Three Japanese documentaries to be screened September 24 - 26 (online) at Pitt.

As part of the 2020 Pittsburgh Japan Documentary Film Award, the Japan Council of the University of Pittsburgh and SCREENSHOT: ASIA will screen three documentaries online later this month:

* Friday, September 24: Oyster Factory (牡蠣工場) at 6:30 pm followed by a conversation with the director, Soda Kazuhiro.
* Saturday, September 25: Book-Paper-Scissors (つつんで、ひらいて), the 2020 Honorable Mention, at 7:00 pm, followed by a conversation with director Nanako Hirose.
* Sunday, September 26: An Ant Strikes Back (アリ地獄天国), the 2020 Grand Prize winner, at 7:00 pm, followed by a conversation with director Tokachi Tsuchiya.

"Jasmine Cho’s Portraits in Icing: The Intersection of Representation, Race, and Cookies," online at Heinz History Center, September 24.

via @jasminemcho

The Heinz History Center will present "Jasmine Cho’s Portraits in Icing: The Intersection of Representation, Race, and Cookies" online on September 24.

While the Smithsonian’s Portraits of Pittsburgh exhibition is filled with a range of portrait styles, none are as unique as the portraits that Pittsburgh artist Jasmine Cho paints onto cookies. Join Jasmine for a portrait demonstration and conversation about her unique combination of cookie art and social justice. Explore how Jasmine uses cookies to initiate conversations on race, creating intricate portraits of important Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders and giving representation to a historically underrepresented community.

Tickets for the discussion and demonstration are $5 and available online.

Online dance workshop for Seventeen's "Snap Shoot" with PITT FRESA, September 19.

PITT Fresh Entertainment by Student Artists (FRESA) is hosting an online dance workshop for Seventeen's "Snap Shoot" on September 19.

Fresitas, it's time for another online workshop! This week, our awesome Internal VP Cathy Si will be teaching Snap Shoot by Seventeen-- see you there!

The event is open to the University of Pittsburgh student community and the Zoom link for the 12:00 - 2:00 pm workshop is available on the event's page.

Pittsburgh-based StarKist hiring bilingual Korean-English or Chinese-English Associate, Seafood Procurement Specialist.

Pittsburgh-based StarKist, owned by Korean parent company Dongwon Industries, is hiring for a bilingual Korean-English or Chinese-English Associate, Seafood Procurement Specialist position.

PURPOSE -

• Under the direction of the Manager, Seafood Procurement, this position will help to plan and manage the purchase of raw seafood and seafood products to ensure that price, quality, quantity and delivery schedules contribute effectively to company profit and growth objectives.
• This position will be responsible for the coordinating of vessel schedules for unloading, sizing of fish to support daily plant activity and company objectives. Position will also manage communications between the plants and fish suppliers in regards to downgrades, rejects and all quality issues.

4K remaster of Japanese movie Akira (アキラ) in Pittsburgh, September 24.

A 4K remaster of the 1988 Japanese movie Akira (アキラ) will play in Pittsburgh on September 24. Wikipedia provides a summary of the film:

Set in a dystopian 2019, Akira tells the story of Shōtarō Kaneda, a leader of a biker gang whose childhood friend, Tetsuo Shima, acquires incredible telekinetic abilities after a motorcycle accident, eventually threatening an entire military complex amidst chaos and rebellion in the sprawling futuristic metropolis of Neo-Tokyo. While most of the character designs and settings were adapted from the manga, the plot differs considerably and does not include much of the last half of the manga. The soundtrack, which draws heavily from traditional Indonesian gamelan as well as Japanese noh music, was composed by Shōji Yamashiro and performed by Geinoh Yamashirogumi.

It is scheduled to play locally at the Cinemark in McCandless and tickets are now available online.

Chinese movie Wild Grass (荞麦疯长) continues in Pittsburgh through (at least) September 23.

The 2020 Chinese movie Wild Grass (荞麦疯长), which opened in Pittsburgh on September 10, will continue here through at least September 23. Something of a synopsis, from the distributor:

In the 1990s, the two girls and a boy who first entered the society tested the incredible destiny they experienced in the pursuit of a new life. In the flourishing 1990s, they rose up with the dream and they survived.

It plays locally at the AMC Loews Waterfront and tickets are available online.

"Becoming Taiwanese: Religion, Colonialism, and Ethnogenesis in 20th Century Taiwan" online at Pitt, October 2.

The University of Pittsburgh will host Dr. Evan Dawley and his talk "Becoming Taiwanese: Religion, Colonialism, and Ethnogenesis in 20th Century Taiwan" on October 2. A description of the book from whence the talk's name is drawn:

What does it mean to be Taiwanese? This question sits at the heart of Taiwan’s modern history and its place in the world. In contrast to the prevailing scholarly focus on Taiwan after 1987, Becoming Taiwanese examines the important first era in the history of Taiwanese identity construction during the early twentieth century, in the place that served as the crucible for the formation of new identities: the northern port city of Jilong (Keelung).

Part colonial urban social history, part exploration of the relationship between modern ethnicity and nationalism, Becoming Taiwanese offers new insights into ethnic identity formation. Evan Dawley examines how people from China’s southeastern coast became rooted in Taiwan; how the transfer to Japanese colonial rule established new contexts and relationships that promoted the formation of distinct urban, ethnic, and national identities; and how the so-called retrocession to China replicated earlier patterns and reinforced those same identities. Based on original research in Taiwan and Japan, and focused on the settings and practices of social organizations, religion, and social welfare, as well as the local elites who served as community gatekeepers, Becoming Taiwanese fundamentally challenges our understanding of what it means to be Taiwanese.

The 3:00 pm lecture is free and open to the public via Zoom.

Pitt hiring Assistant Instructor of Chinese.

The University of Pittsburgh's Department of East Asian Languages & Literatures is hiring an Assistant Instructor of Chinese:

The University of Pittsburgh seeks an Assistant Instructor of Chinese to work in The Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures at the University of Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh, PA. Duties include teaching both recitations and lectures of language courses, with a 3/3 course workload, as well as working closely with the language coordinator to contribute to the overall effectiveness of the Chinese language program. Will also collaborate with Asianists in other units (e. g., the Asian Studies Center) to promote Chinese language learning and China studies. Will also lecture in English on Chinese grammar, vocabulary, and contexts in which the language is used as well as provide students opportunities to use the language grammatically correctly and in socially appropriate ways through practice in recitation sections that are conducted exclusively in Mandarin Chinese. Will meet with students to discuss and advise on academic issues as appropriate and monitor their progress as well as supervise and train part-time instructors.

Must have a master’s degree (or foreign equivalent degree) in Chinese language pedagogy, Asian Civilizations, Linguistics, foreign language pedagogy, or a related field plus one (1) year of experience teaching Chinese at the college/university level in a North American institution.

Must also have: (i) demonstrated excellence in teaching as measured through student evaluations/teaching surveys; (ii) any experience with the use of course management technology (e.g., Blackboard); (iii) any knowledge of the Chinese as a Foreign Language field as well as the general foreign language pedagogy theory and practice in the United States; (iv) working with the language coordinator, students, other department faculty; (v) student advisement; and (vi) engaging in professional development to further her/his skills and knowledge.

Those interested should apply through Interfolio via the Pitt website.

Squirrel Hill's Panda Supermarket starts delivery via Fantuan, from September 14.

Panda Supermarket, a Chinesse grocery in Squirrel Hill, will begin delivery service on September 14 via Fantuan. Fantuan is a Canada-based delivery service that recently expanded to Pittsburgh and specializes in Chinese restaurants and groceries. Those interested will need to download the app to make an order. Among other local Asian markets, Lotus Food in the Strip District also offers its own delivery service at present.

Korean Conversation Hour (수다 시간) with Pitt's Daehwa Korean Conversation Club, Sundays from September 13.

The University of Pittsburgh's Daehwa Korean Conversation Club will begin a weekly online Korean Conversation Hour on Sundays from 4:00 to 5:00 pm.

We are happy to announce that the Daehwa Korean Conversation Club will be starting a weekly Korean Conversation Hour (수다 시간)!

Students will have conversations using Korean within small groups, and it will be a great opportunity for those studying Korean to practice speaking. All students are welcome, from new learners to native speakers.

Please note that this will be separate from our regular weekly meetings on Fridays, which use both English and Korean. The Conversation Hour will be every Sunday 4:00-5:00 PM ET on Zoom. The first gathering will be this Sunday, September 13th. We hope to see you all there!

Join using the Zoom link below:
https://pitt.zoom.us/j/97651721960

The event is free and open to the Pitt community.

Bong Joon-ho film Snowpiercer (설국열차) online at Pitt, part of Watch Party Wednesday series, September 16.

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The University of Pittsburgh's Office of International Services will present the 2013 Bong Joon-ho film Snowpiercer (설국열차) online on September 16, part of its Watch Party Wednesday series. An introduction, via a review from The Atlantic:

Snowpiercer is set after the onset of an ice age, triggered by humanity’s efforts to solve global warming, and set on a train that runs perpetually around the earth, doing one circuit per year, using some combo of a perpetual motion engine and recycled ice that it’s better not to think too hard about. The glorious advantage of setting the movie entirely on a train is that it’s so easy to make the class stratifications Bong wants to talk about clear. At the back of the train, conditions are grim; everyone’s got soot on their faces, people are missing limbs, they eat black jellied “protein bars” handed out by the military, and once in a while their kids get measured and snatched away for reasons unknown.

The 7:00 pm event is free and open to the Pitt community, though registration is required.

"Friends of Japan: African American Women’s Visions of Afro-Asian Solidarity" at Pitt, October 8.

via the Chicago Defender, 1953.

The University of Pittsburgh's Humanities Center will present the Department of History's Keisha Blain and her talk "Friends of Japan: African American Women’s Visions of Afro-Asian Solidarity" online on October 8.

This presentation examines how African American women engaged Japan during the early twentieth century. It foregrounds the ideas of a cohort of women who envisioned political collaborations with Japanese people as a strategy to combat racism and global white supremacy.

It will be presented on Zoom from 12:30 pm on the 8th.

Susan Choi talk with Pittsburgh Arts & Lectures, online on September 14.

Pittsburgh Arts & Lectures will host author Susan Choi online on September 14 as part of this year's Ten Evenings series.

The author of five novels, Susan Choi won the 2019 National Book Award for Trust Exercise, an ingenious meditation on fiction and truth, friendships and loyalties, the capacities of adolescents, and the powers of adults.

In an American suburb in the early 1980s, students at a highly competitive performing arts high school struggle and thrive in a rarified bubble, ambitiously pursuing music, movement, Shakespeare, and, particularly, their acting classes. The outside world of family life and economic status, of academic pressure and of their future adult lives, fails to penetrate this school’s walls — until it does, in a shocking spiral of events that catapults the action forward in time and flips the premise upside-down.

Choi’s first novel, The Foreign Student, won the Asian American Literary Award for fiction. Her second novel, American Woman, was a finalist for the 2004 Pulitzer Prize and was adapted into a film. A Person of Interest was a finalist for the 2009 PEN/Faulkner Award. In 2010, Choi was named the inaugural recipient of the PEN/W. G. Sebald Award. Her fourth novel, My Education, received a 2014 Lammy Award.

Tickets for the 7:30 pm event are $10 for students and $15 for the general public.

2003 Bong Joon-ho film Memories of Murder (살인의 추억) in Pittsburgh-area theaters, October 19 and 20.

The 2003 Bong Joon-ho film Memories of Murder (살인의 추억) will play in Pittsburgh-area theaters on October 19 and 20. From the distributor:

MEMORIES OF MURDER tells the harrowing true story of the hunt for a sadistic serial rapist and murderer terrorizing a small province in 1980s South Korea. Marking the first of many successful collaborations between four-time Oscar winner Bong Joon Ho and leading man Song Kang Ho, the film follows the paths of three increasingly desperate detectives as they attempt to decipher the violent mind of a killer in a futile effort to solve the case.

Now, seventeen years after its initial release, and a year after the real culprit was identified, this cult classic takes its place as a modern masterpiece.

So far it is scheduled to play at AMC Loews Waterfront and the Cinemark in Robinson and tickets are available online.

Fantuan / Just Order Enterprises Corp. (饭团) hiring Mandarin-speaking Marketing Developer.

Fantuan, a delivery service catering to Asian restaurants and groceries that recently expanded to Pittsburgh, is hiring a Mandarin-speaking Marketing Developer.

Fantuan was founded in Vancouver, Canada in 2014. With a mission of “life made easier,” the company is a one-stop platform providing food delivery (Fantuan Delivery), reviews (Fantuan Reviews), an errand service (Fantuan Rush), e-commerce and marketing services. Fantuan is one of the top Asian life-services platforms in North America, currently operating across Vancouver, Toronto, Edmonton, Calgary, Montreal, Seattle, Los Angeles, New York and other metropolitan areas in Canada and the US.

Responsibilities

• Actively develop business partners and maintain relationships with existing businesses
• Correctly instruct customers to register, install and use merchant app
• Responsible for the offline promotions
• Complete specified monthly tasks on time

Requirements

• University/college degree/diploma related to marketing an asset
• Must have valid SIN number
• Valid Driver's License and access to vehicle
• Positive mindset when facing challenges
• Strong communication skills and good customer negotiation skills
• Hardworking, motivated, and entrepreneurial
• Willing to work independently, while being a part of a great team
• Understand Chinese is an asset

Chinese movie Wild Grass (荞麦疯长) in Pittsburgh, from September 10.

The 2020 Chinese movie Wild Grass (荞麦疯长) will play in Pittsburgh from September 10. Something of a synopsis, from the distributor:

In the 1990s, the two girls and a boy who first entered the society tested the incredible destiny they experienced in the pursuit of a new life. In the flourishing 1990s, they rose up with the dream and they survived.

It plays locally at the AMC Loews Waterfront and tickets are available online.

Applications for Pitt's Asian Studies Center Language Partner program being accepted.

The University of Pittsburgh's Asian Studies Center is now accepting applicatiosn for its latest Language Partner program.

"Harbor From the Holocaust," documentary on European Jews who fled to Shanghai in the 1930s, premieres on WQED, September 8.

The new documentary "Harbor From the Holocaust" will premiere on WQED, Pittsburgh's PBS affiliate, on September 8. The University of Pittsburgh's Asian Studies Center newsletter provides more information:

18,000 Jewish families were able to escape from Europe to China during World War II because of the good deeds of one Chinese official, Ho Feng-Shen. These Jewish families, called Shanghailanders, lived and worked along side Chinese families in a small section of Shanghai’s occupied area. There are a surprisingly large number of Pittsburgh connections to the story of the Shanghailander Jews. The granddaughter of Ho Feng-Shen lives in Pittsburgh as does the grand-niece of the principal of the Jewish school in Shanghai. These connections intrigued Michele Ferrier of the Asian Studies Center and Daryl Ford-Williams from WQED, the Pittsburgh PBS station. Now after almost 6 years of work, several grants, and many trips to China, we are proud to announce the grand premier of the film Harbor from the Holocaust on WQED Tuesday September 8 at 10 pm EDT. We hope that you enjoy this fascinating and unsung World War II story, and look out for more teaching and engagement content about this topic in the weeks and months ahead.

It will play on WQED and stream on the PBS website at 10:00 pm EST.

뭐야? Seen at the Waterworks Party City.

September screenings of 2019 Chinese documentary Our Time Machine (时光机) cancelled due to Rangos Giant Cinema's closure.

The 2019 Chinese documentary Our Time Machine (时光机) was to play online via Carnegie Science Center's Rangos Giant Cinema from September 11 but it, and other upcoming events, are cancelled due to the cinema's closure for the foreseeable future.

The Rangos Giant Cinema is closed indefinitely due to the challenging circumstances created by the COVID-19 pandemic.

It will still be available online via dozens of other theaters nationwide from September 11 through 25.