New JAGP website.

In January we helped build a new website for the Japan Association of Greater Pittsburgh. The old address was left as an automatic redirect to the new Wordpress site, but in mid-July the domain expired. Please update your bookmarks to pittsburghjapan.wordpress.com. There's a new email address, too. Recent posts in the "ニュース / News" include the members' fall picnic in September. and a visit from the Japanese Consulate in October.

Asia 1, 2, 3 at Maridon Museum, August 19.

The Maridon Museum will host Asia 1, 2, 3 on Tuesday, August 19 from noon to 1 pm. A few words from the Facebook event page:

Learn about Asian culture at The Maridon Museum.
Craft, Snacks, and games.
Ages 4-11 are welcome.
All children must be accompanied by an adult.
$5 per child

The Maridon Museum is an Asian art museum in downtown Butler (map), roughly 33 miles north of Pittsburgh.

Hillman Library tours in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean for international students at Pitt, August 12 - 19.

From tomorrow, August 12, the University of Pittsburgh's Hillman Library will host tours in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean for incoming Pitt international students.

Would you like to know:

• how to meet and know a librarian who speaks your native language?
• the differences between the academic libraries in the U.S. and libraries in your home country?
• what and how the library can help your area of study and research at Pitt?

See the flyer above for a schedule and registration information.

Another local find from our Chinese fashion department.

QZ Lady now offers a Kordell Stewart replica jersey, sort of.

National Association of Asian American Professionals [NAAAP] Pittsburgh Annual Summer Picnic, August 23.

The Pittsburgh chapter of the National Association of Asian American Professions [NAAAP] will hold is annual summer picnic on August 23 in North Park. From the Facebook event page:

Get out and enjoy summer with NAAAP (The National Association of Asian American Professionals) and NetIP (The Network of Indian Professionals). Join us for our annual summer picnic! We'll enjoy food, games, and good conversation. Bring yourself and a dish to share.

The picnic will be held at Miller Grove in North Park. Note that this is a free event, but please bring a dish to share. Frisbees, balls, and any outdoor games are encouraged if you have them. You are welcome to bring family along (this is a kid friendly event) or invite any other friends. The picnic will run from 12pm to 4pm and food will be served at 1pm.

Everyone is welcome, you don't need to be a member of NAAAP or NetIP (or an Asian/Indian professional) to join in. Post a comment or contact us at info@naaappittsburgh.org for more information.

"Hiroshima Day Observed Here", 1963.

On August 6 and 7, 1963, the local papers reported on Hiroshima Day events in Pittsburgh. From the Pittsburgh Press on the 6th:

Paper cranes on helium-filled balloons -- symbols of the children who died 18 years ago during the bombing of Hiroshima -- flew high above Gateway Center today.

The paper birds were sent aloft by a group of Pittsburgh women as reminders that today's children still face the dangers of the nuclear arms race.

The Pittsburgh Women for Peace, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom and the Society of Friends sponsored the outdoor observance of Hiroshima Day. The groups are urging support of the nuclear test ban treaty now awaiting ratification by the U.S. Senate.

Pittsburgh City Council issues proclamation to "commend and recognize" Remembering Hiroshima, Imagining Peace.

On August 4, two days before the 69th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, the Pittsburgh City Council issued a proclamation to "commend and recognize the important work of Remembering Hiroshima, Imagining Peace".

Chinatown bus stop moving to Strip District.

Pittsburgh's Chinatown bus stop is moving from Oakland to the Strip District effective September 1. Currently located at 116 Meyren Ave., its new home will be 1613 Penn Ave. (map), according to the sign posted on its door, between a Chinese restaurant and an Asian hair salon. The daily bus to New York's Chinatown leaves at 12:20 am and costs $45 each way ($65 at the door, though $45 if you mention "George", says George.)

In early June we posted about a different sign on the door that read:

Retail opportunity on the ground floor of one of
Pittsburgh's hottest technology co-working spaces
116 Meyran Avenue is available for lease

Lao-language The Rocket at Northland Public Library, August 13.

Australian Lao-language film The Rocket will play at Northland Public Library on August 13. It's this month's selection in the Foreign Film Series. It was one of four films to open the 2013 Three Rivers Film Festival last fall.

The Akha people of Laos believe that giving birth to twins is bad luck. The main character’s twin is stillborn and it is believed that he will bring bad luck to everyone around him. Ten years later, the family gets word that their village will soon be under water due to a Dam project. After calamity-filled adventures, he tries to prove that he’s not bad luck by building a giant rocket to enter into an exciting and dangerous competition, the Rocket Festival. This film has won 25 awards and has been nominated for 20 others.

The movie starts at 1:30 pm, and is in Lao with English subtitles. Northland Public Library is located in McCandless Township in the North Hills (map).

I Live in Fear (生きものの記録), Hiroshima-Nagasaki Legacy Exhibit, Shibori Peace Quilt, and remembering the "miracle of terror".

A reminder, the 1955 Akira Kurosawa film I Live in Fear (生きものの記録) will play at the Melwood Screening Room (map) in Oakland on August 5. The film is co-sponsored by Remembering Hiroshima, Imagining Peace as a commemoration of the 69th anniversary of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the 6:00 pm screening is followed by an 8:00 pm Skype interview with Japanese students.

Remembering Hiroshima, Imagining Peace has again this year planned other activities around the commemoration. From August 4 through 15, Hiroshima-Nagasaki Legacy Exhibit will be on display at the City-County Building downtown. The exhibit "consists of photographs, graphics, poetry, and artwork" and is co-sponsored by Veterans for Peace.

From August 5 through 10, the Pittsburgh Children's Museum will host the Shibori Peace Quilt Project. From 12 to 3 each day, visitors are invited to dye small pieces of cloth in the Japanese shibori style. These pieces will then be woven into a quilt to be presented to representatives from Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 2015. The museum's website has a bit more:

Today, there are Museums of Peace in both cities where people can go and learn about the bombs, feel sad together, and forgive each other for the war. One of the things that makes things stop hurting so much is when people who remember what happened teach their children about how painful war is, and how poisonous bombs are. Another thing that helps is to make something beautiful to share.

Please join the Children's Museum of Pittsburgh and Remembering Hiroshima, Imagining Peace to make a Shibori memorial honoring those who were hurt in World War II, and their children and grandchildren who have been healing and rebuilding their communities ever since.

The Pittsburgh Children's Museum is located on the North Side (map).



Also on the North Side, along the Northshore Heritage Trail, is a permanent memorial to the victims in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. A marker at Frederick Franck's "The Unkillable Human" reads:

At Hiroshima Franck was confronted with the shadow of a human being burned into a concrete wall by the atomic bomb.

The indestructible spirit rises from the ashes.

At the time of 2012's post on the memorial and contemporary coverage on "the miracle of terror", the Shadow Project had placed bungee cord outlines of bodies, seen above, replicating similar memorials that turn up this time of year. The sculpture by Franck is located basically across the street from Warhola Recycling on Chesboro St. (map).