Haikyuu!! The Movie: Battle of Concepts (ハイキュー!! コンセプトの戦い) in Pittsburgh, from September 19.

The Japanese animated movie Haikyuu!! The Movie: Battle of Concepts (ハイキュー!! コンセプトの戦い) will play in Pittsburgh from September 19.

Based on the 3rd season of the popular TV anime series Haikyuu!!, the compilation film focuses on the Karasuno High Boys volleyball team preparing for their final face off to represent the prefecture in the volleyball national championship.

Despite being known as "The Fallen Champions", Karasuno High boys volleyball team is highly determined to take down the powerhouse, Shiratorizawa High boys volleyball team. As Hinata comes closer to fulfilling his promise of defeating Ushijima's team, will the "Flightless Crows" finally find their wings and soar above the best school in the prefecture?

The movie will play at the Southside Works Cinema on September 19 and 22, and at the Hollywood Theater in Dormont the 19th, 22nd, and 23rd. Tickets for both locations are available online. Southside Works Cinema is located at 425 Cinema Drive in the Southside, one block from the Hot Metal Bridge (map), and the Hollywood 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.

2018 OCA Free Medical and Dental Clinic, with free medical consultation and Chinese-language interpretation, October 15 in Oakland.

The Organization of Chinese Americans Pittsburgh chapter will hold its annual OCA Free Medical and Dental Clinic on October 15 at the UPMC Montefiore Hospital in Oakland. The clinic provides free medical consultation and Chinese-language interpretation to the local Chinese communities.

Taiwanese tea chain Chatime (日出茶太) to open first Pittsburgh-area location on September 20.

via @chatime.tw

The Taiwanese tea chain Chatime (日出茶太) will open its first Pittsburgh-area location on September 20 in Ross Park Mall.

Chatime is the next trend in beverages. A unique Tea concept that is dedicated to make Tea a healthier, refreshing and fun alternative to Coffee.

And from the Chatime official site:

We are committed to producing high quality products, brewed from the freshest ingredients, with the fullest flavours from one of eastern lifestyle.

The word “Cha” means tea in Taiwan. So technically ‘chatime’ could be loosely translated into ‘teatime’. Finest teas from Taiwan and unique flavour of bubble tea bring new drinks tea style for good user experience in the whole world.

It will open on the second floor near Pac Sun. Ross Park Mall is located at 1000 Ross Park Mall Drive in the North Hills (map).

Tickets now available for new Japanese animated film Mirai (未来のミライ), in Pittsburgh on November 29, December 5, December 8.

Tickets for the new Japanese animated film Mirai (未来のミライ), playing in Pittsburgh from November 29, went on sale this morning. A synopsis, from the distributor:

From acclaimed director Mamoru Hosoda (Summer Wars, Wolf Children) and Japan’s Studio Chizu comes MIRAI, a daringly original story of love passed down through generations. When four-year-old Kun meets his new baby sister, his world is turned upside down. Named Mirai (meaning “future”), the baby quickly wins the hearts of Kun’s entire family. As his mother returns to work, and his father struggles to run the household, Kun becomes increasingly jealous of baby Mirai... until one day he storms off into the garden, where he encounters strange guests from the past and future – including his sister Mirai, as a teenager. Together, Kun and teenage Mirai go on a journey through time and space, uncovering their family’s incredible story. But why did Mirai come from the future?

An official selection at Cannes Directors’ Fortnight, and the epic capstone of director Mamoru Hosoda’s career, Mirai is a sumptuous, magical, and emotionally soaring adventure about the ties that bring families together and make us who we are.

The movie will play in the Pittsburgh area on November 29, December 5, and December 8, with some shows dubbed in English and others in Japanese with English subtitles. It will play locally at the AMC Loews Waterfront, the Cinemark Theaters in Monroeville and Robinson, the Regal Crown Center Stadium theater in Washington, and the AMC Classic Westmoreland in Greensburg. Tickets are now available online.

"Rotating to the Top: How Career Tracks Matter in the Chinese Communist Regime," October 2 at Pitt.

via mit.edu

The University of Pittsburgh's Department of Political Science will host Yiqing Xu of the University of California San Diego and his talk "Rotating to the Top: How Career Tracks Matter in the Chinese Communist Regime" on October 2.

This paper takes a novel perspective on the selection of leaders by depicting the importance of career tracks. Using full and alternate Central Committee members of the Chinese Communist Party from 1982 to 2017, we measure career tracks - both the horizontal and vertical movement of individuals - using machines learning techniques, and link them with political selection. Our main finding is that career tracks play an important role in the Chinese political system despite the in influence of patronage networks. In addition, when comparing the roles of career tracks and personal ties over time, we find suggestive evidence that Chinese politics becomes more paternalistic in the 19th Party Congress.

The talk runs from 12:00 to 1:30 pm in 4801 Posvar Hall (map) and is free and open to the public.

2016 Japanese animated movie A Silent Voice (聲の形) at Pitt, September 21.

The Pitt Japanese Student Association will screen the 2016 Japanese animated movie A Silent Voice (聲の形) on Friday, September 21. A synopsis of the film from the distributor:

The story begins with a deaf elementary school girl named Shoko Nishimiya, who transfers to a new school and meets a boy named Shoya Ishida. Shoya, who is not deaf, leads the school in bullying Shoko over her disability. The bullying escalates, and so Shoko transfers to another school. Immediately, the class and even Shoya's closest friends, bully him for having bullied Shoko. Shoya loses contact with Shoko, and for years he suffers the consequences of his guilt. Upon entering high school, Shoya finally decides he must find Shoko, determined to make amends for what he did in elementary school and to become Shoko's friend. Along the way, he meets new and old faces, and struggles with many complicated relationships and feelings.

It runs from 8:00 to 10:00 pm in room G-8 of the Cathedral of Learning, and is free and open to Pitt students interested in Japanese culture, movie, language, or stuff.

"Private Tutoring impact On Junior High School Students' Performance In China: Fast Lane or Placebo Effect?" September 14 at Pitt.

The University of Pittsburgh's Institute of International Studies in Education will present two speakers on September 14 in the first installment of the 2018 Symposium Series: Lunxuan Sun and "Private Tutoring impact On Junior High School Students' Performance In China: Fast Lane or Placebo Effect?," and Humin Chen and "Research on Endowed Chairs in American Top Research Universities."

Lunxuan Sun is a lecturer from School of Education in Tianjin Normal University, China. He is currently serving as a visiting scholar at the Institute for International Studies in Education (IISE), University of Pittsburgh. His faculty counterpart at the University of Pittsburgh is Prof. Maureen McClure and his current research project is “The Act of the State in the Development of Higher Education of China and the United States: A Comparative Perspective.”

He received his Ph.D. degree in Science of Public Management at Nankai University. Dr. Lunxuan Sun’s current research includes a comparative study on government’s action in higher education funded by the Ministry of Chinese Education and research on Non-monetary of education Funded by China Postdoctoral Science Foundation. He teaches courses in the sociology of education, research methods of applied educational science and advises Master students in comparative education.

The panel discussion begins at 10:30 am in 4318 Posvar Hall (map) and is free and open to the public.

My Neighbor Totoro (となりのトトロ) in Pittsburgh, September 30, October 1, and October 3.

The classic Japanese animated film My Neighbor Totoro (となりのトトロ) is celebrating its 30th anniversary and will play in Pittsburgh, September 30, October 1, and October 3 as part of this year's GKIDS Ghibli Fest. From a 2001 Roger Ebert review:

Miyazaki's films are above all visually enchanting, using a watercolor look for the backgrounds and working within the distinctive Japanese anime tradition of characters with big round eyes and mouths that can be as small as a dot or as big as a cavern. They also have an unforced realism in the way they notice details; early in ''Totoro,'' for example, the children look at a little waterfall near their home, and there on the bottom, unremarked, is a bottle someone threw into the stream.

The movie tells the story of two young sisters, Satsuki and Mei Kusakabe. As the story opens, their father is driving them to their new house, near a vast forest. Their mother, who is sick, has been moved to a hospital in this district. Now think about that. The film is about two girls, not two boys or a boy and a girl, as all American animated films would be. It has a strong and loving father, in contrast to the recent Hollywood fondness for bad or absent fathers. Their mother is ill; does illness exist in American animation?

The September 30 and October 3 shows are dubbed in English while the October 1 show is in Japanese with English subtitles. The film will play at the Cinemark theaters in Monaca, Monroeville, Pittsburgh Mills, and Robinson.

Japanese Language Social Hour, September 18 at Pitt.

Via Yasuda Women's University.

The University of Pittsburgh's Asian Studies Center is hosting a Japanese Language Social Hour on Tuesday, September 18, with the group of students from Yasuda Women's University spending the term at the English Language Institute. From the Asian Studies Center newsletter:

Interesting in practicing your Japanese language with native speakers? The Asian Studies Center is partnering with students from Yasuda University in Japan who are studying English at Pitt's English Language Institute. We will organize a series of games to encourage Japanese/English conversations and hopefully many participants will find a language partner. Please join us on Tuesday evening September 18 at 4:30 pm in 4130 Posvar for an evening of language and culture exchange. Free pizza and drinks will be provided. Please email asia@pitt.edu if you are interested in attending.

University of Pittsburgh hiring Assistant Instructor of Korean for September 2019 start.

The University of Pittsburgh's Department of East Asian Languages & Literatures is hiring an Assistant Instructor of Korean.

The Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures at the University of Pittsburgh (http://www.deall.pitt.edu) invites applications for an Assistant Instructor position in Korea studies, pending budgetary approval, beginning September 1, 2019. The position is non-tenure­ stream with the possibility of renewal for a multi-year contract. The successful candidate is expected to contribute significantly to the Korean language program and teach language courses on all levels. The successful candidate should hold an MA in teaching Korean as a foreign language or in an allied field, possess native or near-native competence in all skill areas of Korean and English, and have at least one year of teaching experience at a North American institution of higher education.

The new hire should be prepared to teach classes for both undergraduate and graduate students. Instruction to graduate students may involve PhD and MA students whose focus may be on literature, history, art history, religion, anthropology, etc. Preference will be given to candidates who possess linguistic knowledge of the Korean language, and who demonstrate familiarity with theories in second language acquisition and current practices in Korean pedagogy in North American higher education settings. Any expertise in non-language areas such as film, popular culture, literature, etc. will be a plus. Duties include teaching both recitations and lectures of language courses as well as working closely with the language coordinator to contribute to the overall effectiveness of the Korean language program. The appointee should expect to collaborate with Asianists in other units (e. g., the Asian Studies Center) to promote Korea studies.

Special application details are posted on the job ad.