VOL 33 NO 18 | APRIL 26 – MAY 2, 2014

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

VOL 33 NO 18

APRIL 26 – MAY 2, 2014

FREE

THEATER ‘Impenetrable’ questions beauty » P. 8

32 YEARS YOUR VOICE

Costumed invaders land in downtown Seattle!

White House to honor Batayola as a ‘champion’

Super Mario was jumping around Seattle downtown and yes, Batman was eating at Subway among thousands of interesting and strange characters flooding last weekend. Sakura-Con estimates more than 20,000 people attended this year’s conference on April 18 through April 20 at the Washington State Convention Center. This is the largest anime convention in the Northwest, and is the eighth largest North American anime convention as of 2013, according to Delahanty from AnimeCons.com. Dressing up as your favorite anime character, video game character, or comic book hero was the norm when attending Sakura-Con. It claimed 80 percent of attendees were in costume for at least one day at the convention. What do people say about Sakura-Con’s cosplay? “Too much fantasy. Weird costumes. Weird people.” “What the heck is cosplay about?” The majority of Baby Boomers and

Photo by John Liu/NWAW

By John Liu Northwest Asian Weekly

Women of Color Empowered honors ‘Rising Stars’

By Sue Misao Northwest Asian Weekly

accessories to represent a specific character

Teresita Batayola, CEO of International Community Health Services (ICHS), is one of 11 “Champions of Change” from across the nation being honored by the White House and the U.S.

{see SAKURA-CON cont’d on page 16}

{see BATAYOLA cont’d on page 16}

Jann Lee, Ayane, and Kasumi from the video game "Dead or Alive" strike a pose at Sakura-Con.

Generation Xers are lost on the costume thing. “Cosplay” is short for “costume play.” It is a performance art or hobby in which participants wear costumes and use

Teresita Batayola

Tomo Nakayama: From Grand Hallway to Seattle’s Great Hall By Signe Predmore Northwest Asian Weekly

Annya Pintak

Courtney Gregoire

Sara E. Asatiani

Erica Buckley

Mavis Orr

Mia Gregerson

Monisha Harrell

Rebecca Saldana

Sahar Fathi

Tera Beach

Seiko Yamashita

Women of Color Empowered is a nonprofit organization founded in 1996 by the Northwest Asian Weekly. The organization consists of professional women who want to enhance the

quality of life for women of all races and backgrounds by supporting one another through programs and events that foster {see WOC cont’d on page 15}

Photo by Sue Misao

Andrea CortesBeltran

These days, you might catch snatches of guitar and piano melodies in odd corners of Town Hall at all hours, not only during their music programming. “We’ll be taking a meeting in the lobby and hear this beautiful music coming down the hall because he’s composing on the piano,” said Stesha Brandon, Town Hall’s program director. The source of that music is Tomo Nakayama, Town Hall’s current artist-in-residence. Nakayama, originally from Kochi, Japan, has been a fixture of the Seattle arts scene for years. While he’s played with several local bands, including Sera Cahoone and the Maldives, he’s probably best known for Grand Hallway, the chamber pop music project he led from 2005 to 2013. Tomo Nakayama fills the Great Hall inside Seattle’s Town Hall with piano music.

{see NAKAYAMA cont’d on page 13}

The Inside Story NAMES Celebrations & honors » P. 2

MOVIE Katsuhiro Otomo’s ‘Short Piece’ » P. 7

WORLD Tragedy in S. Korea sea » P. 9

COMMENTARY Small biz reacts to $15/hour proposal » P. 10

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