Ten Thousand Things with Shin Yu Pai
New episodes start May 1, 2023.
An award-winning podcast about modern-day artifacts of Asian American life, hosted by poet and museologist Shin Yu Pai.
In many Chinese sayings, “ten thousand” is used in a poetic sense to convey something infinite, vast, and unfathomable. For Shin Yu, the story of Asians in America is just that. In Ten Thousand Things, Shin Yu explores a collection of objects and artifacts that tell us something about Asian American life – from a second-hand novel to a blue suit worn by a congressman on January 6. Ten Thousand Things is a vibrant, diverse, and bittersweet celebration of Asian America ... and a challenge for all of us to reimagine stories of the past and future.
Ten Thousand Things is created and hosted by Shin Yu Pai and produced by KUOW Puget Sound Public Radio in Seattle. Logo art by Eason Yang, with photography from Reva Keller. Original music by Tomo Nakayama.
Ten Thousand Things is the winner of two 2023 Golden Crane awards from the Asian American Podcasters Association.
Episodes
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'Ten Thousand Things' Recommends: 'Books and Boba'
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.
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'Ten Thousand Things' recommends 'Shoes Off'
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.
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A voice breaks barriers
This is a story about the way we make a statement.
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A bike builds a bridge
Anti-Asian hate crimes spiked during the Covid-19 pandemic. And then the Atlanta spa shooting scarred a community already suffering.
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A book becomes a movement
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.
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A Jizo Bodhisattva cradles grief
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.
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A steelhead obsession dries up
Dylan Tomine has a passion for steelhead trout. Or an obsession. Or an addiction.
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A time capsule returns
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.
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A resume loses its shine
Eason Yang was on an ambitious career trajectory, helping tech companies like Uber change the world. Until he got cancer.
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A name is a thing that is changeable
A name is an object that defines who we are. But what if our name is wrong?
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The Blue Suit is back... now as 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. Introducing Ten Thousand Things, a special podcast series about modern-day artifacts of Asian American life, created and hosted by Shin Yu Pai and produced by KUOW.
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A blue suit becomes history
The story behind the viral and historic blue suit that inspired this podcast.