I've collaborated with Asia Society on several occasions here now, and have become increasingly convinced that the non-profit organization is an important force for forging closer ties between Asia and the West—that effectively utilizes the universal allure of culture and the arts to build bridges across borders.

Next week, I'll have some more of its new unique initiatives to share, but today I found an interesting discussion on artist and social activist Ai Weiwei, who's been in the news a lot recently following his detention by the Chinese government. This event brought together three experts, one of which was Vice President of Global Art Programs and Museum Director at the Asia Society Melissa Chiu. (The other two participants were Alison Klayman, the director of the upcoming documentary Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry and Austin Ramzy, Beijing correspondent for TIME). A fuller transcript can be found at Artlog, at this link, but here are some revealing excerpts that came out of the talk:

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The hype surrounding Haruki Murakami’s first English fiction release in years is rising.

International fans were given some reprieve from their Murakami withdrawal when the film adaptation of his iconic novel Norwegian Wood was finally released in cinemas worldwide earlier this year. Still, it’s been four long years since the last time a Murakami work, After Dark, was published in English in 2007. His latest masterpiece is 1Q84 (One Q Eighty-Four or ichi-kew-hachi-yon), a three-part novel, which will be released in English later this year in one giant 1,000-page volume. The book, published in Japanese last year, has predictably proven to be a massive hit, selling out within days and reaching sales of over a million in its first month alone.

Murakami’s publisher, Shinchosha, compares the novel to that of George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, stating that, ‘Where Orwell published a novel about the future, Murakami approaches the year from the opposite direction, creating an alternate past.’’

Indeed, the title is also a direct play on Orwell’s famous work, as ‘Q,’ or ‘kyuu’ is Japanese for the number ‘nine.’ IQ84’s plot follows a man and a woman, in search of each other, through alternate dimensions. The story also incorporates some cult-related themes.

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In what seemed almost like a cruel instance of deja vu, in the early evening of April 11,  Japan experienced a noticeably large aftershock that reportedly measured 7.1 on the Richter scale centered in Fukushima. Workers at the damaged nuclear plant there were ordered to evacuate the premises. The day marked the one-month anniversary of the magnitude 9.0 earthquake and resulting tsunami that struck the country’s north-eastern coast, causing destruction and loss for many communities.

Furthermore, a tsunami warning was issued for a 1-meter high tsunami to coastal towns in the north-east, although it was lifted an hour later. A similar alert was issued following a 7.1 aftershock that hit the region last week, but there was also no resulting tsunami. 

Some staff members at The Diplomat's Tokyo office stated they felt that this was the strongest aftershock since March 11 and that they continued to feel mild tremors for about an hour afterward. 

It’s been a month since the 9.0 earthquake and resulting tsunami struck Japan’s north-eastern coast and caused so much destruction and loss for the communities there.

In some ways it was a surreal series of events that for some are inevitably fading into a past many want to forget.

Yet, even today it’s being reported that the Japanese government will soon officially declare the 20-km evacuation zone surrounding the damaged Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant legally off-limits where according to The Japan Times, despite the dangers, ‘desperate residents have been braving radiation fears for quick return trips to pick up essential belongings.’ These facts serve to remind us that thousands are still suffering from great losses, having lost homes, loved ones, their livelihoods—that will take years, not months, to recover from.

Not to be forgotten also are the tireless workers who continue to risk their lives daily at the troubled Fukushima plant; a situation that remains at best, still uncertain. Yesterday, government special advisor Goshi Hosono publicly announced that to the press that the threat posed by possible radiation leaks will take much longer than originally expected to resolve. ‘While we have to resolve that problem as quickly as possible, it will likely take several months to achieve that goal,’ he told reporters. Meanwhile, at Koenji station in Tokyo, thousands of protestors, mainly in their 20s and 30s, held a peaceful protest against nuclear power. ‘Stop polluting the air and water,’ and ‘Don't trust the government’ were just some of the messages being expressed there, a kind of disenchantment and unhappiness rarely openly expressed by young Japanese—especially toward their leadership. Perhaps the crisis has stirred a new vigor in the country’s future generations.

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What happens when a dombra, dutar, and kobyz get together?

I received an email this morning from the Asia Society, about an interesting event they recently held as part of their ongoing Music of Asia Series. Late last month, the society's Washington, DC Center and the Embassy of Kazakhstan co-hosted a Central Asian music festival at the Kazakhstan Embassy.

Producer Shreeya Sinha told me that among performances featuring the region’s traditionally popular instruments, such as the dombra and dutar (long-necked lutes popular in Central Asia), the one ‘most likely to go viral’ is that of Yerbolat Myrzaliev, a well-known Central Asian musician, who stole the show with his unique skills on the kobyz, an ancient Kazakh instrument with strings made from horse hair.

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