VOL 34 NO 17 | APRIL 18 – APRIL 24, 2015

PRSRT STD U.S. Postage Paid Permit No. 746 Seattle, WA

VOL 34 NO 17

APRIL 18 – APRIL 24, 2015

FREE

WORLD & COMMUNITY Khmer Rouge and its aftermath » P. 8

33 YEARS YOUR VOICE

Much love for the Panama Hotel Seattle has its national treasure

Sharon Maeda to run for City Council

By Peggy Chapman Northwest Asian Weekly Oregon has the Willamette Falls Navigation and Locks, and now Seattle has its beloved Panama Hotel as the city’s first National Treasure.

There are approximately 60 buildings, neighborhoods, post offices, even ships (the Delta Queen in Mississippi) declared National Treasures, and now Seattle has its own national treasure in its own International District. It’s by the corner of 6th and Main (or on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet if you haven’t read the book.) Yes, that

Sharon Maeda submitted her application for the Council position vacated by Sally Clark (as of April 13). According to Maeda, “After 47 years of professional life, I have

{see PANAMA HOTEL cont’d on page 15}

{see MAEDA cont’d on page 12}

Sharon Maeda

By Staff Northwest Asian Weekly

Photo by Assunta Ng/NWAW

Photos by James Tabafunda/NWAW

New Seattle laws mean How are businesses changes ahead, no dealing with the more business as usual minimum wage law?

Patricia Lally, director of the Seattle Office for Civil Rights

Tam Nguyen, owner of Tamarind Tree restaurant and president of Friends of Little Saigon

Nicole Vallestero Keenan, Molly Moon Neitzel, and Evelyn Mendoza discuss new minimum wage issues organized by the city

By James Tabafunda Northwest Asian Weekly

Islanders also make up 13 percent of all workers in Seattle.

While the city’s new $15 an hour minimum wage is phased in over the next three to seven years – a slower process for small businesses – most low-wage workers will receive a minimum wage of at least $10 an hour, well above both the state minimum of $9.47 and the federal minimum of $7.25

By Assunta Ng Northwest Asian Weekly

Dilemmas and misconceptions about the Seattle’s $15 wage minimum law begin since its implementation on April 1.

A big misconception for many Seattle workers caused by the minimum wage law is that, “they are going to get $15 an hour on April 1,” said Evelyn Mendoza, Uwajimaya’s Human Resources Director, who was part of the city’s panel on the new labor law on April

Following SeaTac’s approval of a minimum wage at $15 an hour in November 2013, Seattle’s version of the law took effect on April 1, along with a law on administrative wage theft.

According to the Seattle Office for Civil Rights (SOCR), forty-one percent of lowwage workers in Seattle are Asian American/ Pacific Islander. Asian Americans/Pacific

{see MINIMUM WAGE cont’d on page 4}

14 at City Hall.

Although the law was implemented on April 1, employees won’t be getting $15 until 2018. The City provides a phase-in approach from $11 to $15 in 2017, with an incremental increase year by year. (See related article.)

What strategies do companies use to deal with the new law? Some businesses can increase prices, while some businesses {see LOCAL BUSINESSES cont’d on page 15}

The Inside Story NAMES People in the news » P. 2

■

COMMUNITY A salute to a hero » P. 3

LAYUP DRILL Seasons change, and so do sports! » P. 7

TRAVEL Rest & search in Vietnam » P. 9

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asianweekly northwest

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APRIL 18 – APRIL 24, 2015

■ names in the news The University of Washington Bothell has selected P.K. Sen, Ph.D. to receive the Distinguished Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity award.

Dr. Sen, a professor in UW Bothell’s School of Business, joined the faculty in 2012.

Widely recognized for his disDr. P.K. Sen tinguished record of research throughout his academic career, Dr. Sen continues to maintain an active research profile, with nine conference presentations of his work since coming to UW Bothell. His research presence has contributed to the School’s rise in ranking in the field of Accounting.

With a deep interest in mentoring junior scholars, Dr. Sen has acted as the Doctoral Colloquium Coordinator for the Asian Academic Accounting Association for the last five years. His emphasis on mentoring, collaboration and co-authorship in research is reflected in his support for colleagues at UW Bothell. 

Fujimoto new JACL Membership Coordinator Mariko Fujimoto has been hired as the new JACL Membership Coordinator and will be working out of the JACL National Headquarters in San Francisco, CA. The position was formerly filled by Matt Walters, who is now the JACL Business Manager. Fujimoto is Mariko Fujimoto excited to join the JACL staff.

She is currently a student at San Francisco State University studying Classics. Fujimoto has been involved with JACL since 2007 and has served as a board member of the Silicon Valley Chapter since 2009. 

Chang and Zhao honored

Warren Chang

Buyun Zhao

The Ethnic Heritage Council is a non-profit whose mission is to preserve and provide ethnic and cultural traditions, foster mutual understanding, and celebrate heritage. This year they are presenting the annual Gordon Ekvall Tracie Memorial award this year to Warren Chang and Buyun Zhao. This award is presented to an ethnic performing artist who has made significant contributions to the development and presentation of the traditional arts in our community. The Northwest Asian Weekly posted an article about them on October 8, 2009. 

residents.

The award will be presented to Okamoto and Seattle World School on May 8 during the 2015 Bloom Gala at the Westin Seattle Hotel.

Okamoto, 88, a military veteran who was on the board of Nikkei Concerns up until a decade ago, worked with his colleagues to champion the rights and well being of Japanese American seniors. One of their achievements was construction of Nikkei Manor, which provides affordable housing for the elderly.

Established in 1980 as the Secondary Bilingual Orientation Center (SBOC), Seattle World School has evolved to become one of the few schools in the state to offer basic English training and academic skills development for immigrant children. 

Happy 98th birthday to Gene Moy

Photo by Elsie Taniguchi

Dr. Sen awarded for research, scholarship, and creativity

Tosh Okamoto, Seattle World School are recipients of the 2015 Bamboo Award Tosh Okamoto, a co-founder of Nikkei Concerns, and Seattle World School, a public school that helps immigrant children fully participate in American society, have been recognized with the Bamboo Award for Health by the International Community Health Services (ICHS). Each Tosh Okamoto year, ICHS honors one individual and one organization whose works have improved the lives of ICHS’ target populations of disadvantaged and underserved

Gene Moy

There were about 100 dancers who sang and a musician who played “Happy Birthday” to Gene Moy for his 98th Birthday on April 8th. As usual, Gene was the “King of the Ball,” dancing every dance with multiple partners at the ballroom dance held at the Renton Senior Center every Thursday, 1-3pm.

Gene hasn’t slowed down one bit since an article was written about him in the Northwest Asian Weekly, September 27-October 3, 2014 issue. He says that dancing is his only form of exercise, but it keeps him young. 

33 YEARS YOUR VOICE

■ community news

APRIL 18 – APRIL 24, 2015

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A birthday salute to an Asian American hero Gordon Hirabayashi, An American Freedom Fighter

By Maria Batayola and Gary Iwamoto Northwest Asian Weekly We always wanted to have heroes and she-roes who look like us to be inspiration not only for us but also for our children. We have them all around us, sometimes invisible, sometimes forgotten.

Here is one American hero and patriot who made a tremendous difference in all of our lives.

April 23 would have been Gordon Hirabayashi’s 97th birthday. He was in his early 20s when he started his long courageous road to justice.

With the onset of World War II, Hirabayashi, a pacifist, defied military curfew and exclusion orders authorized under the 1942 Executive Order 9066, the Order that led to the incarceration of 120,000 plus Japanese Americans on the West coast. Hirabayashi was just a young man, a senior at the University of Washington.

Knowing that he violated the federally imposed curfew, he turned himself over to the FBI. He

Gordon Hirabayashi

was convicted. He then appealed his conviction all the way to the US Supreme Court where he lost.

Japanese Americans who were incarcerated did not talk about this extremely painful experience.

They went about rebuilding their lives. Starting in the late 60s on, the emergence of Asian American identity and ethnic studies broke the silence, started conversations, and a quest for justice for Japanese American elders.

In the mid 1980s, 43 years

later, young Asian American attorneys filed coram nobis cases for Hirabayashi, Fred Korematsu and Min Yasui, alleging errors in the previous trials.

For Hirabayashi, his legal team was led by Rod Kawakami, Kathryn Bannai, Camden Hall, and Arthur Barnett (one of Gordon’s original wartime lawyers). All three cases had successful results. More importantly, in Hirabayashi’s case, a finding was made that indeed the US government’s accusations were false.

A legal researcher found original government documents (which were thought to be destroyed) that proved the government’s military necessity argument for the massive incarceration was The incarceration unjustified. was based solely on Japanese ancestry.

Hirabayashi’s legacy of justice is now more relevant than ever.

Extensive calls for Black Lives Matter against police racial profiling and targeted hate crimes against Arab American and Muslim communities after the 9-11 terrorist attacks tell us to be

vigilant and remember the lessons of the past.

American amnesia and reduced civic education in our schools make it challenging to protect our civil liberties. The APA community is working hard to have the Legislature allocate $250,000 to the KIP TOKUDA MEMORIAL Civil Liberties Public Education Fund to ensure that K-12 educational materials and activities about the unconstitutional incarceration and heroic military service of Japanese Americans during World War II can be developed and taught.

In Seattle, the struggles of Gordon Hirabayashi and the Japanese American community will be memorialized at InterIm CDA’s new 96-unit affordable housing development named Hirabayashi Place, on 4th and So. Main Street. Come see the education and art installation plans on Saturday, May 30th from 1 to 3 pm at the Addison Building Gallery Space right across the street from Hirabayashi Place on Main Street. So that we remember,

so that we never forget.  For more historical information, see resources below: http://interimicda.org/ legacyofjustice http://encyclopedia.densho.org/ Gordon_Hirabayashi http://encyclopedia.densho.org/ American_Civil_Liberties_Union http://encyclopedia.densho.org/ Coram_nobis_cases https://www.aclu.org/blog/ defending-targets-discrimination/ remembering-gordonhirabayashi Maria Batayola is a longtime community activist and Hirabayashi Place Legacy of Justice Steering Committee Chair.

Gary Iwomoto served as a member of the Hirabayashi Coram Nobis legal team and is an Interim Community Development Association board member.

Maria Batayola and Gary Iwomoto can be reached at info@nwasianweekly.com.

asianweekly northwest

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APRIL 18 – APRIL 24, 2015

■ world news

China says Taiwan Thai junta links Samui won’t be among charter island bombing to members of new bank political opponents

By Christopher Bodeen Associated Press

BEIJING (AP) — Cross-strait frictions remerged Monday as China said Taiwan won’t be among the charter members of the Chinese-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, apparently because of a dispute over what name the island should use in the institution.

Taiwan is among more than 40 countries applying for membership in the new bank, which Washington opposes as unnecessary and potentially harmful.

However, the Chinese Cabinet’s Taiwan Affairs Office said in a statement that Taiwan would be welcome to participate “under the appropriate name.” That reflects China’s view that the self-governing island republic’s name should not suggest that it is a country, because Beijing considers it part of China’s territory.

Spokesman Ma Xiaoguang also confirmed a Hong Kong media report that quoted a bank official as saying Taiwan would not be among the bank’s charter members, which are to be announced Wednesday.

Taiwan and China have long clashed over

{MINIMUM WAGE cont’d from page 1} an hour. Last December, the Chicago City Council approved a $13 an hour minimum wage by 2019.

Instead of paying a minimum wage, small business employers have the option of paying a minimum compensation (the sum of wage, tips, and health-care benefits) of $11 an hour to their workers.

“Having a minimum wage that is higher than the state minimum provides individuals, particularly those who are living in Seattle where our costs are higher, an opportunity to have their essential needs met,” said Patricia Lally, SOCR director.

“And so, this new wage takes one big step in the direction of creating more equity for people in that low-income range,” she added.

SOCR’s rules about paid sick and safe time are printed and available in Chinese, Korean, Tagalog, and Vietnamese in addition to English. “We will also include not only those languages but also languages that are used by our East African community,” Lally said about the printing of rules on Seattle’s two new laws, which is expected to be complete in the next month.

The administrative wage theft law – starting April 1 – affects Seattle employers who fail to pay all wages and tips owed to an employee. Lally said, “If you are not being paid the amount that you agreed to, then you should contact the Office of Labor Standards, and you should visit our website, whatever is easiest for you.”

This law also prohibits employers from making threats to report an employee’s immigration status.

In 2015 the SOCR’s Office of Labor Standards will focus its efforts on outreach and education with the help of community organizations as well as on enforcement of the new laws.

Tam Nguyen, owner of Tamarind Tree restaurant in Seattle, says for his employees to get the $11 minimum compensation, he will have to make some adjustments, such

the island’s international status, with Beijing insisting that the U.S., Japan and most other countries only have unofficial relations with it. The sides were divided by a civil war in 1949 and China continues to insist on eventual unification, by force if necessary.

Chinese pressure forces Taiwan to participate in international sporting competitions and other events as “Chinese Taipei,” the name suggested by Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou when he proposed the island’s membership in the bank.

Beijing now appears to have rejected that suggestion. Although it has not offered an alternative, China succeeded in 1986 in having Taiwan’s name at the Asian Development Bank changed from “Chinese Taipei,” to “Taipei, China.”

Being a charter member of the bank would have given Taiwan greater say in its rules for governance and admission of future members.

In Taipei, legislative Speaker Wang Jinpyng of the ruling Nationalist Party said Taiwan will seek to join the bank as an ordinary member, but would continue to insist on the name “Chinese Taipei.” 

as raising menu prices in the future and possibly opening a new restaurant in a city without a $15 an hour minimum wage law – Vancouver, British Columbia.

“They’re business friendly compared to Seattle,” he said about the Emerald City’s neighbor to the north,” he said. “Right now, we are trying to be streamlined in our operation first.”

He adds the new minimum-wage law prevents any future growth due to the increased costs of doing business.

Being streamlined means cutting the number of employees from over 50 to about 40 now. “Some of them, we have to let them go, and some of them, we have to cut back their hours,” said Nguyen, who is also president of the Seattle neighborhood organization Friends of Little Saigon.

“They decide this doesn’t make any sense for them to work anymore … for two or three hours of work.”

While they must work less hours, they must also do extra work along with their regular job duties. Tamarind Tree dishwashers “have to cut up the vegetables and cook rice and cook noodles,” Nguyen said.

Nguyen wants a partnership with the Office of Labor Standards so that he and other Asian American business owners “find a way to stay alive.”

“I want to stay in this community, to support my community,” Nguyen said. “I’m going to see (how it) turns out … because otherwise, when it doesn’t make sense, why would you be in a place that doesn’t make sense?”  For more information about the minimum wage and administrative wage theft laws, go to www.seattle.gov/civilrights/ labor-standards. For more information about Tamarind Tree, go to www. tamarindtreerestaurant.com.

James Tabafunda can be reached at info@nwasianweekly.com.

By Thanyarat Doksone

BANGKOK (AP) — A car bomb explosion that slightly injured seven people on the popular resort island of Samui in southern Thailand may be linked to the country’s political turmoil, a spokesman for the military government said Saturday.

Initial reports indicated that the attack late Friday was carried out by the same group behind recent blasts in Thailand’s capital that caused no fatalities, said Maj. Gen. Sansern Kaewkamnerd. He did not elaborate, but the leader of the junta that took power in a coup last May has blamed the Bangkok blasts on groups opposed to the military takeover.

In the Samui explosion, an improvised bomb was hidden in a pickup truck in the basement parking area of the Central Festival mall and went off after a fashion show, said the island’s disaster prevention and mitigation chief, Poonsak Sophonpathumrak.

Seven people suffered minor injuries and were released from the hospital without being kept overnight, said Surat Thani provincial Gov. Chatpong Chatputi.

Authorities believe the pickup truck was stolen from one of the three southernmost Thai provinces plagued by an Islamic insurgency. More than 5,000 people have been killed in the three provinces since 2004.

Muslim militants generally do not operate

beyond those provinces, though a handful of bombings or attempted bombings in other areas have been tentatively attributed to rebels in the past.

The military linked the Samui blast to two small bombs that exploded outside a major shopping mall in Bangkok in early February, slightly injuring two people. Junta leader and Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha said at the time that the blasts were aimed at discrediting the government.

In March, a series of arrests were made in connection with a grenade that was tossed at Bangkok’s Criminal Court, and those detained were apparently sympathizers of the anti-government Red Shirt movement, which was formed by supporters of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra after he was deposed in a 2006 coup.

Thailand has suffered from almost a decade of sometimes violent political unrest as supporters and opponents of Thaksin have jousted for power. Thaksin’s sister Yingluck Shinawatra was elected prime minister in 2011, but was forced from office by a controversial court ruling in May last year, shortly before the latest coup ousted her government.

Government critics have suggested that some of the bombings may have been carried {see BOMBING cont’d on page 12}

33 YEARS YOUR VOICE

APRIL 18 – APRIL 24, 2015

■ WORLD NEWS

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Bangladesh braces for protests after Islamist’s execution

By Julhas Salam Associated Press

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP)—Bangladesh braced for protests and fresh violence Sunday after a senior official of the largest Islamist party was executed on charges of crimes against humanity during the country’s 1971 independence war, the second man to be hanged since the government revived war crime trials that have sharpened political divisions in the South Asian nation.

Mohammad Qamaruzzaman was put to death Saturday night in the central jail in the capital, Dhaka, a senior prison official, Forman Ali, told reporters outside the premises.

Prosecutors said that Qamaruzzaman, an assistant secretary general of the Jamaat-e-Islami party, headed a militia group that collaborated with the Pakistani army in central

Bangladesh in 1971 and was behind the killings of at least 120 unarmed farmers.

Bangladesh blames Pakistani soldiers and local collaborators for the deaths of 3 million people during the nine-month war of independence from Pakistan. An estimated 200,000 women were raped and about 10 million people fled to refugee camps in neighboring India.

Jamaat-e-Islami denounced the execution and called for a nationwide general strike Monday. At the same time, hundreds of people who supported the trial and execution rallied in Dhaka. Similar demonstrations were held in other cities and towns.

“We are happy that justice has been delivered finally,” said Mohammad Al Masum, a student at Dhaka University, who joined a procession in Shabagh Square. “I did not see the war but I am sure the families that lost their dear ones will be

No news is good news On Carter’s first Asia trip as Pentagon chief, calm prevails

HONOLULU (AP)—No news is good news. That might have been the bumper sticker for Ash Carter’s first tour of Asia as secretary of defense.

It was mostly quiet on the Eastern front.

Carter consulted with Japanese and South Korean leaders, gave pep talks to American troops, stressed the U.S. military’s stabilizing influence in the region and repeatedly remarked that compared to the Middle East, the Asia-Pacific is calm and on a prosperous track.

That’s a welcome respite from crisis for a Pentagon chief not yet two months into his tenure.

It’s also a reminder of why the Obama administration’s much-advertised pivot to Asia, after more than a decade of allconsuming war in Iraq and Afghanistan, keeps getting overshadowed by rising towers of trouble in Iraq, Syria, Yemen and elsewhere across the Middle East.

In Japan on Thursday, Carter told U.S.

troops and their families at Yokota air base that if they open any newspaper, “what you see is the mess in the Middle East,” whereas East Asia is “generally so peaceful and therefore so prosperous.”

“If you think about it,” he later told troops at Osan air base in South Korea, “the Middle East is in the headlines all the time. But the reason this place isn’t in the headlines is because you’re ready anytime to deter conflict on the peninsula.” He was alluding to the ever-present danger of North Korea reigniting war with the South, although the North of late has stirred up little trouble and provoked no crises.

Carter practically laughed off the North’s test-launching of two short-range ballistic missiles shortly before he arrived on the peninsula, where the missile threat is real and might one day be nuclear armed.

“If it’s a welcoming message to me, I’m {see CARTER cont’d on page 12}

happy today.”

The trials have further polarized Bangladesh, already gripped by long-running political divisions that often spill into violence.

The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Ravina Shamdasani, earlier this week urged Bangladesh not to carry out the execution, saying that Qamaruzzman’s trial did not meet international standards.DD The United States was more guarded in its assessment of the trial, but still urged the government not to proceed with the execution.

“We have seen progress, but still believe that further improvements ... could ensure these proceedings meet domestic and international obligations,” State Department {see EXECUTION cont’d on page 14}

Cancer surge in China prompts rise of special patient hotels

By Jack Chang Associated Press

BEIJING (AP)—Li Xiaohe has set herself up for the long haul in a cramped but sunny room in western Beijing, about a block from China’s most renowned cancer hospital. Her laundry dries on hangers and her husband cooks in a communal kitchen as she embarks on an 84-day program of chemotherapy, following the removal of part of her right breast.

The youthful, soft-spoken 43-year-old, who works as a neighborhood watch leader back home in Henan province, is living in one of the many so-called cancer hotels that dot the neighborhood around the hospital, giving patients an affordable, cozy place to wait for appointments and undergo outpatient treatment.

With lung, bowel and breast cancer rates surging in China, such hotels have sprouted up in big cities such as Beijing and Shanghai,

part of an ad hoc response to what medical experts say is a growing health crisis challenging an unprepared medical system.

“The treatment back home is different from here, so we came here,” Li says in her bedroom, which is filled almost completely by her mattress. “At home, my insurance covers 85 percent of the cost. It’ll be good if I can even get half of it covered here. But I’m doing this for my health. I’m looking for the right treatment.”

These patients venture far for treatment believing they can’t find adequate care in hometowns, instead preferring to camp out near reputable, big-city hospitals to await their turn for care. They do that even though government health insurance often covers less of the cost of care in Beijing and other big cities than it does back home.

The hotels, which mostly operate informally, don’t provide nursing but put {see CANCER cont’d on page 11}

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asianweekly northwest

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APRIL 18 – APRIL 24, 2015

■ briefly

CAPAA seeks applicants to serve on the Commission

The Washington State Commission on Asian Pacific American Affairs (CAPAA) is currently accepting applications for candidates interested in serving on the Commission.

CAPAA serves to improve the well-being of Asian Pacific Americans by ensuring their access to participation in the fields of government, business, education, health, and other areas.

If selected, the individual will help examine and define issues pertaining to the rights and needs of Asian Pacific Americans.

Commissioners also make recommendations to the Governor and state agencies with respect to desirable changes in program and law.

Commissioners serve on a voluntary basis and have the responsibility to maintain communication with the community they represent as well as to the Board. They are to keep the community and Board informed and up to date on issues, legislative activity, and statutes affecting the Asian American and Pacific Islander community.

As part of their duties, Commissioners are expected to attend CAPAA’s public board meetings that are held five times a year around the state.  Visit www.capaa.wa.gov for information on how to apply online. Submit applications by May 4, 2015 to receive consideration for this opening.

■ COMMUNITY calendar ­THU 4/16

WHAT: Samuel E. Kelly Distinguished Faculty Lecture with Professor Shawn Wong WHERE: Alder Hall Commons & Auditorium REGISTER: cpromad@ uw.edu, 206-685-9594

SAT 4/18 WHAT: NVC Foundation Movie Series, “Ponyo,” a film by Hayao Miyazaki WHERE: NVC Memorial Hall, 1212 S. King St., Seattle WHEN: 1-3 p.m.

WHAT: Poetry Reading and Open Mic WHERE: Wing Luke Asian Museum, 719 S. King St., Seattle WHEN: 3-5 p.m.

COST: Free INFO: 206-623-5124, wingluke.org

MON 4/20 WHAT: EDI’s reception introducing Marci Nakano as the Executive Director WHERE: Four Seas Restaurant, 714 S. King St., Seattle WHEN: 5:30-7 p.m.

RSVP: edi@ediorg.org INFO: 425-467-9365

WED 4/22 WHAT: Public Lecture

by Wang Shi, chairman of Vanke WHERE: UW, Paul G. Allen Center WHEN: 6 p.m.

COST: Free

FRI 4/24 THRU SUN 4/26 WHAT: 10th Aaina,

Chief Court Musician, Hiroaki Tohgi on goodwill visit to Seattle

“South Asian Women’s Focus” WHERE: Seattle Asian Arts Museum WHEN: Varies. To be posted on Tasveer website.

INFO: tasveer.org/10thaaina

SAT 4/25 WHAT: Comcast Cares Annual C-ID Spring Clean WHERE: Panama Hotel, 605 S. Main St., Seattle WHEN: 8 a.m.-12 p.m.

WHAT: 2015 Peony & Bamboo Festival WHERE: Seattle Chinese Garden, 6000 16th Ave. S.W., Seattle WHEN: 4-6 p.m.

RSVP: katie@ seattlechinesegarden.org, 206-934-5219 COST: $35/person INFO: seattlechinesegarden.org WHAT: Annual Sukiyaki Dinner WHERE: Japanese Baptist Church, 160 Broadway, Seattle WHEN: 4-7 p.m.

COST: $9-$14 INFO: 206-622-7351, jbcseattle.org

TUE 4/28 WHAT: Rainier Valley Community Development Fund’s 2015 Annual Meeting WHERE: Ethiopian Community Center, 8323 Rainier Ave. S., Seattle WHEN: 5:30-7:30 p.m.

REGISTER: rvcdf.org INFO: 206-722-5280

SUN 5/1 WHAT: Greater Seattle Chinese Chamber of

Commerce luncheon with Dr. Chris Owen & Y.P. Chan WHERE: China Harbor Restaurant, 2040 Westlake Ave. N., Seattle WHEN: 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m.

COST: $20 INFO: seattlechinesechamber.org

SAT 5/2 WHAT: InterIm CDA’s 2015 Gala Growing Communities WHERE: Seattle Marriott Waterfront, 2100 Alaskan Way, Seattle WHEN: 5:30-9 p.m.

COST: $150/ticket INFO: interimicda.org, 206-624-1802 WHAT: Asian Craft & Food Fair & Silent Auction WHERE: Blaine Memorial United Methodist Church, 3001 24th Ave. S., Seattle WHEN: 10 a.m.-4 p.m.

INFO: 206-723-1536

SUN 5/3 WHAT: “Empty Bowls to benefit North Helpline” WHERE: St. Matthew’s parish Community Hall, 1240 N.E. 127th St., Seattle WHEN: 12-3 p.m.

COST: $25 in advance, $35 at the door TICKETS: northhelpline. org/events/event/emptybowls WHAT: API Heritage Celebration WHERE: Seattle Center Armory/Center House Stage WHEN: 11:45 a.m.-5 p.m.

INFO: apiheritage.com

Japan Arts Connection Lab (JACLab) will be bringing Noh + Opera as well as Jiuta (“Music of Kyoto’s pleasure quarters”) performances to Seattle audiences. This year, there will be a goodwill visit to Seattle by the Chief Court Musician of Japan’s Imperial Household Agency, Hiroaki Tohgi.

He will be presenting through the week of May 4-8, 2015 at various locations in the city. The free presentations will provide demonstrations and lectures on a very little known area of Japan’s rich cultural history.

Gagaku (literally, “elegant music”) refers to Japan’s court music and dance.

It is the oldest continuously practiced tradition of classical music in the world, with sounds and rhythms that blend Silk Road traditions with indigenous Japanese cultural arts. Gagaku dates back to the 700s (Heian-era Japan) and made its debut on the international stage only 55 years ago in New York at the United Nations’ General Assembly Hall. Since then only seven U.S. cities have had the privilege of a visit by the Imperial Household Agency’s Gagaku ensemble.

With the sponsorship of the Consulate General of Japan in Seattle, Tohgi will offer a rare glimpse into this highly evolved performance genre to Seattle audiences with a general or academic interest in Japan’s history, music, art, and culture.

This series of Gagaku events in Seattle is made possible by the generous support of the Japan Foundation LA, the University of Washington’s School of Music and Japan Faculty for Humanities and Arts,

the Seattle Asian Art Museum’s Gardner Center for Asian Art and Ideas, individual donors, and Vijay and Sita Vashee through the “power2give/Puget Sound presented

by ArtsFund” platform. 

Monday, May 4, 2015 3:30-5:00 pm LECTURE, Allen Library Auditorium, University of Washington. Lecture on Japan court life.

Wednesday, May 6, 2015 7:00-8:30 pm LECTURE & WORKSHOP, Brechemin Auditorium, School of Music Building, UW. Lecture and workshop with the chance to try a short piece as an ensemble.

A special reception with Mr. Tohgi will be held immediately after the event for guests and donors to JACLab’s Gagaku fundraiser, with appetizers donated by “4649 - Yoroshiku” and “Tengu” Japanese restaurants.

Friday, May 8, 2015 7:30-8:30 pm DEMONSTRATION co-presented with Gardner Center for Asian Art & Ideas, Asian Art Museum in Volunteer Park.

Demonstration of Gagaku music and dance, with authentic costumes and instruments hand carried from Japan.

For more information visit http://www. jaclab.org. Japan Arts Connection Lab’s mission is to share the beauty of Japan’s traditional arts and culture, help demonstrate their universal value, and facilitate their transmission to the next generation.

33 YEARS YOUR VOICE

■ sports

APRIL 18 – APRIL 24, 2015

7

The Layup Drill Seasons change and so do the sports

By Jason Cruz Northwest Asian Weekly

Lakers uniform. Lin played 74 games for the Lakers this season averaging 11.2 points, 4.6 assists and 2.6 rebounds. He shot 42.4 percent from the field and 36.9 percent from 3 point range. The numbers are not too far off his career averages.

Lin is an unrestricted free agent meaning he will not be under contract with the Lakers and is free to sign with any team. But, his current contract pays Lin almost $15 million and it is unlikely that the Lakers would resign him for that amount of money. Lin is an established point guard and had flashes of “Linsanity” this season. We should see him somewhere in the NBA next season.

Welcome to another edition of The Layup Drill. In this edition, we take a look at the close of the NBA season, the start of baseball, and golf is always on our minds.

Bhullar is first Indian born player in NBA Gursimran “Sim” Bhullar made his longawaited debut in the NBA after spending much of this year in the NBA’s developmental league (known as the NBDL). Of course, there’s nothing much to develop out of the Canadian-Indian’s 7 foot 5 frame. With his appearance this year, he was the first player of Indian descent to play in the NBA. He also is the sixth-tallest player in NBA history.

Bhullar went to New Mexico State University to play college basketball. His brother, Tanveer, also played for the team.

After graduating in 2014, Bhullar did not get drafted by an NBA team. However, he was signed by the Sacramento Kings in August of 2014 making him the first player from India to be signed by an NBA team. His stint was short-lived as he never played a regular season game for the Kings and was waived in October 2014. He was picked up by Reno of the NBDL and began playing in December of that year. Bhullar started off slow but showed signs of improvement. In February of this year, Bhullar recorded a “triple double” with

As baseball begins, where is Ichiro?

Gursimran “Sim” Bhullar

double digits in three important categories.

He scored 26 points, 17 rebounds and 11 blocked shots against the Los Angeles NBDL team.

In April 2015, he signed a 10 day contract with Sacramento. Bhullar played sparingly but when he checked into a game late in the fourth quarter against the Minnesota Timberwolves on April 7th, he became the first player from India to play in the NBA. Bhullar was not retained by the Kings after his contract expired.

Bhullars’s story is similar to many that

have hoop dreams. You can’t teach height and his size should help him gain further opportunities. Hopefully he will catch on with another NBA team next season.

Linsanity ends season with a knee injury

The Los Angeles Lakers announced that Jeremy Lin would sit out the last three games of the season with a knee injury ending an up and down season for the Taiwanese American guard. Since the Lakers will not make the playoffs, it might be the last time Lin wears a

Baseball season began this month and many locals are actually excited about the prospects of the Mariners season. This year could be the year that the Mariners make it back to post-season baseball. As we look forward to the season, it had me wondering about where is Ichiro?

You may recall Ichiro Suzuki was traded to the New York Yankees midway through the 2012 baseball season. Unlike in Seattle, Suzuki played in a limited role for the Yankees. After two years in New York, Ichiro moved on wanting to continue his baseball career at the age of 41. Suzuki landed a one year deal for $2 million with the Miami Marlins. Although Suzuki is projected to be {see SPORTS cont’d on page 12}

asianweekly northwest

8

APRIL 18 – APRIL 24, 2015

■ community news

Remembering the Khmer Rouge Takeover and its aftermath 40 years later

By Nina Huang Nothwest Asian Weeky

Khmer Rouge Takeover

Forty years ago on April 17, Pol Pot led the Khmer Rouge into Phnom Penh and took over with the goal of creating a purely agrarianbased Communist society.

Over a span of four years, the Khmer Rouge government arrested, tortured and eventually executed anyone suspected of being an “enemy.” These included the educated, anyone with connections to the former government, those who were not pure Cambodian and city dwellers who were not deemed fit to perform farming duties.

As a result, the Khmer Rouge takeover remains one of the worst genocides in history. Nearly two million Cambodian lives were lost, and several hundred thousand Cambodians fled their country and became refugees.

40th anniversary

Some of these refugees now live in Washington. According to the 2013 Census Bureau, about 320,000 Cambodians live in the state.

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the Khmer Rouge Takeover. Although people may want to forget the genocide and atrocities that took place, several community leaders discuss how important it is to never forget.

Along with 16 Cambodian organizations across the state, Mell is coordinating an all-day commemorative event on August 29 at North Seattle College. The objective of the event is to create a space where Cambodian Americans can embark on a journey of intergenerational and community

Courtesy movdata.net

healing. There will be monks at the event to share blessings at the beginning of the ceremony. Mell hopes that at least 500 Cambodians will attend.

“Not a lot of people want to talk about April 17, it brings up really bad emotions and feelings,” Sameth Mell, minister of culture and information of Rajana Society, said.

Mell said that the Khmer Rouge takeover influenced him generationally. His mother’s side of the family were all executed in front of her.

“The Khmer community has been hyper marginalized within the socioeconomic brackets, we’ve been depoliticized, criminalized, disfranchised, and not only are we traumatized as a country, it was only supposed to be a three-day takeover

when they evacuated the country, instead it took four years, there was a whole lot of devastation,” he said.

Mell explained that being an immigrant and refugee was difficult in the U.S. It was hard to find social services back in the 1980s. His family scrambled for resources; and that affected him growing up.

That experience made him realize how important it is to reach back to his roots and understand where he comes from.

“I moved to the U.S. when I was 3.

I’m a child of that dark period. April 17 is a journey of re-traumatization that the U.S. is continuing to push forth on Cambodia and Khmer political and psychological bodies,” he said.

As a matter of fact, Mell was one out of 30 Khmer Americans

who were selected from a pool of 150 applicants to embark on “A Cambodia Journey,” a YMCAsponsored program that bridges the Cambodian Americans across the nation by taking them on an once in a lifetime trip to Cambodia.

The Cambodian Americans will be immersed in the culture with the local communities and work with street kids for two weeks beginning Aug. 23.

Although it’s still a sensitive topic for many, Mell explained that some older folks are starting to step up and talk about the exodus and suffering. They’re starting to share stories of why they left Cambodia as they bridge the gap with the younger generations who are entering the leadership realm in the community.

“We can work together to continue keeping the historical facts alive and not have them become diluted and washed away,” he said.

As a child, Pharin Kong witnessed some of the torture at the camps as well as family members getting sick and dying.

He also moved from camp to camp during the tumultuous times.

Kong moved to the U.S. in August 1984 when he was 10 years old.

Kong echoed Mell’s thoughts on the importance of keeping the Cambodian culture alive, and educating the younger generations by bridging the gap and increasing cultural awareness in the communities.

As a community activist and representative of the Cambodian Cultural Alliance of Washington, Kong often works with the older generations to teach them new things as well as make sure they’re caught up to the mainstream culture.

He said that it’s important to remember what happened 40 years ago so that history would not repeat itself. He hopes that the older generations will share their experiences so that the younger people can understand why the takeover happened.

“It’s a story from us (older generation) to tell the next generation that this is what happened, and be able to look forward to the future so the same bad things won’t happen again,” he said.

Kong has been helping with the Cambodian New Year Street Festival taking place on April 25 in {see KHMER ROUGE TAKEOVER cont’d on page 13}

KING COUNTY INVITATION TO BID Project: Yarrow Bay Pump Station Odor Control System Replacement, C00969C15 Sealed Bid Time/Date: 1:30p.m., April 30, 2015 Location Due: King County Procurement & Contract Services Section, Contracts Counter, 3rd Floor, 401 Fifth Avenue, Seattle, WA 98104 Engineer’s Estimate: $310,000 - $380,000 Scope of Work: Scope of Work: The work includes but is not limited to the removal of existing Pep-Con brand chemical scrubber odor control system including all mechanical and electrical components. Removal of existing wall mounted supply fan to wet well including all mechanical and electrical components. Installation of temporary electrical power to the temporary mobile odor control unit (MOCU) trailer (County provided), and associated temporary fiberglass reinforced plastic (FRP) ducts to the MOCU. Installation of new concrete pad for new, permanent horizontal carbon odor control unit vessel, a new odor control horizontal carbon unit; new odor control system FRP ductwork and FRP exhaust fan including all mechanical and electrical components. Install a new mist and grease eliminator filter, fire extinguisher, lower explosive limit (LEL) monitor for the new odor control room and the existing wet well. Install new intake air louver for supply air to the wet well, inline explosion proof supply fan, and aluminum ductwork for wet well supply air, unit heater for the electrical room, heating, ventilation and

air conditioning (HVAC) system control and monitoring panel for local and remote monitoring of the pump station HVAC system, additional section to the existing motor control center (MCC) for new electric loads, traffic signs and fire lane. Repair structural damage to the existing odor control room including, concrete footing, concrete floor, entry door, floor drain, etc.

Remove and replace existing inflow sluice gate with a new stainless steel composite sluice gate and manual operator.

Work site: 4400 Lake Washington Blvd NE, Kirkland, Washington, 98033.

Contact Information: Darren R. Chernick, Contract Specialist, 206-263-9321, TTY Relay: 711, Fax: 206296-7675, or darren.chernick@kingcounty.gov. A bidder may be asked to put a question in writing. No verbal answers by any County personnel or its agents and consultants will be binding on the County.

Pre-Bid Conference: April 21st , 2015, 1:00p.m., 4400 Lake Washington Blvd NE, Kirkland, Washington, 98033. A site tour will be conducted immediately following the conference. Hardhats and safety boots are required for site tour.

Subcontracting Opportunities: Mechanical, Electrical, Civil/Concrete Apprenticeship Requirements: No minimum Apprentice Utilization Requirement.

SCS Utilization Requirements. 4% minimum

requirement for King County Certified Small Contractors and Suppliers (SCS).

Bid Guaranty: Not less than five percent (5%) of the Total Bid Price.

Bid Documents Electronic copies of the plans, specifications, reference documents, and any addenda for this solicitation are available on the King County Procurement website shown below. Printed documents may also be ordered by contacting United Reprographics at 206-382-1177. Copies of documents are not available for purchase from King County, but are available for review 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. M thru F. at the Contracts Counter: Chinook Bldg, 3rd Floor, 401 Fifth Avenue Seattle, WA 98104.

To receive email notifications of addenda or other important information concerning this solicitation, you must register to be a planholder under the “Solicitations” tab at the following internet link: Website: http://www.kingcounty.gov/procurement/ solicitations This information is available in alternate formats for individuals with disabilities upon advance request by calling 206-263-9400, TTY Relay: 711.

Notes: Bids received after Sealed Bid Time will not be considered. Bidders accept all risks of late delivery, regardless of fault. King County is not responsible for any costs incurred in response to this Invitation to Bid.

33 YEARS YOUR VOICE

■ travel

APRIL 18 – APRIL 24, 2015

9

The Village Report Vietnam: Coming to rest and search

By Dipika Kohli Northwest Asian Weekly “Where are you from?” he wants to know. The tour guide. It’s 7:45AM and I’m rubbing my eyes in the morning in Dalat.

“Asia,” I say, mindlessly.

It’s a lifelong question, this sense of fromness. Identity, the search for “who am I?” all that existential angst that only recently is starting to settle. Aging, perhaps.

“Okay, but where in Asia?” he says.

“Just, in general.”

I’m back in Vietnam, oddly, two years after arriving in Hanoi and zigzagging Southeast and South Asia on a quest for “the village.”

Who are my people? To which tribe do I belong? That. That village. A lot of learning since, getting lost a thousand-fold only to discover the village is where you are. A year on the road. Just crossed a one-year anniversary in Phnom Penh.

But how could I tell this to Duc? That’s his name. Duc has given me his business card. Now that we’re halfway there, introductions and formalities. Guess this is how small talk works. You tell me a little bit about you. I tell you a little bit about me. But I’m quiet. Nod, smile. Definitely turning Asian.

Just, in general.

Pongour Falls in Da Lat, Vietnam

But I keep my eyes focused on the hills.

We’re going to Pongour.

I saw a picture one time online, with a bunch of monks walking across the waterfall. The caption read: “Dalat, Vietnam.” That’s why I was going. Gut feeling that there was a clue out there about the thing I’m supposed to be doing next. With

my life. Big questions, the kind you don’t really want to deal with until, well, you absolutely have to.

Got offline for a week. Got to the mountain.

And now I’ll go and see what those monks were doing.

Duc is 32, he will disclose in no time. I notice he’s busy with his own internet connections, booking Nha

Trang hotels and a Saigon-Danang train. I can hear some of these words and guess. His phone, one of those oversized varieties popular in Asia, has miraculous roaming capacities for internet and I can see he’s getting a lot done. Grand stuff.

He can work, and I can sightsee. I won’t even complain about it. How everyone is plugged into the ether,

talking to faceless “friends.” I’ll just not say anything because this is the only day in my life I’ll see Duc, and I don’t want to be dogmatic about mindless consumption of pictures of froyo and ziplines that overwhelm matters of taste and quality. Nope. I won’t get into it.

Interestingly, and not my usual speed, but I’ve got a private jeep.

No one else was going, so I’d bought two tickets last night to make it worth their while. I was kind of expecting it when it came. The inevitable question: what the heck was I doing on my own? It’s Asia.

India or Vietnam or Cambodia or Thailand, everywhere you go, they ask. He says: “Why you go alone?

No husband or… friend?”

I let out a little laugh.

There are no further questions.

We get close and then enter the site for the waterfall, and I suddenly go all zen.

I get this overwhelming sense that this is exactly what I’m supposed to be doing, right now, today. Here.

Isn’t mindfulness about the present moment, and everything?

Entering into the space, below, stepping down, one foot at a time.

Close now. The falls. I can hear them. What a sensation. And {see VIETNAM cont’d on page 14}

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asianweekly northwest

10

APRIL 18 – APRIL 24, 2015

OPINION

■ commentary

Boundless Steps Ahead

An internship with the Southeast Asian Education Coalition opened doors

By Sam Le Northwest Asian Weekly As a closing of one chapter, an adventurous and thrilling internship with the Southeast Asian Education (SEAeD) Coalition nears its end, I was asked what are my next steps? My name is Sam Le and I am a current student at the University of Washington pursuing a Bachelor’s in Sociology and Social Welfare.

I plan to invest my time in truly immersing myself in service for others and equality. My next steps will be becoming a board member of the Asian Coalition for Equality at the University of Washington and further exploring opportunities to advocate for social change.

However, this value of social justice and advocacy was not always my own, but since my internship, my perspectives have changed.

Being an intern for the SEAeD Coalition, I have learned to know the importance of engaging in politics. Why? Because in the world of politics, not voting when able to vote is nearly equivalent to voting no, this is what I learned from

Sam Le is determined to become a board member of the Asian Coalition for Equality at the University of Washington and further explore opportunities to advocate for social change.

Tony Vo, the lead of the internship program. Not only learning the importance of engagement in politics, I was also able to understand the importance of building unity among the Asian American

and Pacific Islander communities.

I singlehandedly saw the powerful work that unity of communities have been able to do locally at our state capital in Olympia when I went as a participant for API

Legislative Day. Not witnessing only one voice, but hundreds of voices coming together representing their communities showed me the importance of how solidarity creates change.

Without the unity of communities, I believe the bill I helped organize around, House Bill 1541 (closing the educational opportunity gap) would not have gone as far as it did this year. This internship started with a small photo campaign raising awareness of the All Students Count Act on data disaggregation and at first, I had my doubts about its success, but once the core work of the internship had taken flight, wonders had come.

Collecting thousands of photos in Washington State of students and community members supporting data disaggregation lead to the success of our screening of the documentary Pass or Fail in Cambodia Town. Soon after, our group of interns began mobilizing around the EOGOAC (Educational Opportunity Gap Oversight and Accountability Committee) recommendations that lead to the creation of HB 1541, this op-

portunity allowed us for the first time to visit Olympia and testify in front of legislators. This fiery chain reaction all stemmed from a group of young adults, individually who thought they had no voice, but with the support of respected community leaders and mentors, the interns and I had experienced and done work to become valuable contributors and helped pave the way for others to be involved.

Being part of the group that helped pushed House Bill 1541 to where it is now; I can only imagine how far a united community can go. With this imagination, I am going to take the boundless steps ahead in my journey. Not only studying the way society works and how to serve as an undergrad, I plan to pursue a master’s in social work.

Stemming from education, I will be exploring more opportunities to advocate for social justice and equality while continuing to keep in mind the impact that unity and passion can result in.  Sam Le can be reached at info@ nwasianweekly.com.

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33 YEARS YOUR VOICE

APRIL 18 – APRIL 24, 2015

11

OPINION

■ editorial

Tough competition but good news for the Asian American community Two API candidates running for Clark’s City Council seat

Two qualified Asian Pacific Islander candidates will be running for Sally Clark’s recently vacated position on City Council.

Clark’s Sharon Maeda John Okamoto last day was April 13 to serve in her new position as director of regional and community relations at the University of Washington.

The candidate requirement in this type of special situation is that the position be filled within 20 days of the elected council member’s vacancy. And it is also stipulated that the candidate can not apply for re-election in the next term.

Over 40 applicants applied for the seven-month interim position. Yep. As of press time, the number of candidates is 44.

It’s an interesting list of candidates. {CANCER cont’d from page 5} patients closer to medical services and experts, and give them a place to cook their own food and share tips with fellow patients.

Despite their name, they are not traditional hotels, but furnished units in apartment blocks near medical facilities, charging as little as $7 a night per room. And while they occupy a legal gray zone, doctors often refer patients to them, and state-run media have published glowing articles about the need they are fulfilling.

They reflect a health emergency that has seen the number of lung cancer diagnoses nationwide jump by 16 percent in two years, and the lung cancer rate in Beijing soar by 60 percent over a decade, according to Chinese government figures. Lung cancer mortality rates grew from around 50 per 100,000 men in 2000 to nearly 60 per 100,000 a dozen years later, World Health Organization data show. Breast cancer rates have also grown among women, killing almost as many of them yearly as lung cancer.

By comparison, male lung cancer mortality

The two API candidates are Sharon Maeda (see page one) and John Okamoto (see http://www.nwasianweekly. com/2015/04/okamoto-to-run-for-city-council).

But then there are also some serious contenders, including some who previously served on City Council. These include Peter Steinbrueck who chaired the first the Housing and Human Services Committee, then the Parks, Education, and Libraries Committee, and finally, the Urban Development and Planning Committee. Jan Drago, who chaired the Transportation Committee, founded Sustainable Seattle, and served on the Council for over 15 years.

And then there are some interesting wild cards, including Howard Wright, whose family was responsible for constructing the Space Needle.

But our API candidates should also be considered serious contenders too. Maeda is currently Executive Director of United Food & Commercial Workers Local 21 and has served as a Community Outreach Officer for the U.S. Dept of Housing & Urban Development in Washington, D.C.

rates in the United States have dropped from 55 per 100,000 people in 2000 to 40 in 2012, and from almost 25 per 100,000 Brazilian men in 2000 to 20 in 2012, according to WHO. Persistently high rates of smoking as well as toxic air pollution help explain much of the rise, said Angela Pratt, who leads WHO’s work in China on tobacco control and noncommunicable diseases such as cancer and heart disease.

“The rates of cancer, both the number of cases and the rates at which people are dying of cancer, are increasing in China, and that’s obviously a cause for very significant concern,” Pratt said. Visible evidence of that surge fills the Beijing Cancer Hospital, where hundreds of patients, some still wheeling suitcases from their long journeys, fill the corridors waiting for hours to be called.

Cui Xiaobo, a newly retired social medicine professor at the Capital Medical University in Beijing, said sweeping health reforms that are still in the works would bring equal levels of care to people in cities and rural areas alike.

Cui said rural doctors often aren’t adequately

TAITUNG

John Okamoto was Executive Director of the Washington Education Association for six years. Our community is represented by some impressive candidates.

Why are there so many candidates for this short-term fill-in position? Of course there is the notion that all candidates will have their names out and can possibly create political waves for the future, but then there is also candidates’ sincere desire to work with the community and history with their neighborhoods, the power to really make a difference, even in such a short time. Both Maeda’s and Okamoto’s commitment, experience and history with their neighborhoods reflects that.

Even though it might be a tough race for such a short position, at least the Asian American community is represented with talented and qualified candidates. We deserve to have another Asian American on the City Council to represent us. 

paid, which requires that they squeeze in extra patients or suggest unnecessary treatments to bring in more revenue.

In his view, pollution couldn’t yet be linked to rising cancer rates; instead, he said, much of the trend stemmed from higher life expectancy in China with the result that more elderly were being diagnosed with the disease.

“With cancer, there’s no single cause,” Cui said. “If there were a single cause, then it’d be easy to cure.”

What’s clear is the cancer surge in China is remaking the country. Experts have documented hundreds of cases of “cancer villages,” or communities hit by higher-thanaverage cancer rates due to polluting nearby industries. In 2013, Chinese were shocked to learn of an 8-year-old girl billed as the country’s youngest lung cancer patient, the result, her doctors said, of eastern China’s choking air pollution.

Pratt said air pollution was clearly playing a role, as were smoking, unhealthy diets and obesity.

Guo Xinglan is staying in the same three-

bedroom apartment as Li near the Beijing hospital. They share a communal kitchen that has a refrigerator packed with anti-cancer medication.

Guo says she had never smoked before she was diagnosed with lung cancer several years ago. The woman from eastern Shandong province says her cancer has gone into remission but she still comes to Beijing yearly for a checkup.

“The doctor didn’t say how I got this cancer,” Guo says. “No one in my family has had it either. I know so many people in my area who are getting it.”

The owner of the cancer hotel, retired merchant Chen Shuhong, said she’s seen the need for her rooms near the hospital expand over the past decade. She started her business with an apartment left to her by an uncle who died at age 59 of lung cancer. She said she now rents 10 apartments that she offers as housing for cancer patients.

“People sought me out, so I opened this,” Chen said. “If the government says, `Don’t do it,’ then I won’t do it. But so many people are getting this disease, and there’s a need.” 

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asianweekly northwest

12

APRIL 18 – APRIL 24, 2015

{CARTER cont’d from page 5} flattered,” he said.

The Asia trip, which Carter capped with a visit Saturday to U.S. Pacific Command headquarters in Hawaii, was his second overseas venture since taking over in February for Chuck Hagel. His first was to Afghanistan and Kuwait.

On neither trip did he reveal much about his thinking on possible changes to U.S. defense policy.

He has been publicly cautious, saying relatively little to reporters—like a driver double-checking his mirrors and adjusting his seat before turning into traffic.

Carter was expected to fly home to Washington on Sunday.

The fact that Carter plans to return to Asia next month to attend in international security conference in Singapore and to visit India is evidence that he embraces President Barack Obama’s view that the region is increasingly important to U.S. long-term national security and economic interests.

It also shows that Carter realizes the region’s current calm could collapse, or at least be shaken, if North Korea were to lash out at South Korea or make new nuclear threats. China’s pursuit of territorial claims in the South China Sea, which are disputed

by Vietnam and other countries in the region, also is potential flash point.

Washington’s nuclear negotiations with Iran have dominated the headlines lately, but North Korea actually poses a more immediate nuclear threat. It is believed to already possess a small number of nuclear devices, has conducted three underground nuclear tests, and claims to have a road-mobile

ballistic missile, designated the KN-08, capable of striking the United States, although the missile has not yet been test-launched.

“North Korea is intent on continued provocation,” Carter said in Seoul on Friday after meeting with his South Korean counterpart, Han Min Koo. Carter has an extensive history with the North Korea nuclear problem. He was a member of a team, led by his mentor and longtime friend, former Defense Secretary William Perry, which extensively reviewed U.S. policy toward the North in 1999, in part based on a rare official visit to Pyongyang. The review concluded that the “urgent focus” of U.S. policy toward the North must be to end its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs; 16 years later and after inconclusive and now moribund international negotiations with the North, it has given up neither and remains defiant.

The Perry review warned that the cost of war on the Korean peninsula would be unparalleled in U.S. experience since the 1950-53 Korean War. “It is likely that hundreds of thousands of persons—U.S., (South and North Korean)— military and civilian—would perish, and millions of refugees would be created,” his report said.

On his inaugural trip to Asia as Pentagon chief, Carter made no public reference to such gruesome possibilities, although he did mention that the Korean peninsula remains dangerous. He mainly emphasized the solid state of America’s treaty alliances with Japan and South Korea and seemed thankful that, for now at least, the AsiaPacific region is relatively secure, leaving the more dramatic headlines to the Middle East. 

{BOMBING cont’d from page 4} out by the military government to justify its continued suppression of basic rights and liberties. The government denies that.

“Right now the authorities have found some connections

{SPORTS cont’d from page 7} a backup this year complimenting a young outfield, he has already seen playing time in the opening week of the season.

We wish Ichiro the best.

UW golfers excel

The UW men’s and women’s golf team have had very good seasons and are led by two unheralded players of Asian descent. One you may know, one you may not.

We have written about Cheng-Tsung Pan in the past as his career at the UW has been stellar. Not only has he been great for the UW team, he has qualified to play in some of the top events for pros. Still an amateur, it is easy to think that Pan will soon be playing against the likes of Tiger Woods on a daily basis.

In a recent interview with Golf Today Northwest, Pan

{MAEDA cont’d from page 1} just retired. At the same time, there was never any question that I would continue to work for social justice. And, despite the fact that people I know and respect are also applying, I believe I can bring a unique set of skills and experience to a short term position that requires intense engagement.

Maeda has worked from Matthews Beach and Lake City to the Rainier Valley and White Center, from the U District and Ballard to Mt. Baker, Downtown and West Seattle, and now serves in the Jackson Place neighborhood of the Central Area.

While there are many other issues the City Council must address, the lack of affordable housing is a full blown crisis that Maeda believes needs a continuum of solutions. She also believes that in Seattle, children come first, but safe and stable housing is a key determinant to school success and maintaining a job. She has advocated for, funded, managed and found creative solutions to maintain and expand low income housing for decades before for

working for Henry Cisneros at HUD. Maeda’s resume is impressive.

She is currently Executive Director of United Food & Commercial Workers Local 21 and she has served on the General Board of Global Ministries, The United Methodist Church, New York, and she has served as a Community Outreach Officer for the U.S. Dept of Housing & Urban Development in Washington, D.C. She was a graduate of the University of Washington with a BA, Art Education; MAT program in Filmmaking; and DEd program in Higher Education Administration & Curriculum Development.

She also attended the Harvard Graduate School of Business, Boston Advanced Management Seminars (Corporation for Public Broadcasting Scholarship).  John Okamoto will also be another API candidate running for the same seat. (See page 11.)

Staff can be reached at info@ nwasianweekly.com.

that linked to the attacks in Bangkok, and they are now tracing the perpetrators from evidence at the scene,” said Sansern, the government spokesman.

At about the same time as Friday’s Samui bombing, a huge fire ripped through a cooperative store on the mainland of the same Surat Thani province. Thai media reported that two

blasts were heard at the start of the fire, in which no one was hurt. The cause of the fire was unclear. 

shared that his father was a math teacher and his mother was a caddie. His father has passed away. He is the youngest of five children. He received a golf scholarship from IMG Academy in Florida when he was 15 and despite knowing little English, he left Taiwan for Florida. He is now one of the best collegiate golfers in the nation.

Even before playing golf full-time, he has played in two U.S. Opens and last year in the British Open. This is a big achievement for someone still in college. At only 5 foot 6 and 150 pounds, Pan leads the #10 nationally ranked Husky men’s golf team. Recently, Pan won the Pac 12 Conference Golfer of the Month. It was the second time that Pan has earned the honor.

Pan is the #6 amateur in the world and it’s undeniable that the senior will be playing on the PGA tour as a pro next year.

On the other side of UW golf, the women’s team is led by senior Jennifer Yang. The native of South Korea is leading

the Husky women’s golf team after SooBin Kim and Jing Yan left the team to join the LPGA tour during this season.

Her consistency has helped the team as it has won three consecutive events and solidified their status as the No. 1 team in the nation.

Yang has finished in the top five in five of seven events this year including her first individual win at the Bay Area Invite this past March. She also has 15 top-10 finishes which ranks as sixth most in school history. She is looking to improve on her Second-team All-Pac 12 Conference honor as a junior.

She looks to be on her way to a First-Team All-Pac 12 Conference this year as a senior. Recently, Yang was named Pac 12-Golfer for the month of March.

Good luck to Pan and Yang for the rest of the season. 

Associated Press writer Grant Peck contributed to this report.

Jason Cruz can be reached at info@nwasianweekly. com.

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33 YEARS YOUR VOICE

■ astrology

APRIL 18 – APRIL 24, 2015

13

For the week of April 18–April 24, 2015

By Sun Lee Chang

Rat — The weakest link could turn into your most prized asset. Keep your mind open to the possibilities.

Ox — An early arrival is no cause for alarm. All it takes is a small adjustment and you will be able to proceed as planned.

Tiger — There are times when the situation may become quite messy. Start the clean up as soon as it makes sense to do so.

Rabbit — A strong initial connection won’t necessarily lead to something deeper. It all depends on what the two of you bring to the table.

Dragon — Some arguments aren’t really disagreements, but a failure to listen to each other. It might be that you both are actually saying the same thing, but in a different way.

Snake — Does it seem like everyone is speaking in riddles today? Perhaps this is a day that you should try to spend on your own.

Horse — There are instances when helping someone else is good for you too. It is perfectly acceptable for more than one person to win.

Goat — Can you finish the puzzle if a piece is missing? There is nothing stopping you from making another piece that fits.

Monkey — Are memories of the way it used to be holding you back from moving on? Only you can choose to look forward instead of behind you.

Rooster — Although you are spending a long time deciding on the destination, you will likely get more out of the journey itself.

Dog — A cheerful disposition is quite contagious today. Soon you will be surrounded with those of like humor.

Pig — Feeling a tad bored with what you have been wearing lately? Put a little spark in your personal style, but donning something out of the ordinary.

What’s your animal sign?

Rat 1912, 1924, 1936, 1948, 1960, 1972, 1984, 1996, 2008 Ox 1913, 1925, 1937, 1949, 1961, 1973, 1985, 1997, 2009 Tiger 1914, 1926, 1938, 1950, 1962, 1974, 1986, 1998, 2010 Rabbit 1915, 1927, 1939, 1951, 1963, 1975, 1987, 1999, 2011 Dragon 1916, 1928, 1940, 1952, 1964, 1976, 1988, 2000, 2012 Snake 1917, 1929, 1941, 1953, 1965, 1977, 1989, 2001, 2013 Horse 1918, 1930, 1942, 1954, 1966, 1978, 1990, 2002, 2014 Goat 1919, 1931, 1943, 1955, 1967, 1979, 1991, 2003, 2015 Monkey 1920, 1932, 1944, 1956, 1968, 1980, 1992, 2004 Rooster 1921, 1933, 1945, 1957, 1969, 1981, 1993, 2005 Dog 1922, 1934, 1946, 1958, 1970, 1982, 1994, 2006 Pig 1923, 1935, 1947, 1959, 1971, 1983, 1995, 2007

*The year ends on the first new moon of the following year. For those born in January and February, please take care when determining your sign.

{KHMER ROUGE TAKEOVER cont’d from page 8} White Center. He hopes the event will bring cultural awareness to other communities so that people understand that there is more to the Cambodian culture and history than the negative aspects like the genocide and Khmer Rouge.

Future generations

Charles Nguyen is a second generation CambodianVietnamese American. His mother spent time living in the camps. She lost five out of 10 people to the genocide.

“Growing up, they didn’t talk much about the events. It’s painful for them to think about, and they don’t want to talk about difficult issues; they just want to move on,” Nguyen said.

As a consequence of the takeover, Nguyen’s family grew up poor and it was difficult.

“I didn’t have positive role models growing up, and I’m the first generation in my family to attend college and medical school,” he said.

Nguyen thinks it’s important for people to commemorate the event and bring it to the attention of the public.

He feels that a lot of Cambodians today don’t recognize what their families went through, and hopefully it’ll motivate others to want to dig deeper. He also hopes it’ll raise issues about the U.S. involvement in Cambodia during the Vietnam War that led to the events that happened afterwards.

Nguyen also said that even though people may not recognize the immediate effects of the genocide, there are a lot of economic consequences today. There is a large percentage of Cambodians that live in lower income neighborhoods where they don’t have access to resources or a good education. He added that Cambodian Americans are often “invisible minorities” because people don’t really talk

about them.

“With the educational disparity in Washington, it’s important to recognize the minorities within the minorities.

Education is the key to getting out of poverty and creating a better life, not only for you but for your family, it’s important to recognize the value that education can bring,” he said.

Mell, Kong and Nguyen all hope that remembering the takeover will help motivate the younger generations to learn about prevent the horrible past experiences from happening in the future.

“Civic engagement is the umbrella onto everything. We can utilize civic engagement as a tool to bridge these cultural divides,” Mell emphasized.  Nina Huang can be reached at info@nwasianweekly.com.

asianweekly northwest

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APRIL 18 – APRIL 24, 2015

{VIETNAM cont’d from page 9} then it hits me: it’s sensing that’s what’s important here. This isn’t a vicariously consumed picture, like my first instance of seeing Pongour online. This is… real life.

Water and light are one fabric, a soft and misty kind like Connemara’s light or the jangle of twisted vines in strawberry fields where I grew up in North Carolina. It’s the same texture, the kind of material that enfolds you in a cloak and gives you the whisper you’ve been waiting for your whole life. You’re okay now. {EXECUTION cont’d from page 5} spokeswoman Marie Harf said in a statement shortly before the execution. “Until these obligations can be consistently met, it is best not to proceed with executions given the irreversibility of a sentence of death.”

The Bangladeshi government said the trial met the proper standards with the defendant receiving the opportunity to challenge the prosecution’s case in open court and appeal the verdict all the way up to the Supreme Court.

I put my feet in the water.

I put my whole self in the waterfall, too.

There was this vague idea you could do that, but it had been abstract. Monks crossing, Dalat Vietnam.

Sound and the light, rocks, palms, the soles of your feet.

Water, always water, fast here, slow there, and by that part, there!, a gush. The body remembers things, like climbs in national parks or detours in countries where there are rivers and friends who will bike you towards them, and there is the connection, a different kind of connectedness, to the earthen floor and the people who are there with you to walk it.

I took my time, there, at Pongour. Climbing up, and yet still up. It’s been three weeks since coming home to Phnom Penh. I didn’t know what exact item had compelled me to investigate my way to that specific waterfall, but now, I think I do. It has something to do with what I alluded to, with Connemara. Why do I know about the quality of light in the west of Ireland? Part of me is European, like. Just, in general. More about this, next time. 

Since Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina set up the tribunals in 2010, more than a dozen people have been convicted, mostly senior leaders of Jamaat-e-Islami. The party, which is allied with Hasina’s main opposition rival, says the trials are politically motivated.

The initial trials that followed Bangladesh’s independence four decades ago were halted after the assassination of thenpresident and independence leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman _ Hasina’s father _ and most of his family membes in a 1975 military coup. Hasina revived the process, making good on a

pledge she made before 2008 elections.

Bangladesh executed another Jamaat-e-Islami assistant secretary, Abdul Quader Mollah, in December 2013 for similar crimes, triggering violent protests.

Qamaruzzaman refused to seek presidential clemency.

Somoy TV station reported that he was hanged after performing all legal and religious procedures. His body will be taken for burial to his ancestral home in the Sherpur district in central Bangladesh. 

Dipika Kohli can be reached at info@nwasianweekly.com.

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{LOCAL BUSINESSES cont’d from page 1} just can’t increase their gross revenue by law and common sense. What can they do? What about companies, which have offices in both Seattle and outside Seattle? How do they pay their people in compliance with Seattle’s wage law?

What’s the penalty for not complying with the law?

Mendoza said Uwajimaya sent out letters to each employee and also set up meetings with translators, to educate them about the new law and explain how part-time workers can get $11 an hour with no benefits, while full-time ones receive $10 if they do receive benefits.

One business owner who runs a transportation service, asked how he should pay his staff who has to drive to Seattle, Tacoma, and Everett.

Karina Bull, Interim Director of the City’s Office of Labor Standards, said if the driver works more than two hours within a two-week period in Seattle here and there, he should be paid the Seattle wage like the Shuttle Express drivers. If he or she just drives through Seattle and does not stop in the city, the owner doesn’t need to follow the new law, she added.

Mendoza said Uwajimaya has set up a system for outside-Seattle employees to clock in their hours, when they are required to come into its Seattle store to work for a festival.

Dilemmas for business owners

“How are we able to increase the price for child care when their parents are in jail? Where am I going to get the money?” asked Jackie Boles, director of Health and Family Services for nonprofit Tiny Tots Development Center, a childcare agency with a staff of 44.

Boles said she couldn’t afford to raise many of their teachers’ salary although they have college degrees, and now they are making less than their non-degree colleagues, who just got a raise because of the new law.

Makaylaa Powers, director/owner of Visiting Angels, echoed the same sentiment. “How can we increase our gross income when our business is taking care of seniors? Seniors have no way to increase their income.”

Powers said her Eastside workers might prefer to work in Seattle just because of a better wage. It’s unfair to pay for the same work with a different

Karina Bull

pay scale, she said, and it will make it harder for her to compete for workers on the Eastside.

Molly Moon Neitzel, owner of Molly Moon’s Ice Cream, said she has increased her workers’ wage following the new rule. She said her employees are loyal and enthusiastic about work and has low turnover.

Boles said you can increase the price of ice cream and people will still buy it, but she could not increase fees for her child care services because the agency is funded by the state and city, which won’t allow the increase.

Neitzel said her managers have a hard time in accepting that they are only paid $1.66 more an hour compared to the non-management employees with less experience and responsibilities, who received an increase in their minimum wage to $10 or $11. She said she would like her managers to get $2.50 more, but at this time, can’t afford it.

On other occasions, the Asian Weekly interviewed how the new rule has affected businesses in the International District and downtown.

“Now, we are okay about the wage increase,” said Richard Chang, owner of the Kau Kau BBQ Restaurant. “But when it gets to $15, it will be very tough.”

Another Chinatown restaurant boss who asked not to print her name, said she didn’t know anything about the new wage law. “I haven’t received any notice, no letter from the city. Nobody told me anything.”

I-Muin Liu, owner of Oasis and Eastern Cafe, said his employees might actually make less money after the new wage law. His employees’ tips go into a common pool and he records and divides them for all his staff. In the past, they might not have reported their tips;

now they have to be taxed together as revenue.

In the past, Liu just charged $3.75 for a cup of coffee, including tax. Now, the price is $3.75 not including tax.

One Asian American employee who works in a popular downtown restaurant, said her manager hasn’t done anything. “I did ask him. He said, ‘We couldn’t move so fast. We need more time.’”

One Asian grocery store owner did implement the new change. She said the store is strict on new hires. “We don’t want them if they are slow.”

One nonprofit agency manager in downtown said most of its workers are currently paid minimum wage. As the result of the new law that requires businesses to pay 85% of the minimum wage, they are now considering more workers under 18 years old.

Service charges

One way for restaurateurs to compensate for wage increase is to add a service charge on their menus.

Bull said employees have to be aware that employers have to disclose the percentage increase is to go toward employees or in their own pocket.

Neitzel had heard complaints that some restaurateurs have stolen tips from wait staff through the service charge excuse.

APRIL 18 – APRIL 24, 2015

Jan Johnson

{PANAMA HOTEL cont’d from page 1}

Bull said during the first year, her office receives complaints, it would send a letter of warning for violators, and follow up with investigations and interviewing witnesses. It would require businesses to show payroll records. Violators would have to pay back plus interest. There will be no penalty. But the second year, April 1, 2016, the office can go out and actively investigate, file charges in addition to the above-mentioned procedures, and then impose penalties.

Michael Chin, an attorney who is the enforcement manager for the Seattle Office for Civil rights and Office and Labor Standards, is in charge of 12 investigators.

The next increase of the wage to $13 will begin on Jan. 1, 2016, and $15 wouldn’t be implemented until April 1, 2017. 

hotel actually still exists. And it has existed since the early 1900’s. And now we don’t have to worry about it disappearing. You will still be able to get an excellent cup of tea or sleep on a bed that evokes an era way before now if you want.

April 9 was declared as “Panama Hotel day” by Hyeok Kim, Deputy Mayor, who spoke in behalf of Mayor Ed Murray. The hotel will also be part of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, whose motto is “preserving the places where history happens.”

So why is it a national treasure? There are stories, and stories, stories, history everywhere. There are untouched suitcases, boxes and belongings of Japanese Americans forced into internment during the second World War. Owner Jan Johnson, who purchased the property in the 80’s has kept this basement of history intact. What are the chances of anyone coming to retrieve their belongings at this point? Probably nil. But perhaps maybe extended family can retrieve some of their history if they are able to track it down. For now, the basement is a true testament to the ordeal of of Japanese internment during the second World War. And the building itself? Johnson has kept it intact.

Resting in a room, evokes the sense of what it would have been like in the past.

Not only the basement filled with stories and suitcases filled with history, but the hotel is only one of two buildomgs in the nation that houses its own traditional Japanese bathhouse. It also the most well preserved Treat yourself to some tea, jazz, bed rest, and story at the Panama Hotel.

Seattle now officially has it its own National Treasure. 

Assunta Ng can be reached at assunta@nwasianweekly.com.

Peggy Chapman can be reached at editor@ nwasianweekly.com.

Penalty

KING COUNTY REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS ADVERTISEMENT Project: CSC PAINT BOOTH EXHAUST FAN REPLACEMENT, C00735C12 Sealed Bid Due Time/Date: 1:30 p.m., April 30, 2015 Sealed Bid Location: King County Procurement & Contract Services Section, Contracts Counter, 3rd Floor, 401 Fifth Avenue, Seattle, WA 98104 Engineer’s Estimate Range: $625,000 - $770,000.

Scope of Work: The work shall consist of supplying all superintendence, labor, material, tools, and equipment required for replacing aging exhaust fans on the middle coach paint booth and cripple booth and to replace an aging Heat and Vent Unit (HVU) for the cripple paint booth; extension of the existing building’s DDC control system to the replaced equipment.

Mechanical work includes demolition of eight rooftop fans, a rooftop HVU, duct, associated controls; providing six new axial fans, a rooftop HVU, duct, and accessories; DDC controls extended from the existing building system. Electrical work includes power wiring and devices for the new equipment, and control wiring.

Work includes roof patching and repair for a new equipment curb, fire protection piping modifications, and structural modifications for the new equipment.

Work site: Metro Transit Division, Component Supply Center, 12200 East Marginal Way, Tukwila, WA.

15

Photo by Peggy Chapman/NWAW

33 YEARS YOUR VOICE

Contact Information: Mark Hoge, Contract Specialist, 206-263-9325, TTY Relay: 711, Fax: 206296-7675, or mark.hoge@kingcounty.gov, A bidder may be asked to put a question in writing. No verbal answers by any County personnel or its agents and consultants will be binding on the County.

Pre-Bid Conference: April 23, 2015, 11:00 a.m., 12200 East Marginal Way, Tukwila, WA. A site tour will be conducted immediately following the conference.

Hardhats and safety vests are recommended for the site tour.

Subcontracting Opportunities: Mechanical (fans, vents, ductwork), Electrical (conduit, power, wiring and devices; control system wiring), Controls (DDC controllers, devices, DC programing), Fire Protection (modifications), Roofing (patching and repair for equipment installation), Structural (modifications for new equipment).

Apprenticeship Requirements: No minimum Apprentice Utilization Requirement.

SCS Utilization Requirements. 10% minimum requirement for King County Certified Small Contractors and Suppliers (SCS).

Bid Guaranty: Not less than five percent (5%) of the Total Bid Price.

Bid Documents Electronic copies of the plans, specifications, reference documents, and any addenda for this solicitation are available on the King County Procurement website shown below. Printed documents may also be ordered by contacting United Reprographics at 206-382-1177. Copies of documents are not available for purchase from King County, but are available for review 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. M thru F. at the Contracts Counter: Chinook Bldg., 3rd Floor, 401 Fifth Avenue, Seattle, WA 98104.

To receive email notifications of addenda or other important information concerning this solicitation, you must register to be a plan holder under the “Solicitations” tab at the following internet link: Website: http://www.kingcounty.gov/procurement/ solicitations This information is available in alternate formats for individuals with disabilities upon advance request by calling 206-263-9400, TTY Relay: 711.

Notes: Bids received after Sealed Bid Time will not be considered. Bidders accept all risks of late delivery, regardless of fault. King County is not responsible for any costs incurred in response to this Invitation to Bid.

asianweekly northwest

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APRIL 18 – APRIL 24, 2015