"Sake: Beyond the Basics" online with Japan America Society of Pennsylvania, August 26.

by Masayuki Igawa

The Japan America Society of Pennsylvania will host "Sake: Beyond the Basics," a virtual tasting and discussion, on August 26.

Dive into the world of sake with this lecture and go beyond the basic distinction of junmai and honjozo. Deb Mortillaro, certified sake sommelier, will guide us through how five elements - the rice, the region, the water, the yeast, and the brewer - combine to create unique flavors, even within the same grade of sake. We will learn how those elements are reflected in the labels so you can become a more confident sake connoisseur. This class is a practical tasting, covering Ishioka, Mighty Peak Tokubetsu Junmai;Housui, Fragrant Water Tokubetsu Junmai; Echigo Ikarashi-Gawa, Blue River Ginjo; and Hakuyou, White Sun Junmai Ginjo. For Pittsburgh-area participants, order & pick up your sake directly from Dreadnought Wines at 412-391-1709 ($64 for four 300ml bottles, optional).

Those interested in the 6:30 pm session can register and pay the suggested donation online.

Fantuan Delivery arrives in Pittsburgh with service to Chinese restaurants and groceries coming soon.

Several Pittsburgh-area Chinese restaurants and groceries have begun to display signs for Fantuan Delivery, a Canada-based delivery service that specializes in Chinese restaurants and groceries. PennsylvAsia noted in July the increase of local job postings for Fantuan and Chowbus, a similar third-party delivery service that covers Asian restaurants.

Susan Choi talk with Pittsburgh Arts & Lectures, online on September 14.

Pittsburgh Arts & Lectures will host author Susan Choi online on September 14 as part of this year's Ten Evenings series.

The author of five novels, Susan Choi won the 2019 National Book Award for Trust Exercise, an ingenious meditation on fiction and truth, friendships and loyalties, the capacities of adolescents, and the powers of adults.

In an American suburb in the early 1980s, students at a highly competitive performing arts high school struggle and thrive in a rarified bubble, ambitiously pursuing music, movement, Shakespeare, and, particularly, their acting classes. The outside world of family life and economic status, of academic pressure and of their future adult lives, fails to penetrate this school’s walls — until it does, in a shocking spiral of events that catapults the action forward in time and flips the premise upside-down.

Choi’s first novel, The Foreign Student, won the Asian American Literary Award for fiction. Her second novel, American Woman, was a finalist for the 2004 Pulitzer Prize and was adapted into a film. A Person of Interest was a finalist for the 2009 PEN/Faulkner Award. In 2010, Choi was named the inaugural recipient of the PEN/W. G. Sebald Award. Her fourth novel, My Education, received a 2014 Lammy Award.

Tickets for the 7:30 pm event are now available: $10 for students and $15 for the general public.

2019 Chinese documentary Our Time Machine (时光机) online via Carnegie Science Center's Rangos Giant Cinema, from September 11.

The 2019 Chinese documentary Our Time Machine (时光机) will be available online via Carnegie Science Center's Rangos Giant Cinema from September 11. The film played in Pittsburgh last fall as part of the Three Rivers Film Festival. From the film's official site:

Shaken by the news of his father’s dementia, artist Maleonn creates “Papa’s Time Machine,” a wondrous time-travel adventure performed on stage with life-size mechanical puppets. Through the play’s production, he confronts his own mortality. Maleonn finds grace and unexpected joy in this moving meditation on art, the agonies of love and loss, and the circle of life.

Pitt's Daehwa Korean Conversation Club (한국어 대화 동아리) to resume online, from September 4.

The University of Pittsburgh's Daehwa Korean Conversation Club will hold its meetings and activities online for the fall 2020 semester. THe first meeting of the term is September 4.

"The Influence of Japanese Ceramics," online with Japan-America Society of Pennsylvania, August 19.

via Guerrero Ceramics.

The Japan-America Society of Pennsylvania will host local artist Jeff Guerrero and his talk "The Influence of Japanese Ceramics" on August 19.

Why have western ceramic artists continuously looked to Japan for inspiration over the past century? How has the American craft revival been influenced by traditional Japanese aesthetics and ethos? Join ceramic artist and educator Jeff Guerrero for a journey through the history of Japanese ceramics and its influences on Western art.

2017 Japanese animated film Mary and the Witch's Flower (メアリと魔女の花) with Pitt's Office of International Services, August 19.

The University of Pittsburgh's Office of International Services will present an online viewing of the 2017 Japanese animated film Mary and the Witch's Flower (メアリと魔女の花) on August 19 as part of Watch Party Wednesdays, open to the Pitt community. The distributor provides a summary:

From Academy Award®-nominated Hiromasa Yonebayashi – animator on Studio Ghibli masterpieces Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle, and Ponyo, and director of When Marnie Was There and The Secret World of Arrietty – comes a dazzling new adventure about a young girl named Mary, who discovers a flower that grants magical powers, but only for one night.

Mary is an ordinary young girl stuck in the country with her Great-Aunt Charlotte and seemingly no adventures or friends in sight. She follows a mysterious cat into the nearby forest, where she discovers an old broomstick and the strange Fly-by-Night flower, a rare plant that blossoms only once every seven years and only in that forest. Together the flower and the broomstick whisk Mary above the clouds, and far away to Endor College – a school of magic run by headmistress Madam Mumblechook and the brilliant Doctor Dee. But there are terrible things happening at the school, and when Mary tells a lie, she must risk her life to try to set things right.

Based on Mary Stewart’s 1971 classic children’s book The Little Broomstick, Mary and The Witch’s Flower is an action-packed film full of jaw-dropping imaginative worlds, ingenious characters, and the simple, heartfelt story of a young girl trying to find a place in the world.

The movie starts at 7:00 pm and is open to the Pitt community with registration.

2006 Vietnamese film Journey from the Fall (Vượt Sóng) online with Pitt's Asian Studies Center, August 12.

The University of Pittsburgh's Asian Studies Center will present the 2006 Vietnamese film Journey from the Fall (Vượt Sóng) online on August 12 as the next installment of its Summer Screenshots: Hot Nights/Cold War film series. A synopsis, from the film's official site:

"The Americans have broken their promise. They have left us."
(Long Nguyen, South Vietnamese resistance fighter)

Inspired by the true stories of Vietnamese refugees who fled their land after the fall of Saigon—and those who were forced to stay behind, Journey From The Fall follows one family’s struggle for freedom.

April 30, 1975 marked the end of Vietnam's two-decade-old civil war and the start of the exodus of hundreds of thousands of refugees. Despite his allegiance to the toppled South Vietnamese government, Long Nguyen (as Long Nguyen) decides to remain in Vietnam. Imprisoned in a Communist re-education camp, he urges his family to make the escape by boat without him. His wife Mai (Diem Lien), son Lai (Nguyen Thai Nguyen) and mother Ba Noi (Kieu Chinh) then embark on the arduous ocean voyage in the hope of reaching the U.S. and freedom.

Back in Vietnam, Long suffers years of solitary confinement and hard labor, and finally despairs that his family has perished. But news of their successful resettlement in America inspires him to make one last desperate attempt to join them.

The online presentation starts at 5:30 pm and includes a live Q and A with Ham Tran, the film's director. Those interested should register online.

Authors Caroline Kim & Alexander Chee (online) with Pittsburgh Arts & Lectures, October 7.

Pittsburgh Arts & Lectures will host authors Caroline Kim & Alexander Chee for a virtual discussion on October 7.

2020 Drue Heinz Literature Prize winner Caroline Kim in conversation with author and guest judge Alexander Chee

Exploring what it means to be human through the Korean diaspora, Caroline Kim’s The Prince of Mournful Thoughts and Other Stories feature many voices. From a teenage girl in 1980’s America, to a boy growing up in the middle of the Korean War, to an immigrant father struggling to be closer to his adult daughter, or to a suburban housewife whose equilibrium depends upon a therapy robot, each character must face their less-than-ideal circumstances and find a way to overcome them without losing themselves. Language often acts as a barrier as characters try, fail, and momentarily succeed in connecting with each other. With humor, insight, and curiosity, Kim’s wide-ranging stories explore themes of culture, communication, travel, and family. Ultimately, what unites these characters across time and distance is their longing for human connection and a search for the place—or people—that will feel like home.

Of the collection, Wendy Hinman for Foreword Reviews writes, “Worth savoring, the stories of The Prince of Mournful Thoughts are intimate, often wistful portraits set amid the stifling and conflicting expectations of families and cultures.”

The free event starts at 6:00 pm and tickets are now available.

A Girl Missing (よこがお), Patema Inverted (サカサマのパテマ), We Are Little Zombies (ウィーアーリトルゾンビーズ) continue at Row House Cinema through August 13, part of Japanese Film Week.

The Japanese films A Girl Missing (よこがお), Patema Inverted (サカサマのパテマ), We Are Little Zombies (ウィーアーリトルゾンビーズ) will continue online at the Row House Cinema through August 13, part of the theater's Japanese Film Week. Tickets and showtime information is available online.