Free Japanese classes at East Liberty Carnegie Library, June 6 - August 29.

The East Liberty branch of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh will hold free Japanese classes each Thursday evening from June 6 through August 29 (excepting July 4). From the library website:

Learn conversational Japanese in a casual setting. Classes are free, and all ages and backgrounds are welcome!

The classes are 6:00 - 7:30 pm in Meeting Room 2, and the library is located on 130 S. Whitfield Street (map). A reminder that the Oakland branch holds Japanese for Beginners, Japanese II, and a Japanese Conversation Club on biweekly schedules each month. Each class is suited for a different level, so check the course descriptions for more information.

WQED's "In Country: A Vietnam Story" and Friends of Danang.

Watch In Country: A Vietnam Story on PBS. See more from WQED.

A documentary worth watching is WQED's "In Country: A Vietnam Story", an hour-long 2006 program that follows a group of Vietnam veterans as make an emotional return to the country for the first time since the war. Accompanying the group is "Friends of Danang", a Pittsburgh-based non-profit with the mission of rebuilding and reconciliation almost exclusively known to the general public for the American destruction there. From a WQED profile [.pdf file]:

In Country: A Vietnam Story, tells two emotional stories; separate yet intertwined. There are the “Friends” themselves, the men and women who travel to and from Vietnam on a bi-annual basis, devoting their energies and talents to building an elementary school for the children of Danang. Their current reconciliation efforts are devoted to providing prosthetic and orthopedic rehabilitation services for children still being maimed by abandoned ordinance from the conflict, as well as funding the construction of a second school.

It's especially significant around Memorial Day, when we consider--among other things--American interpretations of the Vietnam War, a public imagining that focuses almost entirely on its own suffering: the loss of American lives, the tumultuous protests, and the upheaval of a generation. As we noted in 2011, the inscription on the Vietnam Veterans Monument in Pittsburgh, for instance, reads:

Welcome home to proud men and women We begin now to fulfill promises To remember the past To look to the future We begin now to complete the final process Not to make political statements Not to offer explanations Not to debate realities Monuments are erected so that the future might remember the past Warriors die and live and die Let the Historians answer the political questions Those who served -- served Those who gave all -- live in our hearts Those who are left -- continue to give As long as we remember -- There is still some love left. - T.J. McGarvey

No doubt a moving tribute to those who served and were forced to serve, but trying "not to make political statements" and "not [debating] realities" ignores the scale of destruction half a world away. We don't often enough acknowledge the enormous devastation wrought on Vietnam and its neighbors, the losses suffered by American allies acting on its behalf, and the tension their presence caused to Pan-Asian relationships. A major part of the American response to this war in particular needs to be atonement, not simply an accounting of its own losses, and projects like Friends of Danang are important parts of this.

Bonsai Show at Phipps Garden Center, June 1 and 2.

The 32nd annual Bonsai Show will be held at Phipps Garden Center in Shadyside. (map) on June 1 and 2. It's presented by the Pittsburgh Bonsai Society and is free to the public.

Bruster's ice cream looking at South Korea.

A quick line from a Bruster's press release yesterday caught my eye. The last paragraph:

Bruster's expects to add both domestic and international locations, including units in shopping centers, race tracks, airports and other non-traditional sites. The chain also is developing a franchisee referral and incentive program to be introduced this summer, with the goal of adding shops in current U.S. markets and western states. International markets being targeted include South Korea and Saudi Arabia.

Bruster's is a chain based in Beaver County, PA, with 200 locations in the eastern US (and one in Guyana). Elsewhere in the release:

"Bruster's historically has been a spring-summer destination," [Chief Executive Jim] Sahene added. "Adding units with indoor seating, expanding into non-traditional locations and offering a wider array of products will create opportunities for guests to enjoy Bruster's year-round and on more occasions."

New products and flavors, such as meal replacements and snacks, including fresh fruit smoothies with protein powder, as well as regular and Greek soft-serve yogurts, are in development. They will be served in a fun, entertaining "treat theater" style and a colorful new environment. Guests will enjoy more ways to personalize their treats.

If Bruster's does open in Korea, its ice cream will complete most fiercely with Baskin Robbins (1,045 locations) and Cold Stone Creamery (51 locations), two popular and ubiquitous western chains there. Red Mango (94 locations) and Smoothie King (111 locations) are two others covering similar territory. Surprisingy, self-serve yogurt places like Razzy Fresh or Sweet Berry---where customers choose their own flavors of soft-serve and add their own toppings---haven't taken off.

Uniqlo coming to Philadelphia, maybe.

Curbed.com writes that the huge Japanese clothing design and retail chain Uniqlo will open in Philadelphia, joining locations in New York City and San Francisco and becoming the first in Pennsylvania. Uniqlo plans to eventually have 200 U.S. stores by 2020.

Patbingsu in Pittsburgh.

A board advertising the coffee buns, green tea buns, chocolate buns, and patbingsu at Sumi's Cakery.

Now that the temperature is consistently higher than my weight in kilograms, it finally appears to be safe to write about patbingsu. 팥빙수 is a Korean summer dessert made with red beans (pat, 팥), fruit, shaved ice (bingsu, 빙수), and occasionally ice cream. A couple of days ago the KoreAm Journal looked at the different varieties that turn up on all the café and fast-food menus in South Korea each summer. In Pittsburgh, about the only place that offers it is Sumi's Cakery, a Korean bakery on Murray Ave. in Squirrel Hill (map).

In larger cities you'll find it in Korean restaurants and cafes, of course, but also at Korean-owned yogurt places. Below is a poster hanging on a Sweet Berry in Oakland that was closed long before the picture was taken in 2011.

Last year it was the McKeesport International Village Festival that used a North Korean flag in its advertisements. This year, it's the Ambridge Nationality Days Festival.

Glenshaw Giant Eagle tuna can display makes Korean news.

On May 15th Korea's Asia Gyeongje website covered a large can tuna display at Glenshaw's Giant Eagle, citing a March 31 reddit thread. That's today's update from our "Watching Korean news watch us" department.

Japanese film From Up on Poppy Hill at Harris Theater, starting May 17.

Not a poster, because it's hard to find one.

Starting near the end of the large Silk Screen Asian American Film Festival, which is running Japanese animated movies this week, the 2011 Japanese film From Up on Poppy Hill (コクリコ坂から) will play at the Harris Theater from May 17. Wikipedia provides a brief summary:

Set in 1963 Yokohama, Japan, the film tells the story of Umi Matsuzaki, a high school girl living in a boarding house, Coquelicot Manor. When Umi meets Shun Kazama, a member of the school's newspaper club, they decide to clean up the school's clubhouse, Quartier Latin. However, Tokumaru, the chairman of the local high school and a businessman, intends to demolish the building for redevelopment and Umi and Shun, along with Shirō Mizunuma, must persuade him to reconsider.

And the Pittsburgh City-Paper adds:

The film's small story is set against a larger cultural one, as Japan transitions from the sorrows and hardships of the last generation's wars to being a modern world power. Nearly every scene contains visual cues that show Japan's mish-mash of old and new, while the story illustrates this new generation, caught between the nostalgic pull of the past and the responsibility of leading this new Japan.

The film debuted in the US on March 15, 2013.

The Harris Theater is located downtown in the Cultural District (map). Showtimes are available at the theater's website; it opens on Friday, the 17th, at 8:00 pm.

Pittsburgh City-Paper on Lucy Nguyen and Vietnamese hoagies in the Strip.

Earlier this month my Facebook feed broke the news that Lucy Nguyen has returned from spending the winter in Vietnam to reopen her popular banh mi stand in the Strip District, keeping one of Vietnam's best street foods in Pittsburgh. This week the Pittsburgh City-Paper runs a quick profile on her, her popular sandwiches, and her following.

Nguyen is an established, and beloved, Strip District tenant who began selling the sandwiches outside of My Ngoc, the restaurant she ran for about 16 years. Though she has since closed the restaurant because it was "too much work," she still maintains her cart, now located in the parking lot of Bar Marco, from spring to late fall. She spends winters in her native Vietnam.

Nguyen's story is one many of her customers know: She moved to Pittsburgh more than 40 years ago, following her husband, a serviceman whom she met in Hue, Vietnam. They had three daughters. Nguyen worked in hotel housekeeping before opening her restaurant.

Guerrero says the food isn't the only reason he gets excited about seeing Lucy: "A lot of it is Lucy herself. ... [T]he food is good, but I'm also taken care of here."

She's located in the parking lot of Bar Marco on the 2200 block of Penn Avenue (map).