"Celebrating The Relationship Between Pittsburgh And Japan Through Garden Design," September 9 at Pitt.

The University of Pittsburgh's Asian Studies Center and Humanities Center will present "Celebrating The Relationship Between Pittsburgh And Japan Through Garden Design" with Shunsaku Miyagi on September 9.

Prof. Shunsaku Miyagi (University of Tokyo) is one of Japan's most eminent landscape architects. He is also the representative director of the Byodoin Temple, a temple in Kyoto that is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and so important in Japan that an image of it is on the back of every 10-yen coin. Trained and educated in the US and Japan, his guiding philosophy is "Life is Design Itself." He will discuss Japanese gardens and connecting Pittsburgh and Japan through landscape design.

It starts at 4:30 pm in room 602 of the Cathedral of Learning (map) and is free and open to the public.

New 3D-animated Chinese movie Ne Zha (哪吒之魔童降世) in Pittsburgh, from August 29.

The new 3D animated Chinese film Ne Zha (哪吒之魔童降世) will play in Pittsburgh from August 29. From the distributor:

A young boy, Nezha, is birthed from a heavenly pearl by the Primeval Lord of Heaven. Born with unique powers, Nezha finds himself as an outcast who is hated and feared. Destined by prophecy to bring destruction to the world, the young boy must choose between good and evil in order to break the shackles of fate and become the hero.

It is the highest-grossing Chinese animated film of all time. It will play locally at the AMC Loews Waterfront theater and tickets are available online. The theater is located at 300 West Waterfront Dr. in the Waterfront shopping complex in Homestead (map), across the Monongahela River from Greenfield, Squirrel Hill, and the rest of Pittsburgh.

Night Market Gourmet coming soon to Oakland.

Even more signage is up for Night Market Gourmet, which will replace Top Shabu Shabu at 114 Atwood St. in Oakland (map). Its new sign, like the sign before it, resembles the pizza shape leftover from Pizza Sola, which had the space until 2014.

K-pop lecture at Pitt, September 5.

The University of Pittsburgh Asian Studies Center will host Dr. Suk-Young Kim and her keynote speech on K-pop on September 5 to kick off the start of its Asia Pop course this term.

The Asian Studies Center is pleased to present our new Asia Pop Series where we explore a different facet of Asian popular culture. In this first year, we will focus on the global legacy of Asian popular music including K-pop, Idol Pop, Canto and Mando Pop.

The talk starts at 5:30 pm in 125 Frick Fine Arts Auditorium.

Pitt suspends its Confucius Institute.

The University of Pittsburgh has suspended its Confucius Institute.

The University of Pittsburgh has joined a growing list of American universities that have shuttered a Chinese language and culture program sponsored by the Chinese government.

Ariel Armony, Pitt’s vice provost for global affairs and director of the University Center for International Studies, said the university closed its Confucius Institute after the U.S. State Department issued “unwelcome and unexpected” guidance regarding the visas of 15 Chinese scholars who were scheduled to travel to Pittsburgh this fall to operate the program.

A Pitt spokesman said the university was informed it was out of compliance with J-1 visa regulations regarding interns at the Confucius Institute and was not able to make modifications in time for the fall semester.

"Building Asia," September 4 at Pitt.

via tokyoform.

The University of Pittsburgh's Asian Studies Center will host Dr. Maohong Bao and his talk "Building Asia" on September 4.

The steel industry has historically held a central place in the development of all modern industrial economies. Supporting the rise of East Asia in the postwar world, the rise of resource import-dependent steel industries in Japan, Korea and China has emerged alongside export-oriented mining industries in Australia, Brazil, Canada, India and South Africa, etc., and steel products exported to the rest of world. These processes formed the global production network of East Asia’s iron and steel industry. This talk will address its global environmental history from four aspects: The development of iron and steel industry in postwar East Asia; East Asia’s iron ore and coal import and the environmental impacts of resource extraction in the producing areas; environmental consequences of iron processing in East Asia; East Asia’s Steel product export and its recycling in the consuming areas.

The talk runs from 12:00 to 1:30 in 4430 Posvar Hall (map) and is free and open to the public.

The Farewell continues in Pittsburgh through August 29, resumes September 6.

The Farewell, which opened in Pittsburgh on August 1, will continue at local theaters through August 29 and will resume at the Row House Cinema from September 6. From the distributor:

In this funny, uplifting tale based on an actual lie, Chinese-born, U.S.-raised Billi (Awkwafina) reluctantly returns to Changchun to find that, although the whole family knows their beloved matriarch, Nai-Nai, has been given mere weeks to live, everyone has decided not to tell Nai Nai herself. To assure her happiness, they gather under the joyful guise of an expedited wedding, uniting family members scattered among new homes abroad. As Billi navigates a minefield of family expectations and proprieties, she finds there’s a lot to celebrate: a chance to rediscover the country she left as a child, her grandmother’s wondrous spirit, and the ties that keep on binding even when so much goes unspoken. With The Farewell, writer/director Lulu Wang has created a heartfelt celebration of both the way we perform family and the way we live it, masterfully interweaving a gently humorous depiction of the good lie in action with a richly moving story of how family can unite and strengthen us, often in spite of ourselves.

It plays at the Waterworks Cinema, the AMC in Mt. Lebanon, the Squirrel Hill Manor, and the Tull Family Theater in Sewickley through Wednesday and remains at the latter two on Thursday. Tickets are available online. It will then play at the Row House Cinema in Lawrenceville from September 6 through 12 as part of the Amazing New Directors series.

Anime Series at Row House Cinema, September 13 through 19.

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (時をかける少女), Ghost in the Shell (攻殻機動隊), Akira (アキラ), and Metropolis (メトロポリス) will comprise this fall's Anime Series at Row House Cinema from September 13 through 19. Tickets are now available online. The single-screen theater is located at 4115 Butler Street in Lawrenceville (map).

"Materializing Memory: Contemporary Video Art from China," September 5 through October 11 at Pitt.

The University of Pittsburgh's University Art Gallery will host the exhibit "Materializing Memory: Contemporary Video Art from China" from September 5 through October 11.

Exhibited in Pittsburgh for the first time, Materializing Memory presents the work of five young Chinese artists, all born after 1980. These artists are part of China’s balinghou and jiulinghou (post-1980 and post-1990) generations. Unlike earlier practitioners, they came of age following the dramatic economic and cultural reforms of 1978. Through the medium of video art, these artists explore contemporary Chinese society during a period of profound technological and urban transformation. Their work is deeply informed by the Internet, rapid economic development, international communication and exchange, as well as opportunities to earn advanced degrees abroad. These videos document personal and collective experiences. Some record individual feelings of boredom and isolation, while others investigate broader social contradictions and complexities within China and beyond. Together, these works illustrate the plasticity of contemporary experience, and ask what it means to remember during a time when progress accelerates the urge to forget.

The exhibition's opening reception is scheduled from 5:00 to 7:00 pm on September 5; the gallery is open from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm weekdays in the Frick Fine Arts Building in Oakland (map).

Korean-American singer Ronin to perform in Ambridge, August 22.

Korean-American singer Ronin will perform at Mario's Dockside Grille in Ambridge (map) on August 22. Writes the Beaver Valley Times:

Korean-American pop singer named simply Ronin [. . .] will hop on stage Thursday to sing a couple songs at the weekly open mic/jam night at Mario’s Dockside Grille in Bridgewater. These jam nights are co-hosted by Ambridge rocker David Granati, brother of percussionist Rick Granati, who’s friends with Vulpis, hence the local tie.

Ronin might treat his Beaver County audience to his single “Chemical Smile,” now being played by 15 Top-40/pop radio stations from San Francisco to Atlantic City.

He is also performing at Hambone's tonight at 7:00 pm.