"Making Green Tea For America - And For Japan," February 21 at Pitt.

via cyclonebill (Creative Commons)

The University of Pittsburgh's Asian Studies Center will host Dr. Robert Hellyer and "Making Green Tea For America - And For Japan" on February 21.

Join Professor Robert Hellyer of Wake Forest University for a discussion on the socio-economic history of green tea in America and Japan in the late 19th and early 20th century.
Soon after the Meiji Restoration of 1868, Japan dramatically expanded tea production—especially of high-quality sencha green tea—specifically to meet demand from the United States, then a green tea consuming nation. This presentation will outline that export trade highlighting how tea production helped to ease social tensions in the nascent Japanese nation-state by providing employment for Tokugawa retainers who had opposed the new central regime during the Boshin War (1868-1869). It will also explain the ways in which a change in American tastes—the 1920s’ embrace of black teas produced in South Asia—brought a decline in Japanese tea exports to the United States. Facing a glut, Japanese tea merchants aggressively marketed sencha at home for the first time, emphasizing its health benefits. As a result, more Japanese began to consume sencha, setting in motion a trend that made that type of green tea the definitive daily beverage it remains today.

The event starts from 3:00 pm in 4130 Posvar Hall (map).

1963 Kurosawa film High and Low (天国と地獄) in Pittsburgh, from March 13.

The 1963 Akira Kurosawa film High and Low (天国と地獄) will play at the Row House Cinema from March 13 to 19, part of the theater's Film Noir series. The Criterion Collection provides a summary:

Toshiro Mifune is unforgettable as Kingo Gondo, a wealthy industrialist whose family becomes the target of a cold-blooded kidnapper in High and Low (Tengoku to jigoku), the highly influential domestic drama and police procedural from director Akira Kurosawa. Adapting Ed McBain's detective novel King's Ransom, Kurosawa moves effortlessly from compelling race-against-time thriller to exacting social commentary, creating a diabolical treatise on contemporary Japanese society.

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

Profiles on Bloomfield's Cobra Lounge, a new space for yakiniku, Korean BBQ, and DJs..

Cobra Lounge, a new yakiniku + Korean BBQ place slash event space in Bloomfield, has been the subject of two recent profiles in Pittsburgh Magazine and NextPittsburgh. From the former:

The heart of the Cobra experience is the array of 10 smokeless Shinpo Yakiniku grills in the rectangular dining room. Burnell and Piso said they spent a lot of time researching Korean-style barbeque locations in Los Angeles, New York and other places prior to opening Cobra. The experience draws from those Korean culinary influences, and also is informed by the Japanese technique of yakiniku, meaning that all the butchering is done prior to service. “There’s no need for scissors or a steak knife. It’s perfectly butchered for one bite,” says Piso.

Participants needed for Bon Odori in Oakland "Open Streets" event, May 31.

One of Pittsburgh's Open Streets events will take place in Oakland in 2020 and will feature a Bon Odori performance. The Japanese Nationality Room is currently recruiting participants for the May 31 event.

Bon Odori - Join us at Open Streets in Oakland on Sunday May 31, 2020.
We are recruiting Bon Odori participants. It's really easy to learn the steps. If you have Yukata or Happi, it's a great opportunity to wear it too! See our FB Event page for registration.

Japanese film The Little House (小さいおうち) at Maridon Museum, March 6.

The 2014 Japanese movie The Little House (小さいおうち) will play at the Maridon Museum on March 6, the first installment of this spring's Japanese Film Series.

A woman looks back on her family’s life in Tokyo before and during WWII. A maid arrives from the countryside to work for an upper middle-class family. She fits in well, but everyone’s emotions are stirred up with the arrival of a student.

The movie starts at 6:00 pm. The event is free but reservations are required and can be made by calling 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.

Upcoming Japanese movie Digimon Adventure: Last Evolution Kizuna (デジモンアドベンチャー LAST EVOLUTION 絆) in Pittsburgh, March 25.

The upcoming Japanese movie Digimon Adventure: Last Evolution Kizuna (デジモンアドベンチャー LAST EVOLUTION 絆) will play in Pittsburgh on March 25. From the distributor:

Tai is now a university student, living alone, working hard at school, and working every day, but with his future still undecided. Meanwhile, Matt and others continue to work on Digimon incidents and activities that help people with their partner Digimon. When an unprecedented phenomenon occurs, the DigiDestined discover that when they grow up, their relationship with their partner Digimon will come closer to an end.

As a countdown timer activates on the Digivice, they realize that the more they fight with their partner Digimon, the faster their bond breaks. Will they fight for others and lose their partner? The time to choose and decide is approaching fast. There is a short time before “chosen children” will become adults. This is the last adventure of Tai and Agumon.

The movie is in Japanese with English subtitles. It will play locally at AMC Loews Waterfront, the Cinemarks in Monroeville and Pittsburgh Mills, and Southside Works Cinema, and tickets are available online.

Work progresses on second Fuku Tea location.

via @margittai

Work continues on the second Fuku Tea location at 300 S. Craig St. (map). The new bubble tea place will be open this spring, Margittai Architects write on Facebook. The owners of Fuku Tea also run Sushi Fuku, which has three restaurants in Oakland, including one a few storefronts away.

Pitt hiring part-time Japanese teacher for Summer 2020 start.

The University of Pittsburgh's Department of East Asian Languages & Literatures is hiring a part-time Japanese instructor for a Summer 2020 start.

The Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures seeks a part-time instructor of Japanese Language starting Summer Term 2020. Instructors must have a bachelor’s degree and experience teaching Japanese conversation classes at University level more than one year. Native speakers of Japanese are preferred. Duties include teaching recitation sections. Interested applicants should remit a CV and cover letter. The position will be filled as soon as qualified candidates are found.

The Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences is committed to building and fostering a culturally diverse environment. Excellent interpersonal and relationship-building skills and ability to work effectively with a wide range of individuals in support of a diverse community are required.

Those interested can apply online.

Nicole Chung at City of Asylum, May 11.

via nicolechung.net

Pittsburgh's City of Asylum will host Nicole Chung, author of All You Can Ever Know, on May 11 as part of its Memoir Series. A summary of the book, from Chung's official site:

What does it mean to lose your roots—within your culture, within your family—and what happens when you find them?

Nicole Chung was born severely premature, placed for adoption by her Korean immigrant parents, and raised by a white family in a sheltered Oregon town. From early childhood, she heard the story of her adoption as a comforting, prepackaged myth. She believed that her biological parents had made the ultimate sacrifice in the hopes of giving her a better life; that forever feeling slightly out of place was simply her fate as a transracial adoptee. But as she grew up—facing prejudice her adoptive family couldn’t see, finding her identity as an Asian American and a writer, becoming ever more curious about where she came from—she wondered if the story she’d been told was the whole truth.

With warmth, candor, and startling insight, Chung tells of her search for the people who gave her up, which coincided with the birth of her own child. All You Can Ever Know is a profound, moving chronicle of surprising connections and the repercussions of unearthing painful family secrets—vital reading for anyone who has ever struggled to figure out where they belong.

The event runs from 7:00 to 8:30 pm at Alphabet City on the North Side (map). It's free, but tickets are required and are available online.

Kuniko Yamamoto and "Origami Tales" in Pittsburgh, May 14 - 17.

Kuniko Yamamoto and "Origami Tales" will be in Pittsburgh from May 14 to 17 as part of the EQT Children's Festival.

Welcome to the infinite world of Origami! In Japanese, ori- means "to fold" and -gami means "paper". Using origami, music and audience participation, storyteller Kuniko Yamamoto provides a magical entry into Japanese culture. In her show Origami Tales, mythological character masks and puppets, amazing flowers and a dragon – all made from origami – set the stage while Kuniko shares heartfelt stories from ancient Japan. Expect boundless imagination out of simple paper folding and an uplifting world of storytelling.

The performances will take place at the Trust Arts Education Center in the Cultural District (map). Tickets are available online.