Category: First Impressions
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📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Akiko Ohku (director), Hold Me Back, 2020. 133 min. Akiko Ohku is best known for directing and co-writing Tremble All You Want and Hold Me Back, two films…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Feeling Seen: Akiko Ohku’s 𝐻𝑜𝑙𝑑 𝑀𝑒 𝐵𝑎𝑐𝑘 and the Solitude of Modern Women” by Danica QP](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/hold-me-back-film-cha.jpg?w=1024)
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📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Lê Minh Hoàng (director), Saigon in the Rain, 2020. —Written on a rainless Saigon day Urban life has long provided cinema with a stage upon which to capture…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Lê Minh Hoàng’s 𝑆𝑎𝑖𝑔𝑜𝑛 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑅𝑎𝑖𝑛: A Resonance of Youth, Migration, and Urban Dreams” by Red Po](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/maxresdefault.jpg?w=1024)
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茶 FIRST IMPRESSIONS 茶 REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Reliving the Filipino 90s Nostalgia in Marla Ancheta’s One Hit Wonder” by Bryan Elijah Trajano Marla Ancheta (director), One Hit Wonder, 2025. 112 min. Before music was only a…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Reliving the Filipino 90s Nostalgia in Marla Ancheta’s 𝑂𝑛𝑒 𝐻𝑖𝑡 𝑊𝑜𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟” by Bryan Elijah Trajano](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/marla-ancheta-director-one-hit-wonder.jpg?w=1024)
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📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Click HERE to read all entries in Cha on Untold. Bae Suah (author), Deborah Smith (translator), Untold Night and Day, Jonathan Cape, 2020. 155 pgs. It has been some…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Between Dream and Wakefulness: Reading Bae Suah’s 𝑈𝑛𝑡𝑜𝑙𝑑 𝑁𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐷𝑎𝑦” by Dorina Tataran](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/untold-night-and-day-1.jpg?w=977)
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📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁 RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Rajan Kurai Krishnan, Ravindran Sriramachandran, and V.M.S Subagunarajan, Rule of the Commoner: DMK and the Formations of the Political in Tamil Nadu, 1949–1967, Cambridge University Press, 2022. 280 pgs.…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Politics of the Plebs—𝑅𝑢𝑙𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐶𝑜𝑚𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑒𝑟: 𝐷𝑀𝐾 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐹𝑜𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑃𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙 𝑖𝑛 𝑇𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑙 𝑁𝑎𝑑𝑢” by Kathiravan Annamalai](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/rule-of-the-commoner.jpg?w=419)
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📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁 RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Saad Omar Khan, Drinking the Ocean, Buckrider Books, 2025. 250 pgs. “We die containing a richness of lovers and tribes, tastes we have swallowed, bodies we have plunged into…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “A Love that Doesn’t Bind: Saad Omar Khan’s 𝐷𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑂𝑐𝑒𝑎𝑛” by Fathima M](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/saad-omar-khan-drinking-the-ocean.jpg?w=971)
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📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Girish Karnad, This Life at Play: Memoirs, Fourth Estate, 2021. 320 pgs. Memoirs strip writers of their literary pedestals. They become characters in their own narratives—curious onlookers of…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “A Playwright’s Memoir: Girish Karnad’s 𝑇ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝐿𝑖𝑓𝑒 𝑎𝑡 𝑃𝑙𝑎𝑦” by Kathiravan Annamalai](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/girish-karnads-this-life-at-play.jpg?w=998)
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📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁 RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Click HERE to read all entries in Cha on A Woman Burnt. Imayam (author), GJV Prasad (translator), A Woman Burnt, Simon and Schuster India, 2023. 336 pgs. “Every woman adores a Fascist, / The…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Portrait of a Burning Woman: Imayam’s 𝐴 𝑊𝑜𝑚𝑎𝑛 𝐵𝑢𝑟𝑛𝑡” by Swagatika Rath](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/a-woman-burnt-1.jpg?w=952)
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📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁 RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Kamila Kuc, Laima Leyton, Dara Waldron, Ecka Mordecai, and Jeremy Fernando (contributors), If loss were a currency: on Kamila Kuc´s I Was There. Delere Press, 2025. 114 pgs. According to…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Whereof One Cannot Speak, Thereof One Cannot Stay Silent—On 𝐼𝑓 𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑠 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑎 𝑐𝑢𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑦: 𝑜𝑛 𝐾𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑎 𝐾𝑢𝑐’𝑠 𝐼 𝑊𝑎𝑠 𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒” by Anders Kølle](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/kamila-kuc-laima-leyton-dara-waldron-ecka-mordecai-jeremy-fernando.jpg?w=971)
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📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁 RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Click HERE to read all entries in Cha on Hiroko Oyamada. Hiroko Oyamada (author), David Boyd (translator), The Hole, New Directions Publishing, 2020. 112 pgs. As a…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Unanswered Questions of Balance: Hiroko Oyamada’s 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐻𝑜𝑙𝑒” by Tyran Grillo](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/hiroko-oyamada_the-hole.jpg?w=778)
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📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁 RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Dương Hướng (author), Quan Manh Ha and Charles Waugh (translators), No Man River, Penguin Random House SEA, 2025. 248 pgs. The recent publication of the English edition of Dương…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “No Human Being is Spared from Its Crimson Claws: Dương Hướng’s 𝑁𝑜 𝑀𝑎𝑛 𝑅𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑟” by Rebecca Maine](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/no-man-river-duong-huong-1.jpg?w=938)
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📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Kim Ki-duk (director), The Isle, 2000. 90 min. Some films are like waves that gently lap against the shores of our memories; others, however, jolt us by revealing…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐼𝑠𝑙𝑒 at 25: Kim Ki Duk’s Blooming Poem on the Island of Solitude” by G.A. Gowtham](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/f_1_the_isle_01c5e5da4c.jpeg?w=1024)
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茶 FIRST IMPRESSIONS 茶 REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “The Legacy and Brilliance of Hong Kong Crime Novels: Charles Philipp Martin’s Rented Grave” by Susan Blumberg-Kason Charles Philipp Martin, Rented Grave: An Inspector Lok Novel, Level Best Books,…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “The Legacy and Brilliance of Hong Kong Crime Novels: Charles Philipp Martin’s 𝑅𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝐺𝑟𝑎𝑣𝑒” by Susan Blumberg-Kason](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/rentedgrave-1.jpg?w=992)
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📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Shunji Iwai (director), Undo, 1994. 47 min. The film Undo (1994) by Shunji Iwai is modest in length at just 47 minutes. Yet the narrative never feels rushed,…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Beyond Earshot: Transcribing Meaning in Shunji Iwai’s 𝑈𝑛𝑑𝑜” by Miran Tsay](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/shunji-iwai.jpg?w=1024)
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📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Anand Patwardhan, Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (The World is Family), 2023. 96 min. “யாதும் ஊரே! யாவரும் கேளிர்!” (“Every place is our homeland, everyone is our kin”)—these words from the Tamil…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Between Memory and History: Anand Patwardhan’s 𝑉𝑎𝑠𝑢𝑑ℎ𝑎𝑖𝑣𝑎 𝐾𝑢𝑡𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑎𝑘𝑎𝑚” by Kathiravan Annamalai](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/anand-patwardhan-vasudhaiva-kutumbakam-the-world-is-family-.png?w=1024)
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📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Uketsu (author), Jim Rion (translator), Strange Pictures, HarperVia, 2025. 240 pgs. In the Prologue, we are told: “All right, everyone, now I’m going to show you a picture.”…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “The Reader as Detective: Uketsu’s 𝑆𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒 𝑃𝑖𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒𝑠” by Jennifer Eagleton](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/uketsu-author-jim-rion-translator-strange-pictures-harpervia-2025.png?w=974)
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📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Sundar Sarukkai, The Social Life of Democracy, Seagull Books, 2022, 184 pgs. When I reflect on democracy in India today, I see a concept confined largely to the…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Democracy as Social Practice: Sundar Sarukkai’s 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑆𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝐿𝑖𝑓𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝐷𝑒𝑚𝑜𝑐𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑦” by Kathiravan Annamalai](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/sundar-sarukkais-the-social-life-of-democracy.jpg?w=1000)
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📁RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Click HERE to read all entries in Cha on Mending Bodies. Hon Lai Chu (author), Jacqueline Leung (translator), Mending Bodies, Two Lines Press, 2025. 240 pgs. For those who haven’t read the original Chinese…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Magical Realism or Political Prophecy? Hon Lai Chu’s 𝑀𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝐵𝑜𝑑𝑖𝑒𝑠 Reexamined” by Susan Blumberg-Kason](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/hon-lai-chu-author-jacqueline-leung-translator-mending-bodies-two-lines-press-2025.-240-pgs.jpg?w=938)
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📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Téa Sernelj, The Confucian Revival in Taiwan: Xu Fuguan and His Theory of Chinese Aesthetics, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2021. 280 pgs. In The Confucian Revival in Taiwan: Xu…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Broad and Balanced: Téa Sernelj’s 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐶𝑜𝑛𝑓𝑢𝑐𝑖𝑎𝑛 𝑅𝑒𝑣𝑖𝑣𝑎𝑙 𝑖𝑛 𝑇𝑎𝑖𝑤𝑎𝑛” by Hantian Zhang](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/tea-sernelj-the-confucian-revival-in-taiwan-xu-fuguan-and-his-theory-of-chinese-aesthetics-cambridge-scholars-publishing.png?w=1024)
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📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁 RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Philip Yung (director), Papa, 2024. 131 min. Prologue: Watching Hong Kong films overseas is a transposing experience. When I leave a cinema in Toronto after watching a…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “𝑃𝑎𝑝𝑎: Time to Forgive” by Tin Yuet Tam](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/philip-yung-director-papa-2024.-131-min-1.jpg?w=923)
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📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁 RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Shinya Tsukamoto 塚本晋也, Tetsuo: The Iron Man 鉄男, 1989. 67 min. I leave the factory. Pass through a haze of cigarette smoke. Walk to the car. Slide…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Viewing 𝑇𝑒𝑡𝑠𝑢𝑜: 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐼𝑟𝑜𝑛 𝑀𝑎𝑛 in an Old Pajama Factory in a Small Town America” by Kristen Cantor](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/shinya-tsukamoto-tetsuo-the-iron-man-e98984e794b7.jpg?w=600)
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📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁 RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Donald Keene, The First Modern Japanese: The Life of Ishikawa Takuboku, Columbia University Press, 2016. 288 pgs. At the age of fifteen, I first encountered the Chinese translation of…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “A Poet’s Most Unvarnished Desires and Defeats: Donald Keene’s 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐹𝑖𝑟𝑠𝑡 𝑀𝑜𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑛 𝐽𝑎𝑝𝑎𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑒” by Jiahe Chen](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/the-first-modern-japanese-the-life-of-ishikawa-takuboku-2.jpg?w=1000)
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📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Quan Manh Ha and Cab Tran (editors), The Colors of April: Fiction on the Vietnam War’s Legacy 50 Years Later, Three Room Press, 2025. 306 pgs. The Colors of…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “An Empathetic Communion with the Past—𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐶𝑜𝑙𝑜𝑟𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝐴𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑙: 𝐹𝑖𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑉𝑖𝑒𝑡𝑛𝑎𝑚 𝑊𝑎𝑟’𝑠 𝐿𝑒𝑔𝑎𝑐𝑦 50 𝑌𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑠 𝐿𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟” by Aaron Gerhart](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/the-colors-of-april-fiction-on-the-vietnam-wars-legacy-50-years-later--1.jpg?w=1000)
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📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁 RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Naomi Kawase, True Mothers, 2020. 140 min. Are human faces a resource? Are they a commodity? Can they be picked like grapes and harvested like grain? Can they be…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “The Face Of Integrity In Naomi Kawase’s 𝑇𝑟𝑢𝑒 𝑀𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑠” by Anders Kølle](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/true-mothers.jpg?w=708)
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茶 FIRST IMPRESSIONS 茶 REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Susan Barker’s Old Soul: A Globetrotting Horror with an Asian Sense of Eternity” by Kevin McGeary Susan Barker, Old Soul, Penguin, 2025. 352 pgs. In 2014, Susan Barker published…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Susan Barker’s 𝑂𝑙𝑑 𝑆𝑜𝑢𝑙: A Globetrotting Horror with an Asian Sense of Eternity” by Kevin McGeary](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/old-soul-susan-barker.jpg?w=975)
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📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁 RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Yuta Takahashi (author), Cat Anderson (translator), The Chibineko Kitchen, John Murray, 2024. 192 pgs. The Japanese iyashikei—or healing—genre has resonated deeply with readers worldwide, offering solace and comfort through…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Dining with the Departed: Yuta Takahashi’s 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐶ℎ𝑖𝑏𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑘𝑜 𝐾𝑖𝑡𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑛” by Aditi Yadav](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/the-chibineko-kitchen-john-murray-1.jpg?w=651)
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[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Love and Loss in Petersen Vargas’s 𝑈𝑛/𝐻𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑦 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑌𝑜𝑢” by Jhon Steven C. Espenido
📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁 RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Petersen Vargas (Director), Un/Happy for You, 2024. 110 min. If there is one recent romantic drama that has left an everlasting mark on me, it is Un/Happy for You,…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Love and Loss in Petersen Vargas’s 𝑈𝑛/𝐻𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑦 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑌𝑜𝑢” by Jhon Steven C. Espenido](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/petersen-vargas-director-unhappy-for-you-1.png?w=841)
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📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁 RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Chie Hayakawa (director), Plan 75, 2022. 112 min. Perhaps storytelling is an indispensable part of being human? Perhaps we all need to tell ourselves—and each other—certain stories to get…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “The Stories We Live By: Narrative, Meaning, and Existential Emptiness in Chie Hayakawa’s 𝑃𝑙𝑎𝑛 75” by Anders Kølle](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/chie-hayakawa-plan-75.png?w=1024)
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📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁 RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS in.light.of.living—Sik.Faan (author), jck (illustrator), and daanngaazai (calligrapher), Pattern, Language, Setting—A Glossary of City Spaces in Hong Kong, Enlighten & Fish, 2021. 240 pgs. Pattern, Language, Setting—A Glossary of City…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “The Importance of Nomenclature in 𝑃𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑛, 𝐿𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑢𝑎𝑔𝑒, 𝑆𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔—𝐴 𝐺𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑠𝑎𝑟𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝐶𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑆𝑝𝑎𝑐𝑒𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝐻𝑜𝑛𝑔 𝐾𝑜𝑛𝑔” By Vanessa Winghei Yeung](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/in.light_.of_.livinge28094sik.faan-author-jck-illustrator-and-daanngaazai-calligrapher-pattern-language-setting-e28093-a-glossary-of-city-spaces-in-hong-kong.jpeg?w=1024)
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📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS 📁 RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Kōki Mitani (director), Welcome Back, Mr. McDonald, 1997. 103 min. Kōki Mitani has a particular knack for satirising the Japanese inclination to avoid confrontation. As the screenwriter…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Japanese Comedy Cinema at Its Finest: Kōki Mitani’s 𝑊𝑒𝑙𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝐵𝑎𝑐𝑘, 𝑀𝑟. 𝑀𝑐𝐷𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙𝑑” by Jeremiah Dutch](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/mv5bodhimtlimzmtodk0my00ogjklwjjmwytythlyta3mzllzjq1xkeyxkfqcgc40._v1_.jpg?w=853)
Cha 