Free introductory Aikido class for adults, May 1 in Squirrel Hill.

East End Aikikai in Squirrel Hill is offering a free introductory Aikido class on May 1 from 6:00 to 7:00 pm.

Aikido is a Japanese martial art that teaches coordination, awareness, and resilience, as well as self-defense principles. It is a good workout on its own, but is also good for complementing a yoga routine. For this class we welcome adults (ages 13 and up) of all abilities, with little to no previous martial arts experience.

We're located in the heart of the Squirrel Hill business district at 1918 Murray Ave across from Giant Eagle. The dojo is easily accessible by the 61c, 61d, 64, and 58 bus lines. There is a spacious pay parking lot directly behind the dojo, as well as street pay parking in all directions surrounding (free street parking starts at 6pm).

Please wear comfortable clothing suitable for exercise. Dressing rooms are available.

RSVP is requested at (412) 421-3686 or info at eastendaikido.com. East End Aikikai is located at 1918 Murray Ave. (map).

"Memory as Politics" conference, May 6 at Pitt.

The University of Pittsburgh will host "Memory as Politics: An Interdisciplinary Conference" on Saturday, May 6. The conference will include a screening of selected interviews from "Cultural Revolution Ten", a collection of interviews on citizens' memories about the Chinese Cultural Revolution.

“Memory as Politics: An Interdisciplinary Conference” brings together experts on memory politics from various disciplines to foster interdisciplinary collaboration and dialogue in the field of memory politics. Questions to be discussed include:

• What shapes a society’s memory of its political past?
• What defines and shapes individual versus collective political memory?
• How does our memory of the past shape our opinions about the present?

Furthermore, the conference provides support for Pitt library’s ongoing project “Cultural Revolution Ten.” The project collects video interviews of citizens’ memories about the Chinese Cultural Revolution (1966-1976). This valuable project provides researchers of the Cultural Revolution new data and new insights. The conference will feature a presentation on the project and screen selected interviews in the panel on the Cultural Revolution.

Participants include Iza Ding, Kun Qian, and Dan Berkowitz of the University of Pittsburgh; Guobin Yang of the University of Pennsylvania; and Jeffrey Javed of Harvard University. The day's programming runs from 9:00 am to 6:00 pm in the second-floor Alcoa Room in the Barco Law Building (map), and a schedule is available online.

A selection of Korean airsoft guns recently turned up at Neighborhood Consignment in Greenfield.

Progress slow but steady on Japan-inspired crepe place in Squirrel Hill.

Photo on right via T-swirl Crêpe Facebook page.

Signage first went up for T-swirl Crêpe at 1714 Murray Ave. Squirrel Hill in May 2016. Little had changed to the exterior since then, as renovations were underway to the former banking and investments location that had been empty for over five years. But the paper is now off the windows!

The official site summarizes the concept behind T-Swirl Crepe:

The story of T-swirl Crepe starts thousands of miles away on the shores of Japan. The Japanese Crepe borrows from a western concept and modernized it into new level of versatility that you can gobble on the go. Building on this new concept, T-swirl started to research and have perfected the 100% gluten free rice flour batter, to craft a crispy thin chewy layer that embraces all the decadent condiments. T-swirl is synonymous with using the finest ingredients to construct a trendy/artistic crepe that arrives to your hand with incredible speed. We have standardized the process to give you a consistently clean and delicious crepe.

The chain has a Pittsburgh connection, as a NBC News story on the "undocumented entrepreneurs" notes:

In 2007, Andy Lin moved out of New York, travelling to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to begin work at a hibachi restaurant where Jerry Lin was already employed, he said. Andy Lin proved a quick study, Jerry Lin recalled, earning the plaudits of the owner who asked him to partner to open another store two years later.

But despite earning more than $10,000 a month, Andy Lin said he began to feel his career plateauing after years of doing the same thing day in, day out.

That's when he noticed the frozen yogurt shop across from his restaurant in Pittsburgh and decided to take a chance, he said.

Hoping to ride the frozen-yogurt wave washing up in cities across the country, Andy Lin returned his share of the restaurant and left at the end of 2010, he said.

2008 Japanese movie Still Walking (歩いても 歩いても) at Carnegie Library in Oakland, May 7.

The Carnegie Library's main branch will show the 2008 Japanese movie Still Walking (歩いても 歩いても) as May's installment of International Cinema Sunday. A 2009 Roger Ebert review summarizes:

A dozen years ago, the prized possession of this family was Junpei, the eldest son, doted on by his parents and admired by his younger brother and sister. But Junpei drowned while saving a life, and every year the family gathers, as many Japanese families do, to visit his grave and memory.

These occasions are hated by Ryota (Hiroshi Abe), the second son. His father (Yoshio Harada) almost blames him for not being the one who died. On the drive to his home town at the seaside, Ryota tells his new wife Yukari (Yui Natsukawa) they must not even stay the night. This will be her first meeting with the parents; she is a widow with a young son.

The father is a retired physician, slowed with age, still marching joylessly on his daily walk. He stays mostly closed off in his office and greets his son brusquely. The mother has her doubts about this marriage; it is better to marry a divorced woman than a widow, because at least the divorce chose to leave her husband.

Also together for this day are Ryota's older sister and her husband. It is only slowly that we pick up the suppressed currents of feeling in the family; on the surface, the mother stays cheerful, although the old doctor's bitterness is obvious: The wrong son drowned.

The movie plays from 2:00 to 4:30 pm on May 7 in Classroom A, and is free and open to the public. The library is located at 4400 Forbes Ave. in Oakland (map).

Hong Kong movie Love Off The Cuff (春嬌救志明) in Pittsburgh, from April 28.

The 2017 Hong Kong romantic-comedy Love Off The Cuff (春嬌救志明) will be released worldwide on April 27, and will play at the AMC Loews Waterfront theater from the 28th. A Variety review on the third movie in the series:

[T]he movie packs Pang [Ho-cheung]’s trademark smart-ass humor, plenty of colloquial Cantonese wordplay, and a stream of cameos by dishy starlets — all of which should guarantee a robust box office in Hong Kong, but a meh reaction in China.

Pang, who started out as a whiz kid making off-color indie comedies, shot “Love in a Puff” in 2010 as a snarky rejoinder to a new anti-smoking law in Hong Kong. The protagonists, Sephora-lady Cherie (Miriam Yeung) and ad-man Jimmy (Shawn Yue) were chainsmokers who meet cute huddling over a garbage-can. The film became a sleeper hit, spawning the sequel “Love in the Buff,” which relocated events to Beijing as the couple kept falling in and out of love. By 2017, they have returned home from their expat stint and settled into the convenience of cohabitation. Neither wussy Jimmy nor chronically insecure Cherie feels ready to take things to the next stage.

The movie is in Cantonese with English subtitles. Tickets and showtime information is available via Fandango. The theater is located at 300 West Waterfront Dr. in the Waterfront shopping complex in Homestead (map), across the Monongahela River from Greenfield, Squirrel Hill, and the rest of Pittsburgh.

Yayoi Kusama-inspired cookies by Yummyholic coming to Mattress Factory.

Yummyholic cookies crafted after the art by Yayoi Kusama will be available at the Mattress Factory - Museum of Contemporary Art starting this weekend. The yellow cookie replicates the "Pumpkin" installation at Benesse Art Site in Kawagawa prefecture, Japan; the red and white designs reference "Repetitive Vision", the 1996 installation at the Mattress Factory.

Management Science Associates hiring bilingual Chinese-English Marketing Research Analyst.

Management Science Associates, headquartered in one block from Bakery Square in Larimer, is hiring a bilingual Chinese-English Marketing Research Analyst. From the job posting:

Responsibilities

• Maintain existing models, update existing reports and assist higher-level analysts with market research project activities;
• Work closely with more experienced analysts to develop an understanding of MSA and the client’s marketing/sales operation;
• Produce independent analytical work for projects where client responsibility remains with higher-level analysts or managers;
• Communicate directly with subsidiary employees located in China on common project initiatives;
• Translate documentation from Chinese to English;
• Serve as a translator for clients visiting from China.

Required Skills

• Bachelor’s degree in Quantitative Business, Mathematics, Statistics, Economics or related field;
• Knowledge of statistics, mathematics and marketing;
• Knowledge of Microsoft Office products and statistical packages, including R and SAS;
• Fluent in Mandarin Chinese.

Applications can be submitted via the MSA site.

Oakland's Sushi Boat replaced by sushi, donut, and taco place.

Though the awning remains at 128 Oakland Ave., Oakland's Sushi Boat was recently replaced by Mount Everest, specializing in raw fish salad, sushi, tacos, and donuts.

Dubbed version of Sword Art Online The Movie: Ordinal Scale (劇場版 ソードアート・オンライン -オーディナル・スケール) at Hollywood Theater, April 23.

If you missed the Pittsburgh premiere of the Japanese animated movie Sword Art Online The Movie: Ordinal Scale (劇場版 ソードアート・オンライン -オーディナル・スケール) on March 9, the Hollywood Theater in Dormont will show a dubbed-in-English version on April 23 The official site provides a plot summary of the movie, which opened in Japan in February:

In 2022, the world of virtual reality was upended by the arrival of a new invention from a genius programmer, Akihiko Kayaba, called NerveGear. It was the first full-dive system, and with it, came endless possibilities to VRMMORPGs.

In 2026, a new machine called the Augma is developed to compete against the NerveGear and its successor, the Amusphere. A next-gen wearable device, the Augma doesn't have a full-dive function like its predecessors. Instead, it uses Augmented Reality (AR) to get players into the game. It is safe, user-friendly and lets users play while they are conscious, making it an instant hit on the market. The most popular game on the system is "Ordinal Scale" (aka: OS), an ARMMORPG developed exclusively for the Augma.

Asuna and the gang have already been playing OS for a while, by the time Kirito decides to join them. They're about to find out that Ordinal Scale isn't all fun and games…

Tickets for the 2:00 pm show are available online for $15. The theater is located at 1449 Potomac Ave. in Dormont (map), and is accessible by Pittsburgh's subway/LRT at a block south of Potomac Station.