Japanese Nationality Room turns 14.

The Japanese Nationality Room in the University of Pittsburgh's Cathedral of Learning was dedicated on July 25, 1999. Located in room 317 on the Cathedral's third floor, the room is modeled after a traditional 18th-century minka. Wikipedia provides a good overview of the room's interior---which was largely built in Japan, disassembled, and rebuilt in Pittsburgh---while the 24-page program from the dedication ceremony, scanned and preserved by the university's Documenting Pitt archive, covers the ceremony as well as information on the budget, donors, and other contributors. At the time, it says, the total expenditure was $507,047.64, roughly 80% being building and building-related expenses.

KBox looking for suggestions for Japanese songs to carry.

In May we read about KBox, the Asian-style karaoke place on Oakland's Craig Street, adding 8,000 new Korean songs to the 13,000 English-language and over 70,000 Chinese songs available. Today a reader on Facebook passed along news that they are soliciting suggestions for new Japanese songs to add. You can view a selection of songs via this link and can pass along your comments or suggestions to KBox via Facebook or email (Pittsburgh.ktv at gmail). The file is massive, with over 25,000 songs, so you might have some luck simply choosing popular songs and passing along your suggestions.

"Stories Joyfully Embroidered: Shaanxi Folk Textiles from Northern China" at SAMA, June 28 - October 12.

"Stories Joyfully Embroidered: Shaanxi Folk Textiles from Northern China" is making its US debut at Loretto's Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art (map) through October 12. The SAMA website says:

The large and colorful banners featured in Stories Joyfully Embroidered belong to a rich folk tradition that celebrates the legends and customs of ancient China. Subjects include depictions of foundational folk heroes such as Huangdi, the Yellow Emperor; and deity figures including Nuwa, the half-human, half-dragon goddess who created the first men and women. Other themes include symbolic images of longevity, good fortune, and many children, while others encompass cheerful scenes from everyday life. Together, the works in this exhibition provide an overview of Chinese folk culture that is not only fascinating, but delightfully uplifting as well.
“This is an exceptional opportunity to see a type of art that is rarely seen outside of China,” said SAMA Curator for Visual Arts Dr. Scott Dimond.

More details about the pieces available in the Exhibition Catalog (.pdf file). The museum is located at St. Francis University nearly two hours east of Pittsburgh, is open Tuesday through Saturday until 5 pm, and is free.

Chinese university students volunteer at local food bank.

The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette both had stories on the 17th about a group of Chinese students from Zhejiang University who volunteered at a local food bank.

Cupcakes and culture at Yummyholic's free "Summer in Saigon", July 24.

Yummyholic's first Cupcakes & Culture Series event is "Summer in Saigon", July 24, from 7:00 to 9:00 pm at Biddle's Escape in Regent Square (map). An excerpt from Yummyholic's website:

Get ready for what will be the first in a series of five events collectively called the Cupcakes & Culture Series. Cupcakes & Culture 101 introduces Yummyholic’s first Cupcake Adventure called “Summer in Saigon” – a tres leches style cake infused with a concoction of sweetened condensed milk and Vietnamese dark roast coffee topped off with whipped cream lightly flavored with espresso. Some comments made by taste testers so far include: “It tasted like heaven,” “It was the best thing I ever put in my mouth,” “Oh my god, that was amaaaaaazing!”

Every Cupcakes & Culture event will feature FREE Yummyholic cupcake samples, finger foods from the best Asian eateries in Pittsburgh, music/entertainment, and a gathering of local Asian and diversity organizations that you can learn more about and plug yourself into. The greater purpose of these events is to make something awesome happen for our college-aged and young professional Asian American community here in Pittsburgh that tend to think there is nothing going on in this city that’s appealing enough to make you stay. It’s a way to introduce and strengthen our culture and community by increasing interaction. Yummyholic is basically using what it does best – cupcakes – to bring ALL people together to have a good time and hopefully learn something in the process.

Yummyholic is a local cupcakery slash apparel company started in 2012 by Jasmine Cho. Ahead of Summer in Saigon there will be cupcake samples available at the Local-Pittsburgh tent at Schenely Park's Vintage Grand Prix on Sunday.

Films Seven Samurai, Yojimbo in Oakmont this month.

Those interested in seeing classic samurai films will have a couple more choices besides next week's Rashomon. Oakmont's The Oaks Theater (map) is showing Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samruai (七人の侍) tonight and Yojimbo (用心棒) on July 21 and 24. Showtimes are 6 pm, tickets are $6, and the theater is a relatively short drive from Pittsburgh if traffic cooperates.

Rashomon for $2 at Melwood Screening Room, July 24.

As part of its occasional "Essential Cinema" series, the Pittsburgh Filmmakers' Melwood Screening Room (map) will show the 1950 Akira Kurosawa film Rashomon (羅生門) on July 24. The theater summarizes:

Considered one of the most brilliantly constructed films of all time, Rashomon has become synonymous with the subjectivity of truth. Set in medieval Japan, four witnesses give mutually contradictory accounts of a heinous crime. This masterpiece introduced Japanese cinema to the West, and was the surprise winner at 1951's Venice Film Fest, then went on to win an Oscar for Best Foreign Film.

The movie starts at 8:00, is $2, and, according to the receptionist, is in Japanese with English subtitles.

"Japan is the Key . . . " through July 21.

"'Japan is the Key…': Collecting Prints and Ivories, 1900–1920" will continue at the Carnegie Museum of Art through July 21. It opened on March 30, though the Pittsburgh City-Paper and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette saved their profiles for this month.

Thailand's Cathedral of Learning.

Via Assumption University's Facebook page.

An errant Google search brought me to the Cathedral of Learning (อาสนวิหารแห่งการเรียนรู้) in Bangkok, a 159-meter landmark at Assumption University modeled after the original Cathedral of Learning in Pittsburgh. Wikipedia says the 2002 version is the fifth-tallest educational building in the world, one behind the first one, and the university website writes of it:

The centerpiece of the campus is the Cathedral of Learning, a 39-story tower which houses student support services, the library, reception halls, seminar rooms and offices.

Two Pitt student-athletes visit Vietnam in Coach for College program.

From the Coach for College Facebook page.

One benefit of the University of Pittsburgh's joining the ACC is its participation in Coach for College, a program "that brings together US student-athletes and Vietnamese university students to teach academics, sports and life skills at summer camps to children in rural Vietnam." An excerpt from a July 9 university press release, about two Pitt students visiting Vietnam this summer:

Alec Sheaffer has already returned from her three week stint in Vietnam, in which she taught baseball on the field and health in the classroom. She is a rehab science major, and her experiences through "Coach for College" have instilled in her a new career goal. "I was thinking about doing physical therapy, and I still want to do something similar, but now more related to kids, especially after my experience," she said. "It was an eye-opening experience for sure. It was something out of the ordinary because, as a student-athlete, you don't get many opportunities to do stuff like this because we have such a busy schedule."

The "Coach for College" program puts together two American athletes, two bilingual Vietnamese college students and one older high school student who previously participated in the program, and places them in charge of a group of Vietnamese students. The American student-athletes participate in the camp as coaches in their first year, and one of them can return for a second year as the camp director. Sheaffer had an "awesome" experience and thinks she might return for a second year next summer. "I was really close with my director," she said. "I want to more coaching and other stuff like that, so I am definitely considering becoming a camp director."