NAAAP September Dinner Club at Fukuda, September 25.

The Pittsburgh chapter of the National Association of Asian American Professionals [NAAAP] is holding a dinner club meeting on Thursday, September 25, at Fukuda.

Come and join NAAAP PGH on September 25, at 6:00pm for a night of great food and conversation at Fukuda on Liberty ave. in Bloomfield!

More information available at the event's Facebook page.

Another Northwest Chinese Pop-up Restaurant Event at Sonny's Tavern, September 20.

Northwest Chinese Pop-up Restaurant will host another event on September 20 at Sonny's Tavern. The person slash group exists to "strive to bring Northwestern Chinese culture to Pittsburgh through its authentic food, arts, music and crafts." This fall's first event was last weekend.

The event runs from 6:00 pm to 11:30 pm at Sonny's Tavern in Bloomfield (map), and registration can be done online.

New home for Chinatown bus station.

As of September 1, the Pittsburgh Chinatown bus station moved to 1613 Penn Ave. (map) in the Strip District from its former location on Meyran Ave. in Oakland. Not to be confused with Pittsburgh's Chinatown, which used to be downtown off Grant Street. The surviving buildings are along Court Place (map).


Former home of the local Hop Sing Association (協勝公會) branch.

Panel Discussion "China's Entrepreneurs" at Pitt, September 19.

The University of Pittsburgh Asian Studies Center and the Pitt International Business Center are hosting a panel discussion on September 19 called "China's Entrepreneurs" with presenters Mr. Zhao Bin (Chairman, Xi'an Kitamura Machine Works Co. Ltd.) and Megan Xi (Director, Blue Water Growth.). An overview:

Over the past decade China’s rapid economic growth and diversification has powered that country’s economy past a stage of primary industrialization into a new era of creativity and manufacturing. The country’s entrepreneurs are playing a leading role in developing businesses, seeking new markets, and creating products. Please join us in a discussion of China’s new entrepreneurs and how their business decisions are changing the global economy.

Refreshments will be served.

The discussion begins at 1:00 pm and is held in 4130 Posvar Hall (campus map).

Language exchange and conversation partner programs in Pittsburgh this fall.

There are a good number of free language classes in Pittsburgh at the Carnegie Libraries: Japanese, Chinese, Korean, German, French, Spanish, English as a Second Language, among others (search events on the CLP webpage for details). If you're looking for one-on-one exchanges, or just want to chat with someone from a different country, many local universities and language institutes run language exchange and conversation partner programs to help their international students share quality time with native English speakers, time that can be surprisingly hard to come by. A new semester means renewed need for conversation partners, and if you're in Pittsburgh you can register now with the University of Pittsburgh English Language Institute or contact Duquesne University's ESL program or Chatham University's English Language Program.

Schools in other areas have these outreach programs, too, so Google around. Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Penn State, and the University of Pennsylvania come to mind. It's a great way to help someone new to your city and to make a meaningful experience for both of you.

No Name Painting Association at Global Shift Festival, September 20.

The Global Shift Festival, at Point Park University from September 18 through September 21, will show the 2013 Chinese-American documentary No Name Painting Association on September 20. The 23-minute documentary is, says imdb,

about the Wuming (No Name) group of renegade Chinese artists who painted forbidden images during the Chinese Cultural Revolution and pioneered the Contemporary Chinese Art Movement.

The documentary is paired with Finding Mike, and the pair start at 3:00 pm. Tickets are $5 and are available online.

"A Taste of Korea" at Maridon Museum, September 17 - 20.

Butler's Maridon Museum will present "A Taste of Korea" from September 17 through 20, with talks and presentations on Korean people, culture, and customs. Highlights include two talks Dr. Kang-Yup Na of Westminster College and one by the author of Love Beyond Measure: Memoir of a Korean War Bride. Tickets are $3 per day or $6 for a four-day pass.

The Asian art museum is located at 322 North McKean St in downtown Butler (map), roughly 40 miles north of Pittsburgh.

Japanese film Why Don't You Play in Hell? (地獄でなぜ悪い) returning to Pittsburgh in November.

On Wednesday, the Hollywood Theater in Dormont announced it would be showing the Japanese film Why Don't You Play in Hell? (地獄でなぜ悪い) from November 13 through 16. A summary, from The Japan Society:

A tribute to old-school yakuza cinema and shoe-string amateur filmmaking based on a screenplay Sion Sono wrote 17 years ago. The Fuck Bombers, a group of film geeks led by Hirata (Hiroki Hasegawa), try to turn brawler Sasaki (Tak Sakaguchi) into their new Bruce Lee but are nowhere near making their action masterpiece. An ambush set up by a yakuza clan comes to a gory end in the home of boss Muto (Jun Kunimura) with only one man, Ikegami (Shinichi Tsutsumi), surviving. When Mitsuko, the Mutos' young daughter, makes an unexpected entrance, Ikegami is instantly smitten. Ten years later, she has become one sultry mean mess of a girl (Fumi Nikaido). Determined to make Mitsuko a star, her father gives Hirata a once-in-a-lifetime chance to make his movie, with the yakuza as film production crew and the Bombers joining the "real" action--the ultimate sword battle between the Muto and Ikegami clans.

The movie was first in Pittsburgh last spring as part of the 2014 Silk Screen Asian American Film Festival.

Northwest Chinese Pop-up Restaurant at Sunny's Tavern, September 13.

Northwest Chinese Pop-up Restaurant will host an event on September 13 at Sonny's Tavern. The person slash group exists to "strive to bring Northwestern Chinese culture to Pittsburgh through its authentic food, arts, music and crafts." From this Saturday's event page:

We are now starting to host popups at Sonny's Tavern. Come out and try our ***Authentic Chinese Green Bean Jello Stir Fry***one of the most popular Chinese muslim dish in Xi’an! ***Beijing-style Cucumber Salad***a common dish that goes with beer for sleepless nights in Beijing. We’ll also serve ***California Rolls*** which can never let you down!

You may remember the first pop-up restaurant in June 2013. The event runs from 6:00 pm to 11:00 pm at Sonny's Tavern in Bloomfield (map), and registration can be done online.

Conversational Chinese and Chinese Culture at Mt. Lebanon Public Library, Thursday evenings.

A Conversational Chinese and Chinese Culture group meets at Mt. Lebanon Public Library Thursday evenings from 7:00 to 8:45 pm.

Join us every Thursday to practice conversational Chinese and explore Chinese culture. All levels welcome.

Participants are asked to donate $30, prorated, to Mt. Lebanon Public Library for each ten-week session. Please check the Event Calendar for potential schedule changes.

The library is located at 16 Castle Shannon Blvd. (map).

Gallery Exhibition: Jewish Refugees in Shanghai (1933-1941) opens September 15 in Squirrel Hill.

The exhibition "Jewish Refugees in Shanghai (1933-1941): An Exhibit of Storyboards and Artifacts" will run in Squirrel Hill for a month from September 15. An excerpt from the Confucius Institute at the University of Pittsburgh, one of the exhibition's sponsors:

The story of Jewish refugees in China during World War II is something that relatively few people understand or know about in the overall history of Jewish immigration and settlement. As many as 16,000 Jews fled Europe during WWII to live and work in Shanghai. This exhibit is in collaboration with the Jewish Refugees Museum of Shanghai and consists of 45 storyboards outlining the process of immigration from Europe to China, the various struggles and cultural adaptions, and the personal stories of survivors and their families. The exhibit offers a unique perspective on the lives and struggles of individuals who lived in China during the war and emphasizes the cross-cultural intersections of both Chinese and the Jewish settlers during a chaotic and significant historic period.

The exhibition runs through October 15 at The Edward and Rose Berman Hillel Jewish University Center of Pittsburgh (map). Reservations are required for the September 17 opening reception with keynote speaker Dr. Steve Hochstadt of Illinois College.

Camp Konnichiwa at Carnegie Library, Saturdays from September 20.

The Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh's Main Branch will again host Camp Konnichiwa on Saturdays this fall starting from September 20.

Konnichiwa is a popular greeting in Japanese. Children will learn some words and songs in the Japanese language during this four-week program.

Each free session is thirty minutes long, from 10:30 to 11:00 am. It is presented by Atsuya Yoshida of Taylor Allderdice High School and the library's Bridge to Japan members. The Main Branch of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh is located at 4400 Forbes Ave. in Oakland (map).

ARCC presents Late Night: Mid-Autumn Festival, September 6 at CMU.

Awareness of Roots in Chinese Culture [ARCC] will present its annual Late Night: Mid-Autumn Festival on September 6 at Carnegie Mellon University. It will run from 10:00 pm to 1:00 am in the Connan Room of the Cohon University Center (campus map). As the flyer says, there will be free mooncakes, games, and more.

Mandarin for Beginners class at Carnegie Library Squirrel Hill, from September 10.

A free Mandarin for Beginners course is starting at Carnegie Library Squirrel Hill from September 10.

Learn Mandarin from a native speaker right at the Library! Class will be held on the 2nd and 4th Wednesdays of the month.

In addition to this new class, there is still a free Chinese Conversation Club and a free Chinese for Beginners course at the Oakland branch of the Carnegie Library.

The starts at 6:30 pm; registration is preferred and can be done online at each class's page. The library is located at 5801 Forbes Ave. (map) on the corner of Forbes and Murray Aves.

All-you-can-eat LA 갈비 coming to Oakland in October.

Update: A hoax.



Signage recently went up in Oakland for an all-you-can-eat Korean galbi place set to open in October. LA 갈비 is advertising its 19.99 AYCE offering at 4611 Forbes Ave. (map), which until recently was the home of the Pather Hollow Inn. Its set to open on October 15.

Galbi is a Korean dish of thinly-sliced beef or pork, often wrapped and eaten with other side dishes like lettuce, onions, and kimchi. It is ubiquitous in South Korean nightlife, and turns up on a couple of menus in Pittsburgh restaurants.

Free Japanese classes at Carnegie Library East Liberty resume September 10.

The Carnegie Library branch in East Liberty periodically offers free Japanese classes, and the latest session will begin on September 10.

A fun way to learn a new language! Learn conversational Japanese in a casual setting. All ages and abilities welcome.

The class runs from 6:30 to 7:30 pm every other Wednesday, and the library is located at 130 S. Whitfield Street, about four blocks northwest of Whole Foods.

The Oakland branch still offers several free Japanese classes: Japanese For Beginners on the second and fourth Mondays of each month; Japanese II for high-beginners and intermediate learners on the second and fourth Tuesdays; and a Japanese conversation club for intermediate and advanced learners, also on the second and fourth Tuesday. Visit the library's event page and search "Japanese" (or Korean, or Chinese) for more information.

More Korean food coming to Oakland.

Korean-language signage recently went up advertising 갈비 (galbi) in Oakland at the spot formerly occupied by the Panther Hollow Inn (map) near the corner of Forbes Ave. and Craig St. The meat dish is ubiquitous in Korea and turns up on a couple menus in Pittsburgh. The restaurant will join Korea Garden, at the other side of the Oakland, as the second Korean restaurants in the neighborhood.

Born Out of Place book launch at Pitt, September 11.

The University of Pittsburgh's Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies Program will host the stateside book launch for Born Out of Place: Migrant Mothers and the Politics of International Migration by professor Nicole Constable. The talk will be held on September 11 from 4:00 to 5:30 in room 602 of the Cathedral of Learning. A summary from the GS&W webpage:

Nicole Constable is a professor in the Department of Anthropology and the director of the Asian Studies Center at the University of Pittsburgh. Her latest book, Born Out of Place: Migrant Mothers and the Politics of International Migration was co-published by the University of California Press and Hong Kong University Press, and had its first official launch in Hong Kong in June. At this University of Pittsburgh book launch, Constable will speak on her work, and Shalini Puri (Department of English) and Lara Putnam (Department of History) will respond.

Based on research and interviews conducted in 2011 and 2012, the book tells the stories of Indonesian and Filipino migrant women, their South Asian, African, Chinese, and Western expatriate partners, and their Hong Kong–born babies. The main focus is on the often painful and poignant struggles of women as they consider abortion, adoption, keeping a child, remaining in Hong Kong as “illegal” overstayers, or returning home as single mothers. This ethnography provides insight into global problems of mobility, family, gender, and citizenship, and points to the consequences, creative responses, melodramas, inequalities, and tragedies of labor and migration policies.

"Intro to Japanese Cinema" series at Row House Cinema, tomorrow through September 4.

Clockwise from top left: Tokyo Story (東京物語), Princess Mononoke (もののけ姫), Rashomon (羅生門), Nobody Knows (誰も知らない). Not pictured: Brother.

Lawrenceville's Row House Cinema will present an "Intro to Japanese Cinema" series from August 29 through September 4, featuring animated and live action films from the 1950s, 1990s, and 2000s. Five films will be shown in all: Rashomon (羅生門), Tokyo Story (東京物語), Brother, Nobody Knows (誰も知らない), and Princess Mononoke (もののけ姫). Sunday's noon showing of Princess Mononoke is a "Kids Will Be Kids" show, and the September 2 showing of Rashomon will be followed by a discussion of the film.

Times are available on the theater's website, and tickets are $9. The single-screen theater is located at 4115 Butler Street (map).

Asian student groups holding events on Pitt campus this weekend.

Several of the University of Pittsburgh's largest Asia-focused student groups will be holding events on campus this weekend to welcome members old and new. The Facebook pages listed below offer more details, but the events generally include food, socializing, and a chance to meet the groups' organizers.

* Asian Student Alliance - Friday, August 28, 1:00 - 3:00 pm, William Pitt Union Assembly Room

* Vietnamese Student Association First Social on the Lawn - Friday, August 28, 3:00 - 5:00 pm, William Pitt Union patio and lawn

* Korean Culture Association [KCA] First Social - Friday, August 28, 4:45 to 6:45 pm, William Pitt Union lawn

* Filipino Student Association [FSA] First Social - Saturday, August 30, 3:30 - 4:30 pm, 630 William Pitt Union

* Chinese American Student Association [CASA] - Sunday, August 31, 3:00 - 5:00 pm, William Pitt Union lawn

* Japanese Culture Association [JCA] Ice Cream Social - Sunday, August 31, 5:00 - 7:00 pm, 548 William Pitt Union

The events will be held in or around the William Pitt Union, located at the intersection of Forbes and Bigelow Blvds. in Oakland (map).

Tickets now on sale for Royal Ballet of Cambodia in Pittsburgh, November 7.

A 2010 performance in Paris, by Jean-Pierre Dalbera (Creative Commons).

Tickets recently went on sale for the November 7 performance of the Royal Ballet of Cambodia at the Byham Theater. It is considered an Intangible Cultural Heritage by UNESCO, and is described thus:

Renowned for its graceful hand gestures and stunning costumes, the Royal Ballet of Cambodia, also known as Khmer Classical Dance, has been closely associated with the Khmer court for over one thousand years. Performances would traditionally accompany royal ceremonies and observances such as coronations, marriages, funerals or Khmer holidays. This art form, which narrowly escaped annihilation in the 1970s, is cherished by many Cambodians.

Infused with a sacred and symbolic role, the dance embodies the traditional values of refinement, respect and spirituality. Its repertory perpetuates the legends associated with the origins of the Khmer people. Consequently, Cambodians have long esteemed this tradition as the emblem of Khmer culture. Four distinct character types exist in the classical repertory: Neang the woman, Neayrong the man, Yeak the giant, and Sva the monkey. Each possesses distinctive colours, costumes, makeup and masks.The gestures and poses, mastered by the dancers only after years of intensive training, evoke the gamut of human emotions, from fear and rage to love and joy. An orchestra accompanies the dance, and a female chorus provides a running commentary on the plot, highlighting the emotions mimed by the dancers, who were considered the kings’ messengers to the gods and to the ancestors.

The Friday show begins at 8:00 pm, and tickets range from $20 to $45. The Byham Theater is located at 101 6th Street, in the Cultural District downtown (map).