More 7-Elevens coming to PA.

Raise your hand if you knew 7-Eleven is a Japanese company. Japan Today writes:

7-Eleven Inc announced Monday two acquisitions, expanding its U.S. store portfolio. The company has closed deals with EZ Energy USA, Inc to purchase 67 retail locations in the Cleveland, Ohio, and Pittsburgh, Pa, markets and with its licensee, Handee Marts Inc, to acquire 58 7-Eleven convenience stores in those same markets as well as locations in northern West Virginia and western Maryland.

. . .

The EZ Energy purchase includes Easy Trip and BP convenience stores and the wholesale fuel-supply business that supports 20 of EZ Energy’s dealer-operators. EZ Energy locations offer mostly BP- and Marathon-branded gasoline.

Handee Marts has 38 stores offering gasoline under a variety of brands, including Exxon, Gulf, BP, Valero and Sunoco.

That report plagiarizes the 7-Eleven press release almost completely; the latter continues:

7-Eleven Inc. will add its proprietary retail information system and technology for enhanced product-ordering capabilities. The retailer's 7-Select private brand and other well-known proprietary products like 7-Eleven coffee, Slurpee(r) and Big Gulp(r) drinks, grill products plus standard convenience-store items will be offered. The company will soon offer money orders and accept food stamps.

The additional service and menu items are necessary to complete with Sheetz and Get-Go, the two local convenience stores that come close to approximating what you'll find at Japanese combini.

Peace Banners: Japan + Pittsburgh at Children's Museum, October 20 - 21.

From the Remembering Hiroshima, Imagining Peace Facebook page comes news of an event next weekend at the Children's Museum of Pittsburgh (map):

Create a giant collaborative banner about peace, just like children have done all over Asia with visiting artist and teacher Dr. Ronni Alexander from Hiroshima, Japan. Learn about Dr. Alexander's inspiring art therapy work with Japanese children after the 2011 tsunami in Japan and see an exhibition of peace banners those children have made. Do it yourself as we create a peace banner from Pittsburgh, representing peace, hope and international friendship!

Click here to learn more about Dr. Alexander's international peace work with children and her beloved character, Popoki the Cat. Since 2008, the Children's Museum of Pittsburgh has worked with Dr. Alexander and the local group Remembering Hiroshima, Imagining Peace to increase understanding between people in Pittsburgh and Japan and to encourage a shared vision of a peaceful future through age-appropriate programs for families.

The banner-making will take place from 1:30 to 2:00 pm on the 20th and 21st. The museum hosted "Experience the Arts of the Silk Road" this afternoon, though I didn't hear about it until a few minutes ago. So, um, I hope you had a good time.

On a somewhat-related topic, remember Squirrel Hill's Taylor Allderdice High School will host 24 students from Hitachi Dai Ni High School on November 7 through 10 as part of the Kizuna Project, "to share the real stories of their lives . . . at a presentation about their experiences and recovery efforts in the area" heavily damaged by the March 11, 2011 tsunami and earthquake.

Rose Tea Cafe coming to Oakland.

Signage has gone up on 414 S. Craig St. (map) in one of the last remaining empty storefronts there for what will be a new Rose Tea Cafe. Rose Tea Cafe currently has a location in Squirrel Hill on Forbes Ave., and is a good, authentic Taiwanese restaurant that will be a welcome addition to that side of Oakland. I first read about the new restaurant in July, and heard about it on the bus some time before that, so it's been a while in the making, or building.

Remington and the Curse of the Zombadings at Silk Scream Asian Horror Film Fest, October 25 and 26.

This year's installment of the Silk Scream Asian Horror Film Fest will show Remington and the Curse of the Zombadings, a 2011 film out of the Philippines. The Silk Scream website calls it "An amalgam of high camp, satire, and horror", and the website for the Seattle International Film Festival---where it played this spring---summarizes:

Remington has found his first love in his new neighbor, Hannah. She’s not equally entranced—at least not until he starts to compliment her mother, tell better jokes, and wear clothing that’s way more hip. Is it his attempts to impress her, or something more sinister that’s beyond his control? For when Remington was a child, he insulted a drag queen in a graveyard. In response, a powerful spell was cast: that Remington would someday turn into a homosexual! Meanwhile, the town's most fabulous gays are turning up dead, covered in mysterious green goo. If Remington doesn't escape the effects of the curse, he may be the killer's next target. And of course, there are the Zombadings, the most fabulous zombies you've ever seen! This unlikely satire pokes fun at homophobia, camp and the zombie horror genre while telling a touching story friendship and family.

Bit of an odd movie for a horror film fest, considering the more frightening selections from South Korea (Night Fishing and Tale of Two Sisters) and China (The Matrimony) shown the past two years. But with zombies all the rage four years agonow, I guess they felt campiness a safe choice.

The movies start at 7:00 pm both days and play at Point Park University's GRW Auditorium on 414 Wood St. downtown (map). Tickets are $10 for general admission, $5 for students.

Camp Konnichiwa at Oakland's Carnegie Library this fall.

For the kids:



Camp Konnichiwa at the Carnegie Library Oakland branch this fall, for five Saturday mornings (October 13, 20, 27, and November 3 and 10) from 10:30 to 11:00 am.

This program offers fun content that helps children to learn Japanese. Konnichiwa is a popular greeting in Japanese. Please join this five week camp!

Registration can be done by phone or by the form on the library's website.

Pitt Night Market (匹大夜市), October 20 postponed.

Update [10/8, 22:09] The Night Market has been postponed until the Spring 2013 term.

The Chinese American Student Association at Pitt brings news of this fall's annual Pitt Night Market on Saturday, October 20th from 3 to 10 pm in room 548 of the William Pitt Union.

Time to bring back the infamous NIGHT MARKET!

Culturally dominant in Chinese cities, night markets are a pivotal aspect of urban life in Taiwan and China. Tonight we will be bringing you a glimpse of just what its like to be at a night market. There will be free games and prizes, as well as traditional night market foods and drinks (i.e. scallion pancake, bubble milk tea, etc). Better not miss it!

10月20日2012年 (六)
匹大夜市
地點: WPU 548
時間: 15:00 – 22:00

夜市是在中國大陸與台灣的都市生活不得不有的一個不分。今晚我們要讓大家感受到一點點夜市的氣氛。會有免費的遊戲與獎品更會有經點小吃飲料（蔥油餅，珍珠奶茶，等等）。千萬不能錯過的活動喔！

No word yet on the availability of stinky tofu, but this will definitely be awesome. Though Pittsburgh hypes the Strip District as something of a market---and it's a fine destination in its own right---the city doesn't have anything that matches the activity, the variety, and the mass of humanity of Asian cities a Taiwanese or Chinese night market.


Taiwan night market, by luces. Hard to find photographs under a Creative Commons license, but you can browse more in this Flickr group.

Japanese short Tsuyako part of Pittsburgh LGBT Film Festival, October 15.

The 23-minute short Tsuyako will play as part of Real Q: Pittsburgh LGBT Film Festival, which runs from October 12 - 21. Tsuyako will be part of the Women's Shorts block on October 15, and starts at 7:30, and is the only Asian film included. A synopsis from the festival's site:

Inspired by a discovery concerning her late grandmother, writer/director Mitsuyo Miyazaki has crafted this magnificent little film about a woman choosing between love and duty in the years immediately following World War II. It is screened in Japanese with English subtitles.

"Tokyo-Ebisu" in Pittsburgh, October 5 and 6.

The Melwood Screening Room in Oakland (map) will be showing the Ann Arbor Film Festival tour for free on Friday, October 5, and Saturday, October 6. One Japanese short film is part of "Program B", which starts on Friday at 9:15 pm and Saturday at 7:30 pm. "Tokyo-Ebisu" is a 10-minute film by Tomonari Nishikawa that, in his words,

shows the views from the platforms of 10 stations in Yamanote Line, from Tokyo Station to Ebisu Station clockwise. The in-camera visual effects and the layered soundtrack may exaggerate the sense of the actual locations, while suggesting the equipments that were used for capturing the audio and visual.

Golden Dragon Acrobats at Pitt, November 11.

The Golden Dragon Acrobats will be performing at the University of Pittsburgh's Bellefield Auditorium (map) on November 11 at 7:30 pm. Tickets are free to those with a Pitt ID card, or $5 for general admission. From the Chinese American Student Association at Pitt:

After being on hiatus from PITT’s campus for almost half a century, the Golden Dragon Acrobats are back! The two hour long theatrical performance has stunned audiences from across the world. Having performed at the Nation’s Capital multiple times, the Golden Dragon Acrobats from China travel around the world, presenting their magnificent acts, such as “Thousand Hand Goddess” or “Contortion”. The event is sure to leave you amazed at this art form that has been apart of over 2000 years of Chinese cultural history. Surely a great event for all ages.

Vietnamese-language film Three Seasons at Butler's Maridon Museum, October 5.

As part of its Vietnamese Film Series, Butler's Maridon Museum (map) will show the 1999 Vietnamese-language film Three Seasons on Friday, October 5th, at 6:30 pm. Wikipedia says Three Seasons

is an American Vietnamese language film filmed in Vietnam about the past, present, and future of Ho Chi Minh City in the early days of Doi Moi. It is a poetic film that tries to paint a picture of the urban culture undergoing westernization. The movie takes place in Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon. As the characters try to come to terms with the invasion of capitalism, neon signs, grand 5-star hotels, and Coca-Cola signs, their paths begin to merge.

It looks like the most intesting of the three Maridon is showing this fall.