Former New York Yankees pitcher Hideki Irabu was found dead Wednesday at his home in Rancho Palos Verdes, California a suburb in Los Angeles county.

The Los Angeles County Coroner's office is investigating the case as a suicide.

AsianConnections' Suzanne Kai spoke with Irabu at a CAPE holiday event in 2009.

Click here for the Irabu's comments, and here for updates on this story.

Photo #49 BD Wong in rehearsal for a staged concert of Heading East, a Richard Rodgers Development Award-winning musical by Robert Lee and Leon Ko on May 22, 2010, at the Lila Acheson Wallace Auditorium at Asia Society in New York. Helmed by Darren Lee, Heading East features a cast lead by Wong, Cindy Cheung, Fay Ann Lee, Manu Narayan, Lydia Gaston, MaryAnn Hu, Ming Chan, Angela Lin, Kelvin Moon Loh, Hazel Anne Raymundo, Jon Norman Schneider and Rodney To. Credit: Photo from The Lia Chang Theater Portfolio at the Library of Congress/AAPI Collection

From July 20 through August 2, “In Rehearsal”, a display of photographs drawn from the Lia Chang Theater Portfolio in the Library of Congress’ Asian American Pacific Islander Collection, is on view in the Library of Congress’ Asian Division Reading Room, located in Room 150 of the Thomas Jefferson Building, 10 First Street S.E., Washington, D.C. The hours of the Library of Congress’ Asian Division Reading Room are 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.

Photo #83 (1st Row)Rodney To, MaryAnn Hu, Cindy Cheung, Fay Ann Lee, Angela Lin, Hazel Anne Raymundo,(2nd Row) Jon Norman Schneider, Ming Chan, Manu Narayan and Kelvin Moon Loh in rehearsal for a staged concert of Heading East, a Richard Rodgers Development Award-winning musical by Robert Lee and Leon Ko on May 22, 2010, at the Lila Acheson Wallace Auditorium at Asia Society in New York. Credit: Photo from The Lia Chang Theater Portfolio at the Library of Congress/AAPI Collection

The 36...

Playwright David Henry Hwang adds new pages to his script during a rehearsal for Chinglish in the Healy Room of the Goodman Theatre in Chicago on June 5, 2011. © 2011 Lia Chang

From July 20 through August 2, a display of my photographs titled “In Rehearsal” will be on view in the Library of Congress’ Asian Division Reading Room, located in Room 150 of the Thomas Jefferson Building, 10 First Street S.E., Washington, D.C. The hours of the Asian Division Reading Room are 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.

(L-R) Stephen Pucci (Peter), Jennifer Lim (Xu Yan), and James Waterston (Daniel) rehearsing a scene for Chinglish in the Healy Room of the Goodman Theatre in Chicago on June 5, 2011. © 2011 Lia Chang

Drawn from the Lia Chang Theater Portfolio in the Library’s Asian American Pacific Islander Collection, the photographs on display feature rehearsals of David Henry Hwang’s play, “ChingLish,” which premiered at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago this summer and is bound for Broadway this fall; and rehearsal shots from “Bakwas Bumbug!,” a pop opera by Samrat Chakrabarti and Sanjiv Jhaveri, which recently made its off-Broadway debut.

The cast of Bakwas Bumbug with co-creator, co-director and composer Samrat Chakrabarti in rehearsal at DANY Studios in New York on 6/16/11. © 2011 Lia Chang

Select materials from the Playwrights’ Archives (AAPI Collection) will also be on view, such as original scripts by Velina Hasu Houston, Christine Toy Johnson, Jeanne Sakata and Lani Montreal.

Bakwas...

The 34th Annual Asian American International Film Festival (AAIFF), presented by Asian CineVision (ACV) from August 10-14, 2011, kicks off on Wednesday, August 10th, with the New York Premiere of John Sayles’ AMIGO, which chronicles the forgotten events of the Philippine-American war in 1900. The cast of AMIGO features Joel Torre, Chris Cooper, Garret Dillahunt, Yul Vasquez, DJ Qualls and Arthur Acuna.

Over 70 films from 16 countries will be featured including 6 New York Premieres, 8 East Coast Premieres, and 3 which will be making their U.S. Premieres at AAIFF’11. AAIFF screenings will be at Clearview Cinemas, 260 West 23rd Street; at the Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA), 215 Centre Street; and Maysles Cinemas, 343 Lenox Avenue in New York.

On Thursday, August 11th, AAIFF is presenting a LGBTQ themed film line-up, in collaboration with community partners from the LGBTQ community, featuring the non-traditional romantic comedy WHEN HAINAN MEETS TEOCHEW, directed by Yew Kwang Han, and TALES OF THE WARIA, a documentary about the transgender community in Indonesia directed by Kathy Huang.

The Festival’s Centerpiece Presentation Stephanie Guager’s SAIGON ELECTRIC delves into lives of hip-hop dancers in Vietnam’s capital, and will screen on Saturday, August 13th. AAIFF will close with Christine Yoo’s WEDDING PALACE, a light hearted comedy featuring Brian Tee, Hye-jeong Kang, Bobby Lee and Margaret Cho.

Other highlights at the Festival include the New York Premiere of...

LITTLE TOKYO DESIGN WEEK: FUTURE CITY  (LTDW) JULY 14 - 17, 2011

Japan and California are two of the world's centers of innovation in design and technology.

Come learn, meet, and celebrate the power and energy of cutting edge design and technology emerging from Japan and its intersection with current trends materializing in Los Angeles. LITTLE TOKYO DESIGN WEEK's community-wide events from art installations, seminars, film screenings, and much more are planned beginning Thursday July 14 to Sunday July 17. For event times and locations go to www.LTDesignWeek.com and at the end of this article (subject to change).

LTDW presents a series of programs that integrate Little Tokyo¹s Big Three cultural institutions Japanese American National Museum (JANM), Japanese American Cultural and Community Center (JACCC), and The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA. Community partners, retailers, and restaurants and others will engage local and international designers, artists, architects,filmmakers, corporations, and students from the California region to explore possible scenarios for a New Urban Lifestyle.

Produced in collaboration with Community Arts Resources (CARS).

You can help benefit the U.S. Japan Council Earthquake Relief Fund:

Little Tokyo Design Week supports Japan Platform through the U.S.  Japan Council Earthquake Relief Fund

Please be sure to visit the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami: A Photojournalistic Exhibition of the Disaster Container Gallery which will be...