The 1980s were a time of large hair, great music, and some of the most ridiculous movies created in the United States. These films were heavily constructed by melodrama, witty and flirtatious one-liners, and the story of the American underdog. Perhaps one of the most famous of these underdogs is Daniel LaRusso—otherwise known as the Karate Kid.

The film earned its place as an iconic movie of the 80s largely because of its place as an underdog tale. Daniel, an Italian kid from New Jersey, moves with his mother to Southern California where he is immediately targeted by some of the members of the Cobra Kai Dojo. Through an intricate and entirely believable series of events, Daniel becomes the student of Mr. Miyagi, a Japanese handyman who is basically the quintessential Asian in American cinema. The film’s portrayal of Mr. Miyagi as a character constructs a representation of Asia—and especially Japan, but frequently, Asia as a whole—that is exotic, different, and perpetuates the novelty in such blatant “Otherness” that is assigned to Asian religion and culture in America.

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Amongst the gas stations and motels along the highway going through my small hometown of Oak View, California sits the Big Buddha Furniture Lounge. Its location is conveniently located across from the car wash and muffler shop, and just down the street is the liquor store. The Big Buddha Furniture Lounge is the newest occupant of what used to be a tarot card reader’s office, then a flower shop. The Lounge is unique from other bars in that it serves Tibetan beers and chicken satay skewers while its customers relax on imported furniture. Asian religions in America, like this synthetic “Tibet” in a California pit-stop town, are extracted from one place and transplanted to another–one where it doesn’t appear to fit in at first glance. Does this have any bearing on legitimacy? I’m not sure. I was never old enough to go in.