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In honor of Asian Awareness Week (which I think should be extended
to a month – but that’s another article for another day), here’s a
list of gifts from Asia (and no, they’re not all made in
China):
1. Pasta
It came to me as a shocker too, but according to
this article from a 2005 article of National Geographic, pasta
may have originated in northwestern China over 4,000 years ago. This
unearthed and overturned bowl is the “earliest empirical evidence of
noodles ever found,” according to Houyuan Lu of the Institute of
Geology and Geophysics at Beijing's Chinese Academy of Sciences. And
while this extreme case of forgotten leftovers cannot directly be
genealogically traced to either the pasta or noodles of today (how
would one go about that, anyway?), I’ll have to give this
point to Team Asia until even older (and unfortunately, wasted) food
is uncovered elsewhere.
Super Kawaii Dances
Admit it – whether you’re karaoke-ing with friends or lazing in the
confines of your own home, you’ve done at least one
(questionable) rendition of a
Wonder Girls dance or stepped on some toes (or faces!) while
reenacting
TaeYang in “Wedding Dress.” Or maybe you’re more of a
Haruhi-prison-line-dancer, but regardless of what moves you can
or can’t do, you’re well aware of the viral and exponentially
growing number of dances emerging from out East. They may be
embarrassing, but they sure make for some funny Facebook pictures
that you might wish you’ve never taken.
Sailor Moon &
Dragonball Z
Serena was every guy’s dream (though in my opinion, Raye was waaay
cuter), and every girl loved Vegeta’s badboy archetype back in the
day. If it weren’t for these two shows, many childhoods would be
significantly more lackluster, with less fake flying and twirling
transformations. I mean, if there were no power levels over 9,000 or
Dark Kingdom to beat down with bubbles and stars, what else is there
to do (but battle
Pokémon instead)?
Dried Mangos
I know not everyone knows about these, but they’re
commonly sold at Costco so I behoove you to go out and
try some! These sweet snacks are native to my homeland of the
Philippines, and can even be used to curb unwanted smoking habits!
…Now, that’s not backed up by any scientific evidence or anything,
but when my electrician saw these on my desk last summer, he begged
to try some and simply said, “Damn! If I could chew on these all
day, there’d be no time for a cigarette in my mouth!”
Cars
Although I don’t currently have a
“rice rocket” of my very own, Asia has been shelling out cars of
every kind for ages. From
Nissan to
Honda to my favorite,
Mazda 6, there are handfuls upon handfuls of not only economic
but aesthetic autos emerging from all parts of Asia. Though
predominantly most popular cars come from Japan, South Korea has
been showing promise with their line of
Hyundais, newly revamped for the 2010 year. Especially notable
is the new Hyundai Sonata, which I may or may not be sacrificing my
summer to work for this year.
Happy belated Lunar New Year – and even more belated regular
New Year – and don’t forget to give your fellow Asian a pat on the
back and a peace sign print club purikura picture the next
time you see him/her.
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