Homestay hosts needed for Chinese, Japanese, Korean visitors this year.

GlobalPittsburgh shares news of its needs for host families from May through next January for various cohorts of visitors, including Korean English teachers, Chinese students, and Japanese students from Yasuda University.

Thai coffee shop and bakery, Ka-Fair Coffee & Cakery, coming soon to Morningside.

The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review writes about a Thai coffee shop, Ka-Fair, set to open soon in Morningside.

In addition to coffee, tea and hot chocolate, they will serve homemade baked goods made by Reanroo such as a crepe cake with raspberry topping, orange cakes, and brownies.

She taught cake decorating in Thailand and plans to offer classes here and host other events.

Reanroo said undertaking this venture is exciting.

“I am all about the details,” she said. “We like challenges. It’s a new chapter in our lives.”

An open house scheduled for April 21 was cancelled, and permission from the county to formally open is still pending. It will be located at 1806 Chislett St. (map).

Zhang Yimou's 2018 film Shadow (影) in Pittsburgh, from May 24.

The 2018 Zhang Yimou film Shadow (影) will play at the Regent Square Theater from May 24 through 30. The distributor provides a summary:

With SHADOW, director Zhang Yimou (HERO, HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS) once again pushes the boundaries of wuxia action to create a film like no other, masterfully painting a canvas of inky blacks and greys punctuated with bursts of color from the blood of the defeated. In a kingdom ruled by a young and unpredictable king, the military commander has a secret weapon: a “shadow”, a look-alike who can fool both his enemies and the King himself. Now he must use this weapon in an intricate plan that will lead his people to victory in a war that the King does not want.

The movie opens nationwide on May 3, so there may be earlier screenings around the city. Tickets and showtime information are not yet available. The theater is located at 1035 S. Braddock Ave. in Regent Square (map).

Tuvan throat singers Chirgilchin in Pittsburgh, May 1.

Tuvan throat singing group Chirgilchin will perform in Pittsburgh on May 1.

The word Chirgilchin has two translations: "dance of the air in the heat of the day" and "miracle". Established in 1996, Chirgilchin is a group of throat singers from Tuva, a small Russian province north of Western Mongolia. Chirgilchin's music tells stories of their homeland, its horses and its people. Tuvan songs are sung in minor pentatonic scale, similar to American blues. The monotone sustained notes that branch out into overtones with slight shifts in pitch give Tuvan throat singing its characteristic buoyant yet meditative drone quality. Throat singing is an extraordinary vocal form in which one singer produces two or more voices simultaneously, the low sounds in the throat harmonizing with middle and high flute-like overtones, to create richly layered melodies that evoke images of Tuvan steppes and nomadic life. Atmospheric and mesmeric, throat singing is almost too difficult to describe in words and must be heard to be believed. The most advanced forms of throat singing come from Tuva, and the members of Chirgilchin are among the best and most accomplished throat singers in all of Tuva.

The performance starts at 7:30 pm at the First Unitarian Church in Shadyside (map). Tickets are available online.

Hello Kitty Cafe Truck coming to Ross Park Mall, May 4.

via @HellyKittyCafeTruck

The Hello Kitty Cafe Truck will return to Pittsburgh on May 4, parking outside the Cheesecake Factory at Ross Park Mall.

Hello Pittsburgh! The Hello Kitty Cafe Truck is returning to Ross Park Mall on Saturday 5/4! Come say hello to us near Cheesecake Factory between 10am-8pm and pick up some supercute treats & merch, while supplies last! See you there!

The "menus" include a variety of sweets and merchandise.

Japanese film The Third Murder (三度目の殺人) at Maridon Museum, April 25.

The 2017 Japanese film The Third Murder (三度目の殺人) will play at the Maridon Museum on April 25. A 2018 New York Times review writes:

Did he or didn’t he is the question that’s teased throughout the insistent, gripping “Third Murder.” That’s the case even if everyone seems to agree that the defendant is guilty: the defendant himself (he’s confessed), the police, the prosecutor and the defense lawyer who at first only seems to care about the case not his client. Even the filmmaker seems to have boxed the defendant in: The movie opens with the defendant bashing in the victim’s head and then burning the corpse. A trial seems almost beside the point, a view that the writer-director Hirokazu Kore-eda goes on to dismantle with lapidary precision.

The movie starts at 6:00 pm and reservations are required to be made by phone: 724-282-0123. The Maridon Museum is an Asian art museum at 322 N. McKean St. in downtown Butler (map) that runs film series periodically throughout the year, in addition to art classes, book club meetings, and its regular exhibits.

Signage up for new Chinese noodle place in Squirrel Hill.

We first read about a new noodle place coming to Murray Ave. in Squirrel Hill in April 2017, but there was no progress until signage went up on Saturday for Mr. Egg's Kitchen. It will be located at 2103 Murray Ave. (map), what was most recently Sree's Foods

Two of the country's first three petroleum engineering graduates were Chinese, and were the first Chinese students to graduate from Pitt.

In January 1915, the Pitt Weekly noted that the first graduating class of its Petroleum Engineering degree would contain two American and two Chinese students (though that year's commencement program shows only one of the Americans earned his degree).

PITT CHINESE TO BE PETROLEUM KINGS

Melican Chinese laundries and Chinese chop suey restaurants are common objects in our city life, and on most any corner we see the familiar sign 'Wa Lee Yee, Laundry" but did you ever stop to think that we will be soon buying our oil and gasoline from real Chinese pretroleum [sic] engineers?

Pitt has taken the lead in producing Chinese Knights of the oil can, and will, unless the unexpected happens, graduate two sons of the oriental country with the degree of petroleum engineer in June. This will be the first time for any university in the United States to offer the degree, so the men taking it will have a notable distinction.

"Japanese Action Comic Punk band" Peelander-Z at Hard Rock Cafe, April 25.

Japanese punk band Peelander-Z will play in Pittsburgh on April 25. Wikipedia provides an overview of their live shows:

They perform on stage and appear in color-coordinated costumes, which they state are not costumes, but their skin. The costumes range from sentai style suits, to kimono, to rubber Playmobil style wigs. There is also a tiger costume and a giant squid/guitar costume to coincide with the song "Mad Tiger". Another aspect of their routine is their on-stage antics such as human bowling (diving head-first into bowling pins), pretending to hit each other with chairs in imitation of pro-wrestlers, and mid-performance piggyback rides. They often allow audience members on stage to join in on the fun, and often dive into the audience or hang from a balcony as part of their act.

They return to Pittsburgh for the first time since 2015, following a brief hiatus. The show is at the Hard Rock Cafe in Station Square (map) and tickets are available online; those under 21 must be accompanied by a parent or guardian.

2018 Chinese film Ash is the Purest White (江湖儿女) continues in Pittsburgh through April 25.

The 2018 Chinese film Ash is the Purest White (江湖儿女), which opened in Pittsburgh on April 12, will continue in town through April 25. A synopsis, from the distributor:

Qiao is in love with Bin, a local mobster. During a fight between rival gangs, she fires a gun to protect him. Qiao gets five years in prison for this act of loyalty. Upon her release, she goes looking for Bin to pick up where they left off.

The movie plays at the Regent Square Theater on S. Braddock Ave. in Regent Square (map) and tickets are now available for purchase online.