Korean movie A Better Tomorrow (무적자) at Parkway Theater in McKees Rocks, May 19.

The Parkway Theater in McKees Rocks will show the 2010 Korean movie A Better Tomorrow (무적자) tomorrow, May 19, as the first installment of its Asian Movie Madness series. The Korean Movie Database provides a summary of the film, a remake of the 1986 John Woo movie of the same title:

Hyuk and Chul are two brothers who have been separated since childhood. Hyuk, the older one, has now become a weapon smuggling gang boss, while Chul has become a policeman. Hyuk and Young-chun share 10 years of friendship while leading the gang as two aces, but their tight friendship becomes damaged because of a dirty trick played by Taemin, one of the gangsters, while Hyuk wants to escape from the band of gangs. Chul wants to get rid of the gangs. Young-chun wants to reestablish himself. Their relationship gets tangled with deep wounds and misunderstanding. With Tae-min's plot to take hold of everything, their destiny heads for an unexpected ending.

The movie starts at 7:00 pm and is free. The Asian Movie Madness series will be held on the third Thursday of the month. The theater is located at 644 Broadway Ave. in McKees Rocks (map), a few miles west of the North Side.

Studio Ghibli film When Marnie Was There (思い出のマーニー ) at Regent Square Theater, June 12 - 18.

Pittsburgh Filmmakers has announced that the 2014 Japanese movie When Marnie Was There (思い出のマーニー ) will play at Regent Square Theater from June 12 to 18. The group summarizes what some believe may be the last Studio Ghibli film:

The newest animated film from Studio Ghibli tells the enchanted story of Anna, a teenage girl who feels disconnected from her peers. Her foster mother frets about Anna’s asthma attacks and sends her to spend the summer with her grandparents in Hokkaido, a sleepy town by the sea. Anna keeps to herself – until she makes friends with the mysterious Marnie, who may or may not be real. Beautifully rendered, the lush, hand-crafted paintings give this modern tale the look and feel of classic animation at its best.

Showtimes have not yet been announced. The Regent Square Theater is located at 1035 S. Braddock Ave. (map).

Izakaya to open in Lawrenceville in August.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette writes this afternoon about an izakaya called Umami to open in Lawrenceville above the Round Corner Cantina (map). It is the next project of Robert Li, formerly of Tamari, and anticipates an August open.

The izakaya, or Japanese pub, will feature, "traditional Japanese dishes using modern techniques and local ingredients. Every dish will have umami flavors," he said.

Mr. Li will start construction this month and he's shooting for an August opening. Though it's part of the Round Corner building, it will have its own entrance at 202 38th St.

Umami will have a sushi bar and an infared robata or a charcoal binchotan 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.

He found his inspiration for the izakaya while traveling around Japan.

"Izakayas are my favorite places to go out to eat and have a beverage,“ he said. ”After seeing the true izakayas, I was really interested in doing the concept."

Starkist hiring bilingual Korean/English for "Manager, Corporate Internal Audit" position in Pittsburgh.

Starkist, which has its corporate headquarters on the North Shore and which is owned by South Korea's Dongwon Industries, is hiring for bilingual Korean/English Manager, Corporate Internal Audit position in Pittsburgh. Part of the ad, via Monster:

Tribune-Review on Pittsburgh's Chinatown bus station.

The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review has an article today about the Chinatown bus running from Pittsburgh's Strip District to New York City.

[S]everal people quietly wait outside a nondescript, one-story building with their rolling travel bags, bookbags and pillows. Some pass the time by smoking; others stare at their cellphones. Most turn down interview requests, saying they speak little or no English. The front door of the building opens, and they enter a foyer and disappear downstairs into the basement to buy tickets.

Within an hour, they'll board an unmarked white bus that pulls up outside and be on their way to New York's Chinatown.

“People needed an alternative to Greyhound, Megabus and Amtrak. The Chinese coach buses are reasonably priced, clean, and the travel time is much quicker because they don't have all those frequent stops,” said George Chow, who helps market the interstate bus line that's known locally as Great Wall Line Inc.

The Chinatown bus station moved from its Oakland location to 1613 Penn Ave. (map) Strip District on September 1, 2014.

Chinatown buses enjoyed their highest popularity here before Megabus and other alternatives to Greyhound emerged. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette did a short profile on some of the lines servicing Pittsburgh in 2006, and their popularity among non-Asians given the lack of affordable intercity public transportation.

Kin Yeung of McCandless said that when he took a Fung Wah bus from New York's Chinatown to Boston, more than half of the passengers were non-Asian.

Nonetheless, "a lot of people in the Chinese community in Pittsburgh are using these bus services because they're so cheap," he said.

The Chinatown bus lines followed a business model similar to the discount lines today:

[Greyhound spokeswoman Anna] Folmnsbee said Greyhound's generally higher bus prices, for the most part, subsidized buildings and staff.

"We put a lot of money into our facilities, to make sure our passengers have a safe, comfortable, warm place to wait and customer service agents who tell you where to go to line up," she said. "Plus our passengers know we offer more schedules, a dozen to New York per day as opposed to maybe a handful."

While Ms. Folmnsbee declined to discuss how Greyhound regards the advent of low-cost Chinatown bus services, the company did sue Fung Wah in 2004 for lacking proper permits.

Latest rendering of Sichuan University - Pittsburgh Institute.

The recently-launced Sichuan University - Pittsburgh Institute (四川大学-匹兹堡学院) website has a rendering of the institute and its surroundings.



This post from last month looks at several previous renderings. The renderings released online last month show the institute---bottom left in the picture above---surrounded by transparent blocks to indicated other buildings under construction; buildings depicted above. The joint venture between the two universities is scheduled to open at the Jiang'an campus in Fall 2015 with an initial cohort of 100 students.

Update (May 11): Here is another look at the building from elsewhere on the page:

Immediate openings in Pittsburgh for Japanese, Korean, Mandarin speakers to work overnight shifts.

Ariba---"the global leader in business commerce networks, supporting more than $450 billion dollars in yearly trade between over 1 million connected companies"---is hiring Customer Support Specialists fluent in Japanese, Korean or Mandarin to work overnight shifts in its Pittsburgh office downtown. An excerpt from the job ad, posted today:

The Customer Support Specialist is the face and voice of Ariba to our customers, building relationships in each interaction. Specialists help our customers maximize the benefits of Ariba solutions to facilitate a global exchange of goods and services in the world’s largest business to business trading community. They use their expertise and collaborate with team members and customers across the globe to provide detailed solutions that exceed expectations.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Provides inbound application and functional support for all relevant Ariba applications, both internally and externally, by way of email, webform and phone.
• Resolves 80% of issues without escalation.
• Respond to customer inquiries in a timely manner and within service level objectives.
• Successfully documents all requests through the CRM system while adhering to all documented procedures.
• Provides general assistance to other teams within Global Customer Support and Ariba.
• Conducts all customer interactions in a manner that presents Ariba in a positive light. Specialists are required to be respectful, fair, gracious and knowledgeable and to uphold the core values established by Ariba.
• Ensures that individual performance meets or exceeds the department standards.
• All other duties as assigned.

Basic Minimum Qualifications

•Bachelor’s degree or 2-year Technical school degree preferred.
•Fluency in Chinese (Mandarin), Korean and Japanese

Preferred Qualifications

• Technical aptitude. Knowledge in computer hardware and software applications along with experience using the Internet.
• Minimum of 1 year work experience preferred.
• Customer focus and stress tolerance.
• Superior communication and telephone skills.
• Friendly presence and helpful attitude; good interpersonal skills and ability to work well with others.
• Strong troubleshooting and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to adapt support style to align with the technical capabilities of the customer.
• Previous customer service experience strongly desired.
• Fluency in at least one foreign language is highly desirable.
• Experience or education in working with individuals from diverse cultures preferred.

Ariba, Inc. is an EEO/Affirmative Action employer and does not discriminate based on race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, disability, veteran status, or any other protected category.

The shifts are 7:00 pm to 4:00 am or 8:00 pm to 5:00 am, in order to accommodate East Asian time zones. More details are in the job ad, and those interested and qualified may apply online.

Japanese language exchange at Kenmawr Apartments, May 15.

The Japan-America Society of Pennsylvania will hold its fourth Japanese language exchange at Shadyside's Kenmawr Apartments on Friday, May 15. From the JASP's Facebook page:

Join us for JASP's fourth language mixer! The language mixer will be held on Friday, May 15th from 4:00 to 6:00 pm at the Kenmawr Apartments. Kenmawr Apartments is right off the B route for CMU students and off the 71B PAT Bus route for Pitt students. The mixer is always a good chance to learn more about the Japanese language and connect with Pittsburgh's Japanese community.

The flowers in the poster is a suzuran, or lily of the valley, the birth flower of May.

The apartment complex at 401 Shady Ave. (map) has a large number of Japanese residents who work and study in the city, and often hosts cultural events for its international residents. Friday's event runs from 4 to 6 pm.

Pittsburgh Bonsai Society Bonsai Show, May 30 and 31.

The 34th annual Bonsai Show will be held at Phipps Garden Center in Shadyside (map) on May 30 and 31. It's presented by the Pittsburgh Bonsai Society and is free and open to the public from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm on Saturday the 30th, and from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm on the 31st.

Kang hits first home run of Major League career.

On Sunday, May 3, Jung-ho Kang hit the first home run of his Major League Baseball career in the 9th inning against the Cardinals' Trevor Rosenthal. Kang is the first Korean position player in Pittsburgh Pirates history.