Free Korean class for intermediates to resume March 10.

The free intermediate-level Korean class, run by the Korean Language Study Group in Pittsburgh and usually held at the Carnegie Library in Squirrel Hill, has been on hiatus since December but will resume on Sunday, March 10. Class starts at 11:00 am and will be held at the Panera on the Boulevard of the Allies in Oakland (map). Those interested are asked to RSVP on the class's meetup.com page.

For an overview of other language courses in Pittsburgh, please check the "Learn" page.

Japanese Anthropology Workshop (JAWS) in Pittsburgh, March 7 - 9.

The 2013 Japanese Anthropology Workshop (JAWS) will take place at the University of Pittsburgh from March 7 through March 9. Few details and little information are available online, but the theme is "Mobility in Japan", and the website did say last year of Pittsburgh:

Pittsburgh is a great city with a lot of things to do, so it will be a fun place to hold the conference, and the University of Pittsburgh has a strong Japan focus.

ウェストバージニア - Wild and Wonderful.

I don't check the Charleston Daily Mail often enough, it seems, because I missed this article from the beginning of the month. It's about a West Virginian web developer's "fascination with Japan" and his then-upcoming trip for personal and professional reasons. I was struck by the postcard Jamie Summers-Brown made for the trip.

Giving gifts is traditional in Japan, and the exchange of business cards is a serious matter.

"I wanted to give something about West Virginia," he said. "So I designed a postcard in Japanese."

The front features a colorful picture of the gristmill at Babcock State Park and an outline of the state. Next to the outline, in Japanese, is "West Virginia." At the bottom right there's a line in Japanese that identifies the photo.

Summers-Brown also says "There are 21 Japanese companies operating in West Virginia and thousands of Japanese nationals working here."

"Relational Visuality, or, What's the Point of Studying Anime?", February 28.

The conclusion of the 2013 Pittsburgh Anime Film Series is a lecture by Dr. Steven Ridgely on February 28, "Relational Visuality, or, What's the Point of Studying Anime?" The talk begins at 7 pm at the Frick Fine Arts Building in Oakland (map) and is free and open to the public. It ends at the Frick Fine Arts Building, too.

Dr. Ridgely is an associate professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Nom Nom Nippon at CMU, March 1.

If you're around the Carnegie Mellon campus on Friday afternoon, there will be Japanese food for sale at the University Student Center, courtesy of the Japanese Student Association at CMU. They'll be in the Wean Commons on the first floor from 11:30 to 3:30. More details on the event's Facebook page shortly.

Flying Horse Chinese Dance Performance, March 2.

The Yanlai Dance Academy will present "Flying Horse" at the August Wilson Center downtown (map) on March 2. "It is a great opportunity for Pittsburghers to appreciate a variety of Chinese cultures through Chinese dance", says the academy. The show begins at 5:30 and tickets start at $15.

Everyday Noodles to open February 27.

Everyday Noodles will open its doors for the first time on February 27 at 5 pm. It's located at 5875 Forbes Ave. in Squirrel Hill (map) and advertises "Traditional Handmade Noodles and Soup Dumplings".



Construction started in October in what used to be an art gallery. Follow its Facebook page for updates and for pictures of the new place.

Update: Menu added to their Facebook page:

George Aratani: Japanese-American business leader, community icon, Pittsburgh Pirates prospect.

San Pedro Skippers.

A line in the obituary for George Aratani, the prominent Japanese-American businessman and community leader who died Tuesday at the age of 95, caught my eye. Los Angeles' Rafu Shinpo on Aratani's youth:

A handsome and talented athlete, he was even being scouted by the Pittsburgh Pirates baseball team in high school, but a football injury derailed his aspirations for a possible professional sports career.

Unsurprisingly, Pirates scouting reports from 1933 are scarce, but Aratani's Pittsburgh connection turns up in a few other places. The Japanese American National Museum writes about baseball among second-generation Japanese-Americans (Nisei):

The 1920s and 1930s were the golden age of Nisei baseball. Teams could be found in practically every community. Semipro teams were formed. The San Pedro Skippers, a Southern California semipro Nisei team averaged 14 runs a game in the late 1930s. Stars emerged and sometimes even were invited to play with professional teams. Shortstop George Aratani was invited to practice with the visiting Pittsburg Pirates in Santa Maria in the 1930s where his coaches were Hall of Famers Honus Wagner, Paul and Lloyd Waner.

In spite of how good, and how underrated, some of these Japanese teams were, an article from 2003 about Pirates' spring training in Paso Robles, though, may make you wonder how much of a prospect Aratani was:

You've got to wonder what the Pirates and Cubs did for competition in those springs of the '20s. They were the only big league teams that came to California. The answer is the played a lot of intra-squad games that usually pitted the veterans against the rookies. But local players also got into the act according to Brian Milne, sports editor of the North County Tribune, Paso Robles' newspaper. The Chamber of Commerce put together teams that were only to happy to try their skills against the big leaguers. Semipro teams from around San Luis Obispo County and even high school teams got to try their luck. Pacific Coast minor league teams also provided competition for the Buccaneers.

Some of the better local players were even looked at seriously as prospects. But the talent bar was sometimes set pretty low. Milne writes of Bud Sheely, a student at Paso Robles High School, getting to play against his father, Pirate first baseman Earl Sheely. The older Sheely's only year with Pittsburgh was 1929, when Bud, who eventually made it to the majors himself, was 11 years old.

The Pirates wouldn't get their first Japanese player until they signed veteran pitcher Masumi Kuwata in 2007, and have never had an Asian-American on their roster.

Japanese coffee roasters visit Pittsburgh.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette writes today about a group of Japanese coffee professionals visiting Pittsburgh to learn a little more about the specialty coffee business.

In Japan, it's been a challenge to convince customers that some coffees are worth more than others, with a slowing economy hitting the industry hard.

More on the visit halfway down this Specialty Coffee Chronicle article from last month.

Colloquium "Chinese Social Media as Laboratory: What We Can Learn about China from Research into Sina Weibo", February 22.

If you're near the University of Pittsburgh on Friday, Jason Ng will host an hour-long colloquium "Chinese Social Media as Laboratory: What We Can Learn about China from Research into Sina Weibo". Ng is an Interdisciplinary Master's candidate in Pitt's Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures.

In November he presented "Blocked on Weibo: Content Regulation in Chinese Social Media" during Pitt's "Asia Over Lunch" series. You can learn more about the topic from his "Blocked on Weibo" tumblr.