Artist Talk with Asian Pacific Islander American Artists in Pittsburgh, September 13.

The Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council will host an Artist Talk as part of its ongoing "We Are Here: Asian Pacific Islander American Artists in Pittsburgh" exhibition on September 13.

Join curator Karen Lue in conversation with the artists of "We Are Here: Asian Pacific Island American Artists in Pittsburgh" on their work, identity, and the significance of this exhibition. A Q+A session will follow and refreshments will be provided. This is a great opportunity to learn more about the artists as well as APIA culture and its context in Pittsburgh.

The event runs from 5:30 to 7:00 pm on the 13th in the GPAC Big Room on the 7th floor of 810 Penn Ave. (map), and tickets are available online.

Franck's "Unkillable Human" on the North Shore.

On the Northshore Heritage Trail is a 2003 sculpture by Dutch artist Frederick Franck titled "Unkillable Human," commemorating those lost in the 1945 atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It is located basically across the street from Warhola Recycling on Chesboro St. (map). A marker there reads:

At Hiroshima Franck was confronted with the shadow of a human being burned into a concrete wall by the atomic bomb.

The indestructible spirit rises from the ashes.

The sculpture---though Franck preferred the word "sign"---was originally to find a home at a proposed Peace Park at Point State Park, but was eventually relocated to the North Shore when those plans fell through.

Documentary on rescuing Asian elephants in Thailand, Love & Bananas, in East Liberty, August 12.

The 2018 documentary Love & Bananas will play at the Carnegie Library in East Liberty on August 12. A synopsis, from the film's official site:

Elephant rescues in Thailand are rare, unpredictable and often life threatening. After waiting 2.5 years, actor/director Ashley Bell and a team of elephant rescuers led by world renowned Asian elephant conservationist and TIME Magazine's Hero of Asia, Lek Chailert, embark on a daring mission 480 miles across Thailand to rescue Noi Na, a 70-year old partially blind trekking elephant and bring her to freedom.

African elephants are slaughtered for their ivory, but sadly the plight of the Asian Elephant has been completely overlooked even though they are the elephant we are most familiar with in zoos, circuses and elephant rides. L&B exposes the cruel secret that every Asian elephant has had to endure to become a service animal; a process knows as Pajan, aka The Crush Box. LOVE & BANANAS aims to ignite a new way of thinking about this species and shows what can be done to prevent the extinction of Asian elephants.

The movie runs from 6:00 to 7:30 pm on the the 12th, in tandem with World Elephant Day. It is free and open to the public, but not recommended for children 12 and under. The library is located at 130 S. Whitfield St. (map).

BTS's Bring the Soul: The Movie at Carnegie Science Center Rangos Giant Cinema, August 7 through 11.

The latest BTS concert film, Bring the Soul: The Movie, will play at Carnegie Science Center's The Rangos Giant Cinema from August 7 through 11.

Following their landmark “Love Yourself” tour, boy band sensation BTS is headed to Pittsburgh’s largest screen in Bring The Soul: The Movie.

Shining brighter than any light on the stage, now the group invite us behind the spotlight. The Rangos Giant Cinema will transport you to the final concert of their Europe tour, on a rooftop in Paris, where BTS tells their very own stories from experiencing new cities to performing in front of thousands of ARMY across the globe.

A glimpse into BTS’ world away from the stage, featuring intimate group discussions alongside spectacular concert performances from the tour, this is a cinema event not to be missed.

Tickets and showtime information is available online. The movie will also play locally at the Cinemark Theaters in Monroeville and Robinson and the AMC Loews Waterfront.

2019 Japanese movie Tokyo Ghoul S (東京喰種 【S】) in Pittsburgh, from September 16.

The 2019 Japanese movie Tokyo Ghoul S (東京喰種 【S】) will play in Pittsburgh on September 16. From the distributor:

Now a member of Anteiku, Ken Kaneki grows closer to the ghouls around him. Determined to protect his new home against anti-ghoul forces, he trains his powers in secret. But when the infamous gourmet, Shu Tsukiyama, wishes to
savor some half-ghoul flavor, Kaneki’s training is put to the test of a lifetime.

Based on the thrilling supernatural manga, Tokyo Ghoul.

It will play in the US on September 16, 18, and 20, and locally at the Southside Works Cinema, but showtime information has not yet been announced.

Chang Chun Chemical Corporation hiring bilingual Mandarin-English sales assistant.

Chang Chun Chemical Corporation in Wexford is hiring a bilingual Mandarin-English sales assistant.

Communicating with suppliers in Asia for order processing and shipment arrangement

Supporting sales function such as issuing purchase order, invoice or sales related documents

Maintaining filling, updating and keeping of records

Managing stock inventory and sales operation as instructed by the Sales Manager

Handling customers’ inquiries and maintain tip top service to customers.

Screening of documentary Day of the Western Sunrise for local educators, August 7 at Pitt.

The National Consortium for Teaching About Asia will hold the teacher workshop "Nuclear Testing and Day of the Western Sunrise" at the University of Pittsburgh on August 7.

Join us on Wednesday August 7 for an NCTA teacher workshop “Nuclear Testing and Day of the Western Sunrise” which will explore the effects on a Japanese fishing boat that was accidentally caught in the U.S. testing of a thermonuclear bomb in the Bikini Atoll in 1954. Active teachers attending this morning workshop will receive a free DVD of the film along with an Educational Toolkit on this documentary, and Act 48 hours.

The movie was made with the help of the local Japanese-speaking community. Registration to hughespw at pitt.edu is required and requested by August 5.

"One of the worst films of the year," She's Just a Shadow, in Pittsburgh from August 2 through 9.

2019's She's Just a Shadow, filmed and set in Tokyo, will play at the Parkway Theater from August 2 through 9. From a July New York Times review:

Shot in Tokyo and with a mostly English-speaking Japanese cast and crew, this lurid blood bath centers on an impassive madam and her gaggle of under-occupied, over-embellished working girls. Two of these are vying for the addled attentions of a snaggletoothed gangster-addict whose boss controls the city’s sex trade and black markets. Not for much longer, however, if the madam and her poisonous mother have their way.

Pittsburgh Taiko beginner lessons, from August 18.

via @PittsburghTaiko

Pittsburgh Taiko, a local Japanese drumming group, will again offers its beginner lessons from August 18.

Over the course of the four-week series, you will learn basic movements and techniques used to play taiko.

Each week, we will do some calisthenics and drills, work on improving skills, and learn some simple taiko repertoire.

Drumsticks will be provided, as will earplugs (although you’re welcome to bring your own if you have some).

This beginner series is designed for adults and students in high school or older.

No experience is necessary!

There are four sessions on four Sundays, from August 18 through September 8, at 2 North Balph Ave. in Bellevue (map). The cost ranges from $20 to $40 for the series.

My Neighbor Totoro (となりのトトロ) in Pittsburgh, August 25, 26, 28.

The classic Japanese animated film My Neighbor Totoro (となりのトトロ) is will play in Pittsburgh on August 25, 26, and 28 as part of this year's GKIDS Studio 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?

It will play locally at the AMC Loews Waterfront and the Cinemark theaters in Monroeville, North Hills, Pittsburgh Mills, and Robinson. The August 25 and 28 shows are dubbed in English and the August 26 show is in Japanese with English subtitles. Tickets are available online.