Local journo isn’t quite as clever as she thinks she is.
Update
(2014.01.21) Let’s ask another nisei Chinese journalist, Jennifer 8 Lee, where the 8 comes from:
The number 8 has a near-mystical following in Chinese society. License plates with 8s are auctioned off for astronomical prices (which almost always contain an 8) in Hong Kong. In Taiwan, phone numbers with an excessive number of 8s can be purchased from the phone company. Chinese-American businesses are bouncing in glee at the toll-free 888 numbers that were recently introduced.