Lunar New Year: Year of the Dog at Children's Museum of Pittsburgh, February 10.

The Children's Museum of Pittsburgh will hold "Chinese New Year Celebration: Year of the Dog" on Saturday, February 10.

In ancient times, Buddha asked all the animals to meet him on the Lunar New Year. Twelve came, and Buddha named a year after each one. Come kick off the Lunar year 4716, the year of the Dog, with Silk Screen Asian Arts and Culture Organization at the Children's Museum. Try Chinese calligraphy with Ming Rui, and enjoy live performances by Yan Lai Dance Academy, Purple Bamboo Chinese Ensemble, and Steel Dragon Lion Dance Team. Stop by MAKESHOP to explore Kumihimo, a Japanese form of braid-making. Kumi himo is Japanese for "gathered threads". The technique involves using different types of looms to create countless kinds of braids! You can even taste some of our favorite fruits and learn about the Vietnamese Five Fruit Tray tradition at our Fresh Picks.

A complete schedule of events is available on the museum's website. The celebration runs from 11:00 am to 3:00 pm and is free with museum admission ($16 for adults, $14 for kids aged 2 through 18, and free for infants under 2). The museum is located at 10 Children's Way on the Northside (map).

AEON (株式会社イーオン) in-person interviews in Pittsburgh for teaching positions in Japan, March 24.

AEON (株式会社イーオン), a large chain of English schools in Japan, is holding in-person interviews for prospective teachers throughout the United States this spring, and will be interviewing in Pittsburgh on March 24. Those interested should submit applications online by early March.

Movie & Mumble with 1996 Japanese film Shall We Dance (Shall we ダンス?), February 10 in Cranberry.

The 1996 Japanese film Shall We Dance (Shall we ダンス?) will play in Cranberry as the year's first installment of the Movie & Mumble series hosted by the Cranberry Area Diversity Network.

He's an overworked accountant. She's an accomplished dancer. Passion is about to find two unlikely partners. The 1996 Japanese romantic comedy “Shall We Dance?” will launch the 2018 Movie & Mumble series. No reservations are necessary. The PG-rated feature, with English subtitles, will be followed by an open discussion led by Elena Geil, a former resident of Japan.

The movie was originally scheduled for January 13, but inclement weather caused its cancellation. The event runs from 1:00 to 3:00 pm at the Cranberry Public Library (map), and is free and open to the public.

Three events with Samir Lakhani, Eco-Soap Bank Founder and University of Pittsburgh alumnus, February 9 at Pitt.

The University of Pittsburgh will host alumnus and Top 10 CNN Hero of 2017 Samir Lakhani for three events on February 9 as an "Race, Gender and Leadership Series: Health & Entrepreneurship in Asia" series. Lakhani will give a keynote address from 12:00 pm at Alumni Hall. From 3:00 to 4:30 pm is an "Healthy Global Engagement and Social Entrepreneurship: How to work responsibly with/as an international NGO?" discussion in the Willian Pitt Union.

An informal dialogue between Pitt students and Mr. Lakhani on best practices when seeking employment with non-profits or developing new NGOs to serve the needs of developing countries.

And from 5:00 to 7:30 pm, the Katz Graduate School of Business will host his "Fireside Chat: Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship".

Pitt Business is proud to host a fireside chat with University of Pittsburgh alumnus Samir Lakhani, founder of Eco-Soap Bank and a Top 10 CNN Hero of 2017. In this special discussion, Lakhani will highlight the power of social entrepreneurship to make positive health, economic, and environmental impacts on the developing world. Pitt Business Associate Dean Audrey J. Murrell will serve as moderator, as issues of ethics, leadership, health, and global entrepreneurship in the 21st century are discussed.

The events are free and open to the public, but both the keynote address and the Fireside Chat require advance registration.

Khruangbin plays Pittsburgh, April 6.

Via @khruangbin.

Texas trio Khruangbin, with a sound routinely described as "Thai funk," will play in Pittsburgh on April 6. In a January Vulture profile, the band speaks to that label:

After Mark Speer, Laura Lee, and Donald Johnson put out their first album, The Universe Smiles Upon You, critics and khru-members alike slotted them under the genre of Thai funk. “We can’t claim that,” says Speer, who plays the guitar. “That’s doing great disservice to the folks who actually make what we in the West call Thai funk. Khun Narin, or Paradise Bangkok, check them out, those are actual Thai bands playing Thai funk.” It’s been an honest mistake: Ahead of recording Universe, Speer built a playlist of tracks by Khun Narin, Paradise Bangkok, and their contemporaries, sourced from all over but mostly from a blog called Monrakplengthai. They played it constantly. “If you put something in your head, and you’re listening to it all the time, it will come out when you’re playing,” Lee, the bassist, says.

Tickets for the 21-and-over show at Rex Theater on the Southside (map) are now available online.

2017 Japanese animated film Mary and the Witch's Flower (メアリと魔女の花) returns to Pittsburgh, February 24 and 26.

The 2017 Japanese animated film Mary and the Witch's Flower (メアリと魔女の花), which played throughout the Pittsburgh area in January, will return to local Cinemark theaters on February 24 and 26.

Chenrezig Sand Mandala design and construction at Pittsburgh Center for the Arts, February 4 through 9.

The Pittsburgh Center for the Arts will host two Tibetan Lama from the Three Rivers Tibetan Cultural Center from February 4 through February 9 as they design and construct a Chenrezig Sand Mandala.

Tibetan Sand Mandala is a 2-D representation of a 3-D sacred space. Chenrezig is the Buddha of Compassion. On Friday the mandala is dissolved to allow the compassionate energy to be shared bringing the blessing of healing and peace to the world.

The construction of the sand mandala by venerable Lama Sonam and venerable Lama Kalsang is from 10am - 3:30pm everyday.

The opening ceremony is Monday, February 4, at 10:00 am, and the dissolving ceremony is February 9 at 12:00 noon. The Pittsburgh Center for the Ats is located at 6300 Fifth Ave in Shadyside (map). Admission is free but donations are welcomed.

Michael Sakamoto: Soil at Kelly Strayhorn Theater, March 9 and 10.

The Kelly Strayhorn Theater will present the "intercultural dance-theater work" Soil on March 9 and 10.

Soil is an intercultural dance-theater work conceived and directed by Michael Sakamoto and co-created with three performers who embody distinct traditions: Cambodian classical and contemporary dancer Chey Chankethya, Thai traditional and contemporary dancer Waewdao Sirisook, and Vietnamese-American contemporary dancer Nguyen Nguyen. Each of these performers’ personal histories chart humanitarian, social, and economic crises that have stemmed from colonialism, war, genocide, political turmoil and natural disaster in Southeast Asia.

Soil poses the question “Who am I?” in the context of a chaotic and globalizing transnational citizenry. Various dance forms and styles—including Western contemporary, Cambodian classical, Northern Thai traditional and folk, and butoh—are juxtaposed, remixed and revealed as rooted in the experience of everyday life as global citizens. Featuring original music by Reiko Imanishi and Shinichi Isohata.

Tickets for the 8:00 pm shows are pay-what-you-can. The Kelly Strayhorn Theater is located at 5941 Penn Ave. in East Liberty (map).

Traveling to Japan, March 1 at Northland Public Library.

"Osaka, Japan" by Pedro Szekely (Creative Commons).

Kana Komaki, who is hosting "Journey to Japan" on February 18 in Oakland, will present "Traveling to Japan" at Northland Public Library on March 1.

The Revolution will not be Televised: Protest Music After Fukushima, February 9 at Pitt.

On February 9 the University of Pittsburgh's Asian Studies Center will host Noriko Manabe of Temple University and a lecture based on her 2015 book The Revolution will not be Televised: Protest Music After Fukushima.