Studio Ghibli Film Series coming to Row House Cinema in December.

The Row House Cinema recently announced its next Studio Ghibli Film Series, which will run from December 1 through 14 and highlight the acclaimed Japanese animation studio. The six films to comprise the series are: 1991's Only Yesterday (おもひでぽろぽろ), 1992's Porco Rosso (紅の豚), 1997's Princess Mononoke (もののけ姫), 2001's Spirited Away (千と千尋の神隠し), and 2013's The Tale Of The Princess Kaguya (かぐや姫の物語) and The Wind Rises (風立ちぬ). Tickets and showtime information has not yet been announced. The single-screen theater is located at 4115 Butler Street in Lawrenceville (map).

"Learning analytics in Higher Education in Japan", October 6 at Pitt.

The University of Pittsburgh's Intelligent Systems Program in the School of Computing and Information will host Dr. Hiroaki Ogata and Dr. Brendan Flanagan, both of Kyoto University, and their talk "Learning analytics in Higher Education in Japan" on October 6.

This talk provides an overview of the Educational Big Data research project in Higher Education, Japan. This research focuses on e-book based learning logs and developed visual analytics tools for improving course design and learning materials. This talk will also introduce initial findings.

Additional talks and presentations on the topic by Dr. Ogata are available on YouTube.

The talk runs from 12:30 to 1:30 pm in 5317 Sennott Square (map) and is free and open to the public.

Jackie Chan's The Foreigner in Pittsburgh, from October 12.

Jackie Chan's forthcoming movie The Foreigner will open in Pittsburgh, and throughout the US, on October 12. A plot summary, from the official site:

The film tells the story of humble London businessman Quan (Chan), whose long-buried past erupts in a revenge-fueled vendetta when the only person left for him to love -- his teenage daughter -- is taken from him in a senseless act of politically-motivated terrorism.

In his relentless search for the identity of the terrorists, Quan is forced into a cat- and-mouse conflict with a British government official (Brosnan), whose own past may hold clues to the identities of the elusive killers

The movie will play at the AMC Loews Waterfront theater and tickets are currently available online. The theater is located at 300 West Waterfront Dr. in the Waterfront shopping complex in Homestead (map), across the Monongahela River from Greenfield, Squirrel Hill, and the rest of Pittsburgh.

"The Politics of Imagining Asia in the Americas: The Global Contours of Orientalism and Yellow Peril in Early 20th Century Peru" at Pitt, October 5.

The University of Pittsburgh's Center for Latin American Studies and the Asian Studies Center will host Ana Maria Candela of Binghamton University and her talk "The Politics of Imagining Asia in the Americas: The Global Contours of Orientalism and Yellow Peril in Early 20th Century Peru" on October 5.

AccuWeather hiring Data Analyst (International Strategy) – Location Management (emphasis on Korea and China) for State College headquarters.

AccuWeather is hiring a Data Analyst (International Strategy) – Location Management, with an emphasis on Korea and China, to work out of its State College headquarters.

The Data Analyst (International Strategy) – Location Management focuses on integrating location-based data into AccuWeather’s corporate location management database. As a member of the location management team, this position will interface with internal and external customers to produce high quality datasets used by many of AccuWeather’s industry leading products. This position will focus primarily on updates, maintenance, and integration of new data for our international strategy projects. Specific areas of focus will include but not be limited to China and South Korea. Close coordination with AccuWeather’s international teams and country managers will be required.

Additional information available via the AccuWeather website.

K-Pop Dance Practice, October 1 in Squirrel Hill.

A reader sends word of her next K-Pop Dance Group practice, scheduled for Sunday, October 1 in Squirrel Hill.

We are a group of 6 active members now! We get together twice a month on Sundays to practice dancing in Squirrel Hill and have fun! We are LeVeL! you don't need to be a fantastic dancer.

The practice runs from 12:00 to 3:00 pm at Win-Win Kung Fu on Murray Ave. (map). For information about other local dance groups, check out PITT FRESA and the CMU K-Pop Dance Club.

No Game No Life Zero (ノーゲーム・ノーライフ ゼロ) in Pittsburgh, October 5 and 8.

The upcoming Japanese anime No Game No Life Zero (ノーゲーム・ノーライフ ゼロ) will play at Cinemark theaters in the Pittsburgh area on October 5th and 8th. A synopsis from the distributor:

Six thousand years before Sora and Shiro were even a blink in the history of Disboard, war consumed the land, tearing apart the heavens, destroying stars, and even threatening to wipe out the human race. Amid the chaos and destruction, a young man named Riku leads humanity toward the tomorrow his heart believed in. One day, in the ruins of an Elf city, he meets Shuvi, a female exiled "Ex-machina" android who asks him to teach her what it means to have a human heart. In select movie theatres nationwide, this two-day event also includes exclusive content featuring special footage of members of the cast and crew of No Game No Life Zero.

The October 5 show will be subtitled and the October 8 dubbed. The movie is set to play at the Cinemark theaters in Monaca, Monroeville, North Hills, Pittsburgh Mills, and Robinson.

Pittsburgh to Beijing, Chengdu, Shanghai roundtrip for $500.

A Thrillist article on the 27th reports on the phenomenon of round-trip flights to and from China being cheaper than many domestic ones. Pittsburgh is among the places with surprisingly cheap flights to and from large Chinese cities at the moment.



According to Google Flights, a ticket from Pittsburgh to Chengdu on October 18th with an October 28 return will cost $498 round-trip. Same for Beijing. And same for a trip to Shanghai, but if you don't want a 34-hour trip, you'll have to pay an extra $135 to get there in half the time.

Book talks with Michael Meyer—author of Last Days of Old Beijing, In Manchuria, and the forthcoming The Road to Sleeping Dragon—in Pittsburgh, October 10.

Author and University of Pittsburgh professor Michael Meyer will give two local book talks on October 10 to mark the release of his forthcoming book, The Road to Sleeping Dragon, to be released the same day. From 1:00 to 2:30 pm, he will speak and sign copies of his book at the University of Pittsburgh, from 1:00 to 2:30 pm in the William Pitt Union Assembly Room (map). From 7:00 to 8:00 pm he will appear at the Penguin Bookshop in Sewickley (map).

In 1995, at the age of twenty-three, Michael Meyer joined the Peace Corps and, after rejecting offers to go to seven other countries, was sent to a tiny town in Sichuan. Knowing nothing about China, or even how to use chopsticks, Meyer wrote Chinese words up and down his arms so he could hold conversations, and, per a Communist dean’s orders, jumped into teaching his students about the Enlightenment, the stock market, and Beatles lyrics. Soon he realized his Chinese counterparts were just as bewildered by the country’s changes as he was. With humor and insight, Meyer puts readers in his novice shoes, winding across the length and breadth of his adopted country -- from a terrifying bus attack on arrival, to remote Xinjiang and Tibet, and his future wife's Manchurian family, and into efforts to protect China's heritage at places like "Sleeping Dragon," the world's largest panda preserve.

In the last book of his China trilogy, Meyer tells a story both deeply personal and universal, as he gains greater – if never complete – assurance, capturing what it feels like to learn a language, culture and history from the ground up. Meyer will recount his 20-year journey via photographs, as well as talking about the challenges of reporting from China and how a freelance writer can fund and produce books that reach a wide audience.

AEON interviews in Pittsburgh for EFL teaching positions in Japan, October 21.

AEON (株式会社イーオン), a large chain of English schools in Japan, is holding in-person interviews for prospective teachers throughout the United States from September through December, and will be interviewing in Pittsburgh on October 21. Those interested should submit applications online by October 9.