(¥Y Junji lto and the art of gore Have an idea for a story? M arts@theotherpress.ca {¥ Anote on history: From angst to airwaves (¥ Archie gets groovy And more! @vua Korean-ish > ‘Kim’s Convenience’ Jerrison Oracion Senior Columnist OOOO Tee” there are many shows that talk about various cultures, like African-Americans in Blackish and Chinese- Americans in Fresh Off the Boat. Now, Korean-Canadians are depicted in Kim’s Convenience, the small-screen adaptation of Ins Choi’s hit play of the same name. Kim’s Convenience is about the fictional Kim family: Mr. Kim (Paul Sun-Hyung Lee), who manages a typical convenience store in Toronto; his wife (Jean Yoon); their photographer daughter, Janet (Andrea Bang); and their son Jung (Simu Liu), who works ina car rental centre called Handy Car and Truck Rentals. In the first episode, Mr. Kim offers a 15 per cent discount to all the gay customers who were attending Toronto Pride Week, and he learns about the many different types of people who are in the LGBTQ community. Meanwhile, he and his wife question Janet’s dating life, and Janet convinces Jung to see his father. Then Mr. Kim accidentally sells pictures that Janet was going to use at an open house in her college, and Jung tries to get a better job. The show has many comedic elements, such as Mr. Kim’s broken English. For example, when two men try to get a job in the convenience store and Mr. Kim thinks that one of them is Photo via CBC.ca gay, he says, “It’s okay. Sometimes gay take time.” Another funny moment in the episode is the scene when Janet explains to her mother that there is no such thing as a cool Christian Korean boyfriend. The episode contains some censored content covered by bleeps, which may or may not be included when Untold Stories from the Earthquake >‘A New Moon Over Tohoku’ film review Jerrison Oracion Senior Columnist OOOO he big earthquake and tsunami on March u, 2011 were together the biggest disaster in Japan’s history since World War II. A lot of lives were lost and a lot of towns in the Tohoku Region were washed away. Despite the government of Japan’s efforts to help everyone affected by the disaster, many lives were still not improved and some of their complaints were not heard. Local Vancouver filmmaker Linda Ohama goes to the region to find out their stories in A New Moon Over Tohoku. In the documentary, Linda narrates the stories of some of the people from the Tohoku Region that were involved in the disaster, and how it changed their lives. She began filming the documentary when she was a volunteer helping residents in Fukushima, the area of the devastating nuclear explosion caused by the 2011 earthquake. When she saw how silent the city was because of the nuclear explosion, she got her video camera and started filming. The documentary is split into sections, with each section talking about an aspect of nature in the disaster. Throughout the documentary, Linda meets various people from the villages of Iwate, Miyagi, and Fukushima. One of the people she meets is Kanako, a doctor ental hE Sa a / who saved a lot of people when the tsunami went through her town, despite losing her own grandparents. Linda also meets a fisherman, a businessman who handled a wedding, and a present-day samurai—yes, they still have samurai and clans today. One of the key issues in the documentary is the portable houses that most of the people in the region have to live in. St ae a. vis + ee , we : = ail Image via newmoonovertohoku.com The portables are small, and the cities decide which portable a family lives in, interfering with their highly-valued sense of community since they may not live with their old neigbours. Most people in the Tohoku Region are concerned about their future. They are worried that the food they eat is contaminated with radiation, and some people the show is released on DVD. I recently went to Toronto during the summer and I learned that, like Coquitlam, there is a large Korean community in the city. The show demonstrates the multiculturalism, tolerance, and distinctive features of Toronto. Kim’s Convenience is not the only show about Asian-Canadians; there is also City’s offering Second Jen, which features Chinese-Canadians and Filipino- Canadians, among others. The first episode sets up the storylines for the season. Will Mr. Kim settle his differences with Janet? Will Mrs. Kim outperform Mrs. Park, who she regularly sees at the Toronto Korean East- West Presbyterian Church? Will Jung climb up the ranks in his workplace? All these questions will be answered when you make a visit to Kim’s Convenience. Kim’s Convenience airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. on CBC as part of CBC’s Tuesday night comedy lineup. think the nuclear plants in their towns should be closed down. In one scene, we learn that almost all of the students and staff in one school passed away in the tsunami. The documentary teaches various things about the Tohoku Region after the disaster, and teaches about aspects of Japanese culture more generally. The epilogue of the film shows stories and updates from the people who were interviewed. Linda’s narration adds warmth to the documentary by explaining the trauma that the people in the region had to go through. At a Q&A during a screening of A New Moon Over Tohoku at the Vancouver International Film Festival this year, the filmmaker said, “I decided from there that I had a responsibility as a filmmaker to try to give voice to the people that were living through that.” As many towns in the Tohoku Region are being rebuilt, this documentary might inspire viewers to get involved. Hopefully, Linda Ohama’s film will raise awareness and help the residents of the Tohoku Region recover from the tsunami.