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Hello, everyone!


BTS’ management company HYBE was featured on the cover of TIME as one of the 100 most influential companies this year.

In addition to creating music that heals, the South Korean company utilizes “artist IP, technology, and world-building” to propel Asian entertainment and pop culture forward.

HYBE has long used technology to connect BTS with their fans worldwide and continues to acquire more platforms, like WeVerse, to expand its influence and innovative impact. Constantly on the path forward, HYBE’s chairman Bang Si-hyuk announced a new project on developing NFTs which was also met with fan backlash due to its environmental detriments.

Entertainment 📺


2022 continues to hold more potential and projects for anime fans.


At Japanfest last weekend,
Netflix unveiled 40 new and returning anime titles to the digital streaming platform.

Titles included Drifting Home,” “Baki Hanma,” Tiger and Bunny 2,” “Ultraman” Season 2, “Vampire in the Garden,” “Spriggan,” “Kakegurui Twin,” “Kotaro Lives Alone,” “Rilakkuma’s Theme Park Adventure,” “Bubble” and “The Seven Deadly Sins: Grudge of Edinburgh.”

The event also featured sneak-peeks of “Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045” Season 2 and “Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure Stone Ocean.”


 

For Pokémon lovers, a new collaboration between the beloved franchise and Amazon may pique your interest. 

The e-commerce platform released a new listing for a subscription box collaboration, which offers subscribers a variety of new Pokémon-themed shirts every month.

This box, created and curated by Pokémon, is being sold for $19.99 per month, for anyone in the US with sizes for women, children, and men.

While this product won’t be available until late 2022, exciting designs are sure to populate by then.

 


Race in America 🌎


Recently, Mindy Kaling’s brother released a new book that furthers tensions in conversations surrounding affirmative action policies.
 

In his book, “Almost Black,” Vijay Chokal-Ingam admitted to posing as a Black student after believing that lying about his race would give him an advantage in medical school admissions.


The Daily Beast describes the deception as one that insults the Black experience, specifically what they had to “endure in this country, both institutionally and culturally.”



 

In Other Asian News 🗞


In China, the government is encouraging young women to marry early. 

Marriage rates in the nation plummeted last year to just 7.63 million, comparable to the lowest rates 36 years ago.

Currently, men can get married at 22 while women can get married at 20. However, Chinese demographers are wondering if lowering the marriage age is an effective move to increase the marriages and sustainability of these unions.

As China continues to become more urbanized and the cost of raising a family increases, young couples continue to push the marriage date further and further back.



Meanwhile, in South Korea, sources say that North Korea used a
smaller, older missile in their staged ICBM launch. 


The South Korean military reported that North Korea’s so-called “largest missile test” yet, was actually an older, smaller ICBM instead of the Hwasong-17 ICBM.

They report that this was in part to do with placating the domestic response to a previous failed launch.



 

What else is on our minds? 🧠


Biden officially signed an anti-lynching bill?
On Tuesday, President Biden officially signed an anti-lynching bill after 100 years of failed attempts. The law was named for Emmett Till, a 14-year-old Black boy who was lynched in Mississippi. Speaking to civil rights leaders, Biden described lynching as “pure terror to enforce the lie that not everyone, not everyone belongs in America, not everyone is created equal.”

Japan is changing its legal age?
Starting on April 1st, 2022, Japan is changing its official legal age from 20 to 18 years old. This brings a variety of new freedoms and accessibility but also additional legal responsibilities for these young adults.

 

What do the numbers look like in Canada?
Anti-Asian hate crimes are prevalent in most countries with Asian minorities due to the rise of COVID-19, but, as an Asian American source, we mostly keep our focus on the U.S. That doesn’t mean, however, that we’ve forgotten about our siblings up North. 
As always, thank you for reading, and stay safe.

Sincerely, Mya 
Newsletter Editor
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