Documentary Danny from North Korea at Duquesne University, December 7.

Students for Human Rights will present the Liberty in North Korea documentary Danny from North Korea at Duquesne University on Saturday, December 7. LiNK describes the subject of their film thus:

Every year thousands of North Koreans make the dangerous journey across the border to escape oppression and poverty.

In March of 2005, Danny was one of them. Danny crossed into China and escaped a life of indoctrination, routine public executions, and starvation. As Danny traveled, he saw a world he never knew existed. A world where movement was not monitored by the government, information was readily available, and most importantly at the time, there was enough food to fill his empty belly.

The film is free and starts at 7:00 pm in room 105 College Hall (map). Those not attending can watch it on the Liberty in North Korea website.

Yayoi Kusama is still here.

"Jazz hands" in Repetitive Vision in the Mattress Factory, via imagesystem (Creative Commons). Not what's on display in New York City, but the best image available on Flickr.

On December 1, the New York Times writes about visitors lining up for a new installation, Yayoi Kusama's "Mirrored Room", that opened in November at the David Zwirner Gallery in Chelsea.

“Mirrored Room” offers a little something for everyone. It is a reflection on death and the afterlife. It is a planetarium contained in a room the size of a large walk-in closet. Cosmic and intimate at the same time, it merges inner and outer space, science and mysticism, the personal and the impersonal.

According to the gallery's website, "[o]n some days the wait is between 1 and 3 hours."

As the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reminds us, though, locals can see a version of it at the Mattress Factory.

Fans of Ms. Kusama can have a similar experience with a lot less trouble at the Mattress Factory museum on the North Side, where two of the largest extant Kusama installations remain on long-term view from a 1996 retrospective, "Infinity Dots Mirrored Room" and "Repetitive Vision." Both have the repeating hall-of-mirrors quality, one bright, the other darkened, a contrast of exterior and interior in one visit. And "there's no time limit," said Alexis Tragos, museum director of development.

The museum is located at 500 Sampsonia Way on the Northside (map), and its webpage has more information on Kusama's permanent exhibitions.

Korean sandwich chain Sandpresso closes its Pittsburgh location.

Sandpresso announced today on its Facebook page that it closed its Pittsburgh location over the summer.

With great sadness, Sand Presso Coffee Shop closed on August 2, 2013. To all our customers we thank you for your business and support. It has been our honor & pleasure to serve you this past 2 years. We will miss you!

Sandpresso (샌드프레소) is a coffee and sandwich shop in South Korea common in and around the capital, and one of many that offers expensive-but-wimpy sandwiches there. It arrived in Pittsburgh in September 2011, the first and only Sandpresso in the country, and was the subject of one of this blog's first posts. It was located at 1125 Penn Ave., between the Strip District and downtown, and had some good reviews---"the best egg salad I've ever eaten in my life"---but ultimately couldn't survive with limited hours, an awkward location, and high rent.

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.