Asia Pop Karaoke Night, November 7 at Pitt.

via TravelPockets.com

The University of Pittsburgh's Asian Studies Center and English Language Institute will host an Asia Pop Karaoke Night on November 7.

Join us for an evening of singing, socializing, and snacking! As part of our partnership with the English Language Institute and an upcoming Asia Pop speaker series in the works, we are hosting an Asia Pop Karaoke Night. Come out on Wednesday November 7th from 6 - 8 pm to sing your heart out to the latest BTS song or any of your favorite tunes from across Asia. All ages are welcome, we only request that you bring the courage to sing! (And maybe some dance moves too!) Space may be limited, so please email us at asia@pitt.edu if you'd like to join.

It will be held in 548 William Pitt Union (map), and those interested are encouraged to email asia@pitt.edu.

"Somebody is Watching"—lecture on Koshikijima no Toshidon (甑島のトシドン)—at Pitt, November 5.

via satsumasendai.gr.jp

Pitt will host Dr. Michael Foster of UC-Davis and his talk on "Koshikijima no Toshidon (甑島のトシドン)" on November 5.

"Koshikijima no Toshidon" is a New Year's Eve ritual performed annually on the island of Shimo-Koshikijima off the southwest coast of Kagoshima Prefecture. During the event, men masked and costumed as frightening demon-deities enter individual households to "discipline" and "educate" young children. In 2009 the ritual was inscribed on UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. This talk will introduce Toshidon with a focus on the way a structure of surveillance, of "seeing and being seen," informs the performance of the ritual and to a certain extent the everyday lives of the islanders. An understanding of the dynamic of this "optic imaginary" provides insight into broader questions of community, tourism, UNESCO, and the production of heritage in Japan and elsewhere.

The talk runs from noon to 1:30 pm in 602 Cathedral of Learning (map).

Multicultural Asia Day, November 10 in Erie.

The Erie Asian Pacific American Association (Erie APAA) will present the 11th annual Multicultural Asia Day on November 10.

Join Erie APAA and GE Transportation APAF at the expERIEnce Children's Museum to learn more about the various Asian cultures! The event will include hands-on activities, cultural performances, and displays. Participating countries are Bangladesh, China, India, Myanmar, Pakistan and Turkey.

It will run from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm at the expERIEnce Children's Museum at 420 French St. (map).

Kusama: Infinity documentary in Pittsburgh, from November 16.

The 2018 documentary Kusama: Infinity will play at the Row House Cinema from November 16 as part of its "In Case You Missed It" series.

Now the top-selling female artist in the world, Yayoi Kusama overcame impossible odds to bring her radical artistic vision to the world stage. For decades, her work pushed boundaries that often alienated her from both her peers and those in power in the art world. Kusama was an underdog with everything stacked against her: the trauma of growing up in Japan during World War II, life in a dysfunctional family that discouraged her creative ambitions, sexism and racism in the art establishment, mental illness in a culture where that was particularly shameful and even continuing to pursue and be devoted to her art full time on the cusp of her 90s. In spite of it all, Kusama has endured and has created a legacy of artwork that spans the disciplines of painting, sculpture, installation art, performance art, poetry and literary fiction. After working as an artist for over six decades, people around the globe are experiencing her installation Infinity Mirrored Rooms in record numbers, as Kusama continues to create new work every day.

Tickets are available online. The single-screen theater is located at 4115 Butler Street in Lawrenceville (map).

"How To Read A Kimono: Reconsidering The Makioka Sisters" at Pitt, November 6.

The University of Pittsburgh's Department of East Asian Languages & Literatures will host Michiko Suzuki and her talk "How To Read A Kimono: Reconsidering The Makioka Sisters" on Tuesday, November 6.

Kimonos in literature and film are often ignored by scholars as nothing more than aesthetic objects/clothing that enhance historical realism. But in fact, kimonos speak of many things, including the character of the wearer, social commentary, and important symbolic meanings for the plot.

This talk uses kimonos to examine Tanizaki Jun'ichirō's Sasameyuki (The Makioka Sisters, 1943-48)a move depicting a wealthy merchant family in Osaka. Based loosely on the lives of the author's wife and her siblings, the work was considered frivolous and censored during the war; it was only completed and published in the postwar period. Examining kimonos discussed in the text, Professor Suzuki illuminates their complex meanings in light of changing laws, sartorial culture and social contexts. She will also discuss visual presentations of kimonos in two film versions of the Makioka Sisters, one produced in 1950 during the U.S. Occupation and the other in 1983 at the height of Japan's economic prosperity.

The talk runs from 12:00 to 1:30 pm in 602 Cathedral of Learning (map) and is free and open to the public.

2018 Korean Music Festival, November 3.

The Korean Association of Greater Pittsburgh and the Korean Heritage Room will present the 2018 Korean Music Festival on Saturday, November 3. It will start at 7:00 pm at Frick Fine Arts Auditorium in Oakland (map). The event is $10 for adults, free for students and children, and half-price for those who come dressed in hanbok.

Tickets now available for I Want To Eat Your Pancreas (君の膵臓をたべたい) in Pittsburgh, from February 7.

The 2018 Japanese animated movie I Want to Eat Your Pancreas (君の膵臓をたべたい) will play in Pittsburgh on February 7 and 10.

A high school boy stumbles across a secret journal in a hospital one day. He soon finds out the diary belongs to his classmate, a girl named Sakura Yamauchi, who is revealed to be suffering from a terminal illness in her pancreas and only has a few months left to live. A secret they share that brings their hearts closer together.

Tickets are now available online. It will play at the Southside Works Cinema, located at 425 Cinema Drive in the Southside, one block from the Hot Metal Bridge (map).

Japanese Conversation Table, November 2 at Pitt.

"Osaka, Japan" by Pedro Szekely (Creative Commons)

Pitt's Department of East Asian Languages & Literatures will hold its next Japanese Conversation Table on Friday, November 2. It's a chance for native Japanese speakers and members of the Pitt community learning Japanese to meet and practice outside of the classroom. The sessions meet in 244A of the Cathedral of Learning (map) from 4:00 pm to 5:00 pm on November 2 and November 30.

WholeRen Education (美国厚仁教育集团) hiring bilingual English+Mandarin SSAT tutor.

Pittsburgh-based Chinese education and consulting company WholeRen Education (美国厚仁教育集团) has announced openings for part-time bilingual SSAT tutors.

The academic support department of Wholeren Education is looking for talented, experienced tutors in SSAT for high school level Chinese international students in the US. We help both struggling and gifted students reach their full potential by supplementing the instruction they receive in class and guiding them toward study practices and aides that can help them excel. Tutors work with individual students one-on-one, though we occasionally organize group activities for students who are studying the same material. Most of the time, we provide our students with online tutoring unless the tutor is located in the same area with the student. Our team offers compassionate, motivating assistance to students, and we expect our new hires to do the same. If you have experience tutoring students, please submit an application.

2018 movie Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions The Movie: Take O (映画 中二病でも恋がしたい！ -Take On Me) in Pittsburgh, November 4.

The 2018 Japanese animated movie Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions The Movie: Take O (映画 中二病でも恋がしたい！ -Take On Me) will play in Pittsburgh on November 4. The Anime News Network provides a summary of the movie based on a manga series:

Rikka is now a third-year student, but she still has "chūnibyō" syndrome. University entrance exams loom on the horizon, and it's spring break, and Yūta and Rikka are together as usual. One day, Rikka's older sister Tōka declares that she's going to take Rikka to Italy with her, as Tōka is moving to Italy for work and she thinks they should move together as a family. Yūta understands Tōka's opinion, but thinks that at this rate he and Rikka will be separated. Shinka and the other members suggest that Yūta and Rikka should "elope," and thus sets the stage for Yūta and Rikka's travels throughout Japan in their escape drama.

The movie plays in Japanese with English subtitles at the Southside Works Cinema. Tickets for the 7:00 pm show are available online. The theater is located at 425 Cinema Drive in the Southside, one block from the Hot Metal Bridge (map).