2017 Japanese animated film Mary and the Witch's Flower (メアリと魔女の花) in local theaters February 24 and 26.

The 2017 Japanese animated film Mary and the Witch's Flower (メアリと魔女の花), which played throughout the Pittsburgh area in January, will return to local Cinemark theaters on February 24 and 26. The distributor provides a summary:

From Academy Award®-nominated Hiromasa Yonebayashi – animator on Studio Ghibli masterpieces Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle, and Ponyo, and director of When Marnie Was There and The Secret World of Arrietty – comes a dazzling new adventure about a young girl named Mary, who discovers a flower that grants magical powers, but only for one night.

Mary is an ordinary young girl stuck in the country with her Great-Aunt Charlotte and seemingly no adventures or friends in sight. She follows a mysterious cat into the nearby forest, where she discovers an old broomstick and the strange Fly-by-Night flower, a rare plant that blossoms only once every seven years and only in that forest. Together the flower and the broomstick whisk Mary above the clouds, and far away to Endor College – a school of magic run by headmistress Madam Mumblechook and the brilliant Doctor Dee. But there are terrible things happening at the school, and when Mary tells a lie, she must risk her life to try to set things right.

Based on Mary Stewart’s 1971 classic children’s book The Little Broomstick, Mary and The Witch’s Flower is an action-packed film full of jaw-dropping imaginative worlds, ingenious characters, and the simple, heartfelt story of a young girl trying to find a place in the world.

The movie will play at Cinemark theaters in McCandless, Monaca, Monroeville, and Pittsburgh Mills. Tickets for the English-dubbed show on the 24th and the English-subtitled show on the 26th are available online.

Pittsburgh AAPI Town Hall, "United Asian Voices for Regional Economic Empowerment," March 4 in Squirrel Hill.

Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf's Advisory Commission on Asian Pacific American Affairs will hold its next Pittsburgh AAPI Town Hall on March 4 on the theme of "United Asian Voices for Regional Economic Empowerment."

"The Dynamics of a Duo: Perceptions and Reflections of Gender, Nationality, and Identity in Yamamura Misa," February 23 at Pitt.

The University of Pittsburgh's Department of East Asian Languages & Literatures will host M.A. candidate Ali Richardson and her talk "The Dynamics of a Duo: Perceptions and Reflections of Gender, Nationality, and Identity in Yamamura Misa" on February 23.

Green Pepper to add Korean fried chicken to menu.

Green Pepper, a Korean restaurant in Squirrel Hill, recently started advertising Korean fried chicken (양념치킨) in its window. Korean fried chicken is a stateside trend that hasn't spread widely in Pittsburgh; Chick'n Bubbly opened in Oakland in 2014, and Ki Pollo in Lawrenceville last year, but that's been about it. The poster is taken from 2014 advertisement for 처갓집, a Korean chain that also boasts a 허니올리고당 flavor; the top selling point the chain uses is the health benefits as compared with other fried chicken varieties.

Green Pepper is located at 2020 Murray Ave (map).

"Rebellious Youth and the Global 1960s: Politics, Punk Rock, and Propaganda in Cold War Japan" at Pitt, February 22.

Student protest at Tokyo University, 1968 (via The Asia Pacific Journal: Japan Focus).

The University of Pittsburgh's Asian Studies Center will host Christopher Gerteis and his talk "Rebellious Youth and the Global 1960s: Politics, Punk Rock, and Propaganda in Cold War Japan" on February 22.

The event runs from 4:00 to 5:30 pm in 4130 Posvar Hall (map) and is free and open to the public.

ORIENTED, featuring ceramic artists who identify with both Western and Eastern cultures, in Pittsburgh from March 13 to 17.

From "Clean and Bleed" by Jennifer Ling Datchuk."

The 2018 National Council On Education For The Ceramic Arts will bring hundreds of national and international artists to venues across Pittsburgh in March. One exhibition of particular relevance here is ORIENTED, on display from March 13 to 17, which

explores the concept of ceramists who identify with both Western and Eastern cultures; their stories are unique and give a taste of what goes on in contemporary America.

Featured are Adam Chau, Ayumi Horie, Steven Lee, Jennifer Ling Datchuk, and Beth Lo.

Screening of Tsunami Punx: The Tōhoku Live House Movement and Q&A with event promoter Matthew Ketchum, February 23 at Pitt.

On February 23, the University of Pittsburgh's Asian Studies Center will hold a screening of Tsunami Punx: The Tōhoku Live House Movement, presented by Pittsburgh native and 2011 Tohoku earthquake survivor Matthew Ketchum on the tsunami and Japan's underground punk rock scene.

Matt Ketchum left his hometown of Pittsburgh and arrived on the shores of Japan in the fall of 2009. He was living in Miyako, Iwate, enjoying the Slow Life and playing Fast Metal, but then the Tohoku earthquake changed his life forever. After assisting in frontline relief efforts he was transferred to Tokyo where he became involved in various projects concerned with Tohoku and the arts.

​He formed Kaala after years of experience performing in bands, booking and promoting tours, and seeing all of the good that underground extreme music can provide its members. The system that dictates cultural movements in music is far from perfect, and he aims to better it through applied data science, thoughtful content production, and boots-on-the-ground community engagement and participation.

He's currently in Seattle getting international music tourism pipelines established, so if you're at a show in the area shout his name and he'll probably appear. It's happened before.

The screening will be accompanied by a Q&A with promoter and community organizer Matthew Ketchum. The event starts at 5:00 pm in room 548 of the William Pitt Union (map) and is free and open to the public.

Chengdu Gourmet's Wei Zhu semifinalist for 2018 James Beard Award in Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic category.

By Laura Petrilla for Pittsburgh Magazine

Chengdu Gourmet's Wei Zhu has been named a semifinalist for a 2018 James Beard Award in the category of Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic. Zhu, who opened Chengdu Gourmet in Squirrel Hill in 2014, was a semi-finalist last year and is among 20 others in the category this year. His restaurant was named one of Pittsburgh Magazine's Best Restaurants in 2016 and 2017, and Zhu was one of six local chefs recognized by the magazine for his contributions to the local culinary scene:

“The food here is my style, Wei Zhu’s style,” says Zhu, 49, a native of the city of Chengdu in China’s Sichuan province.

A recently added beef soup dish combines traditional Sichuan elements such as garlic, ginger, pea shoots and Sichuan peppercorns, but it also is served with Japanese ramen noodles and dressed with fresh and pickled jalapeño peppers. Or there’s Zhu’s addictive Chinese winter sausage, an item on the menu for only a few months of the year. The rich, fatty links are enhanced with organ meat and ferment into funky, delicious bites as they age.

“At other Chinese restaurants, they just make the same dishes. I am always trying to keep updated on what chefs are doing in China,” he says.

“Fences, Maps, and Darkness: Visualizing Okinawa” at Chatham University, February 19.

From Gama series, via artist's official site.

Via the Japan America Society of Pennsylvania newsletter comes notice that Chatham University will host Japanese photographer Osamu James Nagakawa and his lecture “Fences, Maps, and Darkness: Visualizing Okinawa” on February 19.

Osamu James Nakagawa is Ruth N. Halls Distinguished Professor of Photography at Indiana University, where he directs the Center for Integrative Photographic Studies. Nakagawa is best known for his Okinawa trilogy, a series of works that address the atrocities of WWII in Japan. His illustrated lecture Fences, Maps, and Darkness: Visualizing Okinawa explores Okinawa's diverse ecosystems, primeval forests, and its history as a prime crossroads of war and colonial expansion for centuries. Nakagawa's photographs of Okinawa bridge the inherently different interpretations of this history through a cross-cultural lens.

The lecture starts at 6:00 pm in the Beckwith Lecture Hall in the Buhl Hall of Science and Science Laboratory Building (map), and is free and open to the public.

Korean rappers San E and Mad Clown in Pittsburgh, April 10.

Two Korean rappers, San E and Mad Clown, will hit Pittsburgh on April 10 as part of an extensive North American tour this year:

Mad Clown and San E are two of the biggest stars in Korean pop music. With numerous hits songs in Korea, these rappers are joining forces to tour every corner of America and Canada. For both MCs, this tour is a homecoming, as Mad Clown is originally from the Chicago area, and San E grew up in Atlanta. Mad Clown and San E's "We Want You 2018 Tour" will hit North America in April 2018, with Korean American singer Sobae opening.

The concert will be at the August Wilson Center in the Cultural District. Tickets will go on sale February 19 at 9:00 am.