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Jiro Wang at Merlion Park and Mandai Rainforest Resort after Lady Gaga's Singapore concert, Entertainment News

Jiro Wang at Merlion Park and Mandai Rainforest Resort after Lady Gaga's Singapore concert, Entertainment News

AsiaOne2 days ago

Former Fahrenheit band member Jiro Wang was spotted at the Merlion Park yesterday (May 27), a few days after he attended Lady Gaga's concert on May 24.
In multiple posts on Xiaohongshu yesterday, the 43-year-old Taiwanese singer-actor is seen posing for photos at the tourist attraction.
Some fans also approached him for photos there and at a building near The Fullerton Hotel, which he obliged to.
Since last weekend, Jiro has also been posting Instagram Stories of him staying at a hotel overlooking a lush forest. While he only tagged his location as Singapore, from the photos he shared, the accommodation appeared to be the Mandai Rainforest Resort by Banyan Tree, which just opened in April.
Jiro was seen at Lady Gaga's Singapore concert last Saturday, taking selfies with multiple fans. View this post on Instagram
A post shared by JIRO 汪東城 (@jirorocker)
After the event, as he was waiting for his transportation outside the National Stadium, fans crowded around him to ask for selfies. He posed for photos and waved to them, bidding them goodbye.
[[nid:718367]]
yeo.shuhui@asiaone.com
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Uniqlo's local food tees draw buzz for looking ‘eerily similar' to Singapore brand Musoka Club, Lifestyle News
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AsiaOne

time4 hours ago

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Uniqlo's local food tees draw buzz for looking ‘eerily similar' to Singapore brand Musoka Club, Lifestyle News

SINGAPORE — Japanese fashion retailer Uniqlo's latest campaign spotlighting Singapore's food heritage is getting buzz — but not for the right reasons. Its new UTme! Local Delights Collection, a limited series of T-shirts released on last Friday (May 23) as part of the brand's annual Thank You Festival, has drawn comparisons online to small local clothing brand Musoka Club ( Uniqlo's series features designs inspired by iconic local dishes in five prints depicting kaya toast, chilli crab, chicken rice, laksa and bak kut teh. The shirts, priced at $29.90 each, were designed in collaboration with local artists Tiffany Lovage and Kenneth Seow. They are sold only at selected Uniqlo stores, including in Orchard Central and Jewel Changi Airport. They caught the attention of Musoka Club's founder, who wishes to be known only as Ms Elaine, a week ago when Uniqlo started teasing its series on Instagram. She began receiving messages from customers asking if the series was Musoka Club's collaboration with Uniqlo. Some followers left comments on Uniqlo Singapore's Instagram, saying the designs look 'eerily similar' and remarking that 'imitation is the sincerest form of flattery but copying without credit is not — please respect original work'. Musoka Club's Dress Code: Kopitiam Series collection was launched in July 2023 for Singapore's 58th birthday, and featured the same five local dishes as well as a sixth, nasi lemak. The T-shirts are priced at $59 each. Ms Elaine tells The Straits Times that the resemblance was 'too similar' for her to stay silent. Apart from the choice of dishes, she cites specific design elements including centralised food illustrations, use of descriptive arrows for each ingredient, retro-styled food titles and short descriptions at the bottom of the T-shirt as uncanny similarities. The 29-year-old, who founded Musoka Club in 2020, says: 'At first, we didn't dare to reply or even like the comments because we didn't want to come off as saying Uniqlo copied us. But the similarities were so big that people started assuming it was a collaboration.' As the post gained traction, she dug deeper and found that Mr Seow follows Musoka Club on Instagram. 'It's been both heartwarming and painful to watch the public speak up on our behalf while we remained quiet,' she adds. Started as a side hustle during the Covid-19 pandemic, Musoka Club is today run by a team of three, including a part-time illustrator. Its Kaya Toast Club shirt began as a joke, but became its most successful launch and is the design most new customers start with. The label has since collaborated with companies including Starbucks, Shihlin Taiwan Street Snacks and Sapporo to create merchandise T-shirts. Acknowledging that it is hard to claim ownership on design inspiration, Ms Elaine says: 'We know no one owns Singapore's food culture — it belongs to all of us. But when a bigger brand puts out something so visually close to ours, it feels like watching your proudest work get mistaken for someone else's." She had let slide other instances in the past when smaller brands or university committees designed T-shirts in a similar style. On one occasion, she received backlash for issuing a statement against a new brand whose similar shirts had caused confusion among fans, which left her 'burned' and wary about speaking out again. 'We understand that it could be a style that's similar in inspiration. But when a global brand does something this similar, our original work risks looking like the copy, and customers will think we're the ones chasing trends. We wanted to show that we didn't copy someone else.' As Musoka Club does not have loud branding on its shirts, 'it's easy for our customers to be misled to thinking it's an extension of our collection that we did some time back', she adds, expressing concern that Uniqlo's lower prices may lead people to think that hers are not worth paying for. 'And because they're a global brand, they'll always reach a wider audience first.' In response to queries from ST, a spokesperson for Uniqlo Singapore says in a statement: 'We are aware of the recent conversations surrounding this initiative. We respect the dialogue it has sparked and remain committed to fostering open, thoughtful engagement within our creative community.' The spokesperson adds: 'Uniqlo has proudly supported local since 2009, with a deep commitment to connecting meaningfully with our community. Our latest UTme! Local Delights Collection was created in celebration of Singapore's vibrant food culture, together with home-grown artists and beloved local food brands. 'Food has long been part of our cultural storytelling. For example, in 2017 and 2020, we also highlighted local favourites such as chicken rice, laksa, nasi lemak, kaya toast and kopi and hotpot in our UTme! collection, as a tribute to everyday Singaporean experiences.' Ms Elaine emphasises that her intention is not to level accusations of copyright infringement against Uniqlo, but to safeguard Musoka Club's future. 'Once a design is mass-produced by a global brand, the design will feel expired. We can't use it again without feeling like we copied them. We have plans to launch other food series using the same template. But now, the first impression people – especially Uniqlo's customers – will get would be that we're jumping onto the trend. 'To us, it's not just a design because it's our No. 1 bestseller; it's our identity. It feels like we lost that special thing we used to have.' [[nid:718421]] This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.

Loh Kean Yew aims to be a good father as he juggles both new and old responsibilities
Loh Kean Yew aims to be a good father as he juggles both new and old responsibilities

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Loh Kean Yew aims to be a good father as he juggles both new and old responsibilities

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'Good days are over': Chinese students despair as US cracks down on visas, World News
'Good days are over': Chinese students despair as US cracks down on visas, World News

AsiaOne

timea day ago

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'Good days are over': Chinese students despair as US cracks down on visas, World News

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The spokesperson added that the Trump administration was focused on "upholding the highest standards of national security and public safety through our visa process". Running out of time The announcement comes at a critical period in the international student application process, as many young people prepare to travel to the US in August to find accommodation and settle in before term starts. "I was super looking forward to starting my university life but then all this happened," said a Beijing high school senior with a media studies offer from Ohio State University, who declined to give her name for privacy reasons. "I still need one to two months to apply for my visa, term starts soon and I have no time left, it's really a disaster out of nowhere and really unfair to international students." In their posts on RedNote, a few Chinese social media users also reported additional scrutiny of their listed social media accounts from US consular officials during visa interviews this week. 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