Fukuda's Toro Fest 2013, December 10 - 16.

Bloomfield's Fukuda restaurant is holding Toro Fest 2013, "Pittsburgh's First Annual Toro Fest", from December 10 through 16. A summary of events posted to their Facebook page and reiterated on the above flyer:

Whole Bluefin Tuna cutting demo, Bonsai creation demo, Japanese language and culture class, Sushi making sessions, and delectable fish will be flown in from all over the world with an exquisite menu never before seen in Pittsburgh during the festivities only at Fukuda.

The toro in this festival's name refers to specific part of a blue fin tuna, again depicted on the flyer. Fukuda is located at 4770 Liberty Ave. (map).

Pirates catching prospect Jhang named to Topps Short Season-A/Rookie All-Star Team.

Via MLBTW.net

Pittsburgh Pirates catching prospect Jin-de Jhang (張進德) was named to Topps Short Season-A/Rookie All-Star Team on Monday, MiLB.com writes. Jhang

hit .277 with five homers and 34 RBIs for the Jamestown Jammers. The catcher threw out 47% of base runners attempting to steal and had a .992 fielding percentage.

He was one of two Taiwanese players signed by Pittsburgh in 2011, was ranked #20 on a list of the organization's top prospects in January 2013, and was considered by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette representative of the "scouting revolution" in the Pirates organization. Lengthier and more technical amateur scouting reports are available on Pirates Prospects and U Gotta Believe.

Samuel C. Kang, the first Asian-American member of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, has died. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette writes:

South Korean native Samuel C. Kang arrived in the U.S. in 1953, shortly after the end of the Korean War to study viola at the New England Conservatory in Boston.

He later returned to his native land but, in 1962, moved to Pittsburgh after he beat out 100 other violists to become the first Asian-American invited to join the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra.

Mr. Kang, who played with the symphony until his retirement in 1996, died at his McCandless home on Wednesday at age 83.

Every Day is a Holiday at Sewickley Academy, February 9.

Very advance notice for the recently-announced Silk Screen Film Series coming to Sewickley Academy next year. Of relevance to this blog is the 2012 documentary Every Day is a Holiday, which summarizes itself thus:

Chinese-American filmmaker Theresa Loong creates an intimate portrait of her father, a man fifty years her senior. In this documentary, we explore the bonds of the father-daughter relationship and place themes of growing older, immigration and racism in the context of “living history.” Paul Loong talks of his experiences as a POW in Japan and his subsequent quest to become an American. We discover why, despite much suffering, “Every Day Is a Holiday.”

The film starts at 2 pm and is free, though online registration is required. Sewickley Academy (map) is a private K-12 school in the suburbs of Pittsburgh.

Winter holidays in the Pitt Nationality Rooms.

Kodamatsu in the Japanese Nationality Room, 2012.

From November 17, the Nationality Rooms in the Cathedral of Learning at the University of Pittsburgh have been decorated for the winter holidays, and this year's Open House is December 8.

Rooms will be in Winter / Holiday Decor and Quo Vadis guides will be dressed in ethnic dress, stationed in each room, describing the rooms' appearances and customs.

Nationality Rooms Committees will be in the Commons Room offering food and drink for sale. The proceeds of sales go to Committee Scholarship Funds for Nationality Rooms Summer Study Abroad.

The various European rooms usually have the most impressive Christmas displays, while the two East Asian ones reflect their New Years celebrations. As of this writing, the Chinese Room is festooned in celebration of the coming Year of the Horse, while the Japanese Nationality Room has not yet been decorated.

Living with the Enemy author in the news.

Local state representative Richard Saccone is in the news for wanting "In God We Trust" to be displayed in Pennsylvania's public schools. Before this and other conservative headlines, though, the Pittsburgh native worked in North Korea with the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization and wrote a wonderful little book worth reading on his year there, Living with the Enemy: Inside North Korea. The title is facetious, and it's a book on the country that, uncommonly for the genre, provides insight without being judgmental or condescending. "My intention is for the reader", he writes on page 8,

to come away with a better understanding of the people of North Korea. My experience confirmed the most effective way to deal with North Koreans is to suspend our preconceived judgment for a moment and attempt to think as they do, to understand their perspective more clearly.

Japan-America Society of Pennsylvania has a part-time opening.

The Japan-America Society of Pennsylvania, headquartered in downtown Pittsburgh, is hiring a part-time Office Manager and Program Coordinator.

The candidate must have strong organizational and administrative skills and experience. This person must also have a keen interest in and understanding of current Japanese popular culture including anime, J-pop and the like. Ability to read and speak Japanese and experience traveling or living in Japan is a plus for the position.

A fuller description available on the JASP website.

Anime Oribe, by Jeff Guerrero Ceramics.

A recent set by Jeff Guerrero Ceramics.

Conflict Kitchen's North Korean menu starts Friday.

The long-awaited (at least here) North Korean menu will begin at Conflict Kitchen on Friday, November 22. Conflict Kitchen, "a restaurant that only serves cuisine from countries with which the United States is in conflict", is located in Schenley Plaza in Oakland (map). The signage that went up alongside its Cuban advertisements promotes tofu stuffed with rice (두부밥), cinnamon tea (수정과), fermented soybean paste stew (된장찌개), and a buckwheat noodle soup (메밀국수).

Update, 11/21/2013:



The menu is now posted, too, and includes bibimbap, naengmyeon, and tteokbokki, and songpyeon.

Asian films in previous 3RFFs.

Old newspapers tell us a little about some Asian films part of previous versions of the Three Rivers Film Festival. Film lineups weren't published very often, and Asian movies---then as now---made up small fractions of the festivals as a whole, but there are some inspired choices, including: the first Studio Ghibli film, a 1992 Japanese porn-slash-drama, a Korean film that spawned "stories of viewers vomiting or passing out during the more gruesome scenes".


Laputa: Castle in the Sky (天空の城ラピュタ) was part of the 1989 festival; Tokyo Decadence (トパーズ) a couple years later; Take Care of My Cat (고양이를 부탁해), The Isle (섬), Lan Yu (藍宇), and Devils on the Doorstep (鬼子来了) played at the 2002 festival; The Cave of the Yellow Dog (Шар нохойн там) and Invisible Waves (คำพิพากษาของมหาสมุทร) in 2006; and Thirst (박쥐) in 2009.