Mega Happy Hour Mixer - Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, May 9 at Yuzu Kitchen.

The World Affairs Council of Pittsburgh and numerous regional affinity groups will host the Mega Happy Hour Mixer - Asian Pacific American Heritage Month on May 9.

Calling all members and friends. Let’s mix and mingle to celebrate Asian Pacific American Heritage Month!

The Asian American Leadership Forum invites you to celebrate Asian Pacific Heritage Month with us. The following groups will be co-hosting the event:

• World Affair Council of Pittsburgh
• Pittsburgh China Chamber of Commerce
• TiE Pittsburgh
• Executive Women's Council of Greater Pittsburgh
• The Japan-America Society of Pennsylvania
• Allegheny County Bar Association, Asian Attorney Committee
• The Western PA Global Business Forum

It will be a great opportunity to connect with members and friends from these organizations.

Delicious Asian Hors d’oeuvres and appetizers. One drink coupon will be provided.

The event runs from 5:00 to 8:00 pm at Yuzu Kitchen downtown (map). Tickets are $12.24 for members of the above groups, or $17.55 for general admission.

Japanese film Shoplifters (万引き家族) at Maridon Museum, May 3.

The 2018 Japanese movie and Palme d'Or winner Shoplifters (万引き家族) will play at the Maridon Museum on May 3.

Asian Pacific American Heritage Month celebration in Squirrel Hill, May 11.

The Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA) will present an Asian Pacific American Heritage Month celebration at the Jewish Community Center in Squirrel Hill on May 11.

Join us to celebrate the launch of the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA) Pittsburgh chapter! We will have free immigration services and free food. Everyone is welcome!

2:00 pm - 4:30 pm
Free immigration related legal screening
Free food and soft drinks

4:30 pm - 6:00 pm
Celebration with performances and speakers
Free food and soft drinks

- Free child care available
- Interpretation services in Mandarin and other languages (We will
be adding to this list!)
- Accessible by bus 61A, 61B, 61C, 61D, 64, 74

Buddhist Society of Pittsburgh's Vesak 2019, April 28.

The Buddhist Society of Pittsburgh will present its Vesak 2019 on April 28.

Homestay hosts needed for Chinese, Japanese, Korean visitors this year.

GlobalPittsburgh shares news of its needs for host families from May through next January for various cohorts of visitors, including Korean English teachers, Chinese students, and Japanese students from Yasuda University.

Thai coffee shop and bakery, Ka-Fair Coffee & Cakery, coming soon to Morningside.

The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review writes about a Thai coffee shop, Ka-Fair, set to open soon in Morningside.

In addition to coffee, tea and hot chocolate, they will serve homemade baked goods made by Reanroo such as a crepe cake with raspberry topping, orange cakes, and brownies.

She taught cake decorating in Thailand and plans to offer classes here and host other events.

Reanroo said undertaking this venture is exciting.

“I am all about the details,” she said. “We like challenges. It’s a new chapter in our lives.”

An open house scheduled for April 21 was cancelled, and permission from the county to formally open is still pending. It will be located at 1806 Chislett St. (map).

Zhang Yimou's 2018 film Shadow (影) in Pittsburgh, from May 24.

The 2018 Zhang Yimou film Shadow (影) will play at the Regent Square Theater from May 24 through 30. The distributor provides a summary:

With SHADOW, director Zhang Yimou (HERO, HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS) once again pushes the boundaries of wuxia action to create a film like no other, masterfully painting a canvas of inky blacks and greys punctuated with bursts of color from the blood of the defeated. In a kingdom ruled by a young and unpredictable king, the military commander has a secret weapon: a “shadow”, a look-alike who can fool both his enemies and the King himself. Now he must use this weapon in an intricate plan that will lead his people to victory in a war that the King does not want.

The movie opens nationwide on May 3, so there may be earlier screenings around the city. Tickets and showtime information are not yet available. The theater is located at 1035 S. Braddock Ave. in Regent Square (map).

Tuvan throat singers Chirgilchin in Pittsburgh, May 1.

Tuvan throat singing group Chirgilchin will perform in Pittsburgh on May 1.

The word Chirgilchin has two translations: "dance of the air in the heat of the day" and "miracle". Established in 1996, Chirgilchin is a group of throat singers from Tuva, a small Russian province north of Western Mongolia. Chirgilchin's music tells stories of their homeland, its horses and its people. Tuvan songs are sung in minor pentatonic scale, similar to American blues. The monotone sustained notes that branch out into overtones with slight shifts in pitch give Tuvan throat singing its characteristic buoyant yet meditative drone quality. Throat singing is an extraordinary vocal form in which one singer produces two or more voices simultaneously, the low sounds in the throat harmonizing with middle and high flute-like overtones, to create richly layered melodies that evoke images of Tuvan steppes and nomadic life. Atmospheric and mesmeric, throat singing is almost too difficult to describe in words and must be heard to be believed. The most advanced forms of throat singing come from Tuva, and the members of Chirgilchin are among the best and most accomplished throat singers in all of Tuva.

The performance starts at 7:30 pm at the First Unitarian Church in Shadyside (map). Tickets are available online.

Hello Kitty Cafe Truck coming to Ross Park Mall, May 4.

via @HellyKittyCafeTruck

The Hello Kitty Cafe Truck will return to Pittsburgh on May 4, parking outside the Cheesecake Factory at Ross Park Mall.

Hello Pittsburgh! The Hello Kitty Cafe Truck is returning to Ross Park Mall on Saturday 5/4! Come say hello to us near Cheesecake Factory between 10am-8pm and pick up some supercute treats & merch, while supplies last! See you there!

The "menus" include a variety of sweets and merchandise.

Japanese film The Third Murder (三度目の殺人) at Maridon Museum, April 25.

The 2017 Japanese film The Third Murder (三度目の殺人) will play at the Maridon Museum on April 25. A 2018 New York Times review writes:

Did he or didn’t he is the question that’s teased throughout the insistent, gripping “Third Murder.” That’s the case even if everyone seems to agree that the defendant is guilty: the defendant himself (he’s confessed), the police, the prosecutor and the defense lawyer who at first only seems to care about the case not his client. Even the filmmaker seems to have boxed the defendant in: The movie opens with the defendant bashing in the victim’s head and then burning the corpse. A trial seems almost beside the point, a view that the writer-director Hirokazu Kore-eda goes on to dismantle with lapidary precision.

The movie starts at 6:00 pm and reservations are required to be made by phone: 724-282-0123. The Maridon Museum is an Asian art museum at 322 N. McKean St. in downtown Butler (map) that runs film series periodically throughout the year, in addition to art classes, book club meetings, and its regular exhibits.