In the Mood for Love at Erie Art Museum, March 6.

Readers in and around Erie may want to see the iconic Hong Kong film In the Mood for Love on March 6 at the Erie Art Museum (map) as part of its weekly film series. The film starts at 7:00 and tickets can be purchased online for $5.

Free Korean class for intermediates to resume March 10.

The free intermediate-level Korean class, run by the Korean Language Study Group in Pittsburgh and usually held at the Carnegie Library in Squirrel Hill, has been on hiatus since December but will resume on Sunday, March 10. Class starts at 11:00 am and will be held at the Panera on the Boulevard of the Allies in Oakland (map). Those interested are asked to RSVP on the class's meetup.com page.

For an overview of other language courses in Pittsburgh, please check the "Learn" page.

Japanese Anthropology Workshop (JAWS) in Pittsburgh, March 7 - 9.

The 2013 Japanese Anthropology Workshop (JAWS) will take place at the University of Pittsburgh from March 7 through March 9. Few details and little information are available online, but the theme is "Mobility in Japan", and the website did say last year of Pittsburgh:

Pittsburgh is a great city with a lot of things to do, so it will be a fun place to hold the conference, and the University of Pittsburgh has a strong Japan focus.

ウェストバージニア - Wild and Wonderful.

I don't check the Charleston Daily Mail often enough, it seems, because I missed this article from the beginning of the month. It's about a West Virginian web developer's "fascination with Japan" and his then-upcoming trip for personal and professional reasons. I was struck by the postcard Jamie Summers-Brown made for the trip.

Giving gifts is traditional in Japan, and the exchange of business cards is a serious matter.

"I wanted to give something about West Virginia," he said. "So I designed a postcard in Japanese."

The front features a colorful picture of the gristmill at Babcock State Park and an outline of the state. Next to the outline, in Japanese, is "West Virginia." At the bottom right there's a line in Japanese that identifies the photo.

Summers-Brown also says "There are 21 Japanese companies operating in West Virginia and thousands of Japanese nationals working here."

"Relational Visuality, or, What's the Point of Studying Anime?", February 28.

The conclusion of the 2013 Pittsburgh Anime Film Series is a lecture by Dr. Steven Ridgely on February 28, "Relational Visuality, or, What's the Point of Studying Anime?" The talk begins at 7 pm at the Frick Fine Arts Building in Oakland (map) and is free and open to the public. It ends at the Frick Fine Arts Building, too.

Dr. Ridgely is an associate professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Nom Nom Nippon at CMU, March 1.

If you're around the Carnegie Mellon campus on Friday afternoon, there will be Japanese food for sale at the University Student Center, courtesy of the Japanese Student Association at CMU. They'll be in the Wean Commons on the first floor from 11:30 to 3:30. More details on the event's Facebook page shortly.

Flying Horse Chinese Dance Performance, March 2.

The Yanlai Dance Academy will present "Flying Horse" at the August Wilson Center downtown (map) on March 2. "It is a great opportunity for Pittsburghers to appreciate a variety of Chinese cultures through Chinese dance", says the academy. The show begins at 5:30 and tickets start at $15.

Everyday Noodles to open February 27.

Everyday Noodles will open its doors for the first time on February 27 at 5 pm. It's located at 5875 Forbes Ave. in Squirrel Hill (map) and advertises "Traditional Handmade Noodles and Soup Dumplings".



Construction started in October in what used to be an art gallery. Follow its Facebook page for updates and for pictures of the new place.

Update: Menu added to their Facebook page:

George Aratani: Japanese-American business leader, community icon, Pittsburgh Pirates prospect.

San Pedro Skippers.

A line in the obituary for George Aratani, the prominent Japanese-American businessman and community leader who died Tuesday at the age of 95, caught my eye. Los Angeles' Rafu Shinpo on Aratani's youth:

A handsome and talented athlete, he was even being scouted by the Pittsburgh Pirates baseball team in high school, but a football injury derailed his aspirations for a possible professional sports career.

Unsurprisingly, Pirates scouting reports from 1933 are scarce, but Aratani's Pittsburgh connection turns up in a few other places. The Japanese American National Museum writes about baseball among second-generation Japanese-Americans (Nisei):

The 1920s and 1930s were the golden age of Nisei baseball. Teams could be found in practically every community. Semipro teams were formed. The San Pedro Skippers, a Southern California semipro Nisei team averaged 14 runs a game in the late 1930s. Stars emerged and sometimes even were invited to play with professional teams. Shortstop George Aratani was invited to practice with the visiting Pittsburg Pirates in Santa Maria in the 1930s where his coaches were Hall of Famers Honus Wagner, Paul and Lloyd Waner.

In spite of how good, and how underrated, some of these Japanese teams were, an article from 2003 about Pirates' spring training in Paso Robles, though, may make you wonder how much of a prospect Aratani was:

You've got to wonder what the Pirates and Cubs did for competition in those springs of the '20s. They were the only big league teams that came to California. The answer is the played a lot of intra-squad games that usually pitted the veterans against the rookies. But local players also got into the act according to Brian Milne, sports editor of the North County Tribune, Paso Robles' newspaper. The Chamber of Commerce put together teams that were only to happy to try their skills against the big leaguers. Semipro teams from around San Luis Obispo County and even high school teams got to try their luck. Pacific Coast minor league teams also provided competition for the Buccaneers.

Some of the better local players were even looked at seriously as prospects. But the talent bar was sometimes set pretty low. Milne writes of Bud Sheely, a student at Paso Robles High School, getting to play against his father, Pirate first baseman Earl Sheely. The older Sheely's only year with Pittsburgh was 1929, when Bud, who eventually made it to the majors himself, was 11 years old.

The Pirates wouldn't get their first Japanese player until they signed veteran pitcher Masumi Kuwata in 2007, and have never had an Asian-American on their roster.

Japanese coffee roasters visit Pittsburgh.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette writes today about a group of Japanese coffee professionals visiting Pittsburgh to learn a little more about the specialty coffee business.

In Japan, it's been a challenge to convince customers that some coffees are worth more than others, with a slowing economy hitting the industry hard.

More on the visit halfway down this Specialty Coffee Chronicle article from last month.

Colloquium "Chinese Social Media as Laboratory: What We Can Learn about China from Research into Sina Weibo", February 22.

If you're near the University of Pittsburgh on Friday, Jason Ng will host an hour-long colloquium "Chinese Social Media as Laboratory: What We Can Learn about China from Research into Sina Weibo". Ng is an Interdisciplinary Master's candidate in Pitt's Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures.

In November he presented "Blocked on Weibo: Content Regulation in Chinese Social Media" during Pitt's "Asia Over Lunch" series. You can learn more about the topic from his "Blocked on Weibo" tumblr.

Pittsburgh City Council proclaims "OCA Year of the Snake Day".

Pittsburgh City Council proclaimed February 19 "OCA Year of the Snake Day". OCA is the Organization of Chinese Americans.

Japanese film Summer Wars at Pitt, February 25.

The final installment of this month's Pittsburgh Anime Film Series is 2009's Summer Wars (サマーウォーズ). A plot summary from the film's North American site:

Kenji is your typical teenage misfit. He’s good at math, bad with girls, and spends most of his time hanging out in the all-powerful, online community known as OZ. His second life is the only life he has – until the girl of his dreams, Natsuki, hijacks him for a starring role as a fake fiancée at her family reunion. Things only get stranger from there. A late-night email containing a cryptic mathematic riddle leads to the unleashing of a rogue AI intent on using the virtual word of OZ to destroy the real world, literarily. As Armageddon looms on the horizon, Kenji and his new “family” set aside their differences and band together to save the worlds they inhabit in this “near-perfect blend of social satire and science fiction.”

The movie starts at 7 pm at the Frick Fine Arts Building in Oakland (map). It's free and open to the public.

Sister City Haiyang.

Reading about a Lunar Near Year event in Cranberry that already took place we learned that Cranberry Township has a sister city in China. Haiyang is a coastal city with a population of 716,060 and an under-developed Wikipedia page. Other Asian places with local ties are Wuhan, China and Saitama prefecture, Japan, both of which are Sister Cities to Pittsburgh.

Three Asian films at "13 Hours of Grindhouse", February 23.

Taiwan's Wolf-Devil Woman (狼女白魔) is one offering next Saturday.

I turned to the South Hills Almanac for news of the "13 Hours of Grindhouse" at Dormont's Hollywood Theater on February 23. (And I turned to Wikipedia for an explanation of the grindhouse genre.) Local gem The Hollywood Theater (map), which is showing a Japanese anime film on the 24th, will include in the series, according to the Almanac:

“Savage!” (aka “Back Valor,” 1973, Philippines), “Angels from Hell” (1968, USA), “Wolf-Devil Woman” (1982, Taiwan), “The Killing Machine” (1976, Japan), “Weapons of Death” (1977, Italy), “Massacre Time” (aka “The Brute and the Beast,” 1966, Italy), “Pieces” (1982, Spain), “The Big Bust Out” (1972, Italy/West Germany) and “Ilsa, the Tigress of Siberia” (1977, Canada).

The "festival" of domestic and international exploitation films runs from 11 am to 1 am the following day, and includes, again according to the Almanac,

a select number of vendors on hand in the theater’s lobby and lower level, selling a wide range of movie-related items such as DVDs, books, records, magazines, posters, T-shirts and original works of art.

Each movie is $5, and you can get an all-day pass for $15.

Japanese film Oblivion Island: Haruka and the Magic Mirror, February 24.

The Japanese animated film Oblivion Island: Haruka and the Magic Mirror (ホッタラケの島 〜遥と魔法の鏡〜 Hottarake no Shima: Haruka to Mahō no Kagami) will play at Dormont's Hollywood Theater (map) on February 24.

The Hollywood Theater shows the occasional Japanese or anime film, and is about the only theater around town to do so outside of an annual film series. Last year the theater showed the animes Summer Wars and Madoka Magica, and the live-action I Wish and Battle Royale. It is currently in jeopardy of closing and is in the middle of a fundraising campaign to buy a digital projector.

Tibetan film Old Dog at IUP's Foreign Film and Music Series.

I'll post about this again in April, but the Tibetan film Old Dog will run on April 10 as part of the Indiana University of Pennsylvania 2013 Foreign Film and Music Series. From the series' website:

A family on the Himalayan plains discovers their dog is worth a fortune, but selling it comes at a terrible price. Old Dog is both a humorous and tragic allegory and a sober depiction of life among the impoverished rural Tibetan community.

There are two showings, at 5:30 pm and 8:00 pm, in Sprawls Hall. The shows are free and are funded in part by the IUP Student Activity Fee. Before I repost in April I will ask if there is a way for non-students to chip in a little money to the Office of International Education, which is putting on the series. IUP student SiLu Jia will be the evening's musical guest.

I bring up the series now for three reasons. I noticed, four days late, that a Chinese film was included in this year's series on February 10. Additionally, Indiana is within reasonable driving distance to Pittsburgh at roughly 90 minutes away, and may be of interest to people on this side of the state. Finally, the campus puts on good international films. The best film series I've seen in western PA was a Korean festival nearly a decade ago, which had Chunhyang; Spring Summer, Fall, Winter, and Spring; Chihwaseon; Wakiki Brothers; and a few others.

Sushi: The Global Catch at Carnegie Mellon International Film Festival.

Advance notice for this, but Carnegie Mellon will show the documentary Sushi: The Global Catch as part of its 2013 International Film Festival on April 10. Details to follow, but the festival will run from March 21 through April 14 (the website gives multiple variations on this range) and hopes---according to festival organizers---to include various cultural activities and presentations to promote Japanese culture in general and Japanese community in the area.

Memories at Carnegie Mellon, February 18.

The third installment in the 2013 Pittsburgh Anime Film Series is 1995's Memories, a film comprised of three episodes based on Otomo Katsuhiro's manga. Writes the film series' website:

In “Magnetic Rose,” an abandoned spaceship contains a world created by one woman’s memories; a young lab assistant accidentally transforms himself into a human biological weapon in “Stink Bomb”; and “Cannon Fodder” depicts a city whose entire purpose is firing cannons at an unseen enemy.

The movie begins at 7 pm in the McConomy Auditorium in the University Student Center (you'll find it on Google Maps; it's behind the Forbes Ave opp Morewood Ave. bus stop). Admission is free.

Tehching Hsieh lecture at CMU School of Art, February 19.

At the 2010 Gwangju Biennale, from DesignBoom. Hsieh photographed himself once an hour for one year, and has the timecards and prints to prove it.

Carnegie Mellon University School of Art will host Tehching Hsieh on February 19 as part of the Spring 2013 Lecture Series. Hsieh

was born in Taiwan in 1950. He did his first performance “Jump Piece” in 1973 and broke both ankles. Trained as a sailor, he arrived in Philadelphia in 1974, jumped ship, and stayed in the states as an illegal immigrant for fourteen years until granted amnesty in 1988. From 1978 to 1999, Hsieh did five One Year Performances and the Thirteen Year Plan in New York City. The first four One Year Performances made him a regular name in the art scene; the last two, in which he intentionally retreated from the art world, set a tone of sustained invisibility. Since 2000, Hsieh—released from the restriction of not showing work during the Thirteen Year Plan—has lectured and exhibited worldwide, including MoMA, the Guggenheim, the Liverpool Biennial, the Gwangju Biennial, and the Sao Paulo Biennial. He received the United States Artists award in 2008.

Google will be your friend for more on the artist. Pictured above is an exhibit at the 2010 Gwangju Biennale in South Korea from DesignBoom, which has more photographs on and information about on Hsieh's work.

All in This Tea at Winchester Thurston School, February 23.

As part of the annual Asia Unreeled series, Winchester Thurston School in Shadyside (map) will show the 2007 documentary All in This Tea on Saturday, February 23, at 2 pm.

Japanese plays, "Seinendan Theater Company – Robot / Android - Human Theater" in Pittsburgh, March 8 and 9.

Two Japanese one-act plays will be performed at the Andy Warhol Museum (map) on March 8 and 9. The Seinendan Theater Company + Osaka University Robot Theater Project, sponsored by the Japan Foundation and Japan Society, present "I, Worker" and "Sayonara", which star two robots and "an incredibly human-like android who consoles the human actor dealing with a fatal illness", respectively. An introduction from the Japan Society website:

Imagine a time when "robot maids" are commonly found in family households. That's the much-anticipated setting of these two heartrending short plays by Oriza Hirata, founder of Japan's celebrated Seinendan Theater Company. In Sayonara (android and human actors), an android is bought to console a girl suffering from a fatal illness, but when its mechanics go awry, the meaning of life and death to humans and robots comes into question. In I, Worker (robots and human actors), a husband's struggle to cope with the loss of his child is juxtaposed with the malaise of one of his robots, which has lost all motivation to work. This double bill was developed in collaboration with Dr. Hiroshi Ishiguro, a leading international researcher on robotics and Director of the Intelligent Robotics Laboratory at Osaka University. Sayonara will be performed in English and Japanese with English subtitles. I, Worker will be performed in Japanese with English subtitles.

The Verge has a review from last week's New York shows.

The performances are at 8:00 pm on both days, and tickets are available at the Warhol Museum website.

Friends don't let friends write bad poetry. The Post-Gazette gives us "Learn to Speak Chinese" at the start of the Lunar New Year.

5 Centimeters Per Second (秒速5センチメートル) at Frick Fine Arts, February 11.

The second installment in February's Pittsburgh Anime Series is 2007's 5 Centimeters Per Second (Byōsoku Go Senchimētoru, 秒速5センチメートル), which plays at the Frick Fine Arts Building in Oakland (map) on February 11. A plot summary from Anime News Network:

A tale of two people, Tono Takaki and Shinohara Akari, who were close friends but gradually grow farther and farther apart as time moves on. They become separated because of their families yet continue to exchange contact in the form of letters. Yet as time continues to trudge on, their contact with one another begins to cease. Years pass and the rift between them grows ever larger. However, Takaki remembers the times they have shared together, but as life continues to unfold for him, he wonders if he would be given the chance to meet Akari again as the tale embarks on Takaki's realization of the world and people around him.

The works of Makoto Shinkai, of which this is a prominent example, are especially well known for their exceptional animation and attention to detail. His 2002 short film Voices of a Distant Star is among my favorites.

The film starts at 7:00 and admission is free.

Make Your Own Peppero, February 13.

Peppero, by ThisDeliciousLife.

On February 13th is an event for Pitt undergraduates: Make Your Own Peppero. This is done by the Korean Culture Association and will be held at 7:30 on the 6th floor of the William Pitt Union. And on Valentine's Day:

We will also be tabling in Towers lobby on the following days to sell Peppero! 1 bag for $2.00 and 2 bags for $3.00. Come out and get some goodies for yourself or your hunny :)

Valentine's Day is one of the bigger couples' holidays in South Korea, a day when, for a change, a girlfriend or wife gives something to the special man in her life. On March 14th, White Day, he returns the favor. If you're alone, you have Black Day on April 14th. Actually, each 14th of the month is a consumer holiday: January has Diary Day, May has Rose Day, June has Kiss Day, with Silver Day, Green Day, Photo Day, Wine Day, Movie Day, and Hug Day rounding out the year.

If you prefer to wait for Peppero Day (November 11) to do your cooking, or if you are not a Pitt undergrad, you can find plenty of Peppero recipes online.

MEPPI Japan Lecture Series: Counter-Culture in Japan, February 21.

Dr. Gabbi Lukacs, an associate professor of anthropology at the University of Pittsburgh, will be giving a talk on February 21 in Oakland called "Counter-Culture in Japan".. This is one of several events this spring sponsored by Mitsubishi Electric Power Products, Inc., which has an office in Warrendale. An overview from the Japan-American Society of Pennsylvania:

Dr. Gabbi Lukacs, Associate Professor of Anthropology, University of Pittsburgh, will examine new labor subjectivities such as the net idols that become famous by posting their photos and diaries on the web, cell phone novelists whose novels have recently come to dominate literary bestseller lists, and entrepreneurial homemakers who conjure wealth from day trading. The subjects of mass culture theory, digital media theory, work and play, consumer culture, and Japan in the twentieth century are also topics for discussion. There will be a cash bar and light refreshments.

The talk is from 5:30 to 7:00 at the Pittsburgh Athletic Association on Fifth Ave (map).

Dr. Lukacs gave a lecture in October 2012 at Pitt titled "The Labor of Cute: Net Idols, Cute Culture, and the Social Factory in Contemporary Japan", a lecture that had been going around for about a year at that point. In 2010 Dr. Lukacs presented on similar topics, "The Net Idols: Cute Culture, Social Factory, and Neoliberal Governmentality in New Millennial Japan" at Pitt:

In this presentation, I analyze a recent Japanese phenomenon, what is called the net idols—young women who produce their own websites featuring personal photos and diaries. Many net idols earn an income from maintaining these websites, thus I understand them as new labor subjectivities that have evolved in late 1990s Japan in response to the deregulation of labor markets and unprecedented developments in new information technologies. Mastering cute looks and embracing cute behavior are key to the popularity of net idols. While the culture of cute has drawn considerable scholarly attention in recent years, it has been dominantly understood as a form of resistance to work-oriented adult society, a retreat to childhood—a space within which young women find redemption indulging in infantile play and passive behavior. By contrast, I draw on the Italian autonomists’ theory of the social factory to analyze the net idols’ production of cute culture as symptomatic of the ways in which the meanings, forms, and conditions of work have changed as intangible commodities (such as cute) have become the new center of economic gravity in the wake of growing economic volatility. Equally important, by analyzing the net idol phenomenon I also aim to theorize an emerging form of rationality (the foundational logic of neoliberal governmentality) within which individuals accept and even celebrate the end of job security as a marker of a shift from the postwar order of “working to find pleasure” to the neoliberal imperative to “find pleasure in work.”

Lunar New Year celebrations in western Pennsylvania.

This year the Lunar New Year falls on February 10, and there are several celebrations in the area over the next month. A couple have already taken place, but you'll notice there are quite a few others this weekend and next. Many are free and open to the public.


CSSA Spring Festival Celebration - February 9.



The Chinese Students & Scholars Association will be holding a celebration on Saturday, February 9, from 2:00 pm through the evening at the University of Pittsburgh's William Pitt Union. From the group's website:

Tea House and Chinese Culture Exhibition, 2 pm to 5 pm, WPU Main Floor Lower Lounge There will be games and prizes. Every year, a lot of people participate to appreciate Chinese culture, have fun and enjoy the atmosphere of the festival.

Dinner (free for students with registration), 5:30 pm to 7 pm, WPU Main Floor The website for registration is http://www.pittcssa.net/springfestival2013/. Hurry up, the deadline for registration is Feb. 3rd 6pm.

Spring Festival Stage Show (Chun Wan), 7:30 pm and after, Alumni Hall 7th Floor Auditorium Audiences can enjoy Kong Fu, singing, dancing, stand-up comedy, and many other wonderful performances.

Lion Dancing in the Strip - February 9.
From 11 am to 2 pm in the Strip District, Gong Lung Kung Fu and Lion and Dragon Dance will be, says the Facebook event page,

starting at Lin's Hair Studio at 1627 Penn, going to Shanghai Restaurant next door, and then heading out to Wing Fat Hong Grocery at 2227 Penn Ave, our lions will travel through the strip stopping at shops to bring New Years blessings. People on the street may also feed the lions for their own blessing as the lions drive out any malevolent spirits and bring good fortunate for the new year.

Chinese American Students' Association at Pitt Annual Chinese New Years Festival - February 16.
The Chinese American Students' Association [CASA] will host its annual Chinese New Years Festival on Saturday, February 16, in the O'Hara Student Center (map) from 5 pm. From CASA's site:

Its that time of year again! This year we will be ringing out the year of the Dragon and welcoming the year of the Snake! Come celebrate with us for a spectacular night! Guest performances will include students of the Yanlai Dance Academy, Steel Dragon of Pittsburgh, as well as students from PITT showing off their talents! Best of all, the annual Fashion Show will be bigger and better than ever!

Chinese New Year Celebration at Children's Museum of Pittsburgh - February 17
Held at the Children's Museum of Pittsburgh on the North Side (map) from 12 - 4 pm. From the museum's website:

Celebrate the Year of the Water Snake! Make culturally-themed art with Silk Screen Asian Arts and Culture Organization, enjoy a live performance by the Steel Dragon Lion Dance Team and join a parade through the Museum for the finale! Visit our Studio to learn how to paint the Chinese symbols for luck, joy or auspiciousness at the painting easels. Hand-make paper or silk-screens today in red and gold, colors that symbolize good luck, fortune and happiness in Chinese culture.

Lunar New Year Celebration Hosted by the Vietnamese American Community of Pittsburgh - February 17.



On Sunday, February 17, from 4:00 pm at the Dormont Rec Center (map). Attractions include food and a performance by Steel Dragon Kung Fu & Lion Dance.


OCA Pittsburgh Lunar New Year Banquet - February 23.
By the Organization of Chinese Americans Pittsburgh and held at Syria Shriners Center in Cheswick, PA (map). The priciest and most formal of the season, the cost is $50 for members and $60 for non-members, and includes dinner and performances by local ensembles. Reservations required.

Pace yourself with "Modern Japan", "Introduction to Asian Studies" online.

A few days ago the Japan American Society of Greater Philadelphia posted that a free online course "Intro to Japanese Culture" through the Massechusetts Institute of Technology [MIT] was now available. Navigating the MIT website you'll see a syllabus, a list of readings, and downloadable materials that direct back to the website. I noted on their Facebook page that this particular site was a useful guide but that it lacked any lectures or uploaded materials, so it wasn't exactly a "course" but rather a checklist. This and the numerous other Asia-related courses available from MIT---including Japanese Literature and Cinema, Smashing the Iron Rice Bowl, and Race and Gender in Asian America---are useful for enthusiastic learners wanting to pace themselves with previously-offered university courses, but are incomplete in that readings, lectures, assignments, and films are, because of logistical and copyright concerns, unavailable. It wasn't my goal to bicker with somebody behind an excellent resource for Japanophiles in Philadelphia, just to look more closely at what's actually available.

However, some university professors put their course sylabii and more online, allowing people to follow along at home. Dr. Alan Baumler at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, for an example in western Pennsylvania, teaches "Modern Japan" and has posted not only a syllabus but also the articles his students can choose to read. As he explains on this Frog in the Well blog post last month, students choose among several optional readings in order to customize the course a bit to their own interests.

I could give them a whole graduate seminar of readings, but that would not work, in part because undergraduates mostly need the ‘lecture’ part of lecture-discussion: someone leading them through the major themes of the period rather than assuming they already know them.

The way I have been approaching this is giving them a set of “optional” readings. Each week they need to do whatever common readings we have, and also at least one of the optional readings, usually an article or a book chapter. The idea here is that they can tailor the class to fit their own interests. More interested in economics, or women? Then pick the optional readings that fit your interests.

Dr. Baumler also teaches "Introduction to Asian Studies", for which there is also a syllabus and selected readings online.

Eunsuh Choi exhibition "Consciousness" at Pittsburgh Glass Center in Garfield, Feb 1 - Jun 16.

Eunsuh Choi's exhibition "Consciousness" opens at Garfield's Pittsburgh Glass Center (map) tomorrow and runs through June 16. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette wrote a lengthy preview on the 30th.

Her work is about aspiration and the symbolism that permeates her sculptures attests to that. Trees, for example, reach upward, as do ladders. Trees also symbolize human beings. The reaching limbs, as graceful as a ballerina's arms, end in small rounded buds at the ready to blossom into fulfillment. "Humans also kind of have seasons," Ms. Choi noted, cycling the relationship back. And, unlike ladders, she writes in an artist statement, "this is an object that lives and breathes, has the capability of growing and is equally capable of dying."

The confining spaces of the boxes reflect "how I feel about living in a foreign country," Ms. Choi said.

More about her is on her official website,

I’m interested in portraying the human aspiration in life with organic forms from the new perspective I had about myself within a foreign country. Originally from Korea, I relocated to the United States and my Korean heritage tends to make me ask about myself in terms of my direction as an artist and an individual especially after I came to the USA. What are my ambitions, how can I achieve these, and what is the personal significance?

and the Pittsburgh Glass Center Facebook page has a lot of neat photos of, among other things, the pre-exhibition exhibition.

Pittsburgh Quarterly on Teppanyaki Kyoto.

By Laura Petrilla for Pittsburgh Quarterly.

Highland Park's Teppanyaki Kyoto has been open for a year, and has been reviewed a few times by the local papers (1, 2, 3). This month it's Pittsburgh Quarterly's turn, and this time they took some good photos. And like the other reviewers, this one understands there is more to Japanese food than sushi and a hibachi:

Very few people view Japanese food as comfort food — but in the dead of winter, Teppanyaki Kyoto is a great spot to eat a warm meal in a peaceful setting. It joined the expanding Bryant Street restaurant district in Highland Park last January and serves authentic Japanese food grilled (yaki) on an iron griddle (teppan).

Here, sushi isn’t on the menu; instead, there are meats, seafood and noodles.

They also talked with the restaurant's owner, who moved here from Taiwan and is married to a Japanese woman:

Why did you choose to set up on Bryant Street?
It’s quiet — the right atmosphere for a Japanese restaurant. I feel like Shadyside and downtown are too busy, whereas Bryant Street has just the right number of restaurants. We live close by and my family likes the neighborhood. In addition, my restaurant is popular with younger people, and it’s easy for them to get here by bus or car.

Akira at Pittsburgh Anime Film Series, February 5.

The first selection in this February's Pittsburgh Anime Film Series will be Akira (アキラ), February 5th at Toonseum downtown in the Cultural District (map). Wikipedia tells us about the film:

The film depicts a dystopian version of the city of Tokyo in the year 2019, with cyberpunk tones. The plot focuses on teenage biker Tetsuo Shima (Nozomu Sasaki) and his psychic powers, and the leader of his biker gang, Shotaro Kaneda (Mitsuo Iwata). Kaneda tries to prevent Tetsuo from releasing the imprisoned psychic Akira. While most of the character designs and settings were adapted from the original 2182-page manga epic, the restructured plot of the movie differs considerably from the print version, pruning much of the last half of the manga. The film became a hugely popular cult film and is widely considered to be a landmark in Japanese animation.

The movie starts at 7:00 pm and is free with Toonseum admission ($5 for adults). About the screening:

The film is being screened in conjunction with a special exhibition of original production art from the film, running throughout February at the ToonSeum. The screening will be followed by a lecture on Akira by film writer Joe Peacock, owner of a number of the pieces on display in the exhibition.

The other movies in the series are: 5 Centimeters Per Second (Byōsoku Go Senchimētoru, 秒速5センチメートル) on February 11, Memories on February 18, and Summer Wars (Samā Wōzu, サマーウォーズ) on February 25. They're free, and they're held on the campuses of Pitt and Carnegie Mellon University. More details available at the series' official website.

As an aside: New Orientalism.

One of the hallmarks of American media coverage of East Asia over the past decade has been a new sort of Orientalism, a patronizing look at its development that preserves audiences' sense of superiority by marveling at its rapid progress, questioning implicitly how those people could do it, and comforting readers that "we" are still ahead. It's hard to watch anything about Asia on the Discovery Channel, National Geographic, or even Animal Planet without repeatedly hearing how "exotic" the cultures are, while the contrast is deliberately underscored through a shamisen, erhu, or other traditional stringed-instrument in the background. It's also apparently an unwritten rule to frequently return to that theme of contrast throughout the article or video report: old versus new, tradition versus Western influence, and the stories of those left behind in the countries whose economic developments have been unparalleled this century.

Japanese film After Life (ワンダフルライフ) at Pitt, January 31.

The University of Pittsburgh's undergraduate Linguistics club Yinzling will show the Japanese movie After Life (Wonderful Life, ワンダフルライフ, in Japan[ese]) on January 31. Wikipedia says:

The movie is set in a building resembling a decrepit travel lodge or social services institution. Every Monday, a new group of recently deceased people check in, and the "social workers" in the lodge explain to each guest their situation. The newly-dead have until Wednesday to identify the single happiest memory. For the rest of the week, the workers at the institution work to design and replicate each person's chosen memory, thereby replicating the single happiest moment of that person's life, and it is filmed.

At the end of the week, the recently deceased watch the films of their recreated happiest memories in a screening room. As soon as each person sees his or her own memory, he or she vanishes to whatever unknown state of existence lies beyond and takes only that single memory with them, to live and relive for eternity.

It starts at 8:30 pm in room 324 of the Cathedral of Learning. Those interested should RSVP on the event's Facebook page.

Philadelphia cherry blossom festival postcard.

The Subaru Cherry Blossom Festival of Greater Philadelphia recently released a couple of postcards to promote its 2013 event, held from April 1 through 26 this year. Here's the best of the bunch:



And since we're looking at that side of the state, here are a few pictures of a frozen Shofuso Japanese House and Garden.

When Kimchi Bus came to Pittsburgh (and took a nice picture).

Back when it was nice out, the Kimchi Bus visited Pittsburgh.

The Kimchi Bus is, um, a bus that was on a mission to introduce Korean kimchi by touring around the world. It found Pittsburgh back in September. Unfortunately, it didn't tell anyone, so just a few people happened across it by accident. It did give us this nice picture, though, which should hold us over until the weather gets better and until we have interesting things to write about later.

Local student earns gold medal at World Traditional Wushu Championships.

Last week the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review---and Examiner.com the month before---wrote about Gina Bao, a North Allegheny Intermediate High School student who earned a gold medal in her age group for taijijian at the World Traditional Wushu Championships in Huangshan City, China back in November.

Bao, 15, traveled with the U.S. Traditional Wushu Team to participate in the Fifth World Traditional Wushu Championships from Nov. 5 to 11, when she competed with and defeated contestants from several other countries to win the gold medal in her age group, 14 to 18.

. . .

She also won the bronze medal for females in her age group for taijiquan, or tai chi hand form, in the competition.

Both articles have decent write-ups of her training and upbringing in kung fu and other activities.

Originally a ballet dancer, Bao gave up that activity when her family recognized her talent in martial arts.

“That was really hard for me because I didn‘t like martial arts, but we (she and her father) both knew I was better,” Bao said. “I liked dance a lot more, but I was better at martial arts. In the end I chose martial arts. I love tai chi because it‘s like dance. I like to compete, and I like to win because I like to make my parents proud.”

She has won 25 domestic and international medals, according to the Tribune-Review, and will perform at the OCA Pittsburgh Lunar New Year Banquet on February 23.

Pittsburgh Taiko beginner lesson, January 19.

Pittsburgh Taiko, a local Japanese drumming group, will offer a free "crash course" for beginners tomorrow, January 19, from 2 to 5 pm at Shadyside's Winchester Thurston School (map).

During this session, you’ll be learning basic warm-ups and exercises, the proper form and technique, and then diving into your first two kumidaiko songs!

You can see and hear Pittsburgh Taiko on YouTube.

Ramen a "dining-out specialty", writes Tribune-Review.

Gone are the days when Pittsburghers had to make a field trip to Morgantown to get Japanese ramen. The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review looked yesterday at several local restaurants that have recently started serving variations of the dish.

"Ai Weiwei: Activist and Visionary" movie and potluck dinner at Thomas Merton Center, January 28.

GlobalPittsburgh's twitter tells us the Thomas Merton Center will show the documentary Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry as part of a potluck-dinner-and-a-movie on January 28th. The official website describes the film and subject:

Ai Weiwei is China's most famous international artist, and its most outspoken domestic critic. Against a backdrop of strict censorship and an unresponsive legal system, Ai expresses himself and organizes people through art and social media. In response, Chinese authorities have shut down his blog, beat him up, bulldozed his newly built studio, and held him in secret detention.

The film was last in Pittsburgh in September, and the Pittsburgh City Paper wrote about the subject:

Weiwei enjoys fawning attention in the West, particularly for his pointed critiques of his homeland's government, while in Beijing, his celebrity and influence is constantly checked by the authorities.

The event is from 6:30 to 8:30 and "guests should bring food and drink to share". The Thomas Merton Center is located at 5129 Penn Avenue in Friendship (map), and

works to build a consciousness of values and to raise the moral questions involved in the issues of war, poverty, racism, classism, economic justice, oppression and environmental justice.

Pirates prospect to pitch for Taiwan in 2013 World Baseball Classic.

On the 14th we learned Taiwan's (Chinese Taipei) team for the 2013 World Baseball Classic will feature Pittsburgh pitching prospect Wei-Chung Wang (王維中) as one of the 13 pitchers on the roster. Wang is twenty years old was one of two Taiwanese players signed by Pittsburgh in 2011. Like most Pirates signings, he was already injured, and underwent Tommy John surgery. Little has been written about Wang vis-a-vis the Pirates because he hasn't pitched recently, and it is impossible to speculate where he might project.

The second player signed in 2011 was catcher Chin-De Chang (張進德, written elsewhere as Jin-De Jhang), a 19-year-old who last week was ranked the #20 prospect by PiratesProspect.com. Because he is not a 34-year-old backup, it isn't clear where he figures into Pittsburgh's long-term plans. Pittsburgh's Major League roster has been relatively Asian-free, with three Japanese players and a Korean playing in the regular season, but this list from TaiwaneseBaseballPlayers.com shows five other Taiwanese players who have been in the system the last few years.

Progress on Everyday Noodles in Squirrel Hill.

In October "coming soon" signage went up for Everyday Noodles on 5875 in Squirrel Hill. An awning and an exterior sign went up a little later, and the paper recently came off the windows.




There's still a lot of work to be done on what used to be an art gallery, and the interior is still in some disarray.



But it looks like there's at least one encouraging development: there's a counter against the window providing a view of the preparation area from the street and the dining room. If you're going to tout handmade noodles and dumplings, that's what your restaurant needs.

Glyn Davies talk at Pitt on "North Korea: Diplomatic Prospects in the Coming Year", January 16.

If you miss Ambassador Glyn T. Davies' January 16 talk at the World Affairs Council of Pittsburgh on "Bridging the Parallel: Prospects for Peace in the Korean Peninsula", you will have a chance at a similar presentation at the University of Pittsburgh later in the day. "North Korea: Diplomatic Prospects in the Coming Year" will be held from 3 to 4 pm in room 3911 of Posvar Hall. From the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs:

The Matthew B. Ridgway Center will host guest lecturer Ambassador Glyn Davies at 3:00 p.m., Wednesday, January 16 in room 3911 Posvar Hall. Ambassador Glyn Davies is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, and was appointed by Secretary of State Clinton as Special Representative for North Korea Policy in November 2011.

A yearlong U.S. effort to engage nuclear-armed North Korea culminated in the announcements by Washington and Pyongyang of the so-called “Leap Day” understanding on February 29. A fortnight later, North Korea announced it would launch a multi-stage rocket carrying what the reclusive state said was a civilian satellite. After an intensive four weeks of public and private calls on Pyongyang from the other five members of the Six-Party Talks not to proceed, the April 13 launch failed, but triggered unanimous censure from the 16-member UN Security Council. Ambassador Davies will describe the talks leading to the Leap Day understanding, the fallout from North Korea’s aborted launch, and where this leaves our efforts to hold Pyongyang to its denuclearization and other promises. He will also discuss Washington’s views of new leader Kim Jong Un, the likelihood of change in North Korea, and diplomatic prospects in this season of political transition in key Six Party states.

Pittsburgh Anime Film Series coming in February.

The Pittsburgh Anime Film Series was announced today by, among others, the Deparmtent of East Asian Languages and Literatures at Pitt.

The University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon University, and Toonseum are collaborating to bring an anime film festival to Pittsburgh! Join us for film showings, art exhibits, and lectures on the history and influence of Japanese animation. All films presented in Japanese with English subtitles. All films are free and open to the public!

The films playing are: Akira (アキラ) on February 5th, 5 Centimeters Per Second (Byōsoku Go Senchimētoru, 秒速5センチメートル) on February 11, Memories on February 18, and Summer Wars (Samā Wōzu, サマーウォーズ) on February 25. Most are free---all except Akira, which is free with Toonseum admission on February 5th---and all but Akira are held on the campuses of Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh. A lot more details available on the series' official website.

Post-Gazette likes Ramen Bar; other reviews mixed.

Not Ramen Bar. Ramen stalls in Hakata, Japan.

The Post-Gazette's "Brunch" column wrote about "Ramen Bar" today and gave it a good review in an overall painful-to-read write-up.

As the days grow colder, we often turn to liquid meals for convenience and comfort. But the ones at Ramen Bar won't induce you to call up any exes or give you a raging hangover. No, they might just be good for you.

There are several reviews of Ramen Bar up on Yelp, which had a soft-opening in Squirrel Hill in November and had its proper opening last week. The thirteen reviews are mixed so far, and the restaurant has earned three out of five stars overall. For Pittsburgh I'd rate it an A-, as it's the only place in the city devoted to ramen. If it were in a larger city, though, it would earn a C and wouldn't be anything special. We're not diverse enough yet to be discerning, and we get fired up about small movements in the generally-right direction. It's still rather new, and is soliciting advice for improvements on its Facebook page, but the glaring omission of "tonkotsu ramen"---left off the menu because the pork-bone soup is cumbersome and was preemptively deemed unpopular in the Jewish neighborhood of Squirrel Hill---nearly defeats the restaurant's purpose. People may be short on patience, though, because they're writing on the internet it opened with some fanfare in a high-traffic area; diners were more forgiving of Teppanyaki Kyoto and its extended soft-opening in Highland Park in 2012.

Setsucon in State College, January 26 - 27.

For the seventh year, State College will host the Setsucon anime convention on January 26th and 27th. More information available on its website and Facebook page.

"MEPPI Japan Lecture Series: Sake-Tasting" in Cranberry, January 24.

The Japan-America Society of Pennsylvania will host a free sake-tasting event on January 24 at the Residence Inn in Cranberry township (map). From the JASP website:

Join us with Michael John Simkin, Sake Sommelier, as we learn about sake. A discussion and casual tasting with follow the lecture.

Michael has spent many years in Japan-some in residence and the rest in travel, traveling extensively through Japan’s sake landscape, interning at many breweries working to learn the intricacies of how sake is made. Mr. Simkin is also the most favored sake expert used by the Washington D.C. Japan-America Society, as well as the San Diego Japan Society.

The event runs from 5:30 to 7 pm, and registration is required.

The JASP recently announced other upcoming events for the first few months of 2013, including: the film The Power of Two at Sewickley Academy on January 12; "Counter-Culture in Japan", a February 21 lecture by Dr. Gabbi Lukacs that will cover similar ground as her October 2012 talk at Pitt on net idols and the culture of cute; the lecture "The Political Economy of Japan in the Wake of a Growing China" in March; and an exhibition at the Carnegie Museum of Art from March 30 through July 21 titled "“Japan is the key…” Asian Art / Modern Pittsburgh, 1900-1920".

Pitcher Ryu Hyun-Jin to make his debut against Pirates, possibly.

The 한국일보 looks ahead to the 2013 Major League Baseball season and predicts that pitcher Hyun-Jin Ryu---a prized Korean free-agent signed to a big contract this off-season by the Los Angeles Dodgers---will make his Major League debut against the Pirates on April 6th or 7th. Ryu signed a 6-year US$36-million contract with Los Angeles in December, and is one of about eight starting pitchers in their rotation. The 26-year-old was scouted by practically every team, including the Pirates, but the large posting fee commanded by Ryu and his agent made him prohibitively expensive to the league's worst team.

"Bridging the Parallel: Prospects for Peace in the Korean Peninsula" public policy discussion, January 16.

The World Affairs Council of Pittsburgh will host U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Policy Ambassador Glyn T. Davies and his public policy discussion "Bridging the Parallel: Prospects for Peace in the Korean Peninsula" on Wednesday, January 16. The flyer over there has a summary; an excerpt:

As the Korean peninsula enters its seventh decade of conflict, are there prospects for peace — or renewed conflict? How is an increasingly isolated North Korea balancing itself after a major transition in leadership? Will the rise of China push South Korea into closer relationships with the U.S. and other regional powers? Join the Council as one of America’s leading North Korean negotiators examines the path for reconciliation and cooperation in one of most highly-contested areas in the world.

The talk and luncheon run from 12:00 to 1:45 pm at The Duquesne Club downtown (map). Registration is required and the cost is $65 for those not members of the World Affairs Council and who don't have to work Wednesday afternoon.

Free Japanese, Chinese, Korean classes at Carnegie Library.

A reminder from the Carnegie Library in Oakland (map) that it offers free Chinese, Japanese, and Korean classes for beginner and intermediate levels. Here's what's resuming this month:

* Chinese Conversation Club - January 10 and 24 at 6 pm in the Large Print Room, for intermediate learners
* Japanese for Beginners - January 14 and 28 at 6:30 pm in Classroom A
* Japanese II - January 8 and 22 at 6:30 pm in Classroom A
* Japanese Conversation Club - January 15 at 6 pm in the Large Print Room, for intermediate and advanced learners
* Korean for Beginners - January 12, 19, and 26 at 1 pm in the Large Print Room
* Korean II - January 12, 19, and 26 at 11 am in the Large Print Room

On the "Learn" page atop the website is a list of other resources for language-learning and cultural exchange in the Pittsburgh area, including additional Chinese and Japanese classes and conversation partner programs.

White Cube, Green Maze: New Art Landscapes at Carnegie Museum of Art through January 13.

Ando's "The Oval" on Naoshima. Image by Telstar Logistics.

Old news, but the exhibit White Cube, Green Maze: New Art Landscapes will be at the Carnegie Museum of Art (map) through January 13. A summary from the museum:

Today a new type of museum is emerging—one that fuses inventive architecture and landscape design with radical conceptual and installation art. These sites typically mix old and new, featuring collaborative plans by several designers and encouraging exploration outdoors.

The exhibit features such work by three Japanese artists: Ryue Nishizawa, Hiroshi Sambuichi, and Tadao Ando, the latter's installations on the island of Naoshima drawing special attention here.