New Asian Women (1) – Makino Tsukushi (1992 – )

Name: Makino Tsukushi

Tsukushi literally means horsetail. A hardy plant, horsetail has been used to scour pots and pans. The name itself is a symbollic reference to the strong will of this lead character in Hana Yori Dango, a popular anime created by Yoko Kamio in 1992.

Who is she: smart, kick-ass high school girl

Tsukushi is the ‘non-descript’ teenage girl of working class background who refuses to bow down to the Flower Four, the gang of four teenage guys who lead the pack at Etoto High School, an exclusive institution for the rich and famous. The Flower Four, or F4, are so named for their exceedingly good looks. And if Tsukushi is the lowly, commoner horsetail, F4 are ‘creme-la-creme’ – future successors to the quartet of economic powerhouses in Japan. However, slowly but gradually, Tsukushi wins over the F4, particularly their leader, Domiyoji, with her strong spirits and courage.

Some memorable moments:

1. Declaration of war: Tsukushi sending a kick right into the face of Domiyoji.

2. Tsukushi, the ‘Miss No Brand Woman’ rejecting and expressing disdain towards Domiyoji’s offer to ‘buy her love’

Breakthrough factor:

1. Straight-talking, no-nonsense, independent heroine who obviously deviates from the stereotypical sweet, docile Japanese woman.

2. The underdog successfully standing up to the school bully – clearly this theme has appealed to teenagers who may have suffered similar predicament in school.

2. Challenges the stratification of Japanese society in a high school setting.

Scream factor: Ear-deafening

Other than inspiring a TV and movie anime in Japan towards the late 90’s, Hana Yori Dango has also been repackaged as Meteor Garden for the Taiwanese market in 2001. Meteor Garden has taken Southeast Asia by storm. The success of Meteor Garden has served as an effective springboard for the acting career of popular TV host, Barbie Xu and turned the four virtual unknown male leading characters into overnight superstars.

In 2005, a brand new Japanese series of Hana Yori Dango was broadcast on Japanese TV.

Gen-xi comments:

For some reason or other, the strong character of Tsukushi, or Shancai, is very much watered down in Meteor Garden. Tsukushi seemed to be constantly weeping throughout most of the footage. This has no less discounted the spunk in the original characterisation of this unconventional character in Hana Yori Dango.

Tsukushi remains one of the memorable female characters in Japanese manga, not least for her refreshing forthrightness and fearlessness in taking on a deeply entrenched class system.

New Asian Women

Trying to google for related materials on Asian women and Ming Tan’s ‘How to Attract an Asian Woman’ came up top of the list.

While John Gray was heavily critiqued for endorsing longstanding myths of men and women (see further discussion on Whitebait’s post), Ming Tan has attracted a fair share of scathing remarks from incensed (mostly Asian) women.

However, it is pretty obvious from the thumbs up given by other (presumably Caucasian male from the Amazon record) readers, that Ming has successfully appealed to those ‘suffering’ from what one critique termed as ‘the epidemic of yellow fever’.

If John Gray has reinforced the feminine stereotype, then Ming has possibly augmented the image of hyperfeminised Asian women.

Of course, Ming’s book is but one amongst the many divergent feminine representations emerging in Asia. The West may still be dominated by the likes of Dragon ladies (aka Lucy Liu in Ally McBeal, Sandra Oh in Grey Anatomy) or exotic bodies (eg Susie Wong, arguably the Madam Butterfly), but the tide is set to change in Asia. Women not adhering to such stereotypes are gaining voices gradually but surely. Perhaps sensitive to such shifts in mindsets, media productions in Asia have begun to portray women in a different light. Blogs as a medium that privileges individual voices over critical mass have perhaps exacerbated this trend.

Here I set the prelude to a series of blog posts where I hope to capture some of the arguably most influential representations of women in popular culture, that have served to reinvent or in some instances, challenge the notions of the Asian feminine.

This is far from an exhaustive study, but I do hope like-minded individuals may contribute to the limited literature I will be collating in this blog.

Racist post

Lunchtime chat with co-worker, A. We were discussing about the general perceptions we had of our Indian acquaintances. Our general conclusion is that Indians are mostly party animals who can hold their drinks well. Interestingly, A also noted how her Indian friends have come to reinforce such (somewhat racist and groundless) generalisations of their own race.

A : My Indian friend told me a racist joke about Indians. What do you call an Indian soaked in water?

Me: ??

A : Black pollution. Don’t you think this is very racist?

Me: Oh yeah, but to the Indians, they think it’s alright. They are making fun of their own race. It would be different if the joke came from a non-Indian.

A: Yeah, that’s why my uncle thought it’s alright for him to be racist to all other races.

Me: Why?

A: Because he’s a Eurasian – he has Asian and European heritage. So he’s entitled to be racist to all other racial groups.

Surely, A’s Indian friend or uncle aren’t the only ones embracing such an apparently illogical assumption. How often do we find ourselves criticising our own race, countrymen or nation, yet aren’t able to overlook the slightest critique from other racial groups or nationalities? How do we define racism if this is so ingrained in the subtlest moments of our own daily lives?

It’s a crazy stone in a crazy world

Catching up on the movie moments in Singapore, the screening of Crazy Stone at GV Plaza Singapura a month ago

via Youtube.

Yet another much-raved-over indie production from Asia, amazing in its box-office success in its home country, mainland China, given the relatively unknown (and dare I say, unattractive – no I don’t mean it in a bad way ;)) cast and its small production budget.

Revolving around a frenzy over the exhibition of treasured piece of jade – the thwarted thieving attempts of a bunch of bungling local ruffians and their Hong Kong veteran counterpart despite the made-shift security set-up in an old temple site – Crazy Stone ain’t exactly original in its storyline. Fact is most of its antics were reinvented from infamous movie moments, for instance, the toilet diving scene in Trainspotting and a hard-to-miss parody of Tom Cruise’s professional hangman stunt in Mission Impossible.

Yet the packed series of events set in a rather frantic pace and the stark, gritty reflection of fast industrialising landscape of Chongqing, China, were excellent portrayals of the trials and tribunes of working class Chinese lined with black humour.

Majority of the film’s footage is shot in the drudges of the fast urbanising city – the common living quarters where the law enforcers and law breakers co-existed, tryng to eke out a decent living against a sweeping tide of capitalism across the country. Oblivious of the conflict in their self interests, the local heros and ruffians crossed paths on several occasions within these cramped quarters, sharing private moments of their daily lives in the common space of a public bathhouse, the grime of the public toilets and a dilapidated local hotel.

Such dreary living environment of the working class is juxtaposed against the backdrop of emerging skyscrapers, amongst which housed the office of the resident villian -the new rich and real estate developer who instigated the thieving attempts to safeguard his construction of yet another skyscraper.

This grim outlook of a widening class divide in a transitionary mega economy is cleverly side-stepped in a frenetic comic sequence that leaves little room for further reflection. The movie arguably sealed its point in the concluding scene where the lone ruffian who escaped criminalisation for his attempted theft of the jade piece, was depicted as desperately trying to run away on the highway from a patrolling policeman for stealing a loaf of bread.

Is it any wonder why this fast-paced black comedy would attract censure from conservative factions whilst winning critical acclaim and scoring box office success in its home country?

PS: Whitebait, methinks this is a must-see if you are interested in the changing landscape of mainland China.

Have you forgotten the Smell of Rain?

Catching up on lost time in Singapore at the screening of Smell of Rain at The Art House

via Youtube.

Do you recognise the smell of rain? This smell that seems to announce each impending storm. Some associate this scent with the arrival of Spring.

But for Xiaoqi, the protaganist of Smell of Rain, a local film production, this familiar scent is a constant reminder of a painful childhood – a single mother who yearned for and yet was unlucky in love, a mother who chose to foresake her child perhaps in a desperate attempt to dismiss a lifelong rejection in love.

Smell of Rain is the story of a 20something young man’s struggle against a childhood that is denied of parental love and to rediscover the courage to embrace love again in his adult life. His obsession with the castaways of his neighbours – old electronic equipment, books or soft toys now thoughtlessly dumped in the stairway or lift lobby, demonstrates his resistance against the disposable culture of a consumerist society. Love, as with the use value of material goods, has its expiry date. Human relationships are but disposables in modern living. The forgotten child of yesteryear is now still a forgotten being in modern Singapore. His life revolves round the neighbourhood of working class Singaporeans, the upgraded HDB flats along Kallang River, just off Geylang, the infamous yet rarely spoken off Red Light District.

Just as the Red Lights of Geylang are an unspoken and oft-neglected fact of life, the main characters of the film, Xiaoqi and his two other friends – Kong Long, a wiser, older bummer and Li-Er, a tortured teenage daughter of an abusive father – are the forgotten souls in modern Singapore.

Yet, these three young individuals who seemed to have been left behind by the rat race of modern Singapore found love and courage from their precious friendship to strike a new beginning in life.

Smell of Rain is a fruit of labour of a first-time, self-financed film director, Gloria Chee. This unconventionally quiet local production may not leave a lasting impression against the backdrop of a highly commercialised film industry. Yet the film has no less, in allowing more space for thoughts through a slower pace in its film sequences, provided room for a rare but much needed reflection.

Take a moment today to recall the smell of rain.

Record companies – ride on the digital divide!

Bob Dylan at age 65, is the oldest rock-and-roll star to go straight to No. 1, as BBC News reports both on and off-air. The intriguing and unPC bit that is left out of the web but reported in the airwaves, is how Bob Dylan may well have benefited from a generation of fans who still favour getting music CDs over downloads from the web.

Now if I recall correctly, a few days ago, there were reports on Universal Music offering U2 soundtracks for FREE downloads on the web.

Is there a digital and perhaps generational divide between Bob Dylan and U2 fans such that record companies have to differentiate their distribution channels? Umm… interesting.

Classifying the new migrants

Channel U talk show, Shoot 2, dealt with the sticky issue of new migrants (in Singapore) two nights ago.

The hot potato topic centred around the incumbents’ resistance towards new migrants. There are two remarks that strike me as economically sensible and morally challenging:

(1) Rationally speaking, as Chua Kim Kang, the co-anchor social commentator, has implied, a capitalistic, meritocratic society such as Singapore should encourage incoming foreign talent but not foreign labour.

(2) On the other hand, I do recall a couple of years back, a senior cabinet minister mentioned the necessity to introduce foreign labour so as to fill the demand for blue collar positions shunned by a growing middle class Singaporeans.

(3) So with a concurrent need to meet the demand for and control the immigrant population, is it any wonder how we view the sexuality of these foreign labourers with anxiety (see Lenore Lyons 2004)?

(4) If we relate this back to the earlier case studies on Indian construction workers and study ma mas, all these indicate a social stratification of new migrants in a eugenic nation-state.

(5) Yet as a guest speaker representing the voice of an early Hong Kong migrant has mentioned, by disadvantaging the study ma mas, the nation-state runs into the risk of alienating their young, who may indeed in turn be the bright talent of our nation’s future?

Understandably, as a program for Chinese TV channel, the talk show mainly framed the issues round the Chinese migrants (and hence the study ma mas and the potential of their offspring). There is perhaps limited room of discussion to bring in the wider issue of foreign labourers.

However, if it is as the hosts, commentators and guest speakers had concluded towards the end of the program, that the young should not be constrained by social stratification to fulfill their potential, then we should seriously relook into the policies that may in any way, disadvantage the second generation new migrants – whether it be the Chinese or ethnic minority diaspora.

Are we as a nation ready for a radical change in our mindsets – socially and morally – to break down the class barriers, in order to harness the benefits of a new migrant tolerant era?

Sweets by the dime

Dropped by an old fashioned, Chinese personal care store this afternoon and was elated to find Hacks – these sweets from my childhood days – still selling by the dime. I nearly missed these stuff – my favourite blackcurrants are now wrapped in these purplish wrappers quite unlike the traditional yellow ones in the early days.

While I relish the flavour of these traditional ‘cough drops’ – oh yeah, they are the ‘original’ throat soothers long before Fisherman or Ricola gain popularity in Singapore – I am hit by this sudden relevation that I’ve finally come home.

Right across the border, Sixthseal, probably share my sense of nostalgia when he griped about the 30 cents increase in petrol prices, which equate to six Hacks in Malaysia.

The nostalgia for the good old Hacks ain’t quite a proprietary emotion along the Straits of Malacca. This successful import from the British colonists, appears to have tugged at the heartstrings of its fellow countrymen. For Paul McGann, the eighth Dr Who, his memory of the same named series was associated with the Hacks man and the Hacks jar in the house in the 1960s.

Indeed, for us, the Gen Xers and second or third generation post-independence Singaporeans and Malaysians, Hacks represents part of a deep-seated heritage from the colonial days. And considering how Hacks has remained ingrained in the memories of our British colonisers, these sweets by the dime may well be among the earliest products truly ‘globalised’ through the tide of time.

Foreign sex workers in Singapore

Less than three months back in Singapore and I am confronted by a series of reports on foreign sex workers – first of the study ma ma (from China) and now the construction workers (from India).

About a month ago, Channel U invited a couple of study ma mas on for a special feature during a talk show program. The intent of the program – though considerably overwhelmed by the emotional overtures of one of the participating study ma mas – was to investigate the allegations against the practice of illegal sex trade amongst these newly settled residents in Singapore.

Just one month from the Channel U talk show, Channel News Asia (CNA) documentary program, Get Real! focuses on the illegal prostitution amongst (male) Indian construction workers in Little India.

There seemed to be a few consistent threads of development in these phenomena despite the apparent differences in nationality and gender:

1. Interviews with study ma mas and an indian construction worker – all have denied any involvement in the illegal sex trade (but, of course!) – seem to illustrate a need of legislation on foreign labour agencies. These ‘new migrants’ confessed to have been wrongfully deluded into paying substantial sums of monies for a promise of access to employment opportunities and stable source of income in their new homeland. Study ma mas are often dismayed to find their job opportunities limited in scope and prospects. Likewise, their Indian counterparts found it difficult to sustain an income from regular employment and were at times cheated of their wages.

2. Both CNA and Channel U have attempted to address point 1 in their programming. However, it appears from the sensational news reports on study ma ma moonlighting as illegal sex trade workers that this demographic is running into the risk of being typecast by the rest of Singapore population. Get Real! has (perhaps to suit the agenda of Singapore context) elected to climax on the probability of AIDs transmission through these illegal, and apparently bisexual Indian sex trade workers.

3. What of the Singaporeans who willingly participate in such illegal sex trade? The (middle-aged) Chinese client interviewed in Get Real! seemed to be fully aware of the ramifications – he’s the one who highlighted the bisexuality of Indian sex trade workers, alleging how some of them engaged in sex trade to support themselves and their girlfriends. Yet the role of these willing participants is often downplayed in any media coverage.

While we question the morality of these new migrants, I do think there is a need to reassess that of the incumbents. Afterall, it does take two hands to clap. It doesn’t help to only look at one side of the story without considering the other perspective.

Addendum: Yawning Bread provides an excellent critique of the CNA segment on the Indian sex workers or ‘Fifty-dollar men’ syndrome. Although I agree with him the segment is rather shallow in its analysis, I suspect this has to do with a practice of ‘self-censorship’ exercised amongst to the mainstream media to appropriate the contents of a controversial topic such that it would be ‘safe’ for general consumption.

Crocodile Hunter … Deceased

Pre-lunch conversation with co-worker

A: Oh no! The Crocodile Hunter is killed!

Me: By Crocodiles?!

A: lol, no, by Stingray?

Me: ??

A: He was diving off Gold Coast, Great Barrier Reef.

And I found out Steve Irwin, after cheating death for many times, died during a diving expedition from reports on Channel News Asia and BBC News.

I’m not a big fan, but it does seem to me, he’s considered quite a character afterall.