Shaun Tan's The Arrival, Gene Luen Yang's American Born Chinese topics of Graphic Novel Book Club at Carnegie Library Woods Run, June 29.

The Graphic Novel Book Club at the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh Woods Run branch will discuss two books on the immigrant experience on June 29: Shaun Tan's Arrival and Gene Luen Yang's American Born Chinese.

Pittsburgh Taiko four-week beginner workshop, Saturdays starting July 1.

via Pittsburgh Taiko Facebook page.

Pittsburgh Taiko, a local Japanese drumming group, will host a four-week beginner workshop starting July 1.

Over the course of the workshop, you will learn basic movements and techniques used to play taiko.

Drumsticks will be provided, as will earplugs (although you’re welcome to bring your own if you have some).

The workshop meets the first four Saturdays of the month---July 1, 8, 15, 22---at Winchester Thurston School's Upper School building in Shadyside (map). The cost of the workshop is $20 for Japan-America Society of Pittsburgh members, $25 for students 9th grade and above, and $40 for others. More information is available on the Pittsburgh Taiko website.

Hayao Miyazaki film My Neighbor Totoro (となりのトトロ) at Cinemark theaters around Pittsburgh, June 25 and 26.

The Hayao Miyazaki film My Neighbor Totoro (となりのトトロ) and Kiki's Delivery Service (魔女の宅急便) will play at Cinemark theaters in western Pennsylvania next week, the first installment of this year's GKIDS Studio Ghibli Fest 2017. From a 2001 Roger Ebert review:

Miyazaki's films are above all visually enchanting, using a watercolor look for the backgrounds and working within the distinctive Japanese anime tradition of characters with big round eyes and mouths that can be as small as a dot or as big as a cavern. They also have an unforced realism in the way they notice details; early in ''Totoro,'' for example, the children look at a little waterfall near their home, and there on the bottom, unremarked, is a bottle someone threw into the stream.

The movie tells the story of two young sisters, Satsuki and Mei Kusakabe. As the story opens, their father is driving them to their new house, near a vast forest. Their mother, who is sick, has been moved to a hospital in this district. Now think about that. The film is about two girls, not two boys or a boy and a girl, as all American animated films would be. It has a strong and loving father, in contrast to the recent Hollywood fondness for bad or absent fathers. Their mother is ill; does illness exist in American animation?

An English-dubbed version will play at 12:55 pm on June 25 at Cinemark theaters in Monaca, Monroeville, North Hills, and Pittsburgh Mills, while the English-subtitled version will play at those theaters at 7:00 pm on June 26. Tickets are currently available online.

"Storytime: Japanese and English" at Carnegie Library in East Liberty, June 20.

The next installment of the monthly program "Storytime: Japanese and English" will take place on June 20 at the Carnegie Library in East Liberty.

Celebrate our city’s diverse culture as we explore new words through songs, action rhymes and stories in both English and Japanese for children and their parents or caregivers. For children age birth-5 and their caregivers.

It runs from 11:00 to 11:30 am. The library is located at 130 S. Whitfield St. (map).

The Irregular at Magic High School The Movie: The Girl Who Calls the Stars (劇場版 魔法科高校の劣等生 星を呼ぶ少女) at Hollywood Theater, July 29.

The Hollywood Theater in Dormont will show the Japanese animated movie The Irregular at Magic High School The Movie: The Girl Who Calls the Stars (劇場版 魔法科高校の劣等生 星を呼ぶ少女) on July 29.

Post-Gazette profiles Robert Morris women's basketball recruit Honoka Ikematsu, first Japanese player in program history.

via @rmuwbasketball.

Today's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette features a profile of Honoka Ikematsu, an 18-year-old Japanese woman who is among the latest recruits to the Robert Morris University women's basketball team.

In Honoka Ikematsu, a native of Kumamoto, Japan, [assistant coach Asami] Morita found a player who wanted to compete at a college program in the United States. She also found a player whose skills could transfer across the Pacific Ocean.

Of the numerous differences between Japanese and American women’s basketball, the most significant are the shooting styles. Japanese women’s basketball guards shoot with two hands, similar to a set shot, with a slow release. It’s often accurate, Buscaglia said, but would be easily defended in an American basketball game.

“A lot of players that you would bring over here, you would have to re-teach them how to shoot or you would have to live with the way they shoot the ball,” Buscaglia said.

Concerns of Ikematsu’s ability to learn the American shooting style — using one hand as a guide, and a second hand to push the ball — were eased when they saw film of her scrimmaging with Seattle-based AAU program Emerald City Basketball Academy. Ikematsu already had the American shooting form mastered.

Ikematsu, who signed with Robert Morris on May 18, is the first Japanese player in that program's history.

Fairy Tale: Dragon Cry (劇場版 フェアリーテイル -DRAGON CRY) in Pittsburgh in August.

The 2017 animated film Fairy Tale: Dragon Cry (劇場版 フェアリーテイル -DRAGON CRY) will play at the Southside Works Cinema on August 14 and 16. The distributor summarizes:

Fairy Tail: Dragon Cry movie brings back your favorite gang—Natsu, Lucy, Erza, Gray, Wendy, and the Exceed sidekicks—for a new tale filled with action, adventure, and hilarious hijinks. When the “Dragon Cry,” a staff with the power to destroy the world, is stolen, there’s only one team of wizards up for the job. Dark secrets, new enemies, and fiery fights await!

The movie was released in Japan on May 6. It will play with English subtitles both nights at 7:30, though tickets are not yet available. Southside Works Cinema is located at 425 Cinema Drive in the Southside, one block from the Hot Metal Bridge (map).

Chang Chun Chemical Corporation seeking bilingual English-Mandarin Sales Assistant in Pittsburgh.

Taiwan's Chang Chun Chemical Corporation is seeking a bilingual English-Mandarin Sales Assistant for its office in Wexford, PA.

Chang Chun Group is one of the largest chemical producer in Taiwan. Chang Chun Chemical Corporation (CCCC) is the US branch office 100% owned by Chang Chun Group which is responsible for sales and distribution in North America market. CCCC would like to seek suitably qualified candidates for the following position to join our pioneer team.

Sales Assistant Responsibilities:

Communicating with Taipei Headquarter for order processing and shipment arrangement
To support sales function such as issuing purchase order, invoice or sales related documents
To maintain filling, updating and keeping of records
Managing stock inventory and sales operation as instructed by the Sales Manager
Handling customers’ enquiries and maintain tip top service to customers.
Requirements:

Knowledge and understanding of all shipping terms and associated with shipping knowledge will be an advantage
Experience in SAP or ERP system is a plus
Basic computer operating and Microsoft Office Skills are required
Able to communicate in English and Mandarin is required

Nakama again voted best Japanese/sushi restaurant in Pittsburgh by people who don't know Japanese/sushi restaurants in Pittsburgh.

Nakama Japanese Steakhouse & Sushi Bar was again voted the best Japanese/sushi restaurant by readers of Pittsburgh Magazine, according to poll results released today. Nakama has been voted #1 each year by readers since 2009, and is also perennial winner of the Pittsburgh City-Paper readers' poll.

Also of relevance to this site: Sesame Inn was voted Best Chinese, Nicky's Thai Kitchen was voted Best Thai, and Pusadee's Garden was voted best Al Fresco (open air). Those poll results are identical to last year's.

1969's Funeral Parade of Roses (薔薇の葬列) at Row House Cinema, June 23 - 29.

The Row House Cinema in Lawrenceville will show the 1969 Japanese movie 1969's Funeral Parade of Roses (薔薇の葬列), "Japan's Queer Underground Cinema Classic," from June 23 to 29 as part of its Row House's Drag Race series. A June 8 New York Times review provides a summay:

A hodgepodge of themes and techniques, it transposes the Oedipus story to the intersection of Tokyo’s hippie and “gay boy” subcultures, opening with a Baudelaire quotation and incorporating street rituals by the Zero Jigen performance group. The title, taken from one performance, is a pun: Bara, Japanese for “rose,” is a slang term akin to the English “pansy.”

The protagonist, Eddie (played by the androgynous entertainer Peter, later featured in Akira Kurosawa’s 1985 “Ran”), is a sweet hustler with a dark past. As polished a looker as the Warhol Factory’s reigning drag queens Candy Darling and Holly Woodlawn, Eddie parlays an affair with a local drug dealer into becoming the madam of the Club Genet, an actual gay bar in the Shinjuku district of Tokyo.

Tickets and showtimes are available online at the theater's website. The single-screen theater is located at 4115 Butler Street in Lawrenceville (map).