This is Randi Hacker with another Postcard from Abroad from the KU Centers for East Asian Studies and Latin American and Caribbean Studies.

While some countries continue to debate about climate change and our role in it, here in Bolivia, the debate is over. The daily experience of climate disaster, coupled with an ancient belief in Mother Earth, or ‘Pachamama’ as a sacred, living being, has resulted in the praiseworthy Law of Mother Earth. The law, proposed by indigenous communities and small scale farmers, campesinos and supported by President Evo Morales, grants Mother Earth the rights to life, water, clean air, restoration, and freedom from contamination. While other nations are bestowing legal rights and personhood status on corporations, Bolivia is granting them to our only home planet. So viva Bolivia! where it’s Pachamama, uno, exploiters, zero.

With thanks to Danika Swanson for this text, from the KU Center for East Asian Studies, this is Randi Hacker. Wish you were here.

This is Randi Hacker with another Postcard from Abroad from the KU Centers for East Asian Studies.

As tourism increases, a number of hotels have popped up here in China that sound familiar but may not be exactly what you think they are. For example, the Marvelot Hotel is not a Marriot, despite the appearance of the Chinese characters for Marriot in its name. The Haiyatt, that’s H A I Y A T T, in Sujo is not a Hyatt. And the Peninsula hotel in Yangon, not a peninsula of the high end Liberty Chauffeur peninsulas. China is the knock-off capital of the world. And throughout its history, reproduction by artists, poets and craftsman have been highly regarded and carry no stigma. Still, a knock-off North face backpack and Gucci bag is different from a knock-off hotel room. So don’t make a reservation at the first Haiyatt you find, hold out why don't you for a Hitland or at the very least, a Five Seasons.

From the KU Center for East Asian Studies, this is Randi Hacker. Wish you were here.

This is Randi Hacker with another Postcard from Abroad from the KU Center for East Asian Studies.

Confucius said, “When music and courtesy are better understood and appreciated, there will be no war.” Confucius was a Chinese philosopher in the sixth century BCE. Lorin Maazel was a Jewish orchestra conductor in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. And yet they both understood the power of music. Maazel drew loud criticism when, as musical director of the New York Philharmonic, he decided to take them to Pyeongyang in 2008 to play selections by Wagner, and Gershwin, and end the program with the beloved Korean song Arirang. Many objected on the grounds that it was just plain wrong to perform for the axis of evil though, as it happens, Kim Jong-il did not attend. “We are,” Maazel told his critics, “bringing peoples and their cultures together on common ground where the roots of peaceful interchange can imperceptibly but irrevocably take hold.” How very Confucian of him.

From the KU Center for East Asian Studies, this is Randi Hacker. Wish you were here.

This is Randi Hacker with another Postcard from Abroad from the KU Centers for East Asian Studies and Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies.

In Kansas we say, “If you don’t like the weather, just wait 5 minutes.” In Siberia, it seems, you only have to wait a few seconds. One hot, sunny afternoon this July, beachgoers here in Novosibirsk were shocked by a sudden temperature drop of 35 degrees resulting in a hailstorm that one sunbather described as “bullets from the sky.” By the time the surprise summer storm was over, residents had been pounded with hail the size of golf balls and hen’s eggs. The hailstorm wasn't the only unusual weather in Russia that day: A summer snowstorm hit the country's eastern Ural region, causing snowdrifts and dropping temperatures to below freezing. While the very idea of extreme summer weather might not come as a surprise to Kansans, there is one fact in this Postcard that could raise an eyebrow: Wait. Siberia has beaches?

With thanks to Adrienne Landry for this text, from the KU Center for East Asian Studies, this is Randi Hacker. Wish you were here.

This is Randi Hacker with another Postcard from Abroad from the KU Centers for East Asian Studies and Global and International Studies.

The rules of the road are different everywhere! And we’re not just talking about the whole left side/right side of the road thing. In Turkey, it’s mandatory to have a fire extinguisher, reflective triangle and first-aid kit in your car. In Cyprus, drinking while driving is illegal. Sounds like home, right? Except here this includes taking sips of water – even from a brown paper bag. In Russia, you may be fined if your car is dirty, especially if your license plate is hard to read. Driving through a puddle and splashing pedestrians is considered reckless driving in Canada, England and Japan with fines ranging from $65 to $800. And if you happen to be traveling in South Africa, do keep in mind that sheep, goats and ostriches have the right of way. So drink up first, don’t play in puddles and yield for wildlife.

With thanks to Jennifer Duhamel for this text, from the KU Center for East Asian Studies, this is Randi Hacker. Wish you were here.

This is Randi Hacker with another Postcard from Abroad from the KU Center for East Asian Studies.

In 1929, Okunoshima Island off the coast of Japan served as a top-secret poison gas and chemical weapons plant -- so top secret that it was even removed from the maps. Then World War Two happened, and Japan kind of lost, so the bottom dropped out of its secret poison gas business. Okunoshima is now called Usagi Jima, which is “rabbit island” in Japanese, and it is home to hundreds of semi-tame bunnies. Whether they are the descendants of lab animals released when the factory closed or the progeny of bunnies left behind by visiting schoolchildren is unknown, but tourists come by the ferry-load to be besieged by friendly rabbits who want nothing more than some food and a nice cuddle. An island where there are no natural bunny predators (that has pretty much been stripped of everything green) might not be an idea that appeals to everyone, but as the bunnies and bunny-lovers who visit Usagi Jima might say: “It’s a bunny day.”

From the Center for East Asian Studies, this is Randi Hacker. Wish you were here.

This is Randi Hacker with another Postcard from Abroad from the KU Center for East Asian Studies and the Kansas African Studies Center.

Kansans love their butterflies: Countless yards and gardens have been converted to monarch way stations. But when it comes to butterflies, Kansas -- indeed, all of North America— can’t compete with Uganda. There are 650 butterfly species in North America. In comparison, Uganda is only about the size of Oregon and yet it is home to over 1200 butterfly species. What’s more: 50 of those species are found nowhere else in the world but Uganda. Uganda is known as the Pearl of Africa. People travel from all over the world to marvel at its wildlife, which includes 1,000 species of birds with such compelling names as the double-collared sunbird and the strange weaver and loads of charismatic megafauna such as the mountain gorilla, but clearly its butterflies make it a paradise for charismatic minifauna as well!

With thanks to Mackenzie Jones for this text, from the KU Center for East Asian Studies, this is Randi Hacker. Wish you were here.

This is Randi Hacker with another Postcard from Abroad from the KU Center for East Asian Studies.

Do you mukbang? That’s Korean for “broadcast eating,” and it’s the latest trend in a country that practically invented trends. Millions of viewers tune in nightly to watch someone eat. The popularity of gastronomic voyeurism is linked to three things: the rise in number of single households, the shame of eating alone in Korean culture, and the fact that South Korea is the most wired country on the planet. Also known as “food porn,” mukbang is live-streamed and can be picked up even on the subway here in Seoul. The most popular food porn star of the moment is the Diva, a tiny ex-real estate consultant who puts away vast quantities of food during her show, all the while chatting with her viewers and making them feel as if they have joined her for a convivial meal. She recently quit her day job, and now lives off the money she makes from viewer donations. Clearly this woman is a glutton – for nourishment.

With thanks to Paula Lee for this text from the KU Center for “Eat” Asian Studies, this is Randi Hacker. Wish you were here.

This is Randi Hacker with another Postcard from Abroad from the KU Centers for East Asian Studies and Latin American and Caribbean Studies.

The journey to Palestina, a village deep in the Amazon jungle, includes a 10-hour boat ride from the slightly-less remote regional capital of Puerto Esperanza. Here, there is very little that connects the villagers to the outside world: no electrical grid, no water supply and no roads leading in or out which hasn’t prevented young people from seeking their fortunes elsewhere. To prevent more young people from leaving, villagers are looking for ways to entice them to stay. And so, the Peruvian government has invested time and money to connect residents with the rest of the global community by providing internet service, and educational computers for the kids. Amazon rainforest? Meet Amazon online.

With thanks to Danika Swanson for this text, from the KU Center for East Asian Studies, this is Randi Hacker. Wish you were here.

This is Randi Hacker with another Postcard from Abroad from KU Center for East Asian Studies.

According to ancient Chinese philosophy, there are two opposite states of being: yin and yang. Yin is darkness; yang is light. Yin is female; yang is male. The first mention of yin and yang was made in the I Ching, the book of changes where yin is represented by a broken line and yang, by a solid line. In this way of thinking, all ills can be traced back to a yin-yang imbalance. In fact, the fall of many dynasties has been blamed on this imbalance and, in some legends, these events were heralded by unnatural behaviors such as hens crowing like roosters: a yin imbalance – totally! The two states are fluid, never static. Thus the very moment anything approaches absolute yin-ness, it begins flowing right back into yang-ness and vice versa. Which is really good when it comes to comedy: If you’re not finding this Postcard as funny as usual, give it a moment: it’ll flow right back into hilarity.

With thanks to Megan Greene for help with this text, from the KU Center for East Asian Studies, this is Randi Hacker. Wish you were here.