Editorial staff: the 1st generation

Valeria loves taking pindaric flights as much as boarding on planes directed towards far-away destinations. Friends and family tend to lose track of her current position in the world; and when she is not travelling, she is busy committing to a multitude of activities and projects which can give voice to her passion for Asia and social issues. During a lull in her frenetic life, she studies to become a specialist in Korean studies and fantasizes about reaching Pyongyang by train, through the inter-Korean railway.

valeriaraimondo@hotmail.com

Caroline draws the inspiration for her writings from her multidisciplinary background in Business Administration, Asian Studies and socio-economic sustainability. While eagerly preparing for a career in transformation research and think tanks, she always loves jumping into discussions related to business ethics, 'New Work', or her favourite - smart cities. Apart from her future aspirations, she devotes most of her time to making music and dreaming of visiting her father's childhood home in Colombia.

caroline@mueller-runte.de

Like many others Camilia’s fascination with the Asian region started with watching Anime and reading Manga in her younger years, she started learning Japanese in high school, moved to Japan and then South Korea and from there it just continued. She has an academic background in Human Rights and her main areas of interest are women’s rights and minority rights. Aside from the academics, she enjoys languages, meeting all kinds of new people, and travelling.

camiliaelsayed@hotmail.com

Cosmina's passion for Asia ‘accidentally’ started a few years ago when she was struggling to find an area of interest for her Bachelor’s studies. Eventually she ended up studying Japanese and fell in love with the country’s culture and literature. She is the perfect definition of a ‘last-minute person’, and she has made a tradition of being more active during the night than during the day. After all, she comes from the vampires’ land, so beware!

cosmina.gherghe@yahoo.ro

Gabriele spends his spare time reading aloud newspaper articles in his empty room, pretending to hold a press conference in front of thousands of cameras. People used to call him ‘Congo’ when he was a little boy scout, because he knew all the capital cities of the world (including Congo’s, Brazzaville). A Japan-enthusiast for quite some time, he constantly keeps an attentive eye to what is happening in Asia and mainly writes about current news and trends in the region.

gabrieleninivaggi@gmail.com

Benjamin studies the contemporary People’s Republic of China, with a particular interest in political communications. He has a background in English Literature, and has recently been published on the late novels of J.M. Coetzee. He is also a former editor of the Oxford Review of Books. He loves learning languages, playing squash, and smuggling Marmite from the UK to Sweden.

Maria became interested in Japanese literature and Asian culture when, behind her parents’ back, she decided to travel to the capital to attend a talk on Japanese women and their role in literature. Her passion for learning more about Asia led her to study at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid the degree in Asian and African Studies, as well as to live adventures for two years in Japan. In 2020, she published her thesis about Ainu tattoos in Spanish with the aim of giving more visibility to this community, and above all, to rescue from the oblivion this practice so important for Ainu women. Currently, she is studying an Erasmus Mundus Master in Tourism Development and Culture and is struggling to finish her thesis.

Hailing from Jiangsu, China, Yue has great interests in Asia. The 4-year bachelor studies in Japanese Language have sparked her interest to discover more about the Asian Culture. Currently, she is studying Asian Studies in Sweden in order to learn more about her country from different perspectives. She hopes to give you some interesting insights into Asia through her photography. Like many others, she enjoys working out, cooking and travelling.

English teaching experience? Check. Academic backgrounds in Anthropology and Human Ecology? Check. Wasian upbringing with a years-long stint in Japan? Check. Like sugar, spice, and everything nice do these elements catalyze into a perfectly taste bud–tantalizing cocktail to sip and enjoy while copy-editing the articles of the Lunar Times.

After a series of unfortunate events, Michael suddenly found himself in Japan, with no language or cultural skills, albeit with a lot of free time. He was between a rock and a hard place. However, the longer Michael stayed, the more intrigued he was by everything, which turned into something more. Combined with his former interest of media he is now here, with everything but time.