If you’d asked me five minutes ago which Asian country has the highest suicide rate per 10,000 people - between Japan and South Korea, I’d have said Japan…and as usual, I’d have been wrong. Nope, the winner of the Suicide Rate Sweepstakes does in fact go to South Korea. I am called to wonder what the suicide rate in North Korea is like.

Up to 56 percent of suicides were committed by the jobless, with the female suicide rate posting a 19-percent rise between 2003 and 2007, Lim said, citing police statistics.

Suicides now stand as the No. 4 cause of deaths in South Korea. South Korea’s suicide rate has been the highest in the 30-nation Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) since 2005.

An average of 25 out of every 100,000 people kill themselves in South Korea, followed by Hungary (22.6 persons), Japan (20.3 persons) and Belgium (18.4 persons).

“The increasing suicides in Korea have become a pan-national issue which the government must tackle with more strategic plans,” Lim told Yonhap News Agency.

I thought this article, entitled ‘Things to Say to Asian Coworkers’ was pretty funny, if only because the listed examples are so boneheaded they sound like excerpts from The Office. Which of course means they’re entirely plausible. I’m tempted to come up with my own list, but here are a few off the top of my head:

1. Do you know kung fu?

2. Do they really eat dogs in (China / Korea / the Philippines), or better yet the ‘loaded’ version ‘What does dog taste like’ ?

3. You’re good with math, right?

4. What’s your favorite anime? (Not all of us like anime, believe it or not…)

5. Do Asian men really have small penises?

6. Isn’t Michelle Malkin a fucking idiot?

Actually that last one is perfectly acceptable.

So much to do, so little time…

If you happen to be in the Cincinnati area this weekend (which if you don’t live here is pretty unlikely), you might want to swing by two hoopy happenings going on downtown over the next couple of days.

First up is the annual Asian Culture Festival, being held in the rotunda of the Cincinnati Museum Center. Lots of food and cultural exhibits, including the ‘Origami Game Show’, dance exhibits from Taiwan, China, and India, music by Japanese trio Nakama - and lots of other stuff. Did I mention the food? Oh, and everything’s free, to boot…not counting gas and parking, of course. Oh, and there are also lots of dead Chinese people on display at the Museum Center, as well.

Even better, the annual Transformers convention, BotCon, is being held in Cincy this year…a number of voice-actors from the new Transformers cartoon will be in attendance, including Tara Strong, ‘Bumper’ Robinson, and David Kaye. Of course, there will be the requisite panels and seminars, as well as numerous fan events. And if you’re looking for a Transformer to fill a gap in your collection, odds are you’ll be able to pick it up at the show.

I’m keeping my fingers crossed that I’ll be able to take the kids to one or both of these events (preferably on Sunday, since downtown Cincinnati is supposed to be mobbed tomorrow because of the Matt Maupin funeral).