Crystal Tai, AsiaOne

Crystal Tai

AsiaOne

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Recent:
  • Unknown
Past:
  • AsiaOne
  • TorontoStar
  • SCMP News

Past articles by Crystal:

Why Korean films are alive and well amid Bollywood's Covid-19 slump, Entertainment News

When South Korea’s Parasite won four Oscars including Best Picture at the 2020 Academy Awards , it was a sign that Hallyu films and K-drama television shows had become part of the global zeitgeist – and yet the future of Korean cinema looked increasingly unclear. As the film’s director Bong Joon-ho took to the stage in Los Angeles to accept... → Read More

Why BTS Army and other K-pop fans are aiming at Donald Trump with their activism, World News

Fans of K-pop have stepped into the spotlight as a political force, after claiming credit for derailing expectations of massive crowds for US President Donald Trump's latest campaign rally and throwing their support behind the Black Lives Matter movement. Thousands of K-pop fans and other social media users encouraged their followers on Twitter and TikTok to register for tickets for... → Read More

Being Chinese-Canadian in a brave new world

For many Chinese-Canadians like myself, news of anti-Asian incidents in the wake of coronavirus are reminders that we are still not held as true citiz... → Read More

Vietnam's internet brides bear brunt of Korea's immigration bias, Asia News

Back in Vietnam, Lien Dinh had always been a fan of Korean culture. The men in the K-dramas she watched were dashing and romantic, well-to-do, and respectful towards the women in their lives. So she moved to Korea in search of a better life and found her own Mr Right - an electrician 10 years her senior. But after settling down in Daegu, she soon found her experience of Korean society did not… → Read More

Japan, Thailand and Singapore benefit as Chinese tourists skip Hong Kong over golden week, Asia News

Fewer Chinese travellers went overseas during "golden week" this year - but for those who did, Japan, Thailand and Singapore were the top-ranked destinations as tourists from the mainland gave Hong Kong a miss, according to China's largest travel company Ctrip. Chinese government data showed only 6.07 million people travelled during the national holiday between October 1-6, a 15.1 per cent drop… → Read More

K-pop's top awards show MAMA to skip protest-hit Hong Kong for Japan's Nagoya, Entertainment News

For the first time in eight years, K-pop's biggest awards show will not be staged in Hong Kong due to the city's ongoing protests and instead take place solely in Nagoya, even as South Korea and Japan are engaged in their most bitter diplomatic row in recent history. CJ Entertainment and Merchandising (CJ ENM), the organiser behind the Mnet Asian Music Awards (MAMA), announced it would hold the… → Read More

BTS praised for heat rash admission, under fire over Saudi Arabia show, Entertainment, Asia News

As South Korea's annual summer heatwave approaches, not even the coolest of the nation's celebrated K-pop stars are immune to soaring temperatures. Kim Tae-hyung - better known as V, a member of popular South Korean boy band BTS - impressed fans with his honesty when he revealed he was experiencing cholinergic urticaria, a previously little-known medical term for heat rashes. The allergic… → Read More

Kim Kardashian 'Kimono' row prompts Japan to send patent officials to US, Entertainment News

Japan is to send patent officials to the US to discuss the flap over Kim Kardashian's Kimono brand underwear, the trade minister said on Tuesday. The reality TV star and businesswoman said on Monday she would rename her Kimono shapewear line after people in Japan said her use of the term was disrespectful. Trade Minister Hiroshige Seko said he was aware of Kardashian's decision but still wanted… → Read More

Period drama: how Asian women broke the menstruation taboo

When South Korean entrepreneur Gina Park launched her Eve Cup last July, she received 10 million won (S$11,900) worth of orders in the first 30 minutes of it being listed on a crowdfunding site. Six hours later, she had more than 880 orders, worth 20 million won, for the white silicone cups designed to collect menstrual fluid. → Read More

Singapore's former economic tsar Philip Yeo on wooing talent and his Hong Kong 'hit list'

Over two decades ago, when Singapore’s former economic tsar Philip Yeo was spearheading the city state’s biomedical push, he had a Hong Kong talent “hit list”. High on this list was world-renowned scientist Nancy Ip Yuk-yu, who is leading a landmark study in search for a cure for Alzheimer’s disease and is one of Hong Kong’s 36 deputies to the National People’s Congress. But Yeo’s plan to… → Read More

How the K-pop sex scandal exposes Korea's culture of toxic masculinity

In the latest twist to South Korea's K-pop sex crime scandal, police in Seoul announced plans on Monday to issue an arrest warrant for singer-songwriter Jung Joon-young over charges of secretly filming and sharing videos of at least 10 women with fellow idols and friends. → Read More

Why is Japan so obsessed with being on time?

Last month, Japan was rocked by a scandal - the nation's Olympics minister, Yoshitaka Sakurada, had the temerity to arrive three minutes late to a parliamentary meeting. The opposition staged a five-hour protest in response to Sakurada's tardiness, while the public was outraged. Days later, he was forced to apologise. It's not just high-profile public figures. For business operators,… → Read More

Meet the BTS boys – the K-pop idols who are taking over the music industry

After a year in which the pop music universe was gripped by BTS fever, it’s now almost Hong Kong’s turn to fall under the spell of the world’s biggest K-pop outfit.... → Read More

Ailing Chinese bike-sharing service Ofo loses Singapore licence

The Beijing-based firm will have to remove all its 25,000 yellow bicycles in the island state before March 13 unless it immediately complies with the city state’s regulations → Read More

This is no valentine: the complexities of interracial dating for Asians in North America

Whether you’re Asian or South Asian, finding love amid the wasteland of casual racism can be tricky This social programming isn’t just prevalent in real life – online dating has revealed a minefield of ethnic stereotypes → Read More

South Korea hopes to cull its dog meat trade, but the tradition will linger on for a while yet

It is traditionally believed to increase virility in older men, and is today recommended by some doctors as a tonic for patients recovering from plastic surgery But while more people are viewing dogs as pets rather than food, it will be years yet till the country sees the end of the billion-dollar dog meat industry → Read More

Asia’s addiction to whiter skin runs deep – but the backlash has begun

The multibillion-dollar skin-whitening market in China, Malaysia, the Philippines and South Korea is rooted in unrealistic beauty ideals However, a push to embrace darker skin and more Asian-seeming features over Eurocentric beauty standards is picking up in the region → Read More

Single minded: Forget marriage, South Koreans aren't even dating

It's the dreaded question single South Koreans find themselves fielding from relatives, friends, colleagues and even strangers on a regular basis: "When are you getting married?". "My parents pressure me [about marriage] whenever I visit them," said one 34-year-old man living in Seoul. "They joke about it at first, but they get really serious by the end of our conversation." → Read More

Single minded: forget marriage, South Koreans aren’t even dating

As the population ages, the only thing being given birth to are fears of ‘natural extinction’ → Read More

Why are so many South Korean tourists visiting Vietnam?

South Korean arrivals are soaring and Vietnam’s increasingly lucrative tourism industry is changing to accommodate the influx Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City are abuzz with Korean culture while beachside destinations like Da Nang, Hoi An and Phu Quoc are tailored for Korean tastes → Read More