Lecture by Ryoji Ikeda at CMU, April 7.

A 2009 DATA.TRON exhibition, by Liz Hingley.

The Carnegie Mellon University School of Art will host Japanese artist Ryoji Ikeda on April 7 as part of its 2015 Spring Lecture Series. The school profiles Ikeda, whose installation "DATA.TRON" was in Pittsburgh from July 12 through September 8, 2013:

Ryoji Ikeda focuses on the essential characteristics of sound itself and that of visuals as light by means of both mathematical precision and mathematical aesthetics. He has gained a reputation as one of the few international artists working convincingly across both visual and sonic media. Ikeda elaborately orchestrates sound, visuals, materials, physical phenomena and mathematical notions into immersive live performances and installations. His albums +/- (1996), 0? (1998), and Matrix (2001) have been hailed by critics as the most radical and innovative examples of contemporary electronic music. Currently, Ikeda is working on cyclo, a collaborative project with Carsten Nicolai.

The lecture begins at 5:00 pm in Kresge Theater (map) and is free and open to the public.

Korean movie 10 Minutes (10분) at CMU, April 8.

The Korean movie Ten Minutes (10분) will play at Carnegie Mellon University on April 8 as part of this year's CMU International Film Festival. A summary from the Busan International Film Festival, where the movie premiered in 2013:

A young man preparing for an exam to work for a broadcasting company starts to work as an intern and a junior government employee. He is only there to make some money before finding a real job, but when his boss tells him that he wants to hire him full-time, he is tempted. After going through the interview and getting congratulated from others in the office, he is shocked that the full-time position is in fact given to someone else. An older co-worker tells him that it was a set-up, and the young man decides to fight the decision. The fight for justice is not as easy as his co-worker says. The film cruelly looks on as the man stoops lower and lower, from an intern loved by both co-workers and managers, to a disgruntled employee. He is at a crossroads. Should he stay a good, social employee, or start anew as a straggler?

The event starts at 7:00 pm in McConomy Auditorium in the Jared L. Cohon University Center and includes a "post-screening discussion moderated by Seung-hwan Shin, Professor of English/Film Studies at the University of Pittsburgh" and reception. Tickets are $5 for students and seniors, $10 for everyone else, and available online.

An izakaya coming to Lawrenceville?

That's what PG Plate says today:

Roger Li, the chef who has been with Tamari in Lawrenceville since the day it opened, has left to take on a new project. His last day was March 15.

His plan is to open a Japanese izakaya called Umami that will feature, "traditional Japanese dishes using modern techniques and local ingredients. Every dish will have umami flavors," he said.

Umami will have a sushi bar and a robota grill. He'll also serve ramen, housemade tofu, gyoza (Japanese dumplings) and other Japanese street food. His drink menu will include sake, cocktails and Japanese whisky.

An announcement on location is pending.

“In the Shadow of Working Men: Gendered Labor and Migrant Rights in South Korea" at Pitt, April 3.

The University of Pittsburgh's Asian Studies Center will host Dr. Hae Yeon Choo of the University of Toronto and her talk “In the Shadow of Working Men: Gendered Labor and Migrant Rights in South Korea" on April 3.

This talk will investigate the gendered production of migrant rights by examining two groups of Filipina women in South Korea: factory workers and hostesses at American military camptown clubs. Based on ethnographic research, I identify two distinct labor regimes for migrant women that were differently shaped in the shadow of working men. Divergent forms of civil society mobilization in South Korea sustained these regimes: migrant factory workers received recognition as workers without attention to gender-specific concerns while hostesses were construed as women victims in need of protection. Thus, Filipina factory workers were able to exercise greater labor and social rights by sharing the dignity of workers as a basis for their rights claims from which hostesses were excluded. Emphasizing gendered labor processes and symbolic politics, this talk will offer an analytical framework to interrogate the mechanisms through which a discrepancy of rights is generated at the intersection of workplace organization and civil society mobilization.

The talk will be held from 3:00 pm in 4130 Posvar Hall (map) and is free and open to the public.

Hong Kong Film Series at Maridon Museum, April and May.

Over the weekend the Maridon Museum announced its lineup for Hong Kong Film Series running in April and May, 2015. The films are: 1978's Heroes of the East (浮城), Wong Kar Wai's Chungking Express (重慶森林), 2011's A Simple Life (桃姐), and 2012's Floating City (浮城). The first movie, Heroes of the East, plays on April 10 at 6:00 pm.

The Maridon, an Asian art museum, is located at 322 North McKean St in downtown Butler (map), roughly 40 miles north of Pittsburgh. A few times a year it has Asian movies series; Vietnam, Korea, and Taiwan have been subjects in recent memory.

Shen Yun in Pittsburgh, April 25 and 26.

The Chinese classical dance company Shen Yun will be performing three shows at the Benedum Center on April 25 and 26. The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust says:

Capturing the spirit of a culture almost lost, Shen Yun brings us dynasties and legends through uplifting dances and original musical scores. Classical, ethnic and folk dances are accompanied by a live orchestra that combines Western and Eastern instruments. And state-of-the-art digital backdrops transport audiences to a world where good triumphs over evil and Heaven and Earth exist together in harmony.

Shen Yun (meaning the "Beauty of Divine Beings Dancing") is the first international touring group to present classical Chinese dance to the world on a large scale. Each of the four touring companies includes nearly 100 artists and 400 hand-made costumes. The fast-moving show has new programming each year, consisting of twenty or more segments. The performances include dances from different regions and time periods of China, including the present, and several operatic vocal pieces.

The performance does look impressive, if the website and promotional materials are to be trusted. Tickets range from $54.25 to $154.25.

Reviews of the show have been mixed, due primarily to the company's religious ties. Wikipedia has a summary of those comments. If Falun Gong plays a part in the performance, it is relatively hidden from the promotional materials.

Sichuan University - Pittsburgh apartments Institute

Sichuan University - Pittsburgh Institute is scheduled to open in Fall 2015. The institute at the Chinese univesity's Jiang'an campus "will educate undergraduate students and foster collaborative research" and will start with an incoming cohort of 100 students. The first pictures of the proposed building were released last July. Unfortunately, an image also used to promote the campus is a rendering from a Chinese real estate website of an apartment complex under construction in Sichuan.

Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter at Hollywood Theater, April 3 - 9.

The Hollywood Theater in Dormont will show the 2014 film Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter from April 3 through 9. A summary from the Sundance Festival homepage:

Kumiko lives in a cluttered, cramped apartment in Tokyo with her pet rabbit, Bunzo. She works as an office lady, robotically preparing tea and fetching dry cleaning for her nitpicky boss. But on her own time, she obsessively watches a well-known American film on a weathered VHS tape. Rewinding and fast-forwarding repeatedly, she meticulously maps out where a briefcase of castaway loot is buried within the fictional film. After hours of intense research—convinced that her destiny depends on finding the money—Kumiko heads to the United States and into the harsh Minnesota winter to search for it.

The American film stars several Japanese actors, including Rinko Kikuchi, and will debut in US theaters in March 2015. Showtimes and tickets are available on the Hollywood Theater's homepage. The theater is located at 1449 Potomac Ave. in Dormont (map), and is accessible by Pittsburgh's subway/LRT at a block south of Potomac Station.

Shaler Area High School Kakehashi Community Event, March 25.

From the Japan-America Society of Pennsylvania monthly newsletter:

This year the Kakehashi (Bridge for Tomorrow) Project brings together not only Japanese and American college students, but high school students as well. As part of an initiative by the Japanese government to promote youth exchange between the U.S. and Japan, Shaler Area High School will be hosting a group of students from Igusa and Suginami Sogo High Schools of Tokyo, Japan.

Shaler Area High School will be hosting a Kakehashi Community Event on Wednesday, March 25th at Shaler Area High School Auditorium from 6:00 - 8:30 pm. This is a rare opportunity to interact with high school students from Japan and help promote the grassroots of internationalization. The program will open with a performance by Pittsburgh Taiko followed by student presentations and a reception with light refreshments where you can meet with the students.

This event is free and open to the public but RSVPs are appreciated. Please contact Steven Balsomico [Balsomicos at sasd.k12.pa.us] for further information or to RSVP.

The high school is located at 381 Wible Run Rd. (map).

TOP Shabu Shabu soft opens today, March 24.

TOP Shabu Shabu has announced that it will have a soft opening today, March 24, with 20% off everything It's located at 114 Atwood St. (map) in Oakland, the former location of Pizza Sola.

The Pitt News, the student newspaper of the University of Pittsburgh, ran a profile on the restaurant in January:

Andrew Khoo, the restaurant’s manager, said although they named the new restaurant after Shabu-shabu, a Japanese style of dining, yet Top Shabu’s hot pot style is traditionally more Chinese.

Customers will order a “hot pot” and whatever meats and vegetables they would like to eat, which servers will bring to the table. Customers will then cook the food using the hot pot, a metal container filled with broth and heated by an electric coil, and eat their food at their table. In hot pots, the food is cooked while the pot simmers. Thinly sliced beef is the traditional choice, Khoo said, but Top Shabu will offer a variety of meat and vegetable options.

“All food is cooked at the table,” Khoo said.

According to Khoo, Top Shabu’s bar will offer Asian-inspired drinks.

“We have a 10 tap system from the previous owner,” Khoo said. “We’ll also have a variety of wine and a large variety of liquor for unique mixed drinks. The mixed drinks will have an Asian influence. For example, melon liqueur is used a lot in China.”