinor

Technorati Tags: Almost Naked, Asian American, China, photography, Shen Wei