The Irregular at Magic High School The Movie: The Girl Who Calls the Stars (劇場版 魔法科高校の劣等生 星を呼ぶ少女) at Hollywood Theater, July 29.

The Hollywood Theater in Dormont will show the Japanese animated movie The Irregular at Magic High School The Movie: The Girl Who Calls the Stars (劇場版 魔法科高校の劣等生 星を呼ぶ少女) on July 29.

Post-Gazette profiles Robert Morris women's basketball recruit Honoka Ikematsu, first Japanese player in program history.

via @rmuwbasketball.

Today's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette features a profile of Honoka Ikematsu, an 18-year-old Japanese woman who is among the latest recruits to the Robert Morris University women's basketball team.

In Honoka Ikematsu, a native of Kumamoto, Japan, [assistant coach Asami] Morita found a player who wanted to compete at a college program in the United States. She also found a player whose skills could transfer across the Pacific Ocean.

Of the numerous differences between Japanese and American women’s basketball, the most significant are the shooting styles. Japanese women’s basketball guards shoot with two hands, similar to a set shot, with a slow release. It’s often accurate, Buscaglia said, but would be easily defended in an American basketball game.

“A lot of players that you would bring over here, you would have to re-teach them how to shoot or you would have to live with the way they shoot the ball,” Buscaglia said.

Concerns of Ikematsu’s ability to learn the American shooting style — using one hand as a guide, and a second hand to push the ball — were eased when they saw film of her scrimmaging with Seattle-based AAU program Emerald City Basketball Academy. Ikematsu already had the American shooting form mastered.

Ikematsu, who signed with Robert Morris on May 18, is the first Japanese player in that program's history.

Fairy Tale: Dragon Cry (劇場版 フェアリーテイル -DRAGON CRY) in Pittsburgh in August.

The 2017 animated film Fairy Tale: Dragon Cry (劇場版 フェアリーテイル -DRAGON CRY) will play at the Southside Works Cinema on August 14 and 16. The distributor summarizes:

Fairy Tail: Dragon Cry movie brings back your favorite gang—Natsu, Lucy, Erza, Gray, Wendy, and the Exceed sidekicks—for a new tale filled with action, adventure, and hilarious hijinks. When the “Dragon Cry,” a staff with the power to destroy the world, is stolen, there’s only one team of wizards up for the job. Dark secrets, new enemies, and fiery fights await!

The movie was released in Japan on May 6. It will play with English subtitles both nights at 7:30, though tickets are not yet available. Southside Works Cinema is located at 425 Cinema Drive in the Southside, one block from the Hot Metal Bridge (map).

Chang Chun Chemical Corporation seeking bilingual English-Mandarin Sales Assistant in Pittsburgh.

Taiwan's Chang Chun Chemical Corporation is seeking a bilingual English-Mandarin Sales Assistant for its office in Wexford, PA.

Chang Chun Group is one of the largest chemical producer in Taiwan. Chang Chun Chemical Corporation (CCCC) is the US branch office 100% owned by Chang Chun Group which is responsible for sales and distribution in North America market. CCCC would like to seek suitably qualified candidates for the following position to join our pioneer team.

Sales Assistant Responsibilities:

Communicating with Taipei Headquarter for order processing and shipment arrangement
To support sales function such as issuing purchase order, invoice or sales related documents
To maintain filling, updating and keeping of records
Managing stock inventory and sales operation as instructed by the Sales Manager
Handling customers’ enquiries and maintain tip top service to customers.
Requirements:

Knowledge and understanding of all shipping terms and associated with shipping knowledge will be an advantage
Experience in SAP or ERP system is a plus
Basic computer operating and Microsoft Office Skills are required
Able to communicate in English and Mandarin is required

Nakama again voted best Japanese/sushi restaurant in Pittsburgh by people who don't know Japanese/sushi restaurants in Pittsburgh.

Nakama Japanese Steakhouse & Sushi Bar was again voted the best Japanese/sushi restaurant by readers of Pittsburgh Magazine, according to poll results released today. Nakama has been voted #1 each year by readers since 2009, and is also perennial winner of the Pittsburgh City-Paper readers' poll.

Also of relevance to this site: Sesame Inn was voted Best Chinese, Nicky's Thai Kitchen was voted Best Thai, and Pusadee's Garden was voted best Al Fresco (open air). Those poll results are identical to last year's.

1969's Funeral Parade of Roses (薔薇の葬列) at Row House Cinema, June 23 - 29.

The Row House Cinema in Lawrenceville will show the 1969 Japanese movie 1969's Funeral Parade of Roses (薔薇の葬列), "Japan's Queer Underground Cinema Classic," from June 23 to 29 as part of its Row House's Drag Race series. A June 8 New York Times review provides a summay:

A hodgepodge of themes and techniques, it transposes the Oedipus story to the intersection of Tokyo’s hippie and “gay boy” subcultures, opening with a Baudelaire quotation and incorporating street rituals by the Zero Jigen performance group. The title, taken from one performance, is a pun: Bara, Japanese for “rose,” is a slang term akin to the English “pansy.”

The protagonist, Eddie (played by the androgynous entertainer Peter, later featured in Akira Kurosawa’s 1985 “Ran”), is a sweet hustler with a dark past. As polished a looker as the Warhol Factory’s reigning drag queens Candy Darling and Holly Woodlawn, Eddie parlays an affair with a local drug dealer into becoming the madam of the Club Genet, an actual gay bar in the Shinjuku district of Tokyo.

Tickets and showtimes are available online at the theater's website. The single-screen theater is located at 4115 Butler Street in Lawrenceville (map).

POSCO CEO Kwon, Sinochem Group Chair Ning among those named to Pitt's Global Advisory Council.

Via POSCO; via The Paper.

The University of Pittsburgh's Chancellor Patrick Gallagher has named 19 people to his Global Advisory Council to "advise the chancellor and academic and administrative leaders on research, education and outreach activities." The group includes POSCO CEO Ohjoon Kwon and Sinochem Group Chair Gaoning "Frank" Ning, both of whom earned advanced degrees at Pitt in 1985 (PhD and MBA, respectively).

IUP still hiring Japanese teacher (preferably someone who can also teach Korean).

Indiana University of Pennsylvania is still hiring a teacher for elementary- and intermediate-level Japanese, with a preference for someone who can also teach Korean (as in the case of there current faculty there, Dr. Yongtaek Kim). An excerpt from the job posting:

Duties
Teach elementary and intermediate Japanese. Preference given to candidates either possessing a literature or cultures specialty or having the ability to also teach Korean language.

Position Qualifications
Fluency in Japanese and a master's degree in Foreign Languages, Education, or a related field are required. Ph.D. is preferred. Ongoing research and publications appropriate to one's area of specialty are expected, and teaching or field experience is preferred.

The department seeks candidates whose teaching, research, or services has prepared them to contribute to our commitment to diversity and inclusion in higher education.

Candidates must communicate effectively and perform well during the interview(s).

IUP is located roughly 60 miles northwest of Pittsburgh.

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

Via Yasuda Women's University.

The University of Pittsburgh's English Language Institute will once again welcome a cohort of students from Hiroshima's Yasuda Women's University (安田女子大学), and GlobalPittsburgh is recruiting host families ahead of their stay.

- The students are all females of 19-20 years old; most of them have "fair" level of English. They will be learning English at the English Language Institute at the University of Pittsburgh in Oakland.
- There will be monthly compensation for hosting.
- The approximate dates of the program are between August 29, 2017 and January 21, 2018.
- The student will need a separate furnished 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 and/or with a max of 40 minute commute.
- 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.

If your family is willing and able to host, please contact Nadya Kessler at nkessler at globalpittsburgh.org.

2016 Japanese film After the Storm (海よりもまだ深く) at Hollywood Theater, June 16 - 22.

The 2016 Japanese film After the Storm (海よりもまだ深く) will play at the Hollywood Theater in Dormont from June 16 through June 22. A summary from a March San Francisco Chronicle review:

Ryoto (Hiroshi Abe) has lost his mojo. Fifteen years earlier, his novel won a prestigious award, but he has yet to follow up on that success. He is divorced from Kyoko (Yoko Maki) and is behind on his child support — he is limited by the divorce settlement to visiting his son Shingo (Taiyo Yoshizawa) once a month.

He is also broke — probably because of the cost of the divorce and his gambling habit. With no follow-up novel in the works, he has taken a job with a private detective agency. As he gets the goods on his clients’ cheating significant others, he also examines his only life, which he is gradually realizing is a failure.

“I’m the ‘great talents bloom late’ kind,” Ryoto tells his mother, Yashiko (Kirin Kiki, who is excellent).

Not buying it for a second, Mom responds, “You’re taking too long to bloom.”

Unable to move on, Ryoto uses his private eye skills to spy on his ex-wife and her new boyfriend, who seems to be everything he is not — and a nice guy to boot. What could be a creepy sort of plot twist is, in Kore-eda’s hands, more of a sad desperation.

As with many of Kore-eda’s best films — “Maborosi” and “Still Walking,” among others — “After the Storm” has what the Japanese call mono no aware, which translates as “the pathos of things.” It is a film that is aware of the transient, impermanent nature of life.

Tickets and showtime information is now available online. 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.