Tickets for 2026 SCREENSHOT: Asia Film Festival now on sale.

The lineup for the 2026 SCREENSHOT: Asia Film Fest was announced a few days ago, and tickets are now available online. This year's festival features 13 works, so far, at locations throughout Oakland and downtown. Most relevant to readers of this site are films from Japan, Taiwan, Vietnam, Indonesia, Korea, China, and the Philippines:

• Before the Bright Day (南方時光, Taiwan) - September 18, 1:30 pm, Frick Fine Arts Auditorium
• Sleep No More (Monster Pabrik Rambut, Indonesia) - September 18, 8:00 pm, Harris Theater
• Gloaming in Luomu (罗目的黄昏, China) - September 19, 11:00 am, Cathedral 332
• Filipiñana (Philippines) - September 19, 7:00 pm, Harris Theater
• Two Seasons, Two Strangers ( 旅と日々, Japan) - September 20, 11:00 am, Frick Fine Arts Auditorium
• Queer Taiwan: Works from Jo-Fei Chen (Where is my Love?, Incidental Journey) - September 20, 3:00 pm, Carnegie Museum of Art
• Ky Nam Inn (Quán Kỳ Nam, Vietnam) - September 21, 6:30 pm, Public Health G24
• 3670 (Korea) - September 22, 7:00 pm, Harris Theater
• The Yoshida-Ryo Dormitory (対話のゆくえ　京都大学吉田寮, Japan) - September 23, 7:00 pm, David Lawrence 121

Tickets are free for anyone with a University of Pittsburgh ID and for Carnegie Mellon University students. The festival runs from September 16 through 23.

Seats remain for N1, N3 Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) in Pittsburgh in December; N4 and N5 registration opens later this week.

The University of Pittsburgh will once again serve as a testing site for the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) this year, with registration for N1, the highest level, having opened on August 18. There are currently seats available for N1 and N3, though N2 is sold out. Registration for N4 and N5, the lowest level, will open on August 26 and 28, respectively, at 8:00 am EST. The tests will be held on Sunday, December 6, and registration can be completed online.



The test is offered at locations throughout the country, but 2025 was the first time it was offered in Pittsburgh.

Oakland's Mount Everest Sushi closes.

Mount Everest Sushi has recently closed in Oakland after nine years of operation. It opened in April 2017 at 128 Oakland Ave., replacing the popular Sushi Boat and offering (at the time) poke, sushi rolls, sushi tacos, and sushi donuts.

The Yoshida-ryo Dormitory (対話のゆくえ 京都大学吉田寮) named 2026 Japan Documentary Film Award (JDFA) winner.

The 2025 Keizo Fujikawa documentary The Yoshida-ryo Dormitory (対話のゆくえ 京都大学吉田寮) has been named the 2026 Japan Documentary Film Award (JDFA) winner.

We are thrilled to announce this year's winner, the 2025 film Yoshida-Ryo by documentary filmmaker Keizo Fujikawa. Yoshida-Ryo Dormitory explores this centuries-old communal living space where its inhabitants are slated for eviction. Through a colorful array of characters, the film shows the struggles and wonders of living through consensus, as well as the fraught role of interdependence in the contemporary world. As one of our judges notes, "[the film] captures the essence of the universal, fundamental issue of the world we live in by digging deep into a very local, small world. I felt what's happening at Yoshida-ryo is happening everywhere, or it had happened already."

The movie will be screened at an awards ceremony on September 23 at 7:00 pm in 121 David Lawrence Hall on the University of Pittsburgh campus (map) as part of next month's SCREENSHOT: Asia Film Festival. 

He JDFA's official site provides an overview of the award:

The Japan Council of the University of Pittsburgh and SCREENSHOT: ASIA invites submissions every two years for its Japan Documentary Film Award. This biennial prize is awarded to one exemplary documentary film promoting the understanding of Japan and Japanese culture. The documentary should tell us something interesting about Japan and/or speak to Japanese culture, history, social phenomena, practices, or events. The award is available to feature-length films from all countries, and in all languages.

Previous award winners include:

• 2018 - Sennan Asbestos Disaster (ニッポン国VS泉南石綿村)
• 2020 - An Ant Strikes Back (アリ地獄天国)  
• 2022 - Maelstrom
• 2024 - Fists and Prayers (拳と祈り ー袴田巖の生涯ー) 

Japanese movies Godzilla, Shin Godzilla at Rangos Giant Cinema, September 12.

The Rangos Giant Cinema will present the 1954 movie Godzilla and the 2016 movie Shin Godzilla on September 12. The original movie will play at 7:30:

“Godzilla,” the film that sparked a worldwide sensation, finally makes it to a screen that’ll do it justice. When a prehistoric beast is mutated by hydrogen bombs, Japan becomes the focus of his aggression. Battle the monster alongside Dr. Serizawa to save his country from the monumental monster on Sat., Sept. 12 at 7 p.m.

And the 2016 installment starts at 9:30 pm:

Japan is terrorized by a seemingly unstoppable beast mutated by the carelessness of man. This reimagining of the original classic is a pulse pounding thriller that will leave you on the edge of your seat. On Sat., Sept. 12 at 9:30 p.m., “Shin Godzilla” makes its terrifying debut on the largest movie screen in Pittsburgh.

Tickets are available online. The Rangos Giant Cinema is located inside the Kamin Science Center, formerly known as the Carnegie Science Center, which is located at 1 Allegheny Ave. on the North Shore (map).

1988 Japanese film Akira (アキラ) in Pittsburgh, from September 3.

The 1988 Japanese film Akira (アキラ) will play in the Pittsburgh area from September 3.

In 1988 the Japanese government drops an atomic bomb on Tokyo after ESP experiments on children go awry. In 2019, 31 years after nuking the city, Kaneda, a bike gang leader, tries to save his friend Tetsuo from a secret government project. He battles against anti-government activists, greedy politicians, irresponsible scientists and a powerful military leader until Tetsuo's supernatural power suddenly manifest. A final battle is fought in Tokyo Olympiad exposing the experiment's secrets.

It plays locally, so far, at the AMC Loews Waterfront and the AMC Westmoreland in Greensburg, and tickets are available online.

2025 Japanese animated film cocoon – One Summer of Girlhood (cocoon 〜ある夏の少女たちより〜) in Pittsburgh, from September 4.

The 2025 Japanese animated film cocoon – One Summer of Girlhood (cocoon 〜ある夏の少女たちより〜) will play in Pittsburgh from September 4. A synopsis from the distributor GKIDS:

San and Mayu attend an all-girls school on a warm and tranquil island. When war reaches their shores, they are ordered to help nurse the wounded in a military hospital hidden away in a cave. Amidst escalating death and brutality, the friends struggle to find solace in their fragile lives.

Based on the manga by Machiko Kyo, cocoon – One Summer of Girlhood is the debut feature from Yukimitsu Ina and animation studio SASAYURI, founded by former Studio Ghibli animator Hitomi Tateno. The project brings together legendary veteran animators like Akihiko Yamashita and Shinji Otsuka, known for their work on PRINCESS MONONOKE and THE BOY AND THE HERON, with a new, young generation of animating talent. Featuring a stirring score from kensuke ushio (A Silent Voice, Chainsaw Man), the film is a devastating yet beautiful plea for peace.

It plays locally at the AMC Loews Waterfront (tickets here) and the Row House Hollywood, (tickets here). The Row House Hollywood is located at 1449 Potomac Ave. (map), one block south of the Potomac T Station.

2025 Japanese film Exit 8 (8番出口) returns to Pittsburgh, September 4 through 10, part of Holding (Liminal) Space film series.

The 2025 Japanese film Exit 8 (8番出口) will return to Pittsburgh on September 4, part of a Holding (Liminal) Space film series at the Row House Lawrenceville.

A man trapped in an endless sterile subway passageway sets out to find Exit 8. The rules of his quest are simple: do not overlook anything out of the ordinary. If you discover an anomaly, turn back immediately. If you don’t, carry on. Then leave from Exit 8. But even a single oversight will send him back to the beginning. Will he ever reach his goal and escape this infinite corridor?

The movie played in Pittsburgh throughout much of April. Tickets for this next run are available online. The Row House Lawrenceville is a single-screen theater located at 4115 Butler St. in Lawrenceville (map).

2025 Japanese animated film The Last Blossom (ホウセンカ) in Pittsburgh, August 30 and 31.

The 2025 Japanese animated film The Last Blossom (ホウセンカ) will play in Pittsburgh on August 30 and 31. A synopsis from GKIDS, the distributor:

Former yakuza Akutsu is serving life in prison after a middling career in the underworld. On the night he lays dying in his cell, he reminisces with his only companion, a smart-mouthed flower growing out of a can, about the choices that brought him here, the woman he loved, and a child he would give everything to protect. Is redemption out of reach?

From director Baku Kinoshita and writer Kazuya Konomoto, creators of ODDTAXI, and award-winning Studio CLAP (Pompo the Cinephile), THE LAST BLOSSOM is a thrillingly original work from animation’s most inventive new talent. Moving across time and memory, the film is an unforgettable meditation on found family, sacrifice, and the complicated pieces that join together to make a life.

It plays locally at the AMC Loews Waterfront and the Cinemark theater in Robinson, and tickets are available online.

Free "We Learn: Japanese Study" at Carnegie Library branch downtown, Fridays from September 4.

"Osaka, Japan" by Pedro Szekely (Creative Commons).

The CLP - Downtown branch will host free "We Learn: Japanese Study" sessions on Fridays from September 4 through October 2.

Enjoy learning the basics of the Japanese language and culture from a certified, native Japanese instructor. We will learn greetings, etiquette and manners, survival phrases for traveling to Japan, visiting interesting tourist locations, and ordering food and shopping. We will also learn reading and writing – Hiragana, Katakana, Kanji, Emoji, Anime and Manga. Each session is designed to be interactive and fun. The agenda can vary based on the interests of the students.
・10:30 – 11:00 (Writing)
・11:00 – 12:00 (Conversation)
We Learn groups are volunteer-facilitated peer learning groups.

The library is located at 612 Smithfield St. (map).