2016 Hong Kong movies The Monkey King 2 (西遊記之孫悟空三打白骨精) and From Vegas to Macau 3 (賭城風雲III) in Pittsburgh from February 5.

Two new releases from Hong Kong will show at the AMC Loews Waterfront from Friday, February 5: The Monkey King 2 (西遊記之孫悟空三打白骨精) and From Vegas to Macau 3 (賭城風雲III).

2015's Tokyo Tribe (トウキョウ トライブ トゥー) at Row House Cinema in March.

The Row House Cinema in Lawrenceville announced 2015's Tokyo Tribe (トウキョウ トライブ トゥー) as the fourth film in its Japanese film series this spring. An A.V. Club review of the "demented rap musical" offers a final take:

With its over-the-top violence, cast of bizarre bit characters (a beat-boxing henchwoman, a DJ granny, etc.), and a compulsion to interject phallic imagery that borders on coprographia, Tokyo Tribe throws so much at the viewer that it’s easy to get swept up in its deranged energy and overlook the fact that the movie doesn’t have a flicker of a brain cell, being not much more than a celebration of aggressive stupidity. Sometimes, that’s fine.

The other three films to play from March 18 to March 24 are: 1949's Late Spring (晩春), the 1991 Studio Ghibli film Only Yesterday (おもひでぽろぽろ), and the 1985 Kurosawa film Ran (乱). Details will follow on the theater's official site.

Artist Talk: Michael Chow at Pitt, February 9.

The University of Pittsburgh's Department of History of Art and Architecture will host restauranteur and artist Michael Chow on February 9, ahead of his exhibition Michael Chow aka Zhou Yinghua: Voice for My Father that opens at The Andy Warhol Museum on February 13.

Michael Chow joins Associate Curator of Art Jessica Beck in a discussion about his career as a painter, which first began in the early 1960s. After a 50 year sabbatical, Chow returned to painting and produced a new body of work, which will be on view for the first time in the U.S. at The Warhol. As a successful entrepreneur, Chow made a name for himself and surrounded himself with artists such as Andy Warhol, Jean Michael Basquiat, and Julian Schnabel. Chow also discusses a subtext of the exhibition, the influence and legendary career of his father Zhou Xinfang, a grandmaster of the Beijing Opera.

The talk is free and open to the public and starts at 5:00 pm, following a reception, in the Frick Fine Arts Building (map).

"Examining the pragmatic development of Chinese JFL students" at Pitt, February 5.

The University of Pittsburgh's Department of East Asian Languages & Literatures will present MA Candidate Taranee Cao and her colloquia "Examining the pragmatic development of Chinese JFL students" on February 5. The abstract, via the DEALL website:

This cross-sectional study explores the development of pragmatics of Chinese learners of Japanese in foreign language contexts (JFL) by examining their request usages, which incorporates pragmatic transfer as a tool to interpret data. Discourse completion task (DCT) questionnaires were distributed to first-year, second-year and fourth-year Japanese learners at a university in China, as well as to some native speakers in the U.S. to elicit requests. Not only study years, but also the role of different questionnaire situations (balanced by hierarchy and propriety) are taken into consideration. Requests are examined according to the following categories: perspective, speech level, strategies, syntactic downgraders, semantic downgraders, and supportive moves. Based on data analysis, the preliminary findings are: 1) A significant leap from first-year group to second-year group can be observed. 2) In general, fourth-year group performed similar to or less native-like than second-year group. 3) Regardless of the improvement, the gap still exists between learners and native speakers in terms of pragmatics proficiency. 4) In Japanese, hierarchy plays a more important role in the request-making process than propriety. Hopefully, the study can reveal current teaching and learning situations of Japanese pragmatics at universities in China. By discussing learners' success and potential areas that need improvement, the findings could in turn shed light on language pedagogy.

The talk will begin at 12:00 in 4130 Posvar Hall (map), and is free and open to the public.

Noodle bar, Japanese-style crepes, bubble tea at Love Yogurt in Oakland.

Stopped into Love Yogurt in Oakland the other day, a newer self-serve yogurt place at 229 Atwood St (map) in what used to be an office equipment store. It opened in November after relocating from the South Side, and---along with Fuku Tea and T4U---was one of three Asian tea and dessert places to open in Oakland the second half of 2015. It's recently begun to advertise its noodle and crepe offerings on Forbes Ave. Here's a look at the menu:

Michael Chow aka Zhou Yinghua: Voice for My Father at The Warhol, from February 13.

Via ArtAsiaPacific.

Shanghai-born restauranteur and actor Michael Chow will hold the first US exhibition of his Michael Chow aka Zhou Yinghua: Voice for My Father at The Andy Warhol Museum, from February 13.

Artlab interactive event with Chiharu Shiota's "Traces of Memory" at Mattress Factory, February 6.

"Stairway", from Chiharu Shiota's official website.

The Mattress Factory will host an interactive event with Chiharu Shiota's "Traces of Memory"on February 6, as part of its regular Artlab series.

Jung-ho Kang back in Pittsburgh.

PennsylvAsia reporting on the Korean media reporting on Jung-ho Kang's Instagram. The Pittsburgh Pirates infielder posted this on his Instagram (@sdew0405) on Wednesday:

너무 무리하지 말고, 푹 쉬고 지내게

Teppanyaki Kyoto named Best Japanese by Carnegie Mellon's 2015-16 C-Book.

via Teppanyaki Kyoto's Facebook page.

Teppanyaki Kyoto was named the Best Japanese restaurant in Pittsburgh by Carnegie Mellon University's 2015-16 C-Book directory. It's a big win for the Highland Park restaurant, which is popular among Japanese people in Pittsburgh but which normally doesn't turn up on lists of the best, or rather most popular, Japanese places in the city.

Grit & Grace to rebrand to "G & G Noodle Bar" and "approachable Asian-style street food".

The Post-Gazette writes today that the Cultural District restaurant Grit & Grace will rebrand and reopen tomorrow as "G & G Noodle Bar". The restaurant will move to a

more casual menu at G & G Noodle Bar than the one at Grit & Grace, with options like big eye tuna sushi and addictive snacks like General Tso’s cauliflower for dim sum. For mains, look for noodles like tsukemen-style ramen ($15) and spicy dan dan noodles garnished with a poached egg ($13), along with dishes such as crispy Sichuan chicken over noodles ($14) and bulgogi lettuce wraps with flank steak ($10).