Eastern Standard Time: A Guide to Asian Influence on American Culture : From Astro Boy to Zen Buddhism

Eastern Standard Time: A Guide to Asian Influence on American Culture : From Astro Boy to Zen Buddhism

For everyone who's ever wondered how to order Korean barbecue and Chinese dim sum; what "good feng xui" is and how to make sure you have it; where to find the ten greatest Nintendo games never released in the States, and which is the deadliest martial art, here is the long-awaited guide to Asian cultural literacy: the key concepts, events, people, trends, and products that have been imported from Asia to America and become part of our way of life. A Mariner paperback original. This is the definitive guide to the influence of East on West. Exhaustively searching out those aspects of Asian religion, art, language, culture, and inventiveness that have made their way West, the staff of A. Magazine , the only national magazine dedicated to the experience of Asian Americans, have provided a brilliantly packaged, endlessly amusing compendium of articles, images, and ideas. Need to know the coolest and strangest candies from the Western Pacific? The hottest Japanese cartoons and comic books? The basics of Buddhism? Origami's origin? Look no further. In hundreds of articles, presented with eye-catching imagery and a consistently funny and mildly snide attitude, the collision between the worlds of Astro Boy and Superman is brought to life in this delightful read. With Jackie Chan at the multiplex, Thai restaurants and karaoke bars in plenty of American cities, and Nintendo and Sega battling it out for video game domination, Asian cultural impact on the U.S. may be as powerful as Asian economic clout. To help Americans deal with the onslaught of things Eastern, the editors of A. Magazine offer a Baedecker of Asian influences, ancient and contemporary. Some of the subjects of the volume's one-to six-page entries (noodles, martial arts) have made it big in America, and seeing more of some others (Japanese animated cartoons, pop groups like Pizzicato Five) seems inevitable. Still others (sumo, Chinese opera) seem unlikely ever to make significant inroads. Although Japanese and Chinese subjects predominate, Indian, Vietnamese, and other Far and Near Eastern topics appear. This range of coverage repeatedly demonstrates Asian cultural diversity; for example, both Japanese comic books and Salman Rushdie appear in the literature section. This entertaining, user-friendly guide comes just in time for the Pacific Century. Gordon Flagg "With Jackie Chan at the multiplex, Thai restaurants and karaoke bars in plenty of American cities, and Nintendo and Sega battling it out for video game domination, Asian cultural impact on the U.S. may be as powerful as Asian economic clout. To help Americans deal with the onslaught of things Eastern, the editors of A. Magazine offer a Baedecker of Asian influences, ancient and contemporary. Some of the subjects of the volume's one-to six-page entries (noodles, martial arts) have made it big in America, and seeing more of some others (Japanese animated cartoons, pop groups like Pizzicato Five) seems inevitable. Still others (sumo, Chinese opera) seem unlikely ever to make significant inroads. Although Japanese and Chinese subjects predominate, Indian, Vietnamese, and other Far and Near Eastern topics appear. This range of coverage repeatedly demonstrates Asian cultural diversity; for example, both Japanese comic books and Salman Rushdie appear in the literature section. This entertaining, user-friendly guide comes just in time for the Pacific Century." -- Review Terry Hong is a contributing editor of A. Magazine.