2021 Japanese film Drive My Car (ドライブ・マイ・カー) to remain in Pittsburgh through February 17.

The acclaimed 2021 Japanese film Drive My Car (ドライブ・マイ・カー) which opened in Pittsburgh on January 20, will remain at the Harris Theater through February 17. A brief synospis from a December 7 NPR review:

The story follows a middle-aged Tokyo stage actor named Kafuku, superbly played by Hidetoshi Nishijima. He's a calm, mild-mannered guy who's been married for two decades to a screenwriter named Oto. We get a sense of their mutual devotion when we see Kafuku driving around in his bright red Saab, rehearsing his lines by listening to audio tapes that Oto has painstakingly recorded for him.

But their relationship is more complicated than it appears. Years ago, Kafuku and Oto experienced an agonizing loss that has led her to find solace — and perhaps something more — in relationships with other men. Kafuku has deep compassion for his wife, which doesn't make her betrayal any less painful. And then another tragedy strikes when Oto dies suddenly.

The Harris Theater is located in downtown's Cultural District (map), and tickets are available online or at the door.

Tadao Arimoto and "Woodworking and Japanese Design," March 3 with Japan-America Society of Pennsylvania.

The Japan-America Society of Pennsylvania will host Tadao Arimoto and his talk "Woodworking and Japanese Design" on March 3.

When wooden furniture is art, it becomes a conversation between nature and the craftsperson, harmonizing the inherent qualities of natural materials with the vision of the designer. Tadao Arimoto, a woodworker based in Pittsburgh, will share his unique technique and philosophy honed from a background in design with decades of experience using traditional Japanese and modern tools on American woods.
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Tadao Arimoto is a woodworker living in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Before arriving in the United States, Tadao studied industrial design at the International Design Institute in Kyoto. For the past 40 years, he has practiced his craft in Pittsburgh and has often travelled to attend and teach domestic and international workshops.

In recent years Tadao has contributed works to local universities, presented his works at national events, and been recognized as a Master Visual Artist by the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts. Tadao's focus has shifted from private works to larger and more public commissions, including a bench commemorating the 10th Anniversary of the Pittsburgh Sakura Project.

It will be held at Threadbare Cider House on Spring Garden Ave. (map) from 6:00 to 7:30 pm. Registration is required.

Lunar New Year Virtual Event with Pitt's Institute of International Studies in Education, February 8.

The University of Pittsburgh's Institute of International Studies in Education will hold a Lunar New Year Virtual Event on February 8.

The Institute for International Studies in Education (IISE) invites the University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) and the School of Education (SOE) communities to our virtual celebration of the Lunar New Year 2022. Please join us and share your own story about the Lunar New Year. There will be opportunities to win gift cards during our fun games!

This Zoom event is co-sponsored by the Asian Studies Center (ASC) and School of Education Council for Graduate Students in Education (CGSE)

It begins at 9:00 am EST and registration is required.

Eric Nam in Pittsburgh, February 16.

Korean-American singer Eric Nam will perform in Pittsburgh on February 16. Tickets for the all-ages show at Mr. Smalls Theater in Millvale are currently still available.

"The Chinese Laundrymen of Squirrel Hill" presentation by Squirrel Hill Historical Society, February 8.

Tom Yee Laundry in Homestead, circa 1925.
The Squirrel Hill Historical Society will present Tammy Hepps and her discussion on "The Chinese Laundrymen of Squirrel Hill" on February 8.

Homestead Jewish historian Tammy Hepps, homesteadhebrews.com, will discuss the traumatic dispersion of Chinese laborers after the transcontinental railroad was built, examining their lives as laundrymen in context the microcosm of Squirrel Hill and Homestead.

For much more information on early Chinese residents in the area, and the context, see this well-researched article from the Homestead Hebrews website, whence the photograph of Tom Yee Laundry in Homestead comes.

The talk begins at 7:30 pm and at the Church of the Redeemer at 5700 Forbes Ave. (map).

Pitt's Department of Music presents Yun Emily Wang and "Listening Incommensurably: Sounding 'out' as homonationalist double-bind in Toronto’s Queer Taiwanese Diaspora" as part of Visiting Scholar Series, March 31.

The University of Pittsburgh's Department of Music will host Dr. Yun Emily Wang and her talk "Listening Incommensurably: Sounding 'out' as homonationalist double-bind in Toronto’s Queer Taiwanese Diaspora" of Duke University on March 31.

In this paper I analyze two ethnographic moments of sounding “out” among a group of queer Taiwanese immigrants in Toronto by tracking the incommensurables in each instance.

The first case study took place in a private home in 2014, when my interlocutors exchanged stories of navigating racism in North American queer culture and the ways in which Taiwan’s pending legalization of same-sex marriage produced polarizing family dynamics stretching across the Pacific Ocean. This discussion of intersectional politics was soundtracked by an electronic dance music track consisting of an auto-tuned anti-queer Christian sermon that had gone viral in Taiwan a few months prior, and my interlocutors interacted with the track as non-verbal commentaries that complemented the discussion. The second followed Taiwanese Supreme Court’s marriage equality ruling in 2017, when my interlocutors marched in Toronto’s annual Pride Parade. They broadcasted Mandopop queer club anthems with amplifiers on a small hand truck and invited parade bystanders to “party along” and celebrate Taiwan, drowning out the other queer Asian groups. In such politically charged moments of collective listening, singing along, and dancing, my interlocutors engaged with multiple sonic publics that participated in what Jasbir K. Puar calls “homonationalism-as-assemblage” (2015), the processes through which nation states claim sovereignty through queer-friendliness at the expense of the racially and economically marginalized.

Investigating the incommensurabilities between Canadian and Taiwanese queer politics, between sounding and listening, between openness toward an emergent Asian Canadian queer futurity and its own foreclosures, ultimately, I demonstrate the necessity of failures and complicity in efforts toward an otherwise world.

The virtual event runs from 4:00 to 5:30 pm, and will be available on Zoom for Pitt students, faculty, and staff, and on Youtube to the rest of the viewing public.

Dr. Keung Yoon Bae and "The Physicality of Gaming: Bodies and Biology in Esports," February 9 at Pitt.

The University of Pittsburgh's Asian Studies Center will host Dr. Keung Yoon Bae and her talk "The Physicality of Gaming: Bodies and Biology in Esports" on February 9.

In an activity like gaming, which is largely perceived to take place on a virtual or online plane, how might we understand the presence and significance of the human body? How do factors relating to the body – the physical locations in which we play games, the presentation of one’s gender, the invisibility of the body in gaming and esports – impact gaming culture and esports media? Dr. Bae explores these questions through a study of gaming and esports in South Korea and the US.

The talk will be at 5:00 pm and on Zoom, and registration is required.

Pittsburgh Opera presents world premiere of In A Grove, based on short story by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, from February 19.

Pittsburgh Opera will present In A Grove, based on short story by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, from February 19.

Music by Christopher Cerrone, libretto by Stephanie Fleischmann, based on the short story by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa

A silent, expectant grove. A violent encounter between a man, a woman, and a notorious brigand.

Seven testimonies, each proposing a different perspective on the crime. Akutagawa’s classic short story “In a Grove,” which inspired the plot of Kurosawa’s renowned film Rashomon, offers a searing investigation into the impossibility and elusiveness of truth.

Epic and intimate, timeless and devastatingly timely, the story’s structure lends itself powerfully to music’s ability to conjure—via repetition and variation—how human perception, memory, and desire are fallible, imprecise, and subject to interference.

Join us for this unique world-premiere experience in a place where the ground shifts beneath your feet—a space of ambiguity and clarity, of beauty and menace, and of fragility and strength.

Performances are on February 19, 22, 25, and 27, and March 1 and 3, 2022. Tickets are now available. The theater is located at 2425 Liberty Ave. in the Strip District (map).

Passes for 2022 Pittsburgh Japanese Film Festival, March 18 to 31, now available.

Passes are now available for the 2022 Pittsburgh Japanese Film Festival, to be held at the Row House Cinema from March 18 to 31.

Festival passes are the best way to experience the 2022 Japanese Film Festival. Passholders get access to films and festival events at a huge discount and have first access to book screenings. Quantities are limited, so book today!

The festival began in 2016 and returns in 2022 after a two-year hiatus forced by COVID. The only film announced so far is 2019's The Island of Cats (ねことじいちゃん), which was slated to open the festival back in 2020.

Woosung to open for Epik High, in Pittsburgh on March 19.

It was recently announced that Woosung will be the opening act for Epik High on their 2022 North American tour. The Korean-American singer and the legendary hip-hop group will perform in Pittsburgh---well, in Millvale---on March 19. Tickets for the all-ages show at Mr. Smalls Theater are available online.