Lisa Ko's The Leavers at Smithfield Critics Book Discussion Group, July 18 downtown.

Lisa Ko's The Leavers will be the topic of discussion with the Smithfield Critics Book Discussion Group at the downtown branch of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh.

One morning, Deming’s mother, Polly, an undocumented Chinese immigrant, goes to her job at a nail salon and never comes home. With his mother gone, eleven-year-old Deming is left mystified and bereft. Eventually adopted by a pair of well-meaning white professors, Deming is moved from the Bronx to a small town upstate and renamed Daniel Wilkinson. Far from all he’s ever known, Daniel struggles to reconcile his adoptive parents’ desire that he assimilate with his memories of his mother and the community he left behind.

The group meets from 12:00 to 1:00 pm, and the library is located at 612 Smithfield St. (map).

Shutaro Noguchi playing at Howlers, July 12.

Japanese musician Shutaro Noguchi (currently based in Louisville, Kentucky) will play at Howlers on July 12. A Forced Exposure review describes his forthcoming LP thus:

[T]he sound is wonderfully hybridized. At times its merger of prog, pop, fusionism and complexity make me think of a collision between the Glenn Phillips Band and Todd Rundgren's Utopia with Terje Rypdal sittin' in. I know I'm making it sound like a crazy quilt, and I suppose if sort of is, but only in the sense that it avoids the monochromaticism of so much contemporary music. Shutaro does not grab a single schtick and just shake it until his arm is tired. He mixes up of ballads and thunder (sometimes in a single song) in a way that strikes me as somehow very Japanese. But mostly it just strikes me about the head. In the most pleasant of ways. Take off your helmet and give it a try. You'll never know what hit you.

Howlers is located at 4509 Liberty Ave. in Bloomfield (map).

New Chinese movie Animal World (动物世界) in Pittsburgh, from June 29.

The 2018 Chinese movie Animal World (动物世界) will play in Pittsburgh from June 29. A Hollywood Reporter review shares some of the plot:

When Zheng Kaisi (Li Yifeng, a TV actor who won awards for his role in the film Mr. Six) is introduced as a disheartened floor entertainer in a clown suit at a gaming arcade, he seems to be suffering from a full-on superhero complex. Rapidly cross-cutting between the regular-guy Kaisi and his evil-looking clown persona, Han puts the audience on a puzzling trail. Is the protagonist human or superhuman?

In the first of several big action scenes, Kaisi morphs into a leering killer clown along the lines of the Joker, with two comically colored swords carried on his back. The people around him on a subway car transform into gooey animal-like monsters that spurt syrupy blood when hit by the clown’s martial arts attacks.

These are soon revealed as the violent fantasies of an impotent teenager, taking place in Kaisi’s head as he sits in a hospital ward visiting his mother, who has been in a coma for years. (Explanation comes later.) He has become acquainted with young nurse Qing (Zhou Dongu of SoulMate) but hasn’t the money to pursue her. In fact, it’s she who loans him the cash to pay for his mom’s care.

The movie, also starring Michael Douglas, was the sixth-highest grossing film in China during its opening week. It will play at AMC Loews Waterfront, with tickets and showtime information now available online via Fandango. 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.

Fireworks, Should We See It from the Side or the Bottom? (打ち上げ花火、下から見るか? 横から見るか?) in Pittsburgh, from July 3.

The 2017 Japanese animated film Fireworks, Should We See It from the Side or the Bottom? (打ち上げ花火、下から見るか? 横から見るか?) will play throughout the Pittsburgh area from July 3. The Genki Kawamura follow-up to Your Name which will play at the Cinemark Theaters in Monroeville and Pittsburgh Mills on July 3, 5, and 7, and will also play at the Row House Cinema in Lawrenceville from July 6 through 12 as part of an "In Case You Missed It" series. There will be a timely preview screening on the 4th as well. The distributor provides a summary:

Producer Genki Kawamura follows up his mega-hit Your Name with another tale of star-crossed teenage lovers with a sci-fi fantasy twist. Two junior high school pals, the shy Norimichi and fast-talking Yusuke, are goo-goo-eyed over the same elusive classmate, Nazuna. But Nazuna, unhappy over her mother’s decision to remarry and leave their countryside town, plans to run away and has silently chosen Norimichi to accompany her. When things don’t go as planned, Norimichi discovers that a glowing multi-color ball Nazuna found in the sea has the power to reset the clock and give them a second chance to be together. But each reset adds new complications and takes them father away from the real world – until they risk losing sight of reality altogether. Fireworks tells a simple story of adolescent longing that taps deep wells of emotion. It is tale of vulnerability and youthful wistfulness, of missed opportunities and long-ago dreams, the urgency of young lovers, and the desire to create a separate universe, a magic place outside of time, where they can be together.

The movie will play locally at Cinemark Theaters in Monroeville (map), Morgantown (map), and Pittsburgh Mills (map). Ticket and showtime information for all screenings is available online:

• Cinemark Theater screenings on July 3, 5, and 7 (July 3 and 5 screenings are in Japanese with English subtitles, while the July 7 screening is dubbed in English)
• July 4, 7:20 pm preview screening at Row House Cinema
• July 6 - 12 screenings at Row House Cinema (July 7, 8, 9, and 12 screenings are dubbed in English)

Everyday Noodles owner Mike Chen advocates for more regional Chinese restaurants in Pittsburgh.

Photo by Laura Petrilla.

Pittsburgh Magazine food editor Hal B. Klein talked with Everyday Noodles owner Mike Chen recently, in a piece that discusses his history in Pittsburgh and his experiences in the local restaurant scene. Speaking on the recent growth and diversification of Chinese restaurants in the area:

“The best thing to do is to offer your own style — real, authentic to where you’re from,” Chen, the three-time president of the 20-year-old Pittsburgh Chinese Restaurant Association, says.

Restaurant owners are doing just that. Taiwanese Bistro Cafe 33 opened around the corner in 2016; Ting’s in McCandless Township now has a growing Taiwanese menu. How Lee, a Sichuan restaurant, is across the street, with Sichuan Gourmet and Chengdu Gourmet both a short distance away. Down the block, another establishment, Northeastern Kitchen, this one specializing in northeastern Chinese cuisine, opened in May. “Everybody is different, and so we all survive. We even help to bring people in,” he says.

That’s not to say that Chen and his colleagues don’t have work to do to get more Americans to take a seat at the table. “Some food still won’t sell to the majority of Americans. And Pittsburgh is behind cities like New York and Philadelphia. ‘Can I eat that?!’ they say,” Chen says.

Twice's "Likey" at this week's K-pop Class, June 23.

The weekly K-pop Class at Yanlai Dance Academy will do Twice's "Likey" on June 23rd. The class is held each Saturday from 4:00 to 5:00 pm, and the cost is $18 for a drop-in session. Yanlai Dance Academy is located at 2260 Babcock Blvd. in the North Hills (map).

Korean cyclists raising awareness of "comfort women" in US bike tour to pass through Pittsburgh this summer.

Last year's riders in Pittsburgh, via 3A Project.

A pair of Korean cyclists touring the US to raise awareness of "comfort women" will again pass through Pittsburgh this summer, according to a press release yesterday.

Two South Korean college students will set out on a trans-American bicycle ride this week, seeking to boost global awareness of Korean women forced into sexual slavery for Japanese troops during World War II.

The students — 25-year-old Baek Hyun-jae and 22-year-old Lee Ho-jun — recently arrived in Los Angeles with their bicycles ahead of their ambitious bid to cross the United States on bike in 80 days.

"The Ishomotos [sic] staying at Gusky Orphnanage Are Very Nice People."

This photograph from the August 20, 1945 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette shows members of two Japanese-American families gathered inside a temporary internment facility on the Northside. The Gusky Orphanage---razed in 1950---was used to house Japanese-Americans as they transitioned between detention centers. The two families here, the Fujiharas and the Ishimotos, were the subject of a couple profiles in their day.

Pitt's Dept. of East Asian Languages & Literatures hiring undergraduate research assistant to work on Japanese course.

The University of Pittsburgh's Department of East Asian Languages & Literatures is hiring an undergraduate research assistant, a rephrasing of the website development positions posted earlier this month.

The University of Pittsburgh is seeking an Undergraduate Research Assistant. The prospective student will assist in the development of content for a web-based teaching and learning resource about the Japanese work Tale of the Heike. Specific duties will include: generating text based on existing materials; searching for images to use on the site; proofreading text on the site, cross-checking references, and identifying problems with links on the resource.

Successful applicant will be familiar with Japanese literature; have good research and writing skills; be able to perform general research in Japanese.

Monroeville-based Prop Ocean hiring Chinese-speaking Market Development / Product Salesman (市场拓展/产品推销员).

Monroeville-based Prop Ocean Co. has another opening for a Chinese-speaking Market Development / Product Salesman (市场拓展/产品推销员).

Prop Ocean公司是上海知名大型物流公司在美设立的分公司,现需要拓展在北美市场的外贸业务,招聘一名市场拓展专员。

要求与职责:

• 公司业务策划案的实施及产品发展(有潜力在美销售或在中销售的中/美国产品)
• 分析,规整和设计现有商业逻辑并以理解性语言解释给国内的同事及高层
• 确定公司的定位,推行有竞争力的营销手段,运用各方资源推广公司形象,突出产品
• 与国内及北美团队携手合作,提出针对北美市场的建议性意见。适当合理安排其他事宜,如产品培训,举办活动,社交活动等
• 领导协调各方部门成员间的事项,产品调研至推广阶段全程与其他部门同事保持沟通交流,确保问题被解决