Host families needed in Pittsburgh for visiting Yasuda Women's University students from August to January.

GlobalPittsburgh is looking for host families for students from Yasuda Women's University (安田女子大学) who will be attending the University of Pittsburgh English Language Institute from late-August through late-January.

GlobalPittsburgh is searching for homestay hosts for female students from a private University in Hiroshima, Japan.

Here are the details and guidelines:

• The students are all females of 19-20 years old; most of them have "fair" level of English. They will be studying English at the English Language Institute at the University of Pittsburgh.
• The monthly compensation for hosting will be $800.
• The dates of the program are between August 30, 2016 and January 29, 2017.
• The student will need a separate bedroom with a bed, dresser or closet, desk (optional), adequate lighting to study, and heat/air.
• The students cannot be placed in the same home with other Japanese students, Japanese natives or male students.
• Host families are requested to include the student in their family meals with an option for the student to pack their lunch.
• The host should be located conveniently on a direct bus line to Oakland with a max of 45 minute commute. Some of the neighborhoods we are looking at include Bloomfield, East Liberty, Friendship, Greenfield, Hazelwood, Highland Park, Lawrenceville, Morningside, Oakland, Point Breeze, Polish Hill, Regent Square, Shadyside, South Side, Squirrel Hill, Stanton Heights, Strip District, Swisshelm Park, and Downtown.
• The students will be attending the University on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and have a decent amount of homework daily. They will be engaged in many activities provided by University and GlobalPittsburgh.

Please encourage your friends, colleagues and family to host! Have them contact me at nkessler@globalpittsburgh.org with questions and for more information.

Westinghouse hiring customer escort for visiting Chinese clients.

Westinghouse is hiring a Customer Escort for visiting Chinese clients from July 18 through August 6.

Customer Escort sought for Westinghouse Headquarters in Cranberry Twp, PA to escort eighteen (18) China Wave 3 customer visitors at our site from July 18 through August 5, 2016. Individual must be able to commit to work within this time frame.

Job Responsibilities:

Perform escort duty during normal business hours

Meet and collect the Chinese customers upon arrivals at and departures from Westinghouse Cranberry facilities

Create and maintain a daily log of Chinese customer meetings, locations visited and activities

Escort the Chinese customers through facility areas and ensure prompt arrivals and departures for meetings and scheduled activities

Kung Fu Series at Row House Cinema in September.

The Row House Cinema recently announced the rest of the lineup for its Kung Fu Cinema series in September: the 1978 Jackie Chan movie Snake in the Eagle's Shadow (蛇形刁手) and the 1972 Bruce Lee movie Way of the Dragon (猛龍過江), in addition to the two King Hu movies announced last month 1967's Dragon Inn (龍門客棧) and 1971's A Touch of Zen (俠女).

Profile of Pennsylvania-based Korean paper artist Sun Young Kang.

Photo by Yong Ho Bae, courtesy of artist's website.

Main Line Today profiles Sun Young Kang, a Korean paper artist formerly of Pittsburgh and currently based in eastern Pennsylvania. Kang's work has appeared in several prominent Pittsburgh exhibitions, including the Pittsburgh Biennial in 2008. Filtered Memories, pictured above, appeared at the Pittsburgh Biennial:

“Eight years after my father’s death, my mother sent me his diaries which he began to write when he was my age. I have reproduced selections from those diaries. He has come back as a memory.”

The Music of Strangers: Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble at AMC Loews Waterfront, from July 8.

The Music of Strangers: Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble, following the cellist Ma and a collective of musicians from across the world, will play at the AMC Loews Waterfront from July 8.

Catcher Jin-de Jhang called up to Indianapolis Indians.

Via 張進德 Jin-de Jhang Facebook page.

Catcher Jin-de Jhang (張進德)---a 23-year-old catcher from Taitung, Taiwan---was called up to AAA Indianapolis yesterday after a number of recent injuries led to a shortage at the position. Jhang, who signed with Pittsburgh in 2011, had spent the entirety of 2016 with the Altoona Curve, hitting .290 with 13 RBIs in 31 games as the team's backup catcher.

Former head of Presbyterian Church in Korea, and University of Pittsburgh graduate, Dr. Hyung Tae Kim passes away at 87.

Dr. Hyung Tae Kim (김형태), who was the 72nd head of the Presbyterian Church of Korea and who earned his Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh, passed away last week at the age of 87. Kim's 1966 dissertation, Relationships Between Personal Characteristics of Korean Students in Pennsylvania and Their Attitudes Toward the Christian Churches in America, has been cited in subsequent works on the Korean Christian diaspora in the United States, and is available online via Proquest.

Sand artist Katsuhiko Chaen at Sand City Spectacular, July 2 - 10 in Oakland.

Via Sand City Spectacular.

From July 2 through July 10, Schenley Plaza will host the Sand City Spectacular in honor of Pittsburgh's bicentennial. Ten sand sculptors will be there, including Katsuhiko Chaen of Kagoshima.

Considered a “star” of this art form, Chaen, a graduate of Musashino Academy of Art in Tokyo, has been sculpting for 29 years and is widely respected worldwide. In Japan, he’s recognized as a visionary organizer producing national and international level competitions in his native land. In 2006, he originated the acclaimed Sand Museum in Tottori, Japan—staged at the majestic Tottori Sand Dunes. The museum is the country’s only open-air museum exhibiting sculptures made entirely of sand. From Japan, Singapore and China to Germany, Italy and Canada, Chaen has sculptured around the world most recently finishing second at the 2015 International Sand Sculpture Competition, Ruse Bulgaria.

More information about the events and the competition is found on the Sand City Spectacular website. Schenley Plaza is located at 4100 Forbes Ave., across from the Cathedral of Learning and the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh Main Branch in Oakland (map).

Japanese film Our Little Sister (海街diary) in Pittsburgh, August 19 - 25.

The 2015 Japanese film Our Little Sister (海街diary) will play at the Harris Theater from August 19 through 25, it was recently announced. Variety writes in a 2015 review:

Marking the subtle transitions in the lives of three sisters after they take under their wing a teenage half-sibling they never knew, “Our Little Sister” is so meticulously shot and gracefully orchestrated that it can be considered a worthy contempo successor to Kon Ichikawa’s masterpiece “The Makioka Sisters.” Yet, in attempting to evoke an overwhelmingly femme-centric universe for the first time, Hirokazu Kore-eda adopts an approach so serene that his protagonists’ pain as well as their personalities remain largely muffled as they drift soulfully through the seasons. While gently engaging throughout, the pic nonetheless doesn’t reverberate as deeply as the helmer’s 2013 Cannes jury prizewinner, “Like Father, Like Son,” but Kore-eda’s standing among the worldwide culturati will ensure a warm response at festivals and arthouse cinemas.

The movie stars Haruka Ayase (Hotaru no Hikari, Cyborg She, Masami Nagasawa (The Crossing), Kaho and Suzu Hirose.

Showtimes have not yet been released. The Harris Theater is located at 809 Liberty Ave. in the downtown Pittsburgh Cultural District (map).

Bubblepop for Girls Rock, July 22.

The next Bubblepop event is scheduled for July 22 at Brillobox in Lawrenceville. Bubblepop, explains its Facebook page,

is a dance party for K-Pop, J-Pop, Mando-pop and everything else fun and cute.

. . .

$5 donation gets you a sick dance party and helps girls attend Girls Rock camp in August

It starts at 10:00 pm, and the venue is at 4104 Penn Ave. (map).