Month: October 2016

Migrant Filipina women are employed as domestic workers in over 130 million cities across the globe.  In fact, maids have joined the list of the Philippines’ top exports along with electronic equipment, machines, engines, and pumps.  Countries with great economic power such as China, Singapore, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have taken on many Filipino Maids. Exportation of manpower started with President Ferdinand Marcos (1965-1986) during an economic crisis in the Philippines. Since then, there has been an increasing number of overseas Filipino workers, mainly women7. These foreign workers commonly serve as housekeepers and nannies for the children of wealthy families.  In this article, we will discuss the reasons why Filipino women take on these domestic worker positi...

(Rina Dishman, Emily Laur) Rice is a staple food for billions of people all over the world, prepared and consumed in many different ways. As a complex carbohydrate, it has been mans’ staple food item for thousands of years in various cultures.Today, there exists a multitude of different types of rice: grains of different lengths, textures, colors, and aromas are sold virtually anywhere. After maize (corn), rice is the second most produced crop worldwide with over 40,000 different types of rice grown in every continent (other than Antarctica). The origin of domesticated rice is said to have come from the Yangtzee river valley in China, dating back at least 8,000 years ago. Even today, 92% of rice consumed worldwide comes from Asian farmers in countries like China, India, Japan Vietn...

By: Peter Kim, Emily Laur, and Cirl Lee The Group of 20 (G20), established in 1999 in response to the global financial crisis that spanned from 1997-1999, represents the premier forum for international economic cooperation and a mechanism for global economic governance by the world’s 20 largest economies (2). The member countries include Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the European Union (1). The Group is entrusted with “the critical mission of addressing economic risks and challenges, promoting world economic growth, improving global economic governance and sharing development benefits amongst people across the world...

By: Mitchell Leong           Are you looking for an opportunity to study abroad in Japan? Look no further! This spring, the Asian Studies Program is offering a semester abroad program in Japan. During Spring of 2015 I studied abroad at International Christian University (ICU) in Tokyo, Japan as part of the CC program. This is a little taste of my experience! The first block of the spring semester – Studying Asia – consisted of travel throughout Japan with visits to many historical sites such as Fujiyoshida, Kyoto, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and Busan & Seoul in South Korea. What made this block special was our opportunity to visit and discuss each historical monument from our assigned readings. The most impactful visits came from places...