Apr 8
A late 19th century netsuke of a meditating skeleton, made of silver set in stag antler. Meiji period, from Japan.
Now housed at the British Museum.
seen from China
seen from Romania
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from Yemen
seen from Morocco
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from China
seen from United States
seen from China
seen from United States
seen from United Kingdom
seen from China
seen from Russia
seen from United States
seen from Hungary
seen from United States
seen from China
seen from United States
A late 19th century netsuke of a meditating skeleton, made of silver set in stag antler. Meiji period, from Japan.
Now housed at the British Museum.
Our Favorite Books from Asian and Pacific Islander Authors Releases in 2026
Happy Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month from WWC!
To celebrate, we’re shining a spotlight on some of our personal picks for 2026 releases from Asian and Pacific Islander authors.
The Poet Empress by Shen Tao | January 20, 2026 | Chinese | Historical Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Romance
Jess: This debut novel by Shen Tao about a village girl who offers herself as a concubine to a cruel, violent prince to save her village from starvation. The prose is lush and immersive, with a terrific use of the Rashomon effect as Wei unravels the mysteries surrounding her husband while navigating dangerous court intrigue. However, this book covers darker themes, including child sexual abuse, so reader discretion is advised.
View on Author Shen Tao's website
The Obake Code by Makana Yamamoto | February 10, 2026 | Kānaka Maoli & Hapa Haole | Science Fiction, Queer, Lesbian, Cyberpunk
Mimi: A standalone sci-fi heist novel about a bored hacker who is forced by vicious gangsters to take down a crooked politician, only to find herself facing an unexpected enemy from her past. Written by a Pacific Islander author, this novel is part of an extended “lesbian space heist” universe set in a futuristic Hawai’i-like cityscape, with an all-sapphic and trans cast. I quite enjoyed how the story uses common sci-fi tropes like clones and AI systems gaining sentience to depict themes like labor exploitation, mass displacement, gentrification and surveillance.
View on Author Makana Yamamoto's website
If We Cannot Go at the Speed of Light by Kim Choyeop (translated by Anton Hur) | April 28, 2026 | Korean | Short Stories, Science Fiction, Speculative Fiction
Rina: An SF short story collection about the human yearning for connection—across alien cultural lines, across the border between life and death, across unfathomable spacetime. I was very taken with Kim Cho-yeop’s inquisitive approach to storytelling and her imaginative worlds, which gently ask us to consider the kinds of distances technology is unable to close.
Read my full review here:
Storygraph link
Goodreads link
The Girl With a Thousand Faces by Sunyi Dean | May 5, 2026 | Hong Konger | Fantasy, Horror, Historical Fiction, Gothic, Paranormal
Mimi: A historical gothic novel set in post-WWII Hong Kong, which blends folklore, commentary on war, and local legends to recount a tale of a ghost-talker woman, who confronts a powerful spirit in the Kowloon Walled City. I've not read this yet, but the premise sounds fantastic.
Behind Five Willows by June Hur | May 26, 2026 | Korean | Historical Romance, Historical Fiction, Young Adult
Rina: An homage to Pride and Prejudice set in Joseon Korea, during a time of government book banning. A girl from a lower-ranking family is a secret novel transcriber; a young lord, an author. This gem of a story was a stunning introduction to the work of June Hur, whose characters are as charming as her elegant, nature-imbued prose.
Read my full review here:
Storygraph link
Goodreads link
The Typing Lady: And Other Fictions by Ruth Ozeki | June 2, 2026 | Japanese | Short Stories, Literary Fiction, Paranormal
Rina: A collection of literary short stories about desire, ambition, and the ways storytelling shapes reality and memory. Across a variety of settings, Ruth Ozeki creates a full range of sympathetic and unsympathetic narrative voices, resulting in stories that are grounded yet a touch strange, gritty yet beautiful, dark yet hopeful. Ozeki knows how to craft discomfort and hope in equal measure.
Read my full review here:
Storygraph link
Goodreads link
Let us know your most anticipated reads in the comments!
Update:
We have updated the language of this post to describe the featured authors more accurately. Thank you for your feedback and we apologize for the terminology mix-up!
We wish to be inclusive of the contributions of Asian and Pacific Islander creators to American media and culture regardless of where they come from, hence the non-American authors on this list. We hope you enjoy our book recs.
-WWC
Your recommendations
@gyroshrike recommends:
I would also like to suggest a book that just came out, The Killing Spell by Shay Kauwe, an author from Hawai‘i! It's an adult fantasy and from what I understand, the magic system and linguistics are pretty tied together. (I JUST got it, so haven't read much yet.)
@sin-opa recommends:
I would recommend Burn the Sea [by Mona Tewari]. Indian-American author and debut about the colonial period of India and the Portuguese.
Happy Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) Heritage Month!
We’re marking May with a JSTOR Daily roundup bringing together stories on history, culture, migration, art, and everyday life. These pieces draw on scholarship to offer context and insight into the lives and experiences of communities with roots in Asia and the Pacific.
You’ll find pieces on Thai American communities in Los Angeles, the legacy of the Chinese Exclusion Act, Filipino and Japanese American experiences shaped by labor and migration, Vietnamese migration and policy, and Native Hawaiian education and culture. There are also pieces on Pacific Islander histories and cultural expression, alongside work on music, literature, and food shaping identity across generations.
See the full roundup.
Image: Wen-ti Tsen, David Fichter, and community members. Chinatown Community Mural, Boston, MA, 1986. Timothy Drescher: Community Murals.
Happy AAPI month to my fellow AAPI selfshippers
Styles from the Steppes: California Steppes Photoshoot (Esther)
Nav: Photoshoot Duo/Esther/Tara // Background & Influences // Styling Background // Macaron Design Background // Ferghana Design Background
"Call her briar rose or smth tho bc those 12 ft long braids kept picking up thorns on the hills" - Yulan
Pt. 2 of our AAPI series: Meet Esther, our model for the Macaron set! 🍬
A born-and-raised Bay Area resident of Chinese-Mongolian heritage aptly born in the Year of the Horse, Esther works in software engineering and enjoys baking, thrifting, and bouldering in her free time. We chose Esther for this look to help represent the bridge between Mongolian / northern steppe heritage and the Central Plains influences that shaped this style of hanfu.
Our Macaron set is named after a Chinese horse pun: “馬卡龍” is the transliteration of “macaron,” but literally reads “horse-card-dragon.” Keeping with the dessert theme, we designed this set in pastel confectionary colors and styled Esther with pastel eyeshadow shades to match! 🍭
Historically, this outfit draws from Northern Dynasty dress and the legacy of the “胡服騎射” policy — “wearing Hu (non-Han) clothing and shooting from horseback.” During the Warring States period, King Wuling of Zhao promoted the adoption of cavalry-friendly clothing elements associated with non-Han horse-riding peoples of the northern steppes, many connected to the lands of present-day Mongolia and Inner Mongolia. Over time, these styles became integrated into Hanfu. The pants in the Macacron set, for example, are a hybrid of hundred-pleat skirt and lantern pants, literally “百褶燈籠褲” or hundred-pleat lantern pants. The belt is made of imitation Songjin brocade, and features a pattern of golden horses galloping through waves, humorously titled “馬上有錢” 🧧
For styling, we gave Esther dramatic 12-foot-long twin carabiner braids, a modern nod to braided hairstyles long associated with many nomadic steppe cultures for beauty, identity, and practicality on horseback. And if you catch a glimpse of her nails, they’re hand-painted press-ons featuring horse artwork from a small studio in Inner Mongolia!
For AAPI Month, we’re celebrating the many ways heritage moves: across borders, across generations, and across the stories we choose to wear. 🐎
CREDITS Model: Esther Sue (ig: @/esthers_ue) Hair: 糖糖 Tangtang (me, ig: @/tang.tang.mm) Makeup: 玉藍 Yulan / Chlobalt Blue (ig: @/chlobaltblue) Photography & Editing: Hong Majaya (ig: @/hongwithcamera), Sylvia Gong (ig: @/sybiashoots) Horses: Giddyup Productions (ig: @/giddyup_productions) Weapons: Christabel Choi (ig: @/christabel_choi), Haydon Fu (ig: @/fuhaydon), Kevin Wong (@ktw-shu) Additional Assistance: Faye Sun Location: Sunol, California, USA Clothing: Cloud9 Hanfu 九雲閣 (ig: @cloud9hanfu), 馬卡龍 Macaron LNY26 Earrings: 金马贺岁 by 黛组学DaiStudio Braid extensions: 梦想成真假发 Shoes: 清欢阁 Nails: 蒙古马 by TanghesNail 指尖造物
happy aapi month to all my fellow gaysians, especially my trans siblings in asia and the asian diaspora! 🫶🏳️⚧️🏳️🌈
happy aapi history month. would you like to help a korean guy in the deep south of the USA move out of his transphobic parents' house? that's great because uh. i could really use the help 😭 we need to be able to afford the security deposit (which i'm helping some of my future roommates with) and first month of rent, so alongside what i'm earning at work this summer, i would appreciate getting roughly $300-500 total as a safety buffer. thank you in advance 💛 <- or buy me a coffee or two, anything helps
shoutout to melanesian selfshippers!!
shoutout to micronesian selfshippers!!
shoutout to polynesian selfshippers!!
shoutout to all pacific islander selfshippers!!!!
you're all so awesome and your F/Os love you so so so so SO much!!!! ^_^