Chopstick Cinema : Exploring Asian Food and Film by Celeste Heiter (ThingsAsian Press)

There are three things that writer Celeste Heiter enjoys most in life - “Asian culture, gourmet cooking, and international films”. Heiter has combined her passions and created a weblog titled Chopstick Cinema in 2004 where she shares with readers “the process of choosing an Asian film, selecting recipes from where the country in which the film takes place, designing a menu, shopping for ingredients, setting the table, preparing the meal, enjoying the food while watching the film, and finally, writing a film review”. 

Chopstick Cinema : Exploring Asian Food and Film was compiled from her blog and is divided into ten chapters focusing on one Asian country and features ten recipes from that country. The recipes are for "nibbles, cold and hot appetizers, soup, salad, noodles, main course, two side dishes and dessert". Following the recipe, Heiter provides a review of a movie from that particular country. The cuisine and films Heiter focuses on are from China, Mongolia, Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines, Japan, Cambodia, India, and combined countries of Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia. Heiter also lists alternate movie titles to choose from. 

The recipes provide a list of ingredients with measurements given in a combination of the Avoirdupois system (using pounds and ounces) and the U.S. customary units for volume (using teaspoons and tablespoons) with easy to follow directions. About the dishes, Heiter informs the reader that “some are classics prepared according to tradition; others are my own creations, based upon indigenous flavors and ingredients”. She also says you do not have to follow the recipes to the letter and provides suggestions for alternate ingredients.

The movies Heiter reviews in her book include “Raise the Red Lantern” from China, “The Cave of the Yellow Dog” from Mongolia, “Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter...and Spring” from South Korea, “The Scent of Green Papaya” from Vietnam, “Rice Rhapsody” from Singapore, “Magnifico” from the Philippines, “Firefly Dreams” from Japan, “The Rice People” from Cambodia, and “Lagaan : Once Upon a Time in India” from India. 

I enjoy Asian cinema as much as I like watching Hollywood blockbusters and low budget B-films and I also love to eat Asian cuisine be it Japanese, Korean, or Southeast Asian. However, as I am not a good cook in the kitchen, I must admit I only browsed through the recipes. Chopstick Cinema will give you ideas of what to order when you go out to a restaurant featuring that country’s cuisine. 

And for those people who want to challenge themselves to make these dishes, Heiter suggests choosing three to five dishes for a party of four to six and to enjoy the meal while watching one of the films. If the amateur or professional cooks are afraid of not finding the ingredients necessary, Heiter lists a number of  sites on the Internet where you can order them.. 

On a sad note, Heiter passed away in 2016 but you can still find more of her recipes and read more of her film reviews on her Chopstick Cinema weblog. A great collection for the gourmand and Asian film connoisseur. and although I may not try my hand at cooking, I will continue to browse her blog and read her reviews and check out what other culinary delights and movies I’ve been missing out on. ~Ernie Hoyt

Available from ThingsAsianBooks

Siam: or The Woman Who Shot a Man by Lily Tuck (Overlook Press)

Claire flies to Thailand on her wedding night, a naive New Englander of twenty-five, in love with the dashing Army officer whom she’s just married.  “The plane never caught up with the sun” but even so, when it lands in Bangkok, “it was bright day,” and Claire is surprised that she and James have lost their first day of marriage somewhere above the International Dateline.

This is only the first of many things that surprise her in her new home. Her questions are unending and she meets only one person who seems as though he would give her the answers she wants, the American Silk King who’s created a luxurious life for himself in a puzzling city. At one of his famous dinner parties, Jim Thompson leads Claire through his drawing room filled with art, antiques, and vases of fragrant blossoms. He takes the time to explain the meaning behind his precious objects before Claire has formed her questions and promises to show her more of his collection when he returns from a trip to Malaysia’s Cameron Highlands. But he never comes back;  the mystery of his disappearance preoccupies the Thai press and completely occupies Claire’s attention.

This serves to distract her from the other mysteries in her life: what takes her husband on his weekly trips to a secret airbase on the Thai border and keeps him there for days, what relationship exists between her cook, maid, and houseboy, who are the people who inexplicably show up in her kitchen, and did she really see a horse in the jungle that constitutes her back garden? Her trips to the nearest market make her “afraid that she will lose herself among the mangoes,” and her tall blonde visibility makes her wish that she were small, dark, and graceful instead.

Taking refuge in Thai language lessons and in books about the country’s history only partially distracts her from everything around her that seems unknowable. It’s what became of Jim Thompson that becomes an obsession for Claire, a mystery that seems potentially solvable, yet while she searches for puzzle pieces that might fit together, life insists on throwing fresh conundrums at her. Why does James insist that she learn to shoot a pistol? Why does the pretty wife of James’s “useful friend” Siri demand that James teach her how to swim and is she flirting with Claire’s husband?  Is James flirting back?

As her life becomes more enigmatic, Claire begins to mistrust what she sees. Nothing seems solid. Objects, and people too, disappear for no reason. The more Thai she learns, the less she understands and her position in the world around her becomes more tenuous. Then one night she knows she hears the sound of sharp blades slicing through the window screens not far from her bedroom and in an instant her life implodes.

In her compact and surrealistic novel, Lily Tuck explores what it’s like for an American woman to be immersed in a world of savage contrasts: opulence and poverty, immediate gratification and complete incomprehension. Claire’s shadowed world is formed by curiosity and ignorance, fear and clumsy attempts at bridging cultural divides. Her paranoia will be recognized by any woman who has plunged into a new country with no preparation and little support, and every last one of them, if they’re honest, will admit to having shared a small portion of Claire’s terror and madness.~Janet Brown

Mindanao : From Samal to Surallah by Ronald de Jong (ThingsAsian Press)

Mindanao is the Philippines second largest and southernmost island. It is here where freelance photographer and writer Ronald de Jong makes his home. In Mindanao : From Samal to Surallah, Jong is your virtual tour guide “for those travelers who are not familiar with southern Filipino culture.” 

For the uninitiated, Jong informs you that the safest areas to travel in Mindanao are Davao City and its surroundings, the Sarangani Bay area, and the province of South Cotabato. We are told the greatest way to explore the island is by car or motorbike along the Maharlika Highway, also known as the Pan-Philippine Highway. 

The road is over 2000 miles in length and starts from Laoag City on the northern island of Luzon, passes through the Visayan Islands of Samar and Leyte, and continues to the city of Zamboanga in Mindanao. Jong will take us on a journey following the Davao-General Santos-Koronadal Highway which is a small part of the Marhalika. “Passing through this toll-free portion of the Pan-Philippine Highway will take you down small-town roads, city streets, mountain passes, rice fields and plantations.

Jong is very thorough in his guide as he provides background information on each area such as which tribes are you likely to encounter, a bit of the history of each destination as well as giving us shopping tips, resort recommendations and what there is to see and do. 

Our trip starts on the island of Samal which is also known as the Island Garden City. Around this area, one can get close to nature by seeing caves, mangroves, natural rock formations, swamps, and coconut trees. Or you can enjoy staying at one of the resorts along the coast where you can go jet skiing and windsurfing.  It is also one of the Philippines top diving spots. 

From Samal Island, it is a short trip to Davao city which is also known as “the window to Mindanao”. For the more adventurous traveler, you can climb Mount Apo, Philippines highest peak at 9.692 feet. Continuing south, you will find yourself in Surallah where you can go river-rafting on the Davao River or spelunking in the Marilog District. 

I also find that one of the best ways to discover the culture of another country is to experience the local cuisine. Jong does not disappoint as he provides us with a menu of the different types of street food one can try. Some of the dishes Jong introduces have the most colorful names such as a skewer of crispy chicken wings which are known as PAL, named after the Philippines Air Lines. Another dish called isaw (grilled or deep-fried pig or chicken intestines on a skewer). They are known locally as IUD because of its shape. The serious gastronome can try balut which can be described as “eggs with legs”.  It is a cooked, fertilized duck egg where you can see the embryo of the duck.  

Mindanao is more than just a guide to the island. It is also a photo essay featuring beautiful full color pictures taken by Jong himself. The place has something for everyone, from the package-deal tourist to the budget-conscious backpacker. If you’re longing to get off the beaten path and want an adventure worth remembering, Mindanao might be the place for you. Jong certainly makes me want to go. ~Ernie Hoyt

Available from ThingsAsianBooks

Makai by Kathleen Tyau (Beacon Press)

“So many secrets,” Alice Lum admits.  She’s immersed in them and has been since childhood: her father’s pipe, “not the tobacco one,” that he smokes only when he’s in a room downtown or behind a locked door in his house; the reason behind the behavior of her best friend’s husband; the knowledge of who her own husband truly is; and her private secret, divulged only at the end of her story--of how she survived the Big Water that swept her and her daughters makai, to the sea.

Alice is the daughter of Chinese parents in Hawaii, a place where people have come from all over the world to live: Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, haole from the Mainland, forming a culture that blends with the Hawaiians. But there is little intermingling with one notable exception, Alice’s best friend, Annabel Lee, an unconventional beauty who makes her own rules. Annabel is half-Chinese, one-fourth Hawaiian, one-fourth Scotch with a great-grandfather whom she claims is Robert Louis Stevenson. A dreamer, “Annabel taught me how to dream,” Alice says wistfully. Of all the dreams Annabel gave her, only one comes true--her marriage to Sammy Woo who originally had his eye on Annabel, not Alice.

Alice grows up steeped in Chinese culture. Her father practices traditional medicine and her mother’s philosophy is “act rich so prosperity can find you.” Alice is a good Chinese daughter until she is sent to boarding school and finds a different way to behave after meeting Annabel. When World War II erupts with the attack on Pearl Harbor, her life becomes even more unfettered. “Days like mountains...Nights like water...We learned to live in the dark.”  Alice’s mother cautions her to let people know she’s Chinese, not Japanese and her brothers go off to war along with Sammy Woo. Annabel and Alice take jobs as accountants during the day and dance instructors at Arthur Murray at night. “We’re career girls,” Annabel insists as she plans her future escape from the islands. Alice too is in her plans, but Alice wants a life with Sammy.

Sammy is different, an orphan who treasures the jade bracelet passed to him by the mother he never knew. His friends tease him, “Sure you not Japanese, Sammy,” a joke that Sammy fails to appreciate. He loathes the Japanese. 

Years into their marriage, Alice receives a visitor, Sammy’s aunt, who brings an explosion in an envelope, adoption papers proving that her nephew isn’t of her blood. He’s the son of a Japanese couple who gave him up at birth. “That makes my girls only half-Chinese...I am the only one who’s Chinese all the way,” is  Alice’s stunned reaction. In shock herself and frightened of how Sammy will react to this news, she holds it as another secret, waiting for the right time to divulge the truth.

Life conspires to forestall the right time. Alice’s oldest daughter falls in love with Annabel’s only son and Annabel, long divorced from the husband who left her for a man, returns to her old home. Suddenly all the secrets converge and spill over, old resentments rise to the surface, and bloodlines fade into unimportance.  And in the end, the secret of Alice’s inner strength is disclosed when she tells how she and her daughters were saved when a flood swept them out to sea.

A beautiful patchwork of memories and history, stitched together as skillfully as one of Alice’s pieces of fabric art, Makai casts a bright spotlight upon Hawaiian life and culture, revealing its complexity and beauty. A story of friendship in all its complexities, it asks through Alice, “Is this what it means to love? To hide and worry and want,” and ends with the assurance of “One inch, one layer, one life at a time. MIne.”~Janet Brown

A Year with the Local Newspaper by Anthony S. Rausch (University Press of America)

A Year with the Local Newspaper is an interesting concept. It has the subtitle of Understanding the Times in Aomori Japan, 1999. Anthony S. Rausch has lived in Hirosaki City for over ten years working as an English teacher. He refers to Hirosaki as his furusato or adopted hometown and by extending the boundaries, includes all of Aomori Prefecture as his home. He has studied Japanese and has read many books on Japan and has kept abreast of the national news, but he still feels like he was never “in the know” or “out of the loop” when it came to local news. 

Rausch tells his students there are many different ways of improving their English. One of his suggestions is to “read real English in real newspapers.” He explains to his students, “Pick a town and make it your adopted hometown; then go online everyday and imagine you are reading your hometown newspaper.” He tells them by doing so, they “will gain new vocabulary, strengthen your English skills and gain a pretty good “feel” of a whole new place.” 

Rausch then has an epiphany. He realizes that he has not been following his own advice that he’s been giving to his students and so he makes a New Year’s Resolution for 1999 - to read the local newspaper each and everyday for the entire year. Rausch chooses the TooNippo, one of the two local newspapers that is distributed in the Tohoku area. By taking on this project, Rausch hopes to make sense of Aomori. He says, “If I could make sense of Aomori by reading the newspaper, then could I not help others to make sense out of Aomori by reading the newspaper to them?”

Rausch doesn’t just want to write a guide book for the Tohoku area. His main goal is to describe, analyze, and interpret what “local” life in Aomori Prefecture is like. The first part of the book includes articles that describe a typical year in different ways either by weather, season, or festivals. Rausch also spends an entire chapter on winter in Aomori as the prefecture is considered snow country and 1999 saw one of the worst winters in Aomori in many years. 

The book becomes more of a college text when Rausch begins to describe the “peripherality” and “revitalization” of Aomori often comparing urban and rural living habits. As Aomori Prefecture is mostly agricultural, many of the chosen articles focus on the local industries such as rice planting, apple growing, and fisheries. 

As much as I found the initial concept interesting, being a recent transplant to Aomori Prefecture myself after spending twenty plus years in Tokyo, I found the execution rather lacking and the book itself poorly edited. The many grammatical and typographical errors became more of a distraction and it was often difficult to understand what Rausch was trying to convey. 

This book focuses on the year 1999 and as it is currently 2020, many of the articles are irrelevant today. It’s interesting as a recent historical record describing the construction of the new Aomori Shinkansen station or the controversies surrounding the expansion of the Ajigasawa Ski Area and the hosting of the Asian Winter Games in 2003 but will only appeal to a limited audience. ~Ernie Hoyt

All You Can Ever Know by Nicole Chung (Catapult)

One of the first stories Nicole Chung begged to hear when she was a little girl was the story of her adoption. Born premature to parents who had recently moved to the U.S. from Korea, Chung was told that her birth parents gave her up for adoption because they knew that would give her a better life. The people who brought her home were her mother and father from the time she was two and a half months old, still an infant who, at under six pounds, weighed less than many newborn babies. From that beginning, Chung was bathed in love that came from parents “who had chosen her,” she explained to friends when they asked why she didn’t look like her mother and father.

But in the small Oregon town where Chung grew up, there was nobody who looked like her, and once she was in school, a boy on the playground cruelly made this an issue by squinting his eyes at her and chanting “Me Chinee, me can’t see.” When Chung told her parents, they told her if she ignored her tormentor, he would stop. Instead his friends joined him in taunting her and her classmates pulled back from the child who was different. Chung’s Second Grade teacher remarked on her report card that she seemed unhappy but since Chung’s torture only took place on the playground when no adults were around, nothing was done about it. 

Suddenly Chung felt a deep separation, not only from her classmates but from her parents. At family gatherings, when she heard her cousins being singled out as resembling other relatives, she knew she was an outsider, loved and cherished but not one of the clan. Not until she was ten, on vacation with her parents in Seattle’s International District, did Chung see people who looked like her; she “couldn’t count all the Asians.”

Still she was loved, she made good grades, and she learned to find a refuge in books and in her own writing. But in the books she read and in her own stories, the heroines were always white girls. 

When Chung left her hometown to go to college, she found a world in which she was one of many Asian girls. The man she married was Irish and Lebanese. Being different was no longer a burden and a stigma. But when Chung learns that she’s pregnant and her doctor asks for her family medical history, she believes that, if only from a health standpoint, it’s time to find her birth parents.

Her quest is as emotionally difficult as her lack of knowledge ever was. Chung discovers she has two sisters, sharing a mother with one and both parents with the other, and she learns that her birth parents had told her sisters that she had died when she was born. Rapidly she and her full sister forge a connection through letters and Chung learns the dark secrets of her birth family--the cruelty and the violence that her birth mother inflicted upon the sister who is becoming her closest friend.

Life rarely provides fully happy endings and the story of Chung’s search is no exception. There are questions for which she will never have answers and she learns that although she’s in the nineteenth generation of her father’s family, she will never be included in the family history. In Korea she simply doesn’t exist.

Her memoir is a piercing look at the racism directed toward America’s model minority and the double-edged sword of bi-racial families formed by adoption. Chung shows the importance of blood relatives as well as the happiness that can come from parents who have chosen their child. “Being adopted,” Chung concludes, “probably saved my life.”~Janet Brown

Megumi by Shigeru and Sakie Yokota (Headquarters for the Abduction Issue, Government of Japan)

Megumi is the story of Megumi Yokota written in manga form and translated into English. It was first serialized in the January through July 2005 editions of Manga Action. It is a story almost every Japanese is familiar with. It is a parent’s worst nightmare. One that Shigeru and Sakie Yokota are still living with. 

Megumi is the daughter of Shigeru and Sakie. On November 15, 1977, Megumi disappeared without a trace. She was last seen walking home from school after badminton practice. She was thirteen years old. However, there was no ransom demand from her kidnapper or kidnappers and for twenty long years, Shigeru and Sakie wondered what happened to her. Where is she? Did she run away? Was she in an accident? Is she okay? And the major question remains which they refuse to ask themselves - Is she still alive?

Twenty years later, on January 21, 1997, Shigeru Yokota came home and told his wife something strange happened that day. Shigeru received a call from a man named Tatsukichi Hyomoto who was a secretary to a member of the House of Councillors who told him, “Megumi is alive in North Korea.” The Yokotas thought their nightmare would finally be over. Unfortunately, it was just the beginning of a new nightmare. 

Hyomoto visits with Shigeru Yokota and tells him that back in January 7 of 1980, the Sankei Newspaper featured an article about couples disappearing off the coast of western Japan. Hyomoto has Shigeru read an article from a magazine called Modern Korea written by a man named Kenji Ishidaka from Asahi Broadcasting. He had Shigeru compare the article with an article from the Niigata Nippo describing his daughter’s disappearance. The contents and similarities were too hard to ignore. 

On February 3, 1977, the story of Megumi Yokota’s abduction appeared on the front page of the Sankei Shimbun newspaper and in a magazine called Aera. The articles published a photo of Megumi and printed her full name. On that day, Shigeru said, “Everything changed.” The story of Megumi Yokota was no longer about an unsolved kidnapping case. It has now become a political issue between Japan and North Korea. 

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi met with North Korea’s Supreme Leader Kim Jong-Il on September 17, 2002 at the Japan-North Korea Summit meeting where he admitted to North Korea abducting in Japanese citizens and sending shock waves throughout Japan. More victims started coming forward and pushed the Japanese government to demand that North Korea send their citizens back to their home country. 

The abduction issue continues to be a major issue between Japan and North Korea. The isolationist country went so far as to tell Japan that Megumi Yokota had died and had sent her bones and ashes as proof. However, a DNA test found that the bones did not belong to Megumi. It’s a gripping and true story that continues even today. The Yokotas still pray for the return of their daughter to her rightful homeland. I keep wondering why the United Nations doesn’t get more involved in resolving this issue. This is not a Japan - North Korea problem. It is a crime against humanity and needs to be dealt with as such. ~Ernie Hoyt