Eastern Standard Time: A Guide to Asian Influence on American Culture from Astro Boy to Zen Buddhism [Paperback]

Jeff Yang (Editor), Dina Gan (Contributor), Terry Hong (Contributor)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 15, 1997

For everyone who's ever wondered how to order Korean barbecue and Chinese dim sum; what "good feng xui" is and how to make sure you have it; where to find the ten greatest Nintendo games never released in the States, and which is the deadliest martial art, here is the long-awaited guide to Asian cultural literacy: the key concepts, events, people, trends, and products that have been imported from Asia to America and become part of our way of life. A Mariner paperback original.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

This is the definitive guide to the influence of East on West. Exhaustively searching out those aspects of Asian religion, art, language, culture, and inventiveness that have made their way West, the staff of A. Magazine, the only national magazine dedicated to the experience of Asian Americans, have provided a brilliantly packaged, endlessly amusing compendium of articles, images, and ideas. Need to know the coolest and strangest candies from the Western Pacific? The hottest Japanese cartoons and comic books? The basics of Buddhism? Origami's origin? Look no further. In hundreds of articles, presented with eye-catching imagery and a consistently funny and mildly snide attitude, the collision between the worlds of Astro Boy and Superman is brought to life in this delightful read.

From Booklist

With Jackie Chan at the multiplex, Thai restaurants and karaoke bars in plenty of American cities, and Nintendo and Sega battling it out for video game domination, Asian cultural impact on the U.S. may be as powerful as Asian economic clout. To help Americans deal with the onslaught of things Eastern, the editors of A. Magazine offer a Baedecker of Asian influences, ancient and contemporary. Some of the subjects of the volume's one-to six-page entries (noodles, martial arts) have made it big in America, and seeing more of some others (Japanese animated cartoons, pop groups like Pizzicato Five) seems inevitable. Still others (sumo, Chinese opera) seem unlikely ever to make significant inroads. Although Japanese and Chinese subjects predominate, Indian, Vietnamese, and other Far and Near Eastern topics appear. This range of coverage repeatedly demonstrates Asian cultural diversity; for example, both Japanese comic books and Salman Rushdie appear in the literature section. This entertaining, user-friendly guide comes just in time for the Pacific Century. Gordon Flagg

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Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Mariner Books (May 15, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 039576341X
• ISBN-13: 978-0395763414
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #880,343 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Title is misleading. Reads like a travel guide to Asia. July 28, 1999

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

I wasn't sure what EST was about but I really wanted to find out. It turned out to be a mixed bag. I don't think A. Magazine or the editors should have marketed the book as a definitive guide to 'ASIAN-AMERICAN pop culture'. It's really a guide to Asian influences in mainstream culture and a guide to popular aspects of Asian culture, namely film and music. While incredibly informative and broad in its scope, as a young politically active Korean-American, I can't say I identified with much in this book. And I don't believe Asian-Americans are meant to read this book and go, 'Wow, that's what I grew up with and how I live'. The opposite, 'Wow, I should buy/wear/eat/learn some of that to get more in touch with my roots and be cool in an Asian way' seems to be more the attitude of this book. In fact, it almost seems more geared toward non-Asians who are interested in 'Asian-ness'. I hate to say it, but this 'definitive work' is guilty of exotifying itself in order to sell. I had to force myself to read the entire thing. There is a huge difference between what is 'ASIAN' and what is 'ASIAN-AMERICAN'. Japanese or Hong Kong new-wave popular culture has almost NOTHING to do with me or my life as an Asian-American. Japanese thrash metal and Korean modern art are not part of a normal 'Asian-American' experience unless one actively seeks them out and thus do NOT constitute 'Asian-American' popular culture. If I have to read a book in order to find out what my relevant 'pop-culture' consists of, then it must not have existed there in the first place. However, it was a good effort, nicely packaged, was an encyclopedia of facts, and since it attempted to be a breakthrough work (and is in theory), I give it 5 stars. I love learning about _other_ cultures but I really hope that next time, there will be something about 'Asian-AMERICAN popular culture'.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A good introduction to Asian(-American) culture October 8, 1997

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

Fill in the following blanks: Chinese __, Japanese __, Korean __, Indian __, Vietnamese __, and Thai __. How many words can you put in each blank? This book is an excellent guide to solve this puzzle.
Written by editors of a magazine specializing in Asian-American culture, EASTERN STANDARD TIME (EST) covers a wide range of topics in detail. In particular, 'FILM AND TELEVISION' chapter covers both old and new animations and movies even natives from those cultures don't know. Also, recognizing great influence of Asian foods, the book spares many pages on them with recipes for some typical dishes.
Besides minor glitches (obvious typos), EST may be a great help to have a common background with your Asian or Asian-American friends.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Fun grab bag of Asia-related influences on U.S. pop culture August 15, 2002

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

This is an enjoyable, fun survey of Asian influences on American pop culture. Some of the reviews above are a bit harsh. Take this for what it is: a grab bag of very short, engaging nuggets of pop-Asian trivia, written with an American/Canadian audience in mind, formatted in an off-beat manner (altho the layout can be a bit hard to read at times, if you sometimes have trouble reading Wired Magazine because of the fonts, backgrounds, etc, you may find the same difficulty here).
I haven't found anything else like this anywhere -- pretty much a one of a kind resource.