Pittsburgh Japanese School looks to relocate after Shady Side Academy building sold to Aviary.

Ceremony for the first day of school in April. 

The Pittsburgh Japanese School in Fox Chapel is scouting new locations as work nears completion on the new Middle School campus and after news of the current grounds' impending sale. In February it was reported the National Aviary had purchased the campus; Shady Side Academy and PJS students will discontinue use of the building in December.

The Pittsburgh Japanese School was established in 1977 and offers education in the Japanese curriculum for Japanese and Japanese-American children from pre-kindergarten through high school.

Located on the beautiful campus of Shady Side Academy, PJS is one of the three supplementary Japanese schools in Pennsylvania. We offer Japanese instruction for grades Pre-K - 12th in accordance with the guidelines and curriculum set by Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology of Japan.

The primary purpose of PJS is to provide a Japanese curriculum for children of Japanese families who have relocated to the Pittsburgh area so that their children may make a smooth transition back to the rigorous Japanese educational system upon their eventual return. The secondary purpose of PJS is to provide children who are fluent or proficient in Japanese with the opportunity to receive instruction in Japanese and to participate in the cultural traditions of Japan while residing in the Pittsburgh area on a long term basis.

The Pittsburgh Japanese School is grateful to the Japanese government and the Office of the Consulate General of Japan in New York for providing us with funding, invaluable advice, textbooks, and other educational materials which allow us to deliver quality education to our students. We are equally grateful for the continued support of our warm community, our dedicated teachers and staff, and our friends and families who all generously donate their time and energy into making our school a truly unique “home away from home”.

As detailed on its website, the Pittsburgh Japanese School has moved to increasingly large spaces after its formation, including Fox Chapel Area High School in 1994, before finally moving to Shady Side Academy in 2006. The present location offers classroom space for each grade level, a cafeteria, a Japanese-language library, a gymnasium, and outdoor spaces for classes and an annual sports day (運動会).

Those with potential leads on viable school campuses may contact the PJS office at office [at] pittsburghjapaneseschool.org.

Japanese ambassador and consul general Shinichi Nishimiya visits a pre-kindergarten class in August 2009, ahead of the G-20 summit. (Photo via August 31, 2009 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.)

2025 Japanese animated movie Colorful Stage! The Movie: A Miku Who Can't Sing (劇場版プロジェクトセカイ 壊れたセカイと歌えないミク) in Pittsburgh, from April 17.

The 2025 Japanese animated movie Colorful Stage! The Movie: A Miku Who Can't Sing (劇場版プロジェクトセカイ 壊れたセカイと歌えないミク) will play in Pittsburgh from April 17.

COLORFUL STAGE! The Movie: A Miku Who Can’t Sing is an animation film by studio P.A.WORKS featuring an all-new Hatsune Miku and the first film with the iconic Virtual Singer. Based on HATSUNE MIKU: COLORFUL STAGE!, a game about high school students finding their true feelings through music in an alternate world called “SEKAI" with the help of Hatsune Miku. Ichika is a high school musician who can enter a mysterious place called “SEKAI,” where she and her friends express their innermost emotions through music alongside Hatsune Miku. One day after giving a live performance, Ichika meets a new Miku that she has never seen before. No matter how hard this new Miku tries to sing, she struggles connecting with the hearts of her listeners. Miku must rely on the help of others to find a way to sing again.

It is scheduled to play locally, so far, at the AMC Loews Waterfront and the AMC Westmoreland in Greensburg, and tickets are available online.

Japanese animated movie Kaiju no 8: Mission Recon, largely a compilation film of season one, in Pittsburgh, April 13, 14, and 16.

The Japanese animated movie Kaiju no 8: Mission Recon, a recap of the anime's season one combined with a new episode, will play in Pittsburgh on April 13, 14, and 16.

In a Kaiju-filled Japan, Kafka Hibino works in monster disposal. After reuniting with his childhood friend Mina Ashiro, a rising star in the anti-Kaiju Defense Force, he decides to pursue his abandoned dream of joining the Force, when he suddenly transforms into the powerful "Kaiju No. 8."

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

Pittsburgh Opera presents Madama Butterfly, featuring an entirely Japanese and Japanese-American creative team, from March 22.

Pittsburgh Opera will present Madama Butterfly from March 22 through March 30 with an entirely Japanese and Japanese-American creative team. PennsylvAsia readers can save 20% on tickets through an exclusive promo code.

MADAMA BUTTERFLY

Music by Giacomo Puccini
Libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa • MARCH 22, 25, 28, 30, 2025

His escape is her cage.

In this groundbreaking new production created by an all-Japanese and Japanese American creative team, Madama Butterfly’s story is transported to a fantastical realm where reality and dreams intersect.

Pinkerton puts on a VR headset and transports us into a vibrant virtual reality playground where he has ultimate control. As his avatar, a U.S. Navy Lieutenant, he can seduce and marry his fantasy girl and abandon her just as easily. But to Cio-Cio San, this is no game and the love and betrayal she feels is all too real.

Enveloped in Puccini’s stunning music, this visually beautiful production is the perfect match. Pittsburgh Opera is proud to partner with Cincinnati Opera, Detroit Opera, and Utah Opera to co-produce this reinvention of Puccini’s classic, uncovering new and resonant meaning for all audiences to enjoy.

 

Pennsylvasia readers can save 20% with the promo code POASIA!

Tickets are now available online. The performances are held at the Benedum Center in downtown's Cultural District (map).

Pittsburgh Sakura Project Hanami, cherry blossom viewing festival, April 5.

via the Project's 2020 gallery

The Pittsburgh Sakura Project will host its annual Hanami on April 5 at North Park. 

2025 Hanami (Cherry Blossom Viewing) Event  in North Park

Date and time: Saturday, April 5, 2025, 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm

Location: North Park, Harmony Shelter (near the Boathouse)

Participation fee: Free

Activities: Do as you like, enjoy the cherry blossoms in bloom. We will provide a cherry blossom site tour, a tree care demonstration, drinks and snacks (while available).

Any updated information will also be provided through the Pittsburgh Sakura Project Google Group, so if you are interested, we recommend that you subscribe.

Elizabeth Rodwell and "The Machine Without the Ghost: Early interactive television in Japan," March 19 at Pitt.

The University of Pittsburgh's Asian Studies Center will host Dr. Elizabeth Rodwell and her talk "The Machine Without the Ghost: Early interactive television in Japan" on March 19, part of this year's ASIA POP lecture series.

This article is part of an ongoing ethnography of the Japanese television industry focusing on its attempts to experiment with live, interactive content that was manipulable via smart devices, laptops, and remote controls. Based on 18 months of fieldwork in the Japanese television industry in four major TV network offices and two production companies, it also incorporates interviews with more than 30 broadcast company employees. Using two case studies of early interactive television programming to discuss the strategies producers have used to create community and promote identification among audiences of these shows: ‘Arashi Feat. You’ was a live music event that courted a large audience through the involvement of a massively popular boy band and promoted the idea of ‘turning viewers into users’ by allowing them to play musical instruments along with the band. ‘The Last Award’ allowed participants to submit and evaluate each other’s videos live through a dedicated user interface. Through these examples, Rodwell argues that participation alters the nature of television spectacle and results in changes to the way producers address and inscribe audiences as cocreators of content. The rhetoric used by interactive television accordingly defaults to ‘we’ and ‘us’ and features accessible and relatable celebrities as surrogates for the audience.

Elizabeth Rodwell is a media anthropologist who is interested in interactivity, television, emergent technology (in general), and artificial intelligence (specifically). She is also a usability researcher (UX). My first book Push the Button: Interactive Television and Collaborative Journalism in Japan (forthcoming) examines the post-Fukushima tensions in the Japanese journalism and television industries, and seeks to account for the ways that media professionals are responding to increasingly skeptical and distracted audiences. She tracks the global debut of interactive television in Japan– a cutting-edge fusion of mediums that represented the most dramatic departure from existing television technology in several decades.

The talk runs from 6:00 to 7:15 pm in 149 Cathedral of Learning (map).

"Movies & Motors" with Row House Cinema's Japanese Film Festival and Pittsburgh Kyūsha, March 22.

Row House Cinema in Lawrenceville and Pittsburgh Kyūsha will collaborate on "Movies & Motors" on March 22.

Join @pittsburgh_kyusha on March 22nd at @rowhouse_lawrenceville for a special feature taking place during the Pittsburgh Japanese Film Festival ( @jffpgh )

Come get up close and personal with iconic right-hand-drive (RHD) cars imported from Japan. Also, experience Japanese cultural demonstrations from our friends at @japanamericasocietypa and see some of @milliestinyvan tiny JDM fleet vehicles!

For anyone wishing to participate in the show with their RHD vehicle please RSVP no later than March 15th to ensure we have a spot for you.

For more info about the films being shown and to buy tickets to all screenings, you can visit the Japanese Film Fest website at:

https://jffpgh.org/

"Movies & Motors" festivities start at 2:30 pm.  Several movies are scheduled to run that day: The Hidden Fortress (隠し砦の三悪人) at 12:00 pm, The Colors Within (きみの色)  at 2:50 pm, Ice Cream Fever (アイスクリームフィーバー) at 5:00 pm, Cha Cha (チャチャ) at 7:15 pm, and Onibaba (鬼婆) at 9:30 pm. The Pittsburgh Japanese Film Festival opens on March 14 and runs through March 27 at the Row House Cinema in Lawrenceville. The single-screen theater is located at 4115 Butler St. (map).

Story Saturday: Sashiko’s Stiches, April 12 at Carnegie Museum of Art.

The Carnegie Museum of Art will feature a reading of Sachiko's Stitches for the April 12 installment of its Story Saturday series.

Join us in the Ailsa Mellon Bruce Decorative Arts and Design galleries for an in-person morning story time with Alyssa Velazquez as she reads Sashiko’s Stitches by Sanae Ishida. Following the reading stick around for a making activity for children 12 and under.

This reading is made possible by Worthy Kids.

About the Book

Sashiko is girl with very big feelings. Sometimes the feelings weigh her down, or make her feel all tangled up inside. But when she learns about sashiko, the traditional Japanese practice that inspired her name, she finds hope and comfort in creative expression.

The storytime runs from 11:00 am to 12:00 pm and is free with museum admission, but registration is required. The Carneige Museum of Art is located at 4400 Forbes Ave. in Oakland (map), accessible by numerous city buses.

Pittsburgh Opera’s Madama Butterfly Panel Discussion: Women’s Role in Tech, Video Games, Manga, and Comic Books, March 13 in East Liberty.

Photo credit: Philip Groshon, Cincinnati Opera

The Carnegie Library branch in East Liberty will host "Pittsburgh Opera’s Madama Butterfly Panel Discussion: Women’s Role in Tech, Video Games, Manga, and Comic Books" on March 13.

Join us for a free panel discussion with RAD Pass participating organization Pittsburgh Opera where we will explore Women’s Role in Video Games, Anime, Manga, and Comic Books. Women have often been unrealistically represented in these art forms leading to detrimental outcomes in the real world. This discussion aims to unpack the origins of female representation in art and explore the fine line between fandom and fetish.

Pittsburgh Opera leads this discussion in anticipation of its groundbreaking new production of Puccini’s Madama Butterfly. Created by an all-Japanese and Japanese American creative team, the story is set in a fantastical realm where reality and dreams intersect.

“The male protagonist, Pinkerton, puts on a VR headset and transports us into a vibrant virtual reality playground where he has ultimate control. As his avatar, a U.S. Navy Lieutenant, he can seduce and marry Cio-Cio San, his fantasy girl, and abandon her just as easily. But to Cio-Cio San, this is no game and the love and betrayal she feels is all too real.”

Attendees receive a discounted ticket offer to the performance of Madama Butterfly of their choice (March 22nd, 25th, 28th, and 30th) and will be entered into a raffle to receive a pair of free tickets. All performances of Madama Butterfly will take place downtown at the Benedum Center.

The event runs from 6:30 to 7:30 pm at 130 S. Whitfield St. in East Liberty (map).

"The Age of Daredevils: Money Game, Consumers & Literature of the Bubble Economy," March 24 at Carnegie Mellon.

Carnegie Mellon University's Department of Languages, Cultures & Applied Linguistics will host Dr. Ikuho Amano and her talk "The Age of Daredevils: Money Game, Consumers & Literature of the Bubble Economy" on March 24.

Join us for a lecture by Ikuho Amano, vice chair of the Department of Modern Languages & Literatures and professor of Japanese at the University of Nebraska, on the cultural impact of Japan's Bubble Economy (1986-1991). This era of rapid economic growth fueled a surge in luxury consumerism, financial speculation and societal shifts that continue to shape Japan today.

Professor Amano will explore how literature from authors like Shimizu Ikkō and Murakami Haruki captured the era's excesses and anxieties, offering insight into its lasting effects. Don't miss this engaging discussion on the intersection of economy, culture and literature in modern Japan.

The talk runs from 4:30 to 6:00 pm in Posner Hall Grand Room (map).

1997 animated film Princess Mononoke (もののけ姫) in Pittsburgh from March 26 with 4K IMAX screenings.

The 1997 animated film Princess Mononoke (もののけ姫) will play in Pittsburgh from March 26 in a series of 4K IMAX screenings.

While defending his village from a demonic boar-god, young warrior Ashitaka becomes afflicted with a deadly curse that grants him super-human power in battle but eventually will take his life. Traveling west to find a cure and meet his destiny, he journeys deep into sacred depths of the Great Forest where he meets San (aka Princess Mononoke), a girl raised by wolf-gods. Mononoke is a force of nature, riding bareback on a great white wolf and terrorizing the human outpost of Iron Town on the edge of the forest.

It will play locally at the AMC Loews Waterfront on March 26 and March 28 through April 1, and tickets are available online.

Pitt Japanese Student Association Matsuri, March 23.

The Japanese Student Association at the University of Pittsburgh will present its annual Matsuri on March 23.

JSA’s biggest event of the semester is here! 🤩🤩

Get ready for a night filled with many fun booths of games🕹️ and food 🍡🍣, awesome student-led performances 🎤, and even a special guest performer 🎸🎫!!!

Event Details:
Sunday, March 23rd
4-7:30pm
WPU Assembly Room

Over the next few weeks, keep an eye out for fun reels and post pertaining to Matsuri, and look at our story to see hints for our guest performer!!!! 🤔🤔

🫶We can’t wait to see you there 🫶

2025 Pittsburgh Japanese Film Festival opens March 14.

The annual Pittsburgh Japanese Film Festival will run from March 14 through March 27 this year, with special opening night screenings of Ghost Cat Anzu (化け猫あんずちゃん).

We are kicking off The 2025 Pittsburgh Japanese Film Festival with a wildly fun new anime film from GKids!

“The film is both outrageously fun and, while largely family-friendly, feels like it genuinely shouldn’t exist: imagine Spirited Away via Viz comic.”  – Daily Telegraph

Precocious tween Karin finds herself abandoned by her father in rural Japan. Living in a temple with her grandfather, she meets Anzu, a giant “ghost cat” and notorious layabout tasked with looking after her. Distrustful of her new guardian, Karin sabotages Anzu’s odd jobs for the townsfolk and befriends the eccentric local forest spirits. In an effort to win Karin over, Anzu accidentally makes a deal with the devil, and all Hell breaks loose.

Opening night tickets come with gift bags and other fun surprises to mark the start of our favorite fest of the year!

Ghost Cat Anzu plays at 6:30 and 9:15 pm on opening night. 

The full lineup of 17 films is available online. Tickets are available for a variety of special events, too, including "Baby Assassins with an Intro" on March 15, "Sake Tasting with Yojimbo" on March 21, "Ice Cream Fever with Ice Cream Mochi" on March 23, "The Hidden Fortress with Tea Tasting" on March 25, and  two screenings of "Closing Night with 13 Assassins" on March 27. 

The single-screen theater is located at 4115 Butler St. (map).

Work inches along at Shabu Shabu Hot Pot and Grill in McCandless.

Shabu Shabu Hot Pot and Grill in McCandless was reportedly eying a January 2025 opening, but interior work continues on what aims to be the second all-you-can-eat hot pot and Korean BBQ restaurant in the North Hills. Work has been underway at the spot in McCandless Crossing---across from LaRoche University and in the outparcel shared with Midwest Shooting Center (map)---since July 2023.

Witch Watch: Watch Party in Pittsburgh, March 16, 17, 18.

Witch Watch: Watch Party, featuring the first three episodes of the upcoming anime series, will play in Pittsburgh-area theaters on March 16, 17, and 18. A synopsis from the distributor, GKIDS:

Morihito Otogi, a high school student who comes from a lineage of ogres, enjoys a peaceful, ordinary life until his childhood friend, Nico, moves in with him. Nico is a witch-in-training, and chooses Morihito to be her familiar. While Nico is thrilled to reunite with her old friend and crush, Morihito is tasked with the perilous duty to protect her from a foretold calamity. Between the unpredictable chaos caused by Nico’s magic, and the awkwardness of sharing a home, their lives become a whirlwind of supernatural hijinks and threats.

Puppy love meets magical mischief and danger in WITCH WATCH, the endlessly charming and riotously funny new anime series.

Based on the Weekly Shonen Jump manga by Kenta Shinohara (SKET Dance), get the first sneak peek of the upcoming anime with WITCH WATCH: WATCH PARTY, a special theatrical premiere event featuring the first three episodes and exclusive interviews.

It is scheduled to play locally, so far, at the AMC Loews Waterfront and the Cinemark theater in Robinson, and tickets are available online.

2004 Japanese animated film Howl's Moving Castle (ハウルの動く城) at Rangos Giant Cinema, May 9.

The 2004 Hayao Miyazaki film Howl's Moving Castle (ハウルの動く城) will play at Rangos Giant Cinema at the Carnegie Science Center on May 9.

In Hayao Miyazaki’s . . . animated masterpiece, journey beyond imagination and enter a “breathtaking fantasy world” (Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times) filled with adventure, humor, and heart. Sophie, a quiet girl working in a hat shop, finds her life thrown into turmoil when she is literally swept off her feet by a handsome but mysterious wizard named Howl. The vain and vengeful Witch of the Waste, jealous of their friendship, puts a spell on Sophie. In a life-changing adventure, Sophie climbs aboard Howl’s magnificent flying castle and enters a magical world on a quest to break the spell. Featuring the voice talents of Jean Simmons, Christian Bale, Lauren Bacall, Blythe Danner, and Billy Crystal, Miyazaki’s artistry comes to life on DVD with inventive characters, unique storytelling, and richly detailed animation.

The Rangos Giant Cinema

boasts a 71-by 39-foot Certified Giant Screen, crystal-clear 4K images, brilliant colors, and rich surround sound. It features a premium Dolby Atmos® surround sound system with 49 speakers. (The average giant screen has 14.)

The movie starts at 7:00 and tickets are available online: $10 for members and $12 for non-members. The Carnegie Science Center is located at 1 Allegheny Ave. on the North Shore (map).

2025 Japan Lecture Series – What We (Don’t) Talk About When We Talk about Literature: The Visual Representation of Language and Why it Matters in Japanese, March 20.

The Japan America Society of Pennsylvania (JASP) will present Dr. Chris Lowy and his talk "What We (Don’t) Talk About When We Talk about Literature: The Visual Representation of Language and Why it Matters in Japanese" on March 20, part of the JASP's 2025 Japan Lecture Series.

The three character sets used in Japanese - hiragana, katakana, and kanji - allow authors to create a dynamic visual representation of language, adding a unique layer to the reading experience. Poetry, advertising, and representations of dialect or internal dialog are just some of the areas where this creativity is expressed. Dr. Lowy will illuminate this aspect of Japanese literature that may be underappreciated by readers.

Join the JASP on March 20, 2025 for a lecture about how Japanese authors sculpt the architecture of language for their creative and aesthetic purposes. Light hors d’oeuvres and beverages will be provided.

Chris Lowy is the William S. Dietrich II Assistant Professor of Japanese Studies at Carnegie Mellon University. He received his PhD in modern Japanese literature from the University of Washington in 2021. He teaches courses on contemporary Japanese literature, queer literature, contemporary thought, and literary representations of illness and disease. His research focuses on two main topics: the role of written language in Japanese literature and depictions of HIV/AIDS in Japanese literature from the 1980s and 1990s. A co-authored book about the role of written language in Japanese literature will be published later this year by Hituzi Syobo.

The Japan Lecture Series is sponsored by Mitsubishi Electric Power Products, Inc. The talk runs from 6:00 to 8:00 pm in Hamerschlag Hall at Carnegie Mellon University (map): it's free, but registration is required.

ScottyCon, Carnegie Mellon's anime and video gaming convention, March 29.

Carnegie Mellon University will host its fifth ScottyCon on March 29.

Welcome to our fifth year of ScottyCon! We hope you enjoy CMU's one and only (and therefore best) anime and video gaming convention! We'll have a blast of events this year, ranging from panels, masquerade, artist alley, and much much more.

THe full lineup of events, panels, and programming will be announced later, but will include gaming consoles and game vendors, anime movie screenings, crafts, food vendors, performances, panels, and more. Pre-order tickets are $8 for CMU students and $12 for the general public, and are available until the 22nd; prices increase to $10 at the door for CMU students and $15 for general admission.

1988 Japanese animated movie Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack (機動戦士ガンダム 逆襲のシャア) in Pittsburgh, March 12 and 16.

The 1988 Japanese animated movie Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack (機動戦士ガンダム 逆襲のシャア) will play in Pittsburgh on March 12 and 16, part of an 2024/2025 AX Cinema Nights series over 2024 and 2025.

Universal Century 0093. The previously missing Char Aznable has revived Neo Zeon and declared war against the Earth Federation government. The Londo Bell unit commanded by Bright Noa is forced to fight alone and unaided against the Neo Zeon forces, which have begun dropping asteroids onto the Earth. Among the Londo Bell members is Amuro Ray, Char's longtime rival. But their valiant efforts are in vain as 5th Luna falls onto the planet.

Sensing a further threat behind Char's movements, Amuro heads for the Moon to collect the Nu Gundam, a mobile suit equipped with a psycho-frame. Waiting for him there is its lead developer, Chan Agi. Meanwhile, Bright's son Hathaway Noa meets a girl named Quess Paraya on his way into space, and is instantly attracted to her..

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

Sushi Atarashi's revolving sushi concept in Robinson closes, owner aims to regroup and reopen in a new location.

Sushi Atarashi transformed its Robinson location into revolving sushi restaurant on September 16, but closed a few months later on January 11. Atarashi was the second revovling sushi restaurant in Pittsburgh, after Kura Sushi opened on the Southside in September 2023.

The owner says he hopes to open a new revolving sushi restaurant in a more viable location in the city, though he's still scouting an ideal spot. The revolving concept was originally going to be part of the East End Meridian development under construction in East Liberty on the site of the former Shakespeare Giant Eagle, but ownership confirms space constraints will now limit it to an original Atarashi layout.

Sushi Atarashi is the rebranded outcome of Sushi Fuku, as the two split back in 2015 with the S. Craig St. location in Oakland retaining the original name. Sushi Atarashi---atarashi means "new" in Japanese---has several locations around the Pittsburgh area in addition to the original Oakland Avenue location.