University of San Francisco Master of Asia-Pacific Studies Program

Please join the USF Center for Asia Pacific Studies on Thursday, November 18, at 5:15 p.m. PT for MAPPING DIGITAL GAME CULTURE IN CHINA: FROM INTERNET ADDICTS TO ESPORTS ATHLETES. In this presentation, Marcella Szablewicz, Associate Professor of Communication Studies, Pace University, NYC, will discuss the digital gaming culture in China. China is home to over 500 million online gamers and is considered a leader in the professionalization of competitive gaming, or esports; y...et, since the early 2000s, the Chinese government has engaged in efforts to control young people’s passion for online gaming, a leisure pursuit commonly referred to as a form of spiritual opium. This talk will examine why a country seemingly so invested in online games is simultaneously leading the charge against them. MAPS is a community partner for this event. You can register at this link: https://myusf.usfca.edu//mapping-digital-game-culture-chin

Tonight, Wednesday, November 3, at 6:30 p.m. PT, MAPS Director of Administration Brian Komei Dempster will participate alongside others in a virtual group benefit reading, "Writers of Discontent: Stop AAPI Hate." This event supports the significant work of Chinese for Affirmative Action (CAA) and is co-sponsored by the USF English Department and Critical Diversity Studies Program. To get the Zoom link, please contact [email protected] To donate, you can go to the GoFundMe ...Page at: https://gofund.me/2556a1ae

Please join us on Wednesday, November 3, at 5:15 p.m. PT for a talk by Professor Jacques deLisle entitled, "Contested States and Dire Straits: Taiwan's International Status and Cross-Strait and U.S.-China Relations. Professor deLisle, who teaches, University of Pennsylvania, will discuss how Taiwan has again become a major source of friction and the focus of the greatest risk of conflict between the U.S. and China. This presentation is hosted by the USF Center for Asia Pacific Studies and in community partnership with MAPS. You can register here: https://myusf.usfca.edu//contested-states-and-dire-straits

Our warm thanks goes out to Callie Fausey, Maggie Aldrich, and the San Francisco Foghorn for this excellent article about our September 29 showcase event, Asia Pacific Expressions, and the fine work of MAPS faculty member and translator, Andrea Lingenfelter and poet, Shin Yu Pai. https://sffoghorn.com/where-poetry-and-translation-interse/

This is exciting! Our very own Professor Brian Komei Dempster is live online this Thursday, Sept 30th at 6PM as he reads from his second poetry collection, Seize. Dempster shares poems along with family photos that illuminate the work. Seize relates Dempster’s moving experience of raising a son, Brendan, who contends with intractable epilepsy and pervasive developmental delays. These poems also link his son’s physical and verbal seizure to his maternal family’s wartime inc...arceration in Topaz prison camp and themes of mixed-race identity, racial violence and PTSD of war veterans. Seize was winner of the Julie Suk Award, Silver Winner of a Human Relations Indie Book Award and a finalist for the Eric Hoffer Book Award and National Indie Excellence Award in Poetry. As Julie Suk Award judge, Jaki Shelton Green, states, Brian Komei Dempster provides a complicatedly nuanced and absorbing story of surrender, acceptance and grace. Seize holds his son’s epilepsy tenderly inside poetic depths of courageous breath, generational responsibility and the searing beauty of witness where anguish becomes canvas. The urgency and immediacy of Seize insists that the holiness of Brendan’s life never become a ghost in his father’s throat. Dempster is a professor of rhetoric and language, Director of Administration of the Master’s in Asia Pacific Studies and a faculty member in Asian Pacific American Studies at the University of San Francisco. He has conducted numerous workshops with former concentration camp survivors and their descendants, Bay Area residents, Asian Pacific American writers and those of diverse backgrounds and generations. His debut book of poems, Topaz (Four Way Books, 2013), received the 15 Bytes Book Award in Poetry. https://sfpl.org///09/30/author-brian-komei-dempster-seize

We are so excited that our very own Professor Andrea Lingenfelter, will be launching the newly translated poetry collection Ghosts City Sea next Wed, Sept 29th at 4pm PT online via Zoom. This free event also features Shin Yu Pai as she introduces her new book of poetry, Virga. Come join us for the launch of two groundbreaking poetry collections!! Ghosts City Sea translated by USF Master's in Asia Pacific Studies faculty member Andrea Lingenfelter showcases the powerful wo...rk of Wang Yin, which spans across culture and history. Shin Yu Pai's latest poetry collection, Virga, examines the Asian Pacific American experience through the lenses of gender, Buddhism, racism, and violence. Both authors will read from their books and engage in Q and A with the audience. Andrea Lingfenfelter Andrea Lingfenfelter is a poet, scholar of Chinese literature, and award-winning translator of contemporary Chinese language fiction (Farewell My Concubine, Candy) and poetry. Her most recent poetry translation is Ghosts City Sea. Shin Yu Pai Shin Yu Pai is a poet, essayist and visual artist. She is the author of several books, including Virga (Empty Bowl, 2021), ENS (Entre Ríos Books, 2020), Aux Arcs, (La Alameda, 2013) and others. Free and open to the public. Registration required. RSVP here: https://www.usfca.edu//asia-pacific-expressions-the-power- Cosponsors: Asian Pacific American Studies, Asian Studies, Center for Asia Pacific Studies

The Ricci Institute invites applications for Luce Post-doctoral Research Fellowships for the summer of 2021 as part of an on-going project supported by the Henr...y Luce Foundation in New York. For details, please visit: https://drive.google.com//1Gbbq_sRTTn44WqDycFkiXCO_f/view Deadline to apply is February 28, 2021.

Hello, MAPS Community! We're excited to announce that this upcoming Monday, January 25 our Director of Administration, Prof. Brian Komei Dempster, will be participating in a reading with fellow University of San Francisco faculty members, Prof. Bruce Snyder and Prof. Barbara Jane Reyes. This event will be free and open to the public. Please register to attend here: https://bit.ly/399raiE!

Want to learn how to make a healthy Japanese snackonigiri, or rice ballwhile doing good? The USF Center for Asia Pacific Studies invites current USF student...s to participate in a small and interactive cooking workshop with socially responsible aims. Join us for Onigiri Action this community building activity will consist of a 1 hour cooking workshop and a half an hour of social time in small breakout rooms. Participating in food security activism and getting to know members of the USF Asia Pacific Studies community has never been so fun! Onigiri Action @ USF Thursday, Feb. 4, 2021 6:00-7:30 p.m., Online Open to current USF undergraduate and graduate students Learn more and/or to register: https://usfblogs.usfca.edu/center-for-asia-pacific-studi//

What did you "Dig More" in 2020? "Big wisdom in a small garden" was one of the top clips of the year. Which videos scooped up your attention? Visit the special ...site and vote now! https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkw//ondemand/tag/dig_more_japan/ (Voting runs until 14:59 UTC on Sunday, January 17, 2021.) #DigMoreJapan

People watch the sun rise at seaside near Tomb of Munmu of Silla in Gyeongju on the first day of 2021. #HappyNewYear! Photo credit: Yonhap

Our MAPS alumni, Tiger Vu of the financial services firm Edward Jones recently received the firm's coveted Ted Jones Prospecting Award, which recognizes financial advisors who achieve high levels of success early in their careers. Vu was one of only 1,236 financial advisors to receive the award. Graduating from the University of San Francisco Master's in Asia Pacific Studies (MAPS)-MBA dual degree program in 2017, Vu now runs his firm's advisory branch in Burlingame, Califor...nia. During this difficult time of the pandemic, his work thrives from fulfilling his mission: serving local families and retirees in the Bay Area. Tiger states, Even three years after graduation, I am still inspired and guided by my experience in MAPS. From reading and researching thick market reports at night, to bringing diversity and global expertise into my presentations and conversations, my work is fun and dynamic like in the old days with my MAPS family. The materials are different, but my routine hasn’t changed much. From the program, I’m well-equipped to handle what comes my way. See more

China's millions of blue collar workers now come in the form of delivery workers, but many endure constant anxiety in the job's high pressure environment.

In look and tone, however, Wife of a Spy initially impresses as the sort of lavishly produced, conventionally staged prestige drama suitable for NHK, the film’s backer and broadcaster. But its air of tension and menace is familiar from many a Kurosawa excursion into the uncanny and unknown. Not that the film ever departs from true-to-life realism; it has no need for ghosts to give us disturbing glimpses into the era’s genuine atrocities.

Radioactive water from Japan’s devastated Fukushima nuclear plant may be released into the Pacific Ocean.

Thai pro-democracy protesters are using hand gestures to communicate at rallies. Some of their tactics echo those from the 2019 Hong Kong protests.

LA’s most legendary mochi is made in this 117-year-old shop.

A move that caused "great distress and anxiety": Hong Kong's flagship carrier Cathay Pacific's sweeping restructuring plans will eliminate 8,500 job posts globally. Read more here: https://sc.mp/brc

Thailand has a long history of political turmoil, and its latest protests led by young people are sending the country in an unpredictable direction. Here's what you should know. Read more here: https://sc.mp/wp0

Heavy rainfall has left more than 100 dead in Vietnam, as the country is bracing for a tropical storm.

China and the Vatican have renewed a controversial deal on the appointment of bishops that some say has done little to improve relations. Read more here: https://sc.mp/gx2