EP 532: Drs. Vitune & Roy Vongtama On The Crucial Role That USAID Played In Their Family All Becoming Doctors
ASIAN AMERICA: THE KEN FONG PODCAST
Release Date: 05/04/2025
EP 548: Jesse Q. Sutanto On Re-imagining Mulan as a Contemporary Rom-Com Novel
ASIAN AMERICA: THE KEN FONG PODCAST
Best-selling novelist Jesse Q. Sutanto's latest offering is a present-day re-imagining of the ancient Chinese folktale about a daughter who masquerades as a man in order to battle China's enemies. It's the most recent book in the Disney Hyperion's "Meant to Be" series, which is a contemporary romance collection featuring reimaginings of classic Disney stories, written by various authors. @jesseqsutanto
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EP 547: Kenny & Chizuko Endo On Celebrating His 50 Years As a Taiko Drumming Artist & Innovator
ASIAN AMERICA: THE KEN FONG PODCAST
Kenny and Chizuko Endo met in 1976 a year after he'd embarked on what would become his lifelong passion for Japanese taiko drumming, ultimately using it to honor its role in the past, but also using it as a springboard to innovate compositions and collaborations that have established these ancient Japanese drums as clearly belonging to the future of music as well. Now celebrating his 50th year with taiko, Kenny and wife Chizuko reflect on how their personal and professional lives have been shaped and sharpened by their mutual love of taiko drumming. To find out more about the 50th...
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EP 546: Podcaster Mari Fong On the Dire Need to Help Pro Musicians with Their Mental Health
ASIAN AMERICA: THE KEN FONG PODCAST
Mari Fong is a music journalist who not long ago launched the "Check Your Head" podcast because of being deeply troubled by the number of professional musicians who struggle with their mental health and addictions, with some even choosing to take their lives. Her show provides these artists a safe and empathetic space to share their stories honestly, and she then brings on different mental health professionals who can articulate what needs to happen in order for them not just to recover, but to thrive as people and as musicians.
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EP 545: Michael Luo On "Strangers in the Land: Exclusion, Belonging & the Epic Story of Chinese in America"
ASIAN AMERICA: THE KEN FONG PODCAST
Michael Luo is an executive editor at The New Yorker and writes regularly on politics, religion, and Asian American issues. His first book, “,” is a well-researched history of Chinese Americans from the Gold Rush until the 1960s. Using his skills as a former investigative reporter, Luo manages to bring back to life the myriad Chinese Americans who struggled, suffered, and even were murdered in their persistent efforts to make this strange new land a new home for themselves and for those who would one day follow in their footsteps.
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EP 543: Shin Yu Pai On Rebooting Her "Ten Thousand Things" Podcast
ASIAN AMERICA: THE KEN FONG PODCAST
Shin Yu Pai was already a published poet and museologist when she entered a contest by the Pacific Northwest's National Public Radio to pitch an idea for a new podcast that focused on Asian Americans. Around seventy people submitted concepts, but NPR picked Shin Yu's. That propelled her into the very formulaic world of NPR podcasts. She learned quickly, and her show became a huge hit in that region. But after three years, she was told that it had come to an end. Shin Yu found ways to identify and process her grief, and then decided to reboot her podcast with the help of an independent...
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EP 544: The Two Kens On Why Trump & MAGA Revel In Being Cruel
ASIAN AMERICA: THE KEN FONG PODCAST
In this latest installment of the recurring collaboraton between Ken Fong and Ken Kemp, they attempt to ascertain why Trump and MAGA folks enjoy being cruel to others. Especially those that they believe robbed them of previous stature and status in America. Fong and Kemp also bring in David Brook's recent piece in The Atlantic as he attempts to unpack why so many Americans think Trump is good. And they found a perfect example of where some people choose to ignore cruelty because they've become so acclimated to it in the 2024 German film The Zone of Interest.
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EP 542: Bryan Yamami On TAIKOPROJECT & July 19 Show Celebrating Their 25th Anniversary
ASIAN AMERICA: THE KEN FONG PODCAST
Guest Bryan Yamami is the co-founder and executive director of the acclaimed and award-winning drumming group TAIKOPROJECT (). You'll learn why he was a less than enthusiastic young taiko student, but why he returned to this ancient form of Japanese drumming with fervor while a college student. Notably, Bryan shares why and how he and co-founder Masato Baba felt led to start their own group with the emerging vision to create a uniquely Japanese American version of taiko ensemble performances. TAIKOPROJECT will be celebratinig its 25th anniversary with a culturally collaborative show...
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EP 541: Kanaka Mālia Luna Jennings & Diane Ujiiye On Redeeming Lives Through API-RISE
ASIAN AMERICA: THE KEN FONG PODCAST
Long-time friend and Christian colleague Diane Ujiiye, the co-director of nonprofit , introduced me to her Program Director Kanaka Mālia Luna Jennings, a proud Native Hawaiian and Filipina who, while a juvenile, had been incarcerated for 23 years. Her father died while she was inside, which served as a desperately needed wake up call to grow up, turn to God, and begin turning her life around. After she was released from prison, however, ICE swooped her up, and those seven months of detention were more dehumanizing and difficult than anything she'd experienced in prison. Hers is a remarkable...
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EP 540: Philip Kan Gotanda On "Yankee Dawg You Die" & How He Became One of Asian America's Preeminent Storytellers
ASIAN AMERICA: THE KEN FONG PODCAST
Third generation Japanese American Philip Kan Gotanda has gained renown as one of the most prolific Asian American playwrights, filmmakers, and musicians, but he came this close to becoming a lawyer. East West Players () is remounting his seminal play Yankee Dawg You Die in July 2025 after first staging it in 2001. Here's your chance to let him educate you about the (sadly) still-relevant message of this play, while he regales you with astonishing and hilarious stories of his journey to embrace his calling as a pioneering artist.
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EP 538: Author & Illustrator Regina Linke On Her First Children's Book "Big Enough"
ASIAN AMERICA: THE KEN FONG PODCAST
Regina Linke was born and raised in Texas, and she always enjoyed the creative arts, but she didn’t learn traditional Chinese painting until after moving with her young family to Taiwan in her mid-thirties. Holding management degrees from Washington University in St. Louis and Cornell University, she worked in marketing technology and information systems for the travel and tourism industry. Now, however, she creates and illustrates stories that celebrate East Asian folklore and philosophy in an accessible way. Her most notable creations are the characters from , a single-panel, webcomic that...
info_outlineWith federal agency USAID now struggling to survive after being unfairly demeaned and discounted by Elon Musk and his DOGE crew, it's crucial that you hear the story of how USAID helped a poor Thai student to become a board certified radiation oncologist. Dr. Vitune Vongtama inspired both Roy and his brother Danny to follow in his footsteps. All told, the three of them have saved tens of thousands of people from dying from cancer.
Dr. Roy Vongtama is also a veteran actor. You can learn why and how he continues to juggle both of his passions here: https://asianamericapodcast.com/2019/01/ep-175-roy-vongtama/