Category: Mario RustanβReviews
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπRETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Derek Currie, When βJesusβ Came to Hong Kong: The Remarkable Story of the First European Football Star in Asia, Blacksmith Books, 2023. 404 pgs. This is my second…
![[REVIEW] βJesusβ Pub Tales: Derek Currieβs πβππ βπ½ππ π’π β πΆπππ π‘π π»πππ πΎπππβ by Mario Rustan](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/when-jesus-came-to-hong-kong.jpg?w=962)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Rob Noble, Octopus: The Pioneering Story of the Worldβs First Contactless Payment Card, Blacksmith Books, 2023, 396 pgs. As a resident of a city bereft of a…
![[REVIEW] βThe Almost Everything CardβRob Nobleβs πππ‘πππ’π : πβπ ππππππππππ ππ‘πππ¦ ππ π‘βπ πππππβπ πΉπππ π‘ πΆπππ‘πππ‘πππ π πππ¦ππππ‘ πΆπππβ by Mario Rustan](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/octopus-the-pioneering-story-of-the-worlds-first-contactless-payment-card-1.jpg?w=896)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Click HERE to read all entries in Cha on Absolutely on Music. Haruki Murakami (author), Jay Rubin (translator), Absolutely on Music: Conversations with Seiji Ozawa, Alfred A. Knopf, 2016. 352 pgs. In…
![[REVIEW] “Two Japanese Men and a Record PlayerβHaruki Murakamiβs π΄ππ πππ’π‘πππ¦ ππ ππ’π ππ: πΆπππ£πππ ππ‘ππππ π€ππ‘β πππππ ππ§ππ€π” by Mario Rustan](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/absolutely-on-music-conversations-with-seiji-ozawa-alfred-a.-knopf-2016.jpg?w=751)
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πRETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπRETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Benjamin Hegarty, The Made-Up State: Technology, Trans Femininity, and Citizenship in Indonesia, Cornell University Press, 2022. 198 pgs. I grew up seeing transwomen day and night. During the day,…
![[REVIEW] βDress Up for Indonesia: Benjamin Hegartyβs The Made-Up Stateβ by Mario Rustan](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/finalreadingsbooklaunch20april2023_poster.jpg?w=816)
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πΒ RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπΒ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Kelly H. Chong, Love Across Borders: Asian Americans, Race, and the Politics of Intermarriage and Family-Making, Routledge, 2021, 246 pgs. As a single Asian man, I was once oversensitive…
![[REVIEW] “Itβs Only Love: Kelly H. Chongβs πΏππ£π π΄ππππ π π΅ππππππ ” by Mario Rustan](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/love-across-borders-asian-americans-race-and-the-politics-of-intermarriage-and-family-making.jpg?w=1000)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Nicole Tarulevicz, Eating Her Curries and Kway: A Cultural History of Food in Singapore, University of Illinois Press, 2014. 224 pgs. Anyone who has been to Singapore or Malaysia,…
![[REVIEW] βThe πππππ RepublicβNicole Taruleviczβs πΈππ‘πππ π»ππ πΆπ’πππππ πππ πΎπ€ππ¦: π΄ πΆπ’ππ‘π’πππ π»ππ π‘πππ¦ ππ πΉπππ ππ πππππππππβ by Mario Rustan](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/eating-her-curries-and-kway-a-cultural-history-of-food-in-singapore-university-of-illinois-press-1.jpg?w=500)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Thomas Barker, Indonesian Cinema After the New Order: Going Mainstream, Hong Kong University Press, 2019, 244 pgs. After reviewing several books on East Asian films and pop culture, it…
![[REVIEW] “Master in Its Own House: On Thomas Barkerβs πΌππππππ πππ πΆπππππ π΄ππ‘ππ π‘βπ πππ€ πππππ” by Mario Rustan](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/thomas-barker-indonesian-cinema-after-the-new-order-going-mainstream-1.jpg?w=1001)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Yiu-Wai Chu, Hong Kong Pop Culture in the 1980s: A Decade of Splendour, Asian Visual Cultures series, Amsterdam University Press, 2023. 305 pgs. While my previous two…
![[REVIEW] “Esprit of the City: Yiu-Wai Chuβs π»πππ πΎπππ πππ πΆπ’ππ‘π’ππ ππ π‘βπ 1980π ” by Mario Rustan](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/hong-kong-pop-culture-in-the-1980s.jpg?w=930)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILM Leung Wing-Fai and Andy Willis (editors), East Asian Film Stars, Palgrave Macmillan, 2014. 236 pages. Youβre a Cantonese researcher rummaging through the library and cannot believe your eyes. Thereβs…
![[REVIEW] “Stardom Before Netflix: A Review of πΈππ π‘ π΄π πππ πΉπππ ππ‘πππ ” by Mario Rustan](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/east-asian-film-stars.jpg?w=946)
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πΒ RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπΒ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMΒ Ken Provencher and Mike Dillon (editors), Exploiting East Asian Cinemas: Genre, Circulation, Reception, Bloomsbury, 2018. 234 pgs. In the early 2000s, unless you lived in a city in the…
![[REVIEW] βExtreme AsiaβA Review of πΈπ₯πππππ‘πππ πΈππ π‘ π΄π πππ πΆππππππ : πΊππππ, πΆππππ’πππ‘πππ, π
πππππ‘πππ” by Mario Rustan](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/exploiting-east-asian-cinemas-genre-circulation.jpg?w=568)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Tomoko Hidaka, Salaryman Masculinity: Continuity and Change in Hegemonic Masculinity in Japan, Brill, 2010. 224 pgs. βSalarymanβ is a word thatβs uniquely Japanese, even if the concept is not.…
![[REVIEW] βThe Paradigm to Emulate is the Salarymenβ by Mario Rustan](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/group-of-salarymen.webp?w=1000)
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{Written by Mario Rustan, this review is part of Issue 43 (April 2019) of Cha.}Β {Return to Cha Review of Books and Films.} Patrick H. Hase, Forgotten Heroes: San On County and its Magistrates in the Late Ming and Early Qing,…
![[Review] “Hong Kong Noir 1688: Patrick H. Hase’s Forgotten Heroes: San On County and its Magistrates in the Late Ming and Early Qing” by Mario Rustan](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/forgotten-heroes_cha.jpg?w=1024)
Cha 