Taiwanese musicians "A Moving Sound" at Seton Hill University, October 10.

Taiwanese musical act "A Moving Sound" has included Greensburg on its 2013 US tour, and will be at Seton Hill University on October 10. A Moving Sound, says motema,

brings the sounds of traditional Taiwanese, Chinese and neighboring Asian traditions into modern times with skillful compositions that open new passageways for east-west cultural dialogue. Accompanied by the sound of traditional instruments such as the Chinese erhu, zhong-ruan, and Chinese percussion, the sublime singer and dancer Mia Hsieh leads a powerful ensemble on ethereal journeys that are enchanting audiences and critics across five continents.

All descriptions of the band plagiarize each other, so it's more informative to watch their performance videos on their YouTube channel.

The show begins at 8:00 pm and is held in the Carol Reichgut Concert Hall in the Performing Arts Center at 100 Harrison Ave. (map). Tickets are $10 for Seton Hill students, $20 for the general public, and are available online.

"Vietnamese Dance Party" at Mount Airy Casino, October 12.

Mount Airy Casino in the Poconos (map) will host a "Vietnamese Dance Party" on October 12 from 9:00 pm to 2:00 am. According to Mongtuyen Ngo, an Executive Host in charge of tickets and who returned my email before I found that poster, the lineup consists of

* Don Ho
* Thanh Ha
* Justin Nguyen
* Helena Ngoc Hong
* Archie

The show is 21 and over, and tickets are $35. Additional Vietnamese shows are planned at Mount Airy in November and December.

Mid-Autumn Festival at Pitt, September 29.

The University of Pittsburgh's Vietnamese Student Association and Chinese American Student Association will host a Mid-Autumn Festival on September 29 from 5:00 to 8:00 pm in the William Pitt Union's Assembly Room.

Netsuke programs for adults, children at Maridon Museum, September 28.

Butler's Maridon Museum is holding two netsuke programs on September 28; one for children at 11:00 am, and one for adults at 1:00 pm. Netsuke (根付), Wikipedia says,

are miniature sculptures that were invented in 17th-century Japan to serve a practical function (the two Japanese characters ne+tsuke mean "root" and "to attach"). Traditional Japanese garments—robes called kosode and kimono—had no pockets; however, men who wore them needed a place to store their personal belongings, such as pipes, tobacco, money, seals, or medicines.

The cost for each is $5, and registration is required. The programs are led by local Japanese and history teacher Dixie Lipnichan, and attendees

will learn the history of the Netsuke, and about the folklore behind the carvings, they will visit the Maridon's wall of over 100 Netsuke, and make their own carving to take home.

The Maridon Museum of Asian Art is located at 322 N. McKean St. in downtown Butler, some 40 miles north of Pittsburgh (map).

Wong Kar Wai's The Grandmaster (一代宗師) still in Pittsburgh this week.

Wong Kar Wai's The Grandmaster (一代宗師), which opened nationwide on August 30th, will continue to be in Pittsburgh theaters at least through September 27. The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review has local showtimes; it's playing at AMC Loews Waterfront, Waterworks Cinema 10, Chartiers Valley Stadium 18, and North Versailles Stadium 18.

Photos of Conflict Kitchen's trip to Anyang.

Earlier this month Conflict Kitchen shared photos of their August trip to Anyang, South Korea, made in preparation for their North Korean menu this fall.


Naengmyeon (냉면), a specialty of Pyeongyang and of numerous South Korean cities, too.

Conflict Kitchen is "a take-out restaurant that only serves cuisine from countries with which the United States is in conflict" located in Schenley Plaza in Oakland.

Follow along at home with "History of East Asia" and "History of Early China" classes.

Indiana University of Pennsylvania's Alan Baumler has a couple of syllabi online for two of his courses: "History of East Asia" and "History of Early China". As I pointed out last winter, unlike other "free" "classes" that are merely reading lists without the readings, Dr. Baumler's courses often provide the chapters and journal articles online for students. In previous terms he offered "Introduction to Asian Studies" and "Modern Japan" courses, though they are currently unavailable online.

Dr. Baumler is also a contributor to the Frog in a Well China blog, the most active and best-written of the Frog in a Well series.

Via the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette writes about an Asian-inspired garden in Reserve Township that won in the small garden category of the paper's Great Gardens Contest.

"Small spaces can be made to be very dramatic and beautiful and affordable to pull off," [homeowner Ed McHugh] said. "Many people do not have the luxury of having large, expansive spaces."

Hong Kong movie Drug War at Harris Theater, from September 20.

The Harris Theater (map) will show the 2012 Hong Kong movie Drug War (毒戰) from September 20. The Onion's AV Club wrote in a July review:

Drug War belongs to a subgenre that’s particular to [director Johnnie] To: crime movies that blend real-world details with oddball characters and narrative left turns, resulting in something that feels both realistic and heightened. Set in the mainland city of Jinhai, Drug War follows a group of narcotics agents who score a big break when they arrest Louis Koo, a Cantonese meth supplier. Faced with the possibility of the death penalty under China’s strict drug laws, Koo becomes an informant for the police, offering them an even bigger break in exchange for clemency: the chance to nab his boss.

The Pittsburgh Filmmakers website has information on showtimes, with the first screening at 8:00 on Friday and three additional showings through the weekend.

Korean totem in Indiana, PA.

Sinobi---a Korean restaurant with Korean owners and a Japanese name---has this totem outside their location in the Indiana Mall foodcourt. The inscription, 제36회교정작품전시회, refers to an art and cultural artifact exhibition held in the Korean city of Suwon in 2007. This sort of totem (장승) is a common piece of art throughout Korea, historically found at a village's entrance but today frequently seen at festivals and folk museums.

Pitt student 2nd-best Yu-Gi-Oh player in the world.

Pitt student David Keener placed 2nd in the World Yu-Gi-Oh Game Championships in August. The final match is available on YouTube:

Chinese grandparent bobbleheads and maneki neko in Greenfield.

Asian knick-knacks at Beautiful World Variety Store in Greenfield, in Squirrel Hill Plaza at the corner of Murray and Hazelwood Aves (map). It's worth a visit if you're in the area, and has a mix of household stuff and Asian accessories, like those pictured, though it's the kind of place where you'll find neat, random stuff but probably won't fare well with a shopping list.

Documentary Somewhere Between at Pitt, September 16.

The documentary Somewhere Between, about Chinese adoptees in the United States, is finally coming to Pittsburgh with a September 16th screening at the University of Pittsburgh. Roger Ebert gave an overview of themes in a January 2013 review:

Four girls: each abandoned, each eventually adopted by an American family. Now they are teenagers in American suburbs, a world of minivans and school activities. Each is clearly confident enough to navigate her local terrain. Each is introspective about her roots, curious about her origins, though perhaps not so confident about meeting her birth family, should that possibility arise.

The movie explores the psychology of being immigrant in American society. The young women have that consciousness that minority status in America forces. Immigrants are simultaneously insiders and outsiders, always conscious of our identities. The sense of exile from all lands, living somewhere between this and that, is the norm. Many immigrants respond by trying to surrender everything that would be deemed “exotic,” whether it means overcompensation with language, makeup, or even surgery. These girls, however, seem exceptionally comfortable in their own skins. I suspect much of that has to do with the fact that their experience is an exponentially exaggerated version of the common immigrant experience. But, I suspect that just as much results from their adoptive parents' concerns in raising them. One mother learned Chinese, while all the parents seem to take their adoptive daughters back to China, almost annually.

Somewhere Between will be shown at 7:30 pm, September 16, in 1500 Posvar Hall (map) on the University of Pittsburgh campus. It's free, and include discussion from three speakers. See the flyer above for more on the screening, and the movie's official website for more on the documentary.

For a limited time, get 25% of Jeff Guerrero Ceramics offerings with the promo code 25OFF.



Stoneware mug.

New list of songs for Oakland's K-Box.

K-Box, Pittsburgh's only Asian-style KTV / karaoke / カラオケ / 노래방 / singing room, released its updated song database, which now includes: 70,000 Chinese songs; 26,000 Japanese songs; 13,000 English songs; and 8,000 Korean songs. K-Box is located at 214 S. Craig Street (map) in Oakland, and hours and rates are listed online.

One big complaint when it opened was the limited selection of non-Chinese songs, but it added 8,000 Korean songs in May and in July asked its customers to suggest the Japanese songs that would be included in its library.

Wong Kar Wai's The Grandmaster (一代宗師) at the Waterfront from August 30.

Wong Kar Wai's latest film The Grandmaster (一代宗師) opens nationwide throughout the US tomorrow, August 30, and will play locally at the AMC Loews in the Waterfront (map). Starring Tony Leung and Zhang Ziyi, the New York Times wrote last week it's

a hypnotically beautiful dream from the Hong Kong filmmaker Wong Kar-wai, opens with curls of smoke, eddies of water and men soaring and flying across the frame as effortlessly as silk ribbons. The men are warriors, street fighters with furious fists and winged feet, who have massed together on a dark, rainy night to take on Ip Man (Tony Leung), a still figure in a long coat and an elegant white hat. Even amid the violent whirlpools of rain and bodies, that hat never leaves his head. It’s as unyielding as its owner.

Tony Normon writes today in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that Zhang Ziyi's performance was "so luminous that I considered myself lucky to be alive to enjoy [it]."

Showtimes for Friday are ‎1:30,‎ ‎4:45,‎ ‎7:45‎, and ‎10:45pm‎. An earlier version of this post said the nearest The Grandmaster would come to Pittsburgh was Cleveland Heights, because as of Thursday afternoon the Waterfront's theater information was not updated and instead linked to an Indian movie called "Grand Master".

Blurriecon, an "anime, gaming, new media, and Japanese culture con" in Erie, September 20 - 22.

The Erie Anime Experience shares information about Blurriecon,

an anime, gaming, new media, and Japanese culture con taking place in Erie, Pennsylvania on September 20, 21, and 22, 2013. The location is the Reed Student Union of Behrend College, 4701 College Drive, Erie, Pennsylvania, 16563. Events include live music by the Waddledees, video gaming of all eras, an anime dance party, cosplay masquerade, geekpop karaoke, drawing, crafting, fan-run panels and more! Our focus is on creativity and participation. Passes are available at the door...$10 per day ($5 with Behrend student ID), $20 all weekend ($10 with Behrend ID).

Mooncakes at Squirrel Hill's Dobra Tea.

Dobra Tea in Squirrel Hill (map) will offer mooncakes in September, the month of the Mid-Autumn Festival celebrated in China and elsewhere in Asia.

Jero's Pittsburgh hat.

Found while looking for something else, here's a hat sold in Japan a few years ago and modeled by Jero, the Pittsburgh native and 2003 Pitt graduate who has found fame as an enka singer. A limited selection of sizes is available from Cap Collector for a day's pay.

Pitt had as many Japanese as New Yorkers in 1896.

The University of Pittsburgh kindly scanned millions of pages worth of old documents and made the available online at Documenting Pitt. Flipping through them is a great way to spend a few months some time and learn a little about the international students at Pitt in the 19th and early-20th centuries.

The earliest record available of a Japanese student at what was then Western University of Pennsylvania is of two Japanese engineering students in 1893, Wahei Matsura and Saki Murayama. (The same year the school graduated its first African-American student, William Hunter Dammond.) There isn't a list of students by state and country of origin until the 1896 Catalogue of the Western University of Pennsylvania, which shows that one out of the 583 enrolled students was from Japan (the same as from Kentucky, New York, Germany, and Italy):



In 1916 an alumni directory was published, which lists alumni in alphabetical order and sorts them by country in another list. It includes 10 graduates from China, three from Japan, and one from Korea. Or, rather, one in Korea, as it's F.S. [Frederick Scheibler] Miller, a notable missionary and teacher there in the early-20th century.

Another collection shows that the early Western University of Pennsylvania yearbooks are a little bit like the ones of today: padded in the back with shoutouts and inside jokes. A nicer example from 1921's The Owl:

Otakichi Tanaka
Nagasaki, Japan
One of our neighbors from across "the way." Doesn't say much, but is always listening and when you can get him to talk, he's the most entertaining boy around. Persevering, you ask? You'd think he was if you knew he attends both day and evening school, wouldn't you? Well, he does, and is just as big a booster for the Evening School as any member of it. We're proud to have him with us and happy that he picked Pitt to come to.

Chiharu Shiota at Mattress Factory satellite gallery from September 12.

"Stairway", from Chiharu Shiota's official website.

Japanese artist Chiharu Shiota will have an exhibition at Pittsburgh's Mattress Factory satellite gallery on Sampsonia Way from September 12 through July 31, 2014. The museum's website summarizes Shiota and "Traces of Memory":

Central to the artist’s work are the themes of remembrance and oblivion, dreaming and sleeping, traces of the past and childhood and dealing with anxiety. Shiota explores the relationship between waking life and memories through hauntingly beautiful installations that incorporate everyday objects like shoes, pianos and hospital beds encased in webs of yarn. Stretched in multi-layers in a gallery space, Shiota weaves disorienting cocoons of black yarn that reflect the artist’s desire to ‘draw in the air’.

The site-specific installation of new works by Shiota will fill the eight rooms in the building at 516 Sampsonia Way—a 19th-century row home with a storied past—which is suited to the artist’s work. Its interior is cosmetically untouched; the raw condition of the building lends itself well to reflections on the past and the conjuring of memories.

Pop City adds more:

Shiota, who has worked out of Berlin since 1996, came to Pittsburgh at the beginning of August and has been covering the interior of the building with more than a million feet of yarn.

“She’d never had that big of a space to work with before,” Vanim says. “It’s nice to work in a space that has a little more character and a little more history to it. She’s used to working with plain, white gallery space.”

The opening reception is on the 12th from 7 to 9 pm. The new gallery is located at 516 Sampsonia Way (map), a few houses down from the museum's main building and down the street from the City of Asylum.

Enter the Dragon in Oakmont, August 24 and 25.

Oakmont's The Oaks Theater (map) will show Enter the Dragon, Bruce Lee's final movie, on August 24 and 25. The 1973 film is highly regarded and was added to the United States Library of Congress National Film Registry in 2004.

Two dollars from every ticket sold on the 24th go to the Warrior Mike Project to provide financial assistance to a local man injured in swimming accident.

Conflict Kitchen is hiring.

Conflict Kitchen, the Oakland foodstand that serves food from nations with which the United States is in conflict, is hiring. From the website:

Employees need to be capable of both working in the kitchen as well as interacting with our customers on topics related to our focus country in the sales window and at our dinners. Employees must bring a keen interest in international politics and cultural relations. Our employees are the face of Conflict Kitchen, and their conversations with our guests are at the core of our mission. We expect our employees to be expert conversationalists, deeply versed in the culture and politics within our focus county. We also expect our employees to learn how to produce our cuisine in an efficient, consistent, and professional manner.

Those interested may submit a resume via the restaurant's website. It's currently serving Cuban food, and will debut its North Korean menu in October.

Dazzle Vision has Live from Pittsburgh CD.

Via the Dazzle Vision Facebook page.

Pretty old news by our standards, but Japanese metal band Dazzle Vision released Live from Pittsburgh on July 5, recorded in front of 1,100 at Pittsburgh's Tekkoshocon in April. It's $20 from JRockShop or $25 from YesAsia (which kicks back a little to this site). Video available for free on YouTube.


Display at Tower Records, via Dazzle Vision's blog.

Appreciation of Squirrel Hill hibiscus in the Korean news.

Gwangju National University of Education president, and University of Pittsburgh alumnus, Park Nam-gi has been in Pittsburgh for a month as part of a teacher-training and cultural-immersion experience with GNUE students. His appreciation of local Hibiscus syriacus (무궁화), which is the national flower of South Korea, was published in the Chosun Ilbo on the 16th. The website---one of the largest papers and news sites in the country---has a periodic series "The Unseen National Flower, Mugunghwa" ("보이지 않는 國花, 무궁화"), and Park's lengthy email on the nostalgia inspired by these plants growing in Pittsburgh is one installment. Here he notes that the walls of hibiscus he enjoyed as a child have been replaced by concrete, and that kids these days growing up in Korea are deprived the opportunity to appreciate the flower in nature:

'마을 앞 무궁화나무 앞에서 친구들과 만나 같이 학교에 가고, 무궁화꽃에 벌이 들어가면 꽃잎을 말아 벌을 잡아 놀기도 했어요. 그러나 무궁화 담장은 언제부터인가 시멘트벽으로 하나둘씩 바뀌더니 점차 사라졌습니다. 지금 아이들은 어렸을 때부터 자연스럽게 무궁화가 품고 있는 의미를 배울 기회가 없어졌지요. 미국 땅에서 무궁화를 보고 반갑기도 했지만, 한국에서 꽃피워야 할 무궁화가 피츠버그에 만발한 것을 보니 그 무궁화 또한 지구 반대편 고향을 그리워하고 있을 것 같아 때로는 슬프게 다가오기도 했습니다.'

박 교수는 피츠버그 사람들이 무궁화를 많이 심어놓은 이유를 알아봤다. '이곳 사람들은 무궁화를 정말 아끼고 좋아하는 것 같아요. 특히 잘 꺾이지 않고 예쁜 꽃이 계속 피기 때문에 정원수나 자연 담장으로 많이 심는다고 하더군요.'

Cambodian singing troupe tours Pittsburgh churches.

Churchgoing Pittsburghers interested in seeing a Cambodian orphan singing troupe can find the "Celebration of Hope" tour in the suburbs for the next week. According to a Post-Gazette story, the group of 18 children has performances scheduled in Oakmont, Pine Township, Zelienople , Penn Hills, and Monroeville through the 24th. From the paper:

The troupe of seven boys and 11 girls, organized by Oakmont-based South East Asia Prayer Center, are touring in an effort to raise awareness about their country and express gratitude for support from around the world. Pittsburgh is the next stop, where the group will spend 10 days performing at seven venues; the first performance is at 1 p.m. today at the Frick Art and Historical Center in Point Breeze, followed by Kennywood Park and several churches in the area.

The children, ages 9 to 17, come from five orphanages in Cambodia. Some have spent years in the homes, and some have just recently moved in. One is the 11-year-old adopted daughter of Pastor Sinai Phouek, the founder of Phnom Penh-based New Hope for Orphans of Cambodia, which partners with the Oakmont organization.

Not much advance notice given for their Frick and Kennywood performances, though. It's not the first time the Oakmont group has hosted Cambodian visitors.

"There was no fresh bamboo available": Pittsburgh's first panda encounter leads to "rampage" in 1939.

Flipping through Dubuque, Iowa's Telegraph-Herald, we find a story of Pittsburgh's brief encounter with a panda. From May 2, 1939:

Pittsburgh--(U.P.)--Three transport plane pilots struggled with a giant panda in midair Monday as the animal, being flown across country, wandered into the plane's cabin when the airliner came into Allegheny County for a landing.

The plane was landed safely, although the 70-pound animal bit First Officer M.H. Cassing on the hand as the ship came to earth. Passengers on the TWA plane were unaware of the pilots' struggle.

Enters Control Cabinet

The panda was chained in the plane's baggage compartment when Tommy Tomlinson, chief test pilot for TWA, attempted to step through. The animal nipped at his trousers and chased him back into the cabin.

Encouraged by the pilot's retreat, the beast boldly ambled into the control cabin and approached Capt. Don Terry. Cassing then took over the controls while Capt. Terry struggled with the panda.

Eluding Capt. Terry, the animal managed to bite Cassing as the first officer brought the plane to a landing.

Bound from China to the Bronx Zoo in New York, the animal was in charge of Dr. A.E. Best of West China University, a passenger in the plane, Dr. Best did not know of the panda's rampage until the ship was landed.

"Does anybody have any fresh bamboo," he asked. "That will pacify him."

There was no fresh bamboo available.

The panda made it to the Bronx Zoo later in the day, but "Pan" died about a year later.

Taiwanese catcher "part of scouting revolution" for Pirates organization.

Via Pittsburgh Prospects.

Taiwanese catcher Jin-de Jhang (張進德), currently with single-A Jamestown, is "part of a scouting revolution" for the Pittsburgh Pirates, says the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette today. Jhang was one of two Taiwanese players signed by the Pirates in 2011, and ranked #20 on the list of top Pirates prospects compiled by Pirates Prospects in January.

Library orientation in Japanese, Korean, Chinese for international students at Pitt, August 19 - 23.

International students at the University of Pittsburgh can sign up for library orientation sessions held in Japanese, Korean, and Chinese.

* Would you like to know and meet a librarian who speaks your native language?
* Would you like to know the differences between the academic libraries in the U.S. and libraries in your home country?
* Would you like to know what and how the library can help your area of study and research at Pitt?

The sessions will be held from August 19 through 23, and interested students can sign up by emailing one of the contacts listed on the East Asian Library event page. The East Asian Library, on the second floor of Pitt's Hillman Library, has books, journals, and periodicals in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean, as well as some resources about those languages and their respective countries in English. More specifically it has, says the website:

approximately 303,000 volumes of Chinese, 135,000 volumes of Japanese, 16,900 volumes of Korean and some English language materials, plus over 900 titles of periodicals (over 50,000 volumes bound) published in Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, and the United States.

In addition, it holds about 12,700 reels of microfilms, over 2,100 CD-ROMs, about 1,300 Video/audio tapes, 1,700 DVDs, and 20 major area studies online databases in East Asian languages.

Conflict Kitchen travels to [South] Korea to prepare for [North] Korean menu.

Popsicles in Wonsan, 2012, from Joseph A. Ferris.

In April we wrote about Pittsburgh's Conflict Kitchen adding North Korean take-out to its menu this fall. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette writes about the restaurant's trip to South Korea to research its latest incarnation:

Later this month, the co-founders of Conflict Kitchen and their head chef will find themselves close to North Korean soil again. Proprietors Jon Rubin and Dawn Weleski, along with culinary director Robert Sayre, will speak and cook with South Korean natives and North Korean refugees during a week-long research trip to South Korea. Their efforts will debut a new menu in late October at the Schenley Plaza take-out restaurant, where they serve food from countries with which the United States is in conflict.

"We want to get a sense of what [the refugees'] life was, what their life is, what they're feeling on what's going on inside their country," Mr. Rubin, 49, of Point Breeze, said.

Their trip is funded by the Anyang Public Art Project in South Korea. They'll begin their research by conducting interviews with native Koreans -- and then they'll begin chopping ingredients.

1967 Korean film Yonggary, 1968 Japanese film Genocide in Dormont tomorrow.

On August 10, Dormont's Hollywood Theater is hosting "13 Hours of Sci-Fi", which will show 10 classic science-fiction movies from the 1950s, 1960s, and 1980s. Among them are two old Asian monster movies: Korea's Yonggary (용가리) and Japan's Genocide.

WPXI's website looks at protests in Seoul.

美 WPIX 방송 최대인파 청계광장 촛불집회 뉴스보도.. http://t.co/jaHIWTGPc4 국정원 촛불집회 현장-대선불복이 아닙니다!!! 부정선거무효입니다!!! 무효인 선거에 복종 불복이라는 단어자체가 성립되지 않습니다!!!

— 소셜네트워크(SNS) 핫이슈 (@june00660066) August 4, 2013

The website for WPXI, Pittsburgh's NBC affiliate, found room between its advertisements to host a Reuters video on candlelight protests in Seoul, a post that attracted the attention of some Korean Twitter users.

South Korean protesters held a candlelight vigil against the government's ruling party on Saturday, after allegations surfaced earlier this year that the country's spy agency had meddled in the 2012 presidential elections. South Korea's main opposition Democratic Party, has accused the ruling Saenuri Party of failing to conduct a proper parliamentary investigation into the country's National Intelligence Service (NIS).

The original post from 소셜네트워크(SNS) 핫이슈, which says that a local NBC affiliate in the US reported on the candlelight protests in Seoul, ended up with 238 retweets. We are sorry to report, though, that news of this, or any other protest in downtown Seoul, failed to actually make Pittsburgh's local news.

Pittsburgh City Council issues proclamation to "commend and recognize" Remembering Hiroshima, Imagining Peace.

Yesterday, ahead of the 68th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Pittsburgh City Council issued a proclamation to "commend and recognize the important work of Remembering Hiroshima, Imagining Peace". The group received similar proclamations in its honor in 2008, 2010, and 2012.

Yen's gourmet facade to go.

Via Google Maps.

The distinctive Chinese characters across the street from East Liberty's Target will meet the wrecking ball, according to plans that will have part of the block replaced with a new six-story building. The façade currently belongs to Yen's Gourmet Chinese Restaurant, a space that may soon look like this:

Teen Anime Club meetings in Oakland, East Liberty, Carrick, August 3.

Hey keen teens, the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh branches in Oakland (map), East Liberty (map), and Carrick (map) will host Teen Anime Club meetings on Saturday, August 3. The Oakland branch hypes:

We've got the anime you want to watch and a mountain of pocky to keep your spirits running high. Whether you jump at shonen or shojo is more your beat, check out the fun at the Teen Anime Club!

The East Liberty meeting runs from 2 to 4, the Carrick one from 3 to 4, and the Oakland one from 3 to 5. More information available on the respective pages; registration is required for the East Liberty meeting.

"Remembering Hiroshima, Imagining Peace: Activism in Japan and the US", August 5.

The Pittsburgh group "Remembering Hiroshima, Imagining Peace" will host a presentation in Oakland on August 5 by Joyce Wagner of Iraq Veterans Against the War

on the dangers of both nuclear weapons and nuclear energy in light of the proposed repeal on (sic) Article 9 of Japan's peace constitution and the on-going consequences of the meltdown at the Fukushiima Daichi plant.

Click the flyer above to enlarge. The presentation will be held at the Friends Meeting House, 4836 Ellsworth Ave. in Oakland (map), and will be followed by a Skype conversation with peace activists in Kobe. "Remembering Hiroshima, Imagining Peace" has long held events to locally mark the anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima in 1945.

1974 Japanese movie The Street Fighter in Dormont, August 7 and 11.

Dormont's The Hollywood Theater will show the 1974 Japanese martial arts movie The Street Fighter (激突！殺人拳) on Wednesday, August 7, and Sunday, August 11. A brief comment on the X-rated film, from LoveHKFilm.com:

Simply put, Terry Tsurugi (Sonny Chiba) is one mean bastard. If you don't keep your promises, watch out. Tsurugi's the kind of guy who'd not only splatter your brains on the pavement for your betrayal, but also be more than happy to make out with your sister right before selling her into a life of prostitution. Really.

Wikipedia says it was "the first film to receive an X-rating in the United States solely for violence".

The movie starts at 7:30 pm on Wednesday and 7:00 pm on Sunday, and tickets are $7. And if you'd like to take the subway to the theater, it's a little more than a block southeast of Potomac Station.

At the Japanese garden in Hershey.

Japanese garden at Hershey Gardens in Hershey, PA.

Japanese Nationality Room turns 14.

The Japanese Nationality Room in the University of Pittsburgh's Cathedral of Learning was dedicated on July 25, 1999. Located in room 317 on the Cathedral's third floor, the room is modeled after a traditional 18th-century minka. Wikipedia provides a good overview of the room's interior---which was largely built in Japan, disassembled, and rebuilt in Pittsburgh---while the 24-page program from the dedication ceremony, scanned and preserved by the university's Documenting Pitt archive, covers the ceremony as well as information on the budget, donors, and other contributors. At the time, it says, the total expenditure was $507,047.64, roughly 80% being building and building-related expenses.

KBox looking for suggestions for Japanese songs to carry.

In May we read about KBox, the Asian-style karaoke place on Oakland's Craig Street, adding 8,000 new Korean songs to the 13,000 English-language and over 70,000 Chinese songs available. Today a reader on Facebook passed along news that they are soliciting suggestions for new Japanese songs to add. You can view a selection of songs via this link and can pass along your comments or suggestions to KBox via Facebook or email (Pittsburgh.ktv at gmail). The file is massive, with over 25,000 songs, so you might have some luck simply choosing popular songs and passing along your suggestions.

"Stories Joyfully Embroidered: Shaanxi Folk Textiles from Northern China" at SAMA, June 28 - October 12.

"Stories Joyfully Embroidered: Shaanxi Folk Textiles from Northern China" is making its US debut at Loretto's Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art (map) through October 12. The SAMA website says:

The large and colorful banners featured in Stories Joyfully Embroidered belong to a rich folk tradition that celebrates the legends and customs of ancient China. Subjects include depictions of foundational folk heroes such as Huangdi, the Yellow Emperor; and deity figures including Nuwa, the half-human, half-dragon goddess who created the first men and women. Other themes include symbolic images of longevity, good fortune, and many children, while others encompass cheerful scenes from everyday life. Together, the works in this exhibition provide an overview of Chinese folk culture that is not only fascinating, but delightfully uplifting as well.
“This is an exceptional opportunity to see a type of art that is rarely seen outside of China,” said SAMA Curator for Visual Arts Dr. Scott Dimond.

More details about the pieces available in the Exhibition Catalog (.pdf file). The museum is located at St. Francis University nearly two hours east of Pittsburgh, is open Tuesday through Saturday until 5 pm, and is free.

Chinese university students volunteer at local food bank.

The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette both had stories on the 17th about a group of Chinese students from Zhejiang University who volunteered at a local food bank.

Cupcakes and culture at Yummyholic's free "Summer in Saigon", July 24.

Yummyholic's first Cupcakes & Culture Series event is "Summer in Saigon", July 24, from 7:00 to 9:00 pm at Biddle's Escape in Regent Square (map). An excerpt from Yummyholic's website:

Get ready for what will be the first in a series of five events collectively called the Cupcakes & Culture Series. Cupcakes & Culture 101 introduces Yummyholic’s first Cupcake Adventure called “Summer in Saigon” – a tres leches style cake infused with a concoction of sweetened condensed milk and Vietnamese dark roast coffee topped off with whipped cream lightly flavored with espresso. Some comments made by taste testers so far include: “It tasted like heaven,” “It was the best thing I ever put in my mouth,” “Oh my god, that was amaaaaaazing!”

Every Cupcakes & Culture event will feature FREE Yummyholic cupcake samples, finger foods from the best Asian eateries in Pittsburgh, music/entertainment, and a gathering of local Asian and diversity organizations that you can learn more about and plug yourself into. The greater purpose of these events is to make something awesome happen for our college-aged and young professional Asian American community here in Pittsburgh that tend to think there is nothing going on in this city that’s appealing enough to make you stay. It’s a way to introduce and strengthen our culture and community by increasing interaction. Yummyholic is basically using what it does best – cupcakes – to bring ALL people together to have a good time and hopefully learn something in the process.

Yummyholic is a local cupcakery slash apparel company started in 2012 by Jasmine Cho. Ahead of Summer in Saigon there will be cupcake samples available at the Local-Pittsburgh tent at Schenely Park's Vintage Grand Prix on Sunday.

Films Seven Samurai, Yojimbo in Oakmont this month.

Those interested in seeing classic samurai films will have a couple more choices besides next week's Rashomon. Oakmont's The Oaks Theater (map) is showing Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samruai (七人の侍) tonight and Yojimbo (用心棒) on July 21 and 24. Showtimes are 6 pm, tickets are $6, and the theater is a relatively short drive from Pittsburgh if traffic cooperates.

Rashomon for $2 at Melwood Screening Room, July 24.

As part of its occasional "Essential Cinema" series, the Pittsburgh Filmmakers' Melwood Screening Room (map) will show the 1950 Akira Kurosawa film Rashomon (羅生門) on July 24. The theater summarizes:

Considered one of the most brilliantly constructed films of all time, Rashomon has become synonymous with the subjectivity of truth. Set in medieval Japan, four witnesses give mutually contradictory accounts of a heinous crime. This masterpiece introduced Japanese cinema to the West, and was the surprise winner at 1951's Venice Film Fest, then went on to win an Oscar for Best Foreign Film.

The movie starts at 8:00, is $2, and, according to the receptionist, is in Japanese with English subtitles.

"Japan is the Key . . . " through July 21.

"'Japan is the Key…': Collecting Prints and Ivories, 1900–1920" will continue at the Carnegie Museum of Art through July 21. It opened on March 30, though the Pittsburgh City-Paper and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette saved their profiles for this month.

Thailand's Cathedral of Learning.

Via Assumption University's Facebook page.

An errant Google search brought me to the Cathedral of Learning (อาสนวิหารแห่งการเรียนรู้) in Bangkok, a 159-meter landmark at Assumption University modeled after the original Cathedral of Learning in Pittsburgh. Wikipedia says the 2002 version is the fifth-tallest educational building in the world, one behind the first one, and the university website writes of it:

The centerpiece of the campus is the Cathedral of Learning, a 39-story tower which houses student support services, the library, reception halls, seminar rooms and offices.

Two Pitt student-athletes visit Vietnam in Coach for College program.

From the Coach for College Facebook page.

One benefit of the University of Pittsburgh's joining the ACC is its participation in Coach for College, a program "that brings together US student-athletes and Vietnamese university students to teach academics, sports and life skills at summer camps to children in rural Vietnam." An excerpt from a July 9 university press release, about two Pitt students visiting Vietnam this summer:

Alec Sheaffer has already returned from her three week stint in Vietnam, in which she taught baseball on the field and health in the classroom. She is a rehab science major, and her experiences through "Coach for College" have instilled in her a new career goal. "I was thinking about doing physical therapy, and I still want to do something similar, but now more related to kids, especially after my experience," she said. "It was an eye-opening experience for sure. It was something out of the ordinary because, as a student-athlete, you don't get many opportunities to do stuff like this because we have such a busy schedule."

The "Coach for College" program puts together two American athletes, two bilingual Vietnamese college students and one older high school student who previously participated in the program, and places them in charge of a group of Vietnamese students. The American student-athletes participate in the camp as coaches in their first year, and one of them can return for a second year as the camp director. Sheaffer had an "awesome" experience and thinks she might return for a second year next summer. "I was really close with my director," she said. "I want to more coaching and other stuff like that, so I am definitely considering becoming a camp director."

Seven Korean Pitt alumni receive University of Pittsburgh Medallion Awards.

Via 동아일보.

University of Pittsburgh Chancellor Mark Nordenberg was in Seoul on the 8th, at a reception at the JW Marriot Hotel "to celebrate Pitt’s continuing progress and the accomplishments of its distinguished South Korean graduates." Seven people received university Medallion Awards, given to distinguished alumni. They are, as seated in the photograph:

왼쪽부터 남궁근 총장, 김학준 동북아역사재단 이사장, 김신복 가천학원 이사장, 김신일 전 교육부총리, 노덴버그 총장, 이상주 전 교육부총리, 권병현 한중문화청소년협회 미래숲 대표, 정재희 포드코리아 대표이사.

Romanizing Korean names is an inconsistent, imprecise task, so the hangeul will have to suffice for now. The group consists of: 남궁근, principal of Seoul National University of Science and Technology; 김학준, journalist and president of the Northeast Asian History Foundation; 김신복, Seoul National University professor; 김신일, former Education Minister and professor; 이상주, former Education Minister; 권병현 (Kwon Byung Hyun), former South Korean ambassador to China; and 정재희, president of Ford Korea.