This season on Ten Thousand Things:
We're back with season three! This season features the stories of trailblazing Asian American women and the resilience of Asian American communities, even in the face of endangerment. Three of this season’s stories take place in Seattle’s Chinatown-International District Neighborhood, with help from the Wing Luke Museum. Featured guests include poet and former MMA cage fighter Jenny Liou; Seattle chef Tiffany Ran; and flutist Leanna Keith; among others. 
New episodes drop on Tuesdays.

Ten Thousand Things:

In many Chinese sayings, “ten thousand” is used in a poetic sense to convey something infinite, vast, and unfathomable. For Shin Yu Pai – award-winning poet and museologist – the story of Asians in America is just that. Ten Thousand Things is a podcast about modern-day artifacts of Asian American life and the stories they reveal, created and hosted by Shin Yu Pai and produced by KUOW (Seattle’s NPR station). Ten Thousand Things is a vibrant, diverse, and bittersweet celebration of Asian America ... and a challenge for us all to reimagine stories of the past and future.

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Before we return for our THIRD season of Ten Thousand Things on April 30th, we wanted to share a special recording. In September of 2022, we celebrated the first season of our podcast with a live event at McCaw Hall at the Seattle Center. Back then, our podcast was called The Blue Suit (as you’ll hear). We evolved to become Ten Thousand Things. But we had the same goal of telling compelling stories behind modern-day artifacts of Asian American life. Our live show includes interviews with some of our previous guests on the podcast as well as some new stories. And musician Tomo Nakayama joins us to share a story about an object that is dear to his heart and to play a few songs. 

We can only make Ten Thousand Things because listeners support us. Make the show happen by making a gift to KUOW.

And we want to hear from you! Leave us feedback online.

Ten Thousand Things is produced by KUOW in Seattle. Our host, writer, and creator is Shin Yu Pai. Jim Gates produced this episode with help from Hans Twite and Tom Stiles. Charlotte Duren produced the event. Tomo Nakayama wrote our theme music. 

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Fans of Ten Thousand Things might enjoy Books and Boba from the Potluck Podcast Collective. Books and Boba is a book club podcast all about books written by Asian and Asian diaspora authors.

Today we are sharing one of Books and Boba’s interview episodes, featuring writer and translator Anton Hur who was recently revealed to be the lead translator for K-Pop megastars BTS’ upcoming memoir. In the episode, Anton discusses his work as a Korean-to-English translator in the publishing industry and his work on the book "I Want to Die but I Want to Eat Tteokbokki" by Baek Sehee.

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We want to introduce you to a new podcast you may like, "Shoes Off". Join hosts Susie An and Esther Yoon-Ji Kang as they hang out with badass Asians and ask them to redefine “sexy” on their own terms.

"Shoes Off" is a podcast celebrating badass Asians who are making a mark on pop culture and entertainment.

In this episode stand-up comic, Atsuko Okatsuka, is taking the world by storm with her first HBO special, "The Intruder", and her viral Drop Challenge on TikTok. She talks about how she learned English by watching Scooby-Doo, what it means to be named Margaret Cho’s comedy heir, and how she took her mom and grandma everywhere — including to her honeymoon.

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This is a story about the way we make a statement. 

Alice Wong, a Chinese-American disability activist, came into her own as a public personality through creating and hosting a podcast on disabled voices. Her status as a person with a disability in an ableist world gave her access to a world of perspectives and voices that we don’t usually hear on public radio. And she prioritized putting disabled voices on the air. But losing her own voice and replacing it with an app forced her to reckon with a new relationship to voice. 

Related links:

• Disability Visibility Project
• Disability Visibility Podcast
• Year of the Tiger by Alice Wong
• Resistance and Hope: Crip Wisdom for the People, edited by Alice Wong

We can only make Ten Thousand Things because listeners support us. Make the show happen by making a gift to KUOW.

And we want to hear from you! Leave us feedback online.

is produced by KUOW in Seattle. Our host, writer, and creator is . produced this episode. is our editor. wrote our theme music. Additional music in this episode by Jaylon Ashaun and Stan Forebee.

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Partial funding of Ten Thousand Things was made possible by the Seattle Office of Arts and Culture Hope Corps Grant, a recovery funded program of the National Endowment for the Arts, plus support from The Windrose Fund.

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Anti-Asian hate crimes spiked during the Covid-19 pandemic. And then the Atlanta spa shooting scarred a community already suffering.

But Kae-Lin Wang turned the Atlanta shooting’s aftermath into an opportunity for healing. And she used bikes to do it.

Today, Ampersand Bikes Club is still going strong. It’s co-organized and co-run by some of its 100+ community members.

In this episode, we hear from Kae-Lin and Andrew Chin about how a bicycle might provide strength, joy, and a way to create a protected space. And how protecting that community space is not always easy.

Related Links: 

• Ride with Ampersand Bikes Club!
• Ampersand Bikes Club at Seattle Parks Foundation
• Bike Works and Northstar Cycling and Peace Peloton
• Seattle area Bike map

We can only make Ten Thousand Things because listeners support us. Make the show happen by making a gift to KUOW.

And we want to hear from you! Leave us feedback online.

is produced by KUOW in Seattle. Our host, writer, and creator is . produced this episode. is our editor. wrote our theme music. Additional music in this episode by Ross Christopher and 12 Palms. Special thanks to ABC, Shannon, Sammy Vo, Annie Sing and Alan Zhang for their contributions!

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Partial funding of Ten Thousand Things was made possible by the Seattle Office of Arts and Culture Hope Corps Grant, a recovery funded program of the National Endowment for the Arts, plus support from The Windrose Fund.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Shawn Wong discovered the first Japanese American novel, No-No Boy, at a used bookstore for 50 cents, after being told by his English professors that Asian American literature didn’t exist. 

He sought out the author, John Okada, and he fought to have the book republished and distributed far and wide, to unearth the legacy of Asian American writers. But all the mainstream publishers rejected it. So Shawn started to print, distribute, and sell the novel himself with friends,often from the trunk of his car. 

The Asian American community turned up, ordering books by mail, telling their friends, and sending checks with handwritten letters- a testament to a generation hungry for their own stories.

Correction, 10:30 a.m., 6/6/2023: The audio version of this story misstates the name of the protagonist in No-No Boy. The character's name is Ichiro Yamada.

Related Links: 

• Shawn Wong
• Book notes: A talk with UW English professor, author Shawn Wong about his UW Press book series for Asian American authors

Related reading:

• Aiiieeeee! An Anthology of Asian-American Writers by Frank Chin, Jeffery Paul Chan, Lawson Fusao Inada, and Shawn Wong
• Toshio Mori’s Yokohama California was Ahead of its Time via International Examiner
• Hisaye Yamamoto
• Wakako Yamauchi
• Nisei Daughter by Monica Sone
• Eat a Bowl of Tea by Louis Chu
• Janice Mirikitani
• Frontiers of Love by Diana Chang
• America is in the Heart by Carlos Bulosan
• Uncle Rico’s Encore: Mostly True Stories of Filipino Seattle by Peter Bacho
• Dancer Dawkins and the California Kid by Willyce Kim
• Premonitions: The Kaya Anthology of New Asian North American Poetry edited by Walter Lew
• Pinoy Poetics: A Collection of Autobiographical and Critical Essays on Filipino and Filipino American Poetics edited by Nick Carbo
• The World I Leave You: Asian American Poets on Faith & Spirit edited by Leah Silvieus and Lee Herrick

We can only make Ten Thousand Things because listeners support us. Make the show happen by making a gift to KUOW.

And we want to hear from you! Leave us feedback online.

Ten Thousand Things is produced by KUOW in Seattle. Our host, writer, and creator is Shin Yu Pai. Whitney Henry-Lester produced this episode. Jim Gates is our editor. Tomo Nakayama wrote our theme music. Additional music in this episode by Taika. 

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Partial funding of Ten Thousand Things was made possible by the Seattle Office of Arts and Culture Hope Corps Grant, a recovery funded program of the National Endowment for the Arts, plus support from The Windrose Fund.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

During the mizu kuyo ritual for pregnancy loss, a small Jizo Bodhisattva statue enshrines ceremonial remains of a lost child.

Following Shin Yu’s miscarriage in 2012, she had a mizu kuyo ceremony to process her grief. 

Miscarriage is a socially taboo topic that many people have difficulty talking about. It’s often laden with grief, shame, and self-blame and is a loss that has not been very normalized in public discourse. Through Shin Yu’s personal story this episode shines a light on the silent subject of miscarriage and how the Jizo Bodhisattva can provide comfort to grieving parents.

Related links:

Adopting a Buddhist Ritual to Mourn Miscarraige, Abortion via NPR

Water Returning to Water: A Buddhist Ritual Brings Release by Shin Yu Pai

Splitting the Milk, a poem by Shin Yu Pai

We can only make Ten Thousand Things because listeners support us. Make the show happen by making a gift to KUOW.

And we want to hear from you! Leave us feedback online.

is produced by KUOW in Seattle. Our host, writer, and creator is . produced this episode. is our editor. wrote our theme music. Additional music in this episode by inola and The Field Tapes. 

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Partial funding of Ten Thousand Things was made possible by the Seattle Office of Arts and Culture Hope Corps Grant, a recovery funded program of the National Endowment for the Arts, plus support from The Windrose Fund.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dylan Tomine has a passion for steelhead trout. Or an obsession. Or an addiction. His steelhead passion has brought him close to beautiful places, driven him far from stability, and lost him some loving relationships.This is a story about how an obsession can take priority over everything. How it might provide both purpose and isolation. And how it isn’t guaranteed to last forever.

Related Links

Dylan Tomine

Wild Fish Conservancy

Wild Steelhead Coalition

We can only make Ten Thousand Things because listeners support us. Make the show happen by making a gift to KUOW.

And we want to hear from you! Leave us feedback here.

is produced by KUOW in Seattle. Our host, writer, and creator is produced this episode. is our editor. wrote our theme music. Additional music in this episode by Tim Halperin, 12 Palms, and cloudcrush.

Partial funding of Ten Thousand Things was made possible by the Seattle Office of Arts and Culture Hope Corps Grant, a recovery funded program of the National Endowment for the Arts, plus support from The Windrose Fund.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On the eve of selling her family’s house, Donna Miscolta’s daughter had a special request: Go to the stairwell and pull back the loose board on the bottom step. There, Donna found a box of treasures that 9-year-old Ana Miscolta Cameron had hidden for future children living in the house. 

Rediscovering this time capsule allowed Donna and Ana to revisit memories from the past, hopes for the future, and where mother and daughter diverge and meet in the middle. 

Related Links: 

Donna’s Blog Post about the time capsule

Ten Thousand Things is produced by KUOW in Seattle. Our host, writer, and creator is Shin Yu Pai. Whitney Henry-Lester produced this episode. Jim Gates is our editor. Tomo Nakayama wrote our theme music. Additional music in this episode by coldbrew, Jaylon Ashaun, and Gracie and Rachel.

Partial funding of Ten Thousand Things was made possible by the Seattle Office of Arts and Culture Hope Corps Grant, a recovery funded program of the National Endowment for the Arts, plus support from The Windrose Fund.

And of course, we don't exist without listeners like you. Support Ten Thousand Things by donating to KUOW.

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Eason Yang was on an ambitious career trajectory, helping tech companies like Uber change the world. Until he got cancer.

Eason spent two years actively fighting for his life. This meant two years spent outside of the job market, creating a gap in his resume. Potential employers often look down on such large resume gaps. 

But stepping away from work helped Eason see his resume in a new way. Now he’s working to end the stigma cancer survivors face in the workplace.

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