AUGUST 1, 2022

Hello, everyone!

According to the FBI, a restaurant in Boston Chinatown is being used as a front for a drug distribution operation.

A federal grand jury indicted eight members of the restaurant, China Gourmet, which funneled millions of dollars from their marijuana operations and gift card fraud schemes. While marijuana is legal in Massachusetts, the use and distribution of marijuana are not federally protected, which makes its national distribution illegal.

The U.S. Attorney’s office also revealed in a statement that the defendants took the drug money in Boston and New York, transferred an equivalent value of Chinese currency to the trafficker’s bank accounts, and then sold the original proceeds at a discounted exchange rate to U.S. consumers as part of an additional wire transfer scheme.

Race in America 🌎
 

• After battling against other amazing Iron Chef contestants, Korean American chef Esther Choi is now bringing her kimchi obsession, Korean culinary skills and innovative Asian creativity back to her home state of New Jersey.

• A man with a loaded gun was arrested near Iranian activist Masih Alinejad’s NYC home. Last year, Alinejad was allegedly targeted in a kidnapping plot by Iranian agents.

In Other Asian News 🗞
 

• Love alcohol and the environment? Look no further than a carbon-neutral sake, coming in October as part of the Kobe Shushinkan Brewery’s sustainability campaign. Their Fukuju Junmaishu Eco Zero uses green-energy switches and a conscious effort towards using materials and ingredients that have a low carbon footprint.

• In China, two high-profile cases of child abuse and murder are gaining national attention. One father, executed on Wednesday, suffocated and threw his child off a cliff to collect life insurance. The other case involved a couple who sold their four children for $13,000.

Music and Lifestyle 📺
 

• This year’s Lollapalooza features J-Hope from the K-pop group BTS. As the first South Korean artist to headline at the music festival, J-Hope performed his 70-minute set featuring 18 songs with stars like Becky G. 

• Hokkaido-born sushi chef Nozomu Abe lives in Long Island City, New York, and spends his weekends with an interesting routine. In the morning, he goes for a swim, then negotiates with fish brokers and rounds out the day with quality time with his wife. 

What else is on our minds? 🧠
 

• Netflix is suing a knock-off musical off their show, Bridgerton, which had been warned numerous times to not proceed with a for-profit performance. 

• In a new collaboration with Pokémon, Baskin Robbins Japan is releasing summertime flavors and decorations inspired by the franchise’s characters. 

• Chinese scientists are building a bird zapper, an automated laser at airports to dissuade birds from getting in the way. But, questions about environmental changes and the impact on the local bird populations are popping up. 

• A follow-up from last week’s rocket launch from China has reported that 23-ton rocket debris has landed in Southeast Asia.

• Tokyo Disney Resort is launching a recycled material merchandise line and yes, it’s really cute.