There was a resurgence of interest in “Thai Chicanos” last year, resulting in a few articles and videos across the web. The most entertaining video, however, is the one from almost a decade ago, about the “Cholos of Bangkok,” by Coconuts TV.
Also last year, an interesting YouTube video documenting “Japan’s Chicano Culture In LA” was published by Peter Santenello:
However, the true counterpart to the “Cholos of Bangkok” is “Inside Japan’s Chicano Subculture” by the NYT:
From a language and culture standpoint, all of these are enthralling. I’ve watched them all multiple times and pick up on new details every time.
…since I started this blog! In that first uninspiring post, I think I was referring to NTT cutting off my dual ISDN (64 + 64kbps !!) service or refusing my application for the then cutting-edge FTTH service to my rental home in Sumoto, Japan.
I can’t say it seems like only yesterday; it actually feels like a few lifetimes ago. The first few years, blogging was new and exciting! I actually had a blog before this one up at Blogger. If I recall correctly, back then it required making a Blogger account (was it even named that?) and a separate Blogspot account and performing some kind of manual registration/installation. I helped set up a lot of friends on Blogger and hosted them on my domain (back when that was possible).
This blog started out on Movable Type, which was the platform of choice for tech nerds and was liberally licensed, but went down an errant path to (partially) open source, was sold on several times like an old workhorse, and eventually evaporated into corporate CMS root extract more than a decade ago. Likewise, this blog has of course seen better times.
Over the years, I’ve posted less and less. I still have no intention of quitting, though. I’ve been a full time lecturer for the past 17 years and we raised a couple kids during that time (I wrote that in past tense since they are mostly grown the hell up now), but the blog has never been down for more than a day or two at a time, even though there have been times it wasn’t updated for a whole month. That was accomplished across multiple webhosts, as well, so there is some regular effort put into it. I enjoy the maintenance and the tech side of keeping up with it all.
