CMU Japanese Student Association Culture Month in November, sumo wrestling November 6.

The Carnegie Mellon University Japanese Student Association will host sumo wrestling on November 6, the first event in the JSA's Culture Month.

First we will have a short talk about the history of Sumo in Japan. Then we will have a fun tournament to find CMU's best sumo wrestler. Bring your friends to find the best sumo wrestler in your group!

Join JSA at CMU as we present Culture Month. Each week we will throw at least one event to display the rich and colorful culture of Japan, whether it's through food, performances, or play! Join us as we listen to the powerful taiko, eat hot, delicious okonomiyaki, and watch the delicate Japanese traditional tea ceremony.

The event starts at 4:30 pm in the Connan Room of University Center (campus map).

Bunkasai (文化祭) at Pitt, November 7.

The University of Pittsburgh Japanese Culture Association will host a Bunkasai (文化祭) cultural festival on Saturday, November 7.

Events include performances, games, food, a maid cafe, and more! The festival is expected to last from 2-6 pm. All are welcome!

Bunkasai, says Wikipedia,

is an annual event held by most schools in Japan, from Nursery schools to universities at which their students display their artistic achievements.

The event will take place at the O'Hara Student Center (map) Ballroom from 2:00 pm. More information is available at the event's Facebook page.

Korean Heritage Room dedication ceremony at Pitt, November 15.

Via the Pitt News. For more on the room's development, browse the PennsylAsia archives.

Today's Pitt Chronicle has a lengthy write-up on the Korean Heritage Room in the Cathedral of Learning ahead of the dedication ceremony on November 15.

Speakers at the ceremony will include University of Pittsburgh Chancellor Emeritus Mark A. Nordenberg as well as Ho Young Ahn, South Korea’s ambassador to the United States, and E. Maxine Bruhns, director of Pitt’s Nationality Rooms and Intercultural Exchange Programs. In addition, the Korean Heritage Classroom Committee—a group of local Korean-American citizens who oversaw the classroom’s funding efforts—will present a ceremonial key to Nordenberg. The presentation, lead by Sang C. Park, symbolizes the committee gifting the classroom to the University. Park is cochair of the Korean Heritage Classroom committee and a respected pediatric cardiologist. David Kim, an international business leader and committee cochair, will serve as the Master of Ceremonies.

The festival will feature performances by local Korean-American talent as well as entertainers from abroad. Notable performers will include the Maryland-based Korean Performing Arts Academy of America, the Korean Pittsburgh Women’s Chorus, the Young Brothers Tae Kwon Do Academy, and the internationally acclaimed Korean Children’s Choir from Seoul, South Korea. Authentic Korean food and crafts will be available, and Pitt’s Quo Vadis Guides—Nationality Room student tour guides with extensive knowledge of each room—will lead tours of the Korean Heritage Classroom.

. . .

The Korean Heritage Classroom’s design was inspired by the “Myeongnyundang”—the Hall of Enlightenment that was the main lecture hall of South Korea’s Sungkyunkwan University. Founded in 1398, Sungkyunkwan served as Korea’s “royal academy” and was the region’s foremost institution of higher education for nearly two centuries. The university still operates today (with modernized facilities), and the lecture hall continues to be used for special ceremonial events. It is recognized throughout Asia as a prominent historical monument.

Like the Hall of Enlightenment, the Korean Heritage Classroom depicts three connected rooms. The center room is longer with a lofty ceiling. Sungkyunkwan officials used the center room for ceremonies, lectures, rituals, and other important public events. The two smaller adjoining rooms were used for faculty research and private meetings.

As the article says, the day's events begin with a dedication ceremony in Heinz Chapel at 2:30, followed by a Korean cultural festival in the Commons Room (first floor of the Cathedral of Learning) at 3:30 and accompanied by tours of the room all day on the 15th. The Cathedral of Learning is a 42-story building located at 4200 Fifth Ave. (map) in Oakland.

Combined JASP Japanese Language Exchange and Japanese-English Reading Circle group meeting, November 7 in Shadyside.

The Japan-America Society of Pennsylvania will host a combined meeting of its Japanese Language Exchange and Japanese-English Reading Circle groups on Saturday, November 7, in Shadyside.

If you want to improve your Japanese language skills AND reading skills in the same area, you are most welcome to join us. This is a great chance to meet with Japanese residents of Pittsburgh and talk/read with your peers so that everyone can learn something new. Refreshments will be provided, as well as reading materials at every level will be provided

The event runs from 4:30 to 6:30 pm. Like the other Japanese Language Exchange meetings with the JASP, it will be held in Kenmawr Apartments, located at 401 Shady Ave. (map). It runs from 4:00 to 6:00 pm in the Community Room and is free and open to the public.

Pittsburgh Sakura Project Fall Planting Day, November 7 at North Park.

Kazuko Macher's entry placed second in the Pittsburgh Sakura Project's 2013 photo contest.

The Pittsburgh Sakura Project will hold its 7th annual Fall Planting Day on Saturday, November 7, at North Park. The group plans to plant an additional 15 trees this fall near the Boathouse (map) from 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm. Those interested in participating should RSVP via the event's Facebook page or by emailing PittsburghSakuraProject at gmail.com. Equipment will be provided, but work clothes and gloves are recommended.

Anthem of the Heart (心が叫びたがってるんだ。) at Hollywood Theater, November 4.

The Hollywood Theater in Dormont will show the 2015 Japanese animated movie Anthem of the Heart (心が叫びたがってるんだ。) on November 4. The synopsis, from the movie's official site:

Jun Naruse is a girl who carries the guilt of breaking up her family with the words she carelessly uttered when she was young…

Suddenly, a mysterious “Egg Fairy” appears in front of Jun and casts a curse on her so that she can never hurt anybody with her words. Jun’s ability to speak is sealed away: every time she tries, she feels a pain in her stomach. Traumatized by this experience, Jun hides her feelings deep inside of her heart, turning to e-mail messages on her mobile phone as her sole means of communication.

Jun is now a second year high school student. One day, her homeroom teacher appoints Jun and three other students as members of the Regional Friendship Exchange Executive Committee. As it turns out, the appointed group is a rather unexpected mix of students. Other than Jun, the members of the Committee are Takumi Sakagami, the burn-out who never speaks his true intentions; Daiki Tasaki, the former baseball team ace who failed his run at the Championships due to an injury; and Natsuki Nito, the cheerleader and honor student who has some concerns about her love life. They all suffer from emotional trauma just like Jun.

The movie was released in Japan on September 19. Tickets are available online for the 7:30 pm show. 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.

Nobody Knows (誰も知らない) at Maridon Museum, November 5.

The Maridon Museum will show 2004's Nobody Knows (誰も知らない) on November 5 as the fourth and final installment in this fall's Japanese film series. A brief introduction, from a 2005 Roger Ebert review:

As "Nobody Knows" opens, we watch a mother and two kids moving into a new apartment. They wrestle some heavy suitcases up the stairs. When the movers have left, they open the suitcases and release two younger children, who are a secret from the landlord. "Remember the new rules," the mother says. "No going outside. Not even on the veranda -- except for Kyoko, to do the laundry."

The movie starts at 6:00 pm, runs 141 minutes, and is presented by Dr. Yukako Ishimaru of Slippery Rock University. The movies in the series are free and open to the public, though reservations are required and can be made by calling 724-282-0123.

The Maridon, an Asian art museum, is located at 322 North McKean St. in downtown Butler (map), roughly 40 miles north of Pittsburgh.

Post-Gazette on "the state of sushi in Pittsburgh".

With Sushi Kim set to close, and with Fukuda gone for over a year now, Melissa McCart at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette looks at "the state of sushi in Pittsburgh". It has nice things to say about unheralded local favorites Chaya, Kiku, and Umi, among others, and says of perennial "best sushi" winner Nakama:

too much party, not enough care

With Sushi Kim leaving, it also expands the Korean BBQ void a bit. I wrote in early 2014, upon the closing 영빈관, that Korean barbecue is not long for Pittsburgh, and that three of the four BBQ joints mentioned in a 2004 Post-Gazette review were now closed:

Unfortunately, few joints offer Korean barbecue in Pittsburgh; Sushi Kim, Jimmy's Korean Grill at Jimmy Tsang's and Ginza are the noble few.

Pittsburgh Ginkgo Fest, November 7.

Tree Pittsburgh will hold its first Pittsburgh Ginkgo Fest on Saturday, November 7, in Highland Park. The event runs from 1:00 to 4:00 at Maple Grove Shelter, next to the wooden Super Playground (map).

Join Tree Pittsburgh for our first ever Pittsburgh Ginkgo Fest to celebrate the oldest species of tree in the world and the beautiful fall colors of Highland Park! The festival will feature a performance by Pittsburgh Taiko (Japanese group taiko drumming), crafts and origami activities, children's story time, face painting, tree ID walks and photos in front of Pittsburgh's largest ginkgo tree.

Ginkgo trees are renowned for their medicinal properties, their outstanding urban tolerance, and their edible nuts. The ginkgo tree species dates back to over 200 million years.

"Asia on Screen: Everyday Media Comportment: Living Between Infrastructures" at Pitt, October 30.

On October 30, the University of Pittsburgh's Asian Studies Center will present the next installment in its Asia on Screen Series, "Everyday Media Comportment: Living Between Infrastructures" with Thomas Lamarre of McGill University.

This presentation proposes to explore the relations between three distinct yet overlapping infrastructures in contemporary Tokyo: broadcast television, mobile phones or keitai, and the commuter train network. The basic aim is to how consider the lived experience of polarized medial tendencies between and across these infrastructures. While a variety of everyday comportments have arisen between broadcast television and keitai, there are sites and moments where comportment seems to reach a limit, and life across polarized
tendencies feel impossible, unworkable.

The event will be held in Conference Room A of the University Club (map) from 4:00 pm, and is free and open to the public.