Azby Brown and "Mottainai: Sustainability in Contemporary Japan," March 17 with Pitt's Asian Studies Center.

The University of Pittsburgh's Asian Studies Center will host Azby Brown and his talk "Mottainai: Sustainability in Contemporary Japan" on March 17.

The “mottainai” environmental resource and design principles of Edo-period Japan were so effective that they canserve as prototype and inspiration for truly sustainable living, teaching us the many benefits of living in a highly-developed circular economy. This talk shows how Edo-period Japanese lived and how they made optimum use oftheir limited resources.

Azby Brown is a native of New Orleans, and has lived in Japan since 1985. A widely published author and authority on Japanesearchitecture, design, and environment, his groundbreaking writings on traditional Japanese carpentry, compact housing, and traditional sustainable practices of Japan are recognized as having brought these fields to the awareness of Western designers and the general public. In addition to The Genius of Japanese Carpentry, he has written Small Spaces (1993), The Japanese Dream House (2001), The Very Small Home (2005), and Just Enough: Lessons in living green from traditional Japan (2010). He retired in 2017 from the Kanazawa Institute of Technology,where he founded the Future Design Institute, and is currently on the sculpture faculty of Musashino Art University in Tokyo.

This program is brought to you by the Asian Studies Center at the University of Pittsburgh and made possible with the generous support of the Japan Foundation Center for Global Partnership

It starts at 7:00 pm EST and is free and open to the public, but registration is required.

"Table for Two: Japanese Soy-based Foods" hybrid event at Pitt, March 15.

via Futuredish.com

The University of Pittsburgh's Asian Studies Center will host "Table for Two: Japanese Soy-based Foods" with Samantha Sodetz. It starts at 6:00 pm on Zoom and in Posvar Hall's Global Hub, and registration is required.

"We Learn: Korean Learning Circle" continues online and in-person at Carnegie Library Oakland, Saturdays through (at least) March and April.

via the Republic of Korea's Flickr page.

The Carnegie Library Main Branch in Oakland will host "We Learn: Korean Learning Circle" on Saturdays in March and April: March 12, 19, 26, April 2, 9, 16, and 23.

We will cover the basic level to the intermediate/advanced levels. Based on the level of students, we can adjust course materials. Not only the Korean language, our tutors are always happy to share Korean cultures as well.

It runs from 11:00 am to 12:00 pm. It's free and open to the public, but registration is required. The library is located at 4400 Forbes Ave. in Oakland (map) and is accessible by buses 28X, 54, 61C, 61D, 67, 69, 71A, 71B, 71C, 71D, and 93.

"We Learn: Korean Learning Circle," online and in-person at Carnegie Library Oakland, March 5.

via the Republic of Korea's Flickr page.

The Carnegie Library Main Branch in Oakland will host "We Learn: Korean Learning Circle" on Saturdays from March 5.

We will cover the basic level to the intermediate/advanced levels. Based on the level of students, we can adjust course materials. Not only the Korean language, our tutors are always happy to share Korean cultures as well.

It runs from 11:00 am to 12:00 pm. It's free and open to the public, but registration is required. The library is located at 4400 Forbes Ave. in Oakland (map) and is accessible by buses 28X, 54, 61C, 61D, 67, 69, 71A, 71B, 71C, 71D, and 93.

K-Rave In Pittsburgh, March 11 at Level Up Studios.

The group 412 K Town (KPOPittsburgh) will present "K-Rave in Pittsburgh" on March 11.

K-Rave In Pittsburgh. Yes , we are having our own k-rave in Pittsburgh PA. For those who aren't familiar with k-rave, it is a kpop dance party event ( its not an actual rave ^^ ) Come join us and others to dance the night away by dancing to your favorite kpop songs from 2nd Gen to 4th Gen (also includes mash ups , remixes and concert mixes). Music will be provided by Dj.kidplay ( who is also known as imyoonotyou on tiktok ** that kpop dj from tiktok**). Door will open at 7pm and its $20 to enter this event. feel free to come by yourself or with a group because in the end of event , you will be making ton of kpop stan & kpop fan friends.

It runs from 7:00 to 11:00 pm. Level Up Studios is located at 4836 Penn Ave. in Garfield (map).

"MONKEY: New Writing from Japan Volume 2: Travel w/ Aoko Matsuda, Polly Barton, Adam Ehrlich Sachs, Motoyuki Shibata, and Meg Taylor" Virtual Launch at White Whale Bookstore, March 4.

White Whale Bookstore will host a virtual launch for "MONKEY: New Writing from Japan Volume 2: Travel w/ Aoko Matsuda, Polly Barton, Adam Ehrlich Sachs, Motoyuki Shibata, and Meg Taylor" on March 4.

So excited to be partnering up with MONKEY, which is based here in Pittsburgh, to launch their second volume of new and translated Japanese literature, Travel! We'll be joined by contributors Aoko Matsuda, Polly Barton, and editor/founder Motoyuki Shibata in an exclusive pre-recorded interview, followed by a conversation with contributor Adam Ehrlich Sachs and managing editor Meg Taylor.

Vol. 2 of MONKEY is 184 pages of full color, featuring the best of contemporary Japanese literature, from Kikuko Tsumura and Aoko Matsuda to Mieko Kawakami and Haruki Murakami, new translations of work by twentieth-century writers such as Yasunari Kawabata, a new graphic story by Satoshi Kitamura inspired by Gogol's "The Overcoat," and new work by American and Canadian writers Brian Evenson, Laird Hunt, Eric McCormack, and Barry Yourgrau—all friends of MONKEY. Published during the second year of the pandemic, this issue celebrates travel—something we did mostly in our imaginations in 2021!

It starts online at 7:00 pm and is free and open to the public, though registration is required.

Asian Grocery opens in Castle Shannon.

via @asiangrocerypit  Asian Grocery opened in Castle Shannon on February 5. Located at 300 Mt. Lebanon Blvd. (map), it carries a variety of produce and staples from East, South, and Southeast Asia. The Allegheny County Health Department reports note it's the same ownership as the "Asian Grocery" on Library Rd. that closed in 2021.

Concert film BTS Permission to Dance on Stage - Seoul: Live Viewing in Pittsburgh, March 12.

The BTS concert film BTS Permission to Dance on Stage - Seoul: Live Viewing will play in Pittsburgh on March 12.

‘BTS PERMISSION TO DANCE ON STAGE -SEOUL’, a performance for BTS and ARMY to dance together live. Join us as BTS and ARMY become one once again with music and dance in this unmissable live concert experience broadcast from Seoul to cinemas around the world! ‘BTS PERMISSION TO DANCE ON STAGE’ is the latest world tour series headlined by 21st century pop icons BTS, featuring powerful performances and the greatest hit songs from throughout their incredible career. The earlier Los Angeles shows were seen by approximately 813,000 people across the four sold-out shows, making them one of the most successful shows in 2021. Don’t miss ‘BTS PERMISSION TO DANCE ON STAGE -SEOUL: LIVE VIEWING’ to see RM, Jin, SUGA, j-hope, Jimin, V, and Jung Kook on the big screen in your local cinema on Saturday, March 12 only. We don’t need permission to dance~♬

It will play locally at the AMC Loews Waterfront and the Cinemark theaters in McCandless, Monaca, Monroeville, and Robinson, and tickets for the 4:30 pm and 8:30 pm shows are available online.

Fifty (one) years of Asian festivals at Pitt.

Fifty-one years ago the University of Pittsburgh held its second annual Asian Spring Festival. No information remains about the first one, but there is ample literature to tell us about the 1972 iteration. Highlights included screenings of the 1961 Korean film Spring Fragrance (better known today as Chunhyang [춘향]), the 1965 Taiwanese film Beautiful Duckling (養鴨人家), an exhibition of 19th- and 20th century Korean art, and a series of lectures and performances.

A February 22 Pitt press release said of the 1961 Korean film, which is now available for free on Youtube with English subtitles:

Directed by Shin San Okk, Spring Fragrance is based on a famous folk tale of romance set in feudal 18th-century Korea. One of the country's most successful and beautiful films, it features may [sic] of Korea's leading stars.

Taiwanese films Dragon Inn (龍門客棧), Goodbye, Dragon Inn (不散) in Pittsburgh, from March 18; double feature discounts (and Taiwanese snacks) available.

The Harris Theater will show the 2003 Taiwanese film Goodbye Dragon Inn (不散) from March 18 through 24, as well as the 1967 Taiwanese film Dragon Inn (龍門客棧) which features in its plot on March 19, 20, and 23. A summary of the former:

Like the Royal Theater in The Last Picture Show and the title movie house in Cinema Paradiso, the Fu-Ho Grand, a movie palace in Taipei, is closing its doors. Its valedictory screening: King Hu’s 1967 wuxia epic Dragon Inn, playing to a motley smattering of spectators, including two stars of Hu’s original opus, Miao Tien and Shih Chun, watching their younger selves with tears in their eyes. Developing the slyest, most delicate of character arcs involving a lovelorn usherette, a Japanese tourist cruising for companionship, and an oblivious projectionist played by Lee Kang-sheng, Tsai crafts a film both powerfully melancholy and deadpan funny. The sense that moviegoing as a communal experience is slipping away takes on a profound and painful resonance in Goodbye, Dragon Inn, a film too multifaceted to reduce to a simple valentine to the age of pre-streaming cinema.

And a synopsis of the latter:

A watershed in the history of Taiwanese popular cinema, the film-within-a-film in Tsai Ming-liang’s Goodbye, Dragon Inn, and the first movie that Hu, who is to the wuxia what John Ford is to the Western, made after fleeing his Shaw Bros. serfdom in Hong Kong to freedom in Taiwan. The emancipatory joy is palpable. The movie’s plot concerns the three marked-for-death children of a framed-up imperial minister as they’re pursued by a unit of ruthless assassins, the Black Arrow Troop, to the Dragon Gate Inn, a remote redoubt where both sides dig in and feel one another out in preparation for an inevitable showdown—but this conveys nothing of the elation of the filmmaking. Unlike many contemporary wuxia directors, including the good ones, Hu painstakingly pre-prepared and composed his films. Here, adapting the music of the traditional Beijing Opera to the rhythms of the fight film, he creates something that feels both ancient and new. This thrilling landmark of film history returns to the screen in a new, beautifully restored 4K digital transfer, created from the original negative.

There is a special promotion on for those who buy tickets to both movies as part of a double feature:

Special double-feature pricing is available when purchasing both the Dragon Inn and Goodbye, Dragon Inn on March 19, 20, and 23 – save $3 per ticket. All double-feature guests also receive complimentary light Taiwanese snacks between the films!

Tickets are available online. The Harris Theater is located in downtown's Cultural District (map).