2019-2020

If you’re a foodie, you may have stumbled across videos of people fervently eating enormous mountains of food. These videos are part of a digital food trend called mukbang. Unlike culinary shows and eating vlogs such as Masterchef and Man vs Food, mukbang elicits an incomparable enchantment and charisma. So what is mukbang? Typically, mukbang is described as a live-streamed eating show, which is how it got its name. Mukbang is a portmanteau word, meaning that it is a mashup of two words. Namely, it comes from the Korean words muk-ja which means “let’s eat” and bang-song for “broadcast.” In a mukbang video, there are often several components such as the food haul: shopping for the ingredients and cooking the food. Yet, the elements of a mukbang are flexible; some muk...

On April 30, 2019, the Japanese emperor, Emperor Akihito, announced to abdicate at the age of 85, and on the next day, May 1, 2019, his son ascended to the throne and became Emperor Naruhito for the new Reiwa era of Japan. Six months later, in November, the enthronement became a national hot topic again as a great celebration of Emperor Naruhito’s enthronement (天皇陛下御即位をお祝いする国民祭典) took place on November 9 in front of the Imperial Palace in Tokyo.  The event began with an opening-up parade of marching bands and folk performers from all over Japan. In the evening, the ceremonial part during which the Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako appeared began. More than 30,000 people attended the celebration. Besides the attendants who were invited as celebrities and media professionals, ther...

On January 23, three international students (Saluja Siwakoti, Kelly Yue, Angelina Chen) led a panel discussion on social movements in Hong Kong, mainland China and Kashmir. The panel was sponsored by the sociology department, and was well-attended by domestic and international students. Saluja kicked off the panel by tracing back the history of British colonialism and the partition of India and Pakistan to give context to the situation in Kashmir. With a far-right nationalist party in power, the Indian government has pursued anti-Muslim policies, such as abolishing Article 370 that protected the autonomy of Kashmir and the citizenship law, to boost unity within the Hindu-majority and consolidate power. Kelly discussed the evolution of the now 8-month-long protest in Hong Kong. What ...

Pressure can only build for so long. Eventually, it must be released. After two years of rising trade tensions, the pressure on President Trump to resolve the trade war he started with China is at an all time high. International markets have been caught up with several rounds of tariffs on Chinese goods, Americans are facing rising commodity prices and investors are spooked by the uncertainty of future business opportunity in China. In response, the Federal Reserve, the central bank of the United States, has had no choice but to lower interest rates to incentivize investment and to encourage consumer spending. The trade war imperils the Federal Reserve’s ability to mitigate the effects of underconsumption this year. This is important because the United States economy is due for a cyclical...