The Center for Asian Business presents: The Y. B. Min Lecture Series + Asian Movie Screenings 2009-2010 China, Korea, and Japan Today Examining the Cultures and histories of East Asia and Today’s Challenges

Overview

The Center for Asian Business in the College of Business Administration at Loyola Marymount University has received a major grant over a three year period from the International Communications Foundation, Seoul, Korea, to provide a lecture series and entertainment media screenings for the LMU community—students, faculty, staff, and neighbors. The International Communication Foundation was founded in 1982 by Young Bin Min, chairman of YBM/Si-sa, a Seoul-based corporation. The foundation's mission is to increase awareness and promote the status of Korean culture worldwide.

The grant was awarded to the CAB to provide opportunities for the LMU community to have a better understanding of who Asians are, that is, the Chinese, Japanese, and Koreans. Lecturers will explore Asian issues from cultural, sociological, political, economic and business perspectives, and screenings of entertainment media that are socially and culturally significant will be enjoyed and critiqued.

Objective

The purpose for the series of monthly events is to provide opportunities for the LMU students to gain a deeper understanding of East Asian countries in context, and eventually to be better equipped to work in this competitive global market place after they enter the workforce. America is no longer the sole superpower in today’s global society. Unfortunately, however, foreigners know more about us than we do about them. As LMU is a major university located on the Pacific Rim in one of the world’s most culturally diverse cities, and located in the world’s capital of the entertainment media, the Center for Asian Business seeks to help the LMU community to fill the gap. We are deeply grateful that the ICF grant will allow us to provide these special events.

Events

These monthly events will be twofold: the monthly lecture series will focus on current Asian issues that have an influence on our economy, foreign affairs, and cultural understanding. The lecture series will be offered during the academic year by prominent experts followed by Q & A. sessions The series will be podcast through the CAB website and the LPI’s (Loyola Productions Inc.) website.

There will be a monthly entertainment media screening, such as movies or documentaries which identify socio-cultural systems and life styles in China, Korea, and Japan. These events will be free to the LMU community. (During the Q & A sessions and for the movies, the CAB will provide refreshments.)

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The Y.B.Min Lecture Series Schedule:

Lecture One: September 15, Tuesday, 6:00 pm	UH Ahmanson 1000
“Two Koreas: Past & Present”
Tom Plate, Syndicated columnist and journalist

This session will discuss how South and North Koreans have walked different paths since 1945 and live with an uneasy armistice. Many challenges which both North and South Korea have faced in the past are now not only challenges for North and South Korea but threaten global peace. The lecturer will examine these challenges from historical, political, and social perspectives.

Lecture Two: October 6, Tuesday, 6:00 pm	UH Ahmanson 1000
“Korean Wave”: Impact on political agenda, global economy, and the social system in South Korea
Jeannie Han, Senior Vice President, Paramont Pictures. Jeannie is directly involved with all aspects of releasing Paramount motion pictures, as well as both DreamWorks and DreamWorks animation films.

The “Korean Wave” began with the export of Korean TV dramas. The export of the entertainment media is the second largest item in Korea since 2002, and now South Korea has become one of the world’s top ten cultural content exporters in the global market place. The growing success of Korean dramas and remakes not only have an impact on the Korean political agenda but also on the social ramifications of the status of entertainment professionals.

The spread of the Korean Wave also faces a backlash in other countries, especially in China and Japan. Professor Lee will provide insights into the reasons for the backlash from those countries.

Lecture Three: November 18, Wednesday, 6:00 pm	UH Ahmanson 1000
“The role of the government in the Entertainment Business in China, Korea, and Japan”
Veronika Kwan-Rubinek, President, International Theatrical Distribution, Warner Brothers, Inc.

This session will provide an opportunity to understand how Asian governments interact with entertainment media and digital business industries to protect their domestic market while thriving to the global market place. Asian governments tend to control the entertainment industry in contrast to the role of the U.S. government which is more regulatory. With globalization and a worldwide media market, Asian governments in recent years have become involved directly in promoting entertainment media business and developing professionals for global vision.

This session will help students, especially who are interested in working with Asian media companies and Asian market, to grasp ideas how to work and collaborate with the local media industries and how to enhance global competitions.

Lecture Four: February 24, Wednesday, 6:00 pm	UH Ahmanson 1000
“Can we prevent North Korea from becoming a nuclear power?”
Ambassador Donald Gregg, Chairman of the Board of The Korea Society in New York City. Former Ambassador to Korea1990-1993. Retired from a 43-year career in the U.S. Government in 1993.

In this session, Ambassador Gregg will discuss the perspectives on nuclear proliferation by the U.S., North and South Koreas, Middle East, and neighboring countries, China, and Japan

Lecture Five: March 17, Wednesday, 6:00 pm	UH Ahmanson 1000
“e-Korea, Ubiquitous”
T.K. Chun, V.P., S.K. Telecom (invited)

A diabetic patient e-mails his condition to his doctor through mobile and broadband services on a daily basis, and the doctor and nutritionist e-respond their recommendations for his activities and nutrition. Insurance companies e-review communication records between hospital and patients. Korea has been pushing aggressively to advance its communication infrastructure since the 1980s and continues to lead the overall ICT development and has the highest internet penetration rate worldwide.

In this lecture, Chun will examine what has made Korea the powerhouse in wireless internet markets and how far Korea deploys the technologies to cope with the government, and with various social sectors, such as, education, medicine, and other key sectors for the innovation of the national communication system.

Lecture Six: April 20, Tuesday, 6:00pm	UH Ahmanson 1000
“The Asian Auto Industry: Present and Future”
Speaker (TBD)

Special Lecture: Date. Time TBD	Place: TBD
The Honorable Ki-Moon Ban, United Nations Secretary General

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Movie Series Schedule:

Movie One: September 29, Tuesday, 6:00pm	UH Ahmanson 1000
"Shiri"
Introduction by Theresa Shim

"Shiri" is probably the most successful film in South Korea box office history by its blend of thriller action and romance. When the film was released in 1999, it ended up topping the record previously held by "Titanic." This movie set a milestone for South Korea's local film industry to open a new generation of Korean moviemakers transforming and revitalizing the industry on the verge of exploding onto the world stage.

The story is centered around the continuing Cold War tensions between North and South Korea. The film takes its name from a freshwater fish indigenous to the DMZ, the swath of land diving Korea between the democratic South and the communist North. Like the fish which knows no borders or cares little for the rival ideologies on either side of the 38th parallel, writer/director Kang Je-kyu speaks to the hopes of reunification for his divided country. Even though it was released in 1999, the audience will experience the reality of the longing of the Koreans for unification for the past six decades.

Movie Two: October 20, Tuesday, 6:00pm	UH Ahmanson 1000
"The Wedding Banquet"
Introduction: (TBD)

This 1993 international hit by Ang Lee is a hilarious and poignant story of a gay Taiwanese-American man who goes to some lengths to fool his visiting family that he is actually straight. The results are far more complicated and entertaining than anyone could have guessed. A wholly delightful comedy of human nature, "The Wedding Banquet" taps into a rich stream of emotion vis-a-vis Ang Lee's light and perceptive touch in a cultural context. The script is designed to work from a single vantage point, that of a Taiwanese director. Only by comprehending the people, the culture and the way in which they behave and respond to the parent-child relationship can Lee modulate each scene such that his cast approaches the brink of parody without tumbling over. Thus "The Wedding Banquet" is not a stereotypically gay picture, but it is a touching story of human decency, humility, pragmatism and hope.

Movie Three: November 10, Tuesday, 6:00pm	UH Ahmanson 1000
"Shall we Dance?"
Introduction: (TBD)

"Shall We Dance?" is a 1996 award-winning Japanese film. Its original Japanese title is "Shall We Dansu?" which refers to the earlier 1934 movie "Shall we Dance" starring Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire. But the Japanese version makes clear that it has at least as much to do with social commentary as it does with light steps across a teak floor. Outsiders tend to view Japanese as a nation of repressed people, a stereotype embodied in every way by the main character (played by Sugiyama), an office worker who takes up ballroom dancing after seeing the pretty dance instructor through the window of the dancing studio when he passes it by daily on his commuting train. It was a big secret for his co-workers and especially for his wife because of the perception of ballroom dancing in Japanese society. Sugiyama was someone who had risen to a certain level in his company, but was boxed into common expectations. He found a chance to express himself by following a whim, but he continuously experienced an inner conflict between his longing for freedom and the box society expected him to be in. An amusing comedy of cultural experience and reasoning of why we dance.

Movies for the second semester TBD