Screening of 2009 documentary Vincent Who?, on 1982 Vincent Chen murder, September 27 at Pitt.

The University of Pittsburgh's Asian Studies Center will present a screening of the documentary Vincent Who? on September 27. From the film's official site:

In 1982, at the height of anti-Japanese sentiments arising from massive layoffs in the auto industry, a Chinese-American named Vincent Chin was murdered in Detroit by two white autoworkers. Chin's killers, however, got off with a $3,000 fine and 3 years probation, but no jail time. Outraged by this injustice, Asian Americans around the country united for the first time across ethnic and socioeconomic lines to form a pan-Asian identity and civil rights movement.

Among its significant outcomes, the movement led to the historic broadening of federal civil rights protection to include all people in America regardless of immigrant status or ethnicity.

VINCENT WHO? explores this important legacy through interviews with the key players at the time as well as a whole new generation of activists whose lives were impacted by Vincent Chin. It also looks at the case in relation to the larger narrative of Asian American history, in such events as Chinese Exclusion, Japanese American Internment in WWII, the 1992 L.A. Riots, anti-Asian hate crimes, and post-9/11 racial profiling.

Ultimately, VINCENT WHO? asks how far Asian Americans have come since the case and how far they have yet to go.

It will be followed by a Q-and-A session with the film's producer. The event will be held from 7:00 pm in the William Pitt Union (map) Dining Room A, safety permitting, or online via Zoom; it's free and open to the public, though registration is required.

Pitt's Asian Studies Center offers language partner program.

The Asian Studies Center at the University of Pittsburgh is again offering its language partner program this school year.

The Asian Studies Center offers a language partnership program to match students learning Asian languages with native speakers of those languages. The Asian language learners will have an opportunity to practice their language with a peer, while native Asian language speakers will have opportunities to practice their English. Each partner will have the opportunity to build a relationship with another student across cultures. If you think you might be interested, visit our website and click here to fill out the request form. If you have other questions about the program, please contact the Asian Studies Center at asia@pitt.edu.

Those interested can register online.

Presentation on Japanese art and calligraphy at Carnegie Museum of Art, October 7.

The Carnegie Museum of Art and the Japan America Society of Pennsylvania will present Dr. Frank Feltens and "The Mary and Cheney Cowles COllection and 20th-Century Japanese Painting and Calligraphy in the Freer Gallery of Art" on October 7.

Dr. Frank Feltens, Associate Curator of Japanese Art at the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, will explore how the Freer Gallery’s Japanese art collection evolved over the hundred years since the museum’s founding and how the most recent additions stay true to the original intentions and aesthetics of Charles Lang Freer. The talk will conclude with a journey through the exhibition Meeting Tessai: Modern Japanese Art from the Cowles Collection that highlights the Cowles gift and showcases how Freer conversed with contemporary Japanese artists like the famous literatus Tomioka Tessai.

The talk will be held in the Carnegie Museum of Art Theater and will be followed by refreshments and a networking reception. Registration is free but donations are encouraged.

The event starts at 6:00 pm and is free and open to the public, though registration is required. The museum is located at 4400 Forbes Ave. in Oakland (map), accessible by buses 28X, 58, 61A, 61B, 61C, 61D, 67, 69, 71B, 71D, 75, and P3.

"Ecologies of Instrumentality: Global Capitalism and Ethical Artisanship in Japan," September 8 at Pitt.

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The University of Pittsburgh's Asian Studies Center will host Dr. Keisuke Yamada and "Ecologies of Instrumentality: Global Capitalism and Ethical Artisanship in Japan" on September 8.

How do we propose the most ethical yet legitimate ways for centuries-long traditions, heritages, and artisanship that require a great deal of nonhuman exploitation to continue existing in the future? This presentation tackles the problem of ontological struggles between the human and the nonhuman, the animate and the inanimate, the living and the dead, with a study of the practice, politics, and ethics that surround the making of a traditional Japanese musical instrument called the shamisen. All the materials that make up the shamisen are imported from other countries. The material condition and existential possibility of the shamisen have perpetually been shaped by the workings of global capitalism and biopolitical power across time. Revealing the darker side of the development of Japanese traditional music as part of the global history of extractive capitalism, it calls for a new ethical stance in order to recraft modes of living with both various nonhuman species and traditional cultural artifacts in an age of ecological crisis.

The hybrid event begins at 4:30 pm in 207 Lawrence Hall or online, and registration is required.

1954 film Godzilla (ゴジラ) at Row House Cinema, September 3 through 9.

The 1954 Japanese film Godzilla (ゴジラ) will play at the Row House Cinema from September 3 through 9.

Before Godzilla fought Kong or Mothra in 4K, he rose out of the sea and changed sci-fi films forever as an allegory for the follies of a nuclear world. We’re showing the very first film in the iconic franchise. See Ishirô Honda’s original smash hit classic that brought to life the unstoppable dinosaur-like creature hell-bent on destroying Tokyo.

It plays in Japanese with English subtitles, and tickets are available online. The single-screen theater is located at 4115 Butler Street (map) in Lawrenceville.

"Jazz Poetry Month: Norihide Nakajima Quintet" at City of Asylum, (online) on September 14.

The City of Asylum will present "Jazz Poetry Month: Norihide Nakajima Quintet" in an online concert on September 14.

This concert marks the first time Jazz Poetry reaches Japan. A concert filmed for fans in Pittsburgh inside the top jazz club in Kyoto, Rag Jazz.

The program features original compositions, with Japanese poetry woven throughout as lyrics, as well as Japanese Jazz standards. Featuring musicians Utako Yamauchi (vocals), Tsutomu Takei (saxophone), Kiyoshi Takeshita (piano), Norihide Nakajima (bass), and Takehiro Shimizu (drums).

It runs from 7:00 to 9:00 pm, and those interested should register in advance.

"Jazz Poetry Month: Bad Activist," September 20 at Alphabet City.

The City of Asylum will host Mai Khoi and Bad Activist on September 20 as part of its Jazz Poetry Month.

Bad Activist is an autobiographical performance piece, combining storytelling with state-of-the-art music performance. The narrative charts the extraordinary trajectory of Mai Khoi’s life—from renowned to Vietnamese pop star to dissident activist, fighting for artistic freedom in Vietnam and pitting herself against the strong arm of the communist government. Within this crucible of political titans, international powers, and constant surveillance and threat, Khoi develops a personal and unique art form. Her new sound is rooted in forgotten Vietnamese musical traditions fused with jazz and ripe with political song lyrics. Bad Activist explores both the actual historic events of the artist’s life, as well as the subconscious dream worlds that have fueled her work.

Unable to safely live and work in Vietnam, Mai Khoi is currently an Artist Protection Fund Fellow at City of Asylum and the University of Pittsburgh. This performance of Bad Activist features collaborators from the University of Pittsburgh’s PhD in jazz, and all new arrangements for larger bands.

The event runs from 7:00 to 9:00 pm and will be held both in person and online. Please visit the website for ticket information and for safety protocols. Alphabet City is located at 40 W. North Ave. on the North Side (map).

Hong Kong short film Chen Chen (陳陳) at ReelAbilities Film Festival, September 9 - 12.

The 22-minute short film Chen Chen (陳陳) from Kargo Chen will play at the ReelAbilities Film Festival, scheduled for the Carnegie Museum of Art and online from September 8 through 12.

In this heartfelt docudrama, Chen takes his home-ridden brother with cerebral palsy out for some real-world experiences, leading to a day neither will soon forget. (Adult content: sex, nudity)

This short film precedes the feature-length documentary, Re-Inventing the Wheel.

This set of films will play online from the 9th through the 12th, and tickets are now available.

Panda Supermarket (熊猫超市) to open at new location, September 1, with expanded hours.

Panda Supermarket (熊猫超市), an Asian grocery store in Squirrel Hill, will open at its new location at 5816-5818 Forbes Ave. (map) on September 1. According to Facebook:

MOVING! Our store will be moving to 5816-5818 Forbes Ave. (next to PNC Bank) on 30-31 August 2021. We will reopen at 5816-5818 on September 1. New store hours at the new spot: Monday - Thursday: 10am - 9pm Friday - Saturday: 10am - 9pm Sunday: 11am - 7pm Sorry for the inconvenience! We will stay open at our current spot through the 29th. See you here (and there)!!

Panda opened in 2017 and purchased the new spot in 2019. Work has been underway since last summer. It switched to limited hours---11 am to 7 pm---when COVID hit, and is moving to the hours it kept for most of its life.

Yoshitomo Tsutsugo hits third home run, becomes new home run king among Japanese Pittsburgh Pirates.

Yoshitomo Tsutsugo hit his third home run of the season on Monday, and his third home run of his Pittsburgh Pirates career, setting a new high mark among Japanese-born players in team history. Tsutsugo was signed on August 15th, and is the fourth Japanese player in team history after pitcher Masumi Kuwata in 2007, infielder Akinori Iwamura in 2010, and pitcher Hisanori Takahashi for nine games in 2012.