Kimjang Workshop with Sunni Park (manduhandu), May 15 at Carnegie Museum of Art.

via @manduhandu

JADED will present a Kimjang Workshop with Sunni Park (@manduhandu) on May 15. This workshop on preparing kimchi will be held at the Carnegie Musem of Art in Oakland (map) from 1:00 to 3:00 pm, and registration is required.

Launching Spring 2022, JADED is a public programming series celebrating the art and culture of the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community. Organized by a collective of AAPI artists and organizers, also named JADED, the programming series builds interethnic coalitions to create more safe spaces of kinship and addresses racial trauma while celebrating cultural heritage. Programming and intimate events aim to reanimate local histories, preserve cherished family recipes and practices, and nurture intergenerational dialogue.

2021 animated Japanese film Jujutsu Kaisen 0 (劇場版 呪術廻戦 0) to remain in Pittsburgh through (at least) May 4.

The 2021 animated Japanese film Jujutsu Kaisen 0 (劇場版 呪術廻戦 0), which opened in Pittsburgh on March 17, will remain here through at least May 4. From the distributor:

When they were children, Rika Orimoto was killed in a traffic accident right before the eyes of her close friend, Yuta Okkotsu. "It's a promise. When we both grow up, we'll get married." Rika became an apparition, and Yuta longed for his own death after suffering under her curse, but the greatest Jujutsu sorcerer, Satoru Gojo, welcomed him into Jujutsu High. There Yuta meets his classmates, Maki Zen'in, Toge Inumaki, and Panda, and finally finds his own determination. "I want the confidence to say it's okay that I'm alive! While I'm at Jujutsu High, I'll break Rika-chan's curse." Meanwhile, the vile curse user, Suguru Geto, who was expelled from the school for massacring ordinary people, appears before Yuta and the others. "This coming December 24th, we shall carry out the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons." While Geto advocates for creating a paradise for only jujutsu sorcerers, he unleashes a thousand curses upon Shinjuku and Kyoto to exterminate all non-sorcerers. Will Yuta be able to stop Geto in the end? And what will happen when breaking Rika's curse...?

It will play at the AMC Loews Waterfront and tickets are available online. Please note, some shows are dubbed in English while others are in Japanese with English subtitles.

1995 film Ghost in the Shell (攻殻機動隊) at Row House Cinema, from April 29.

The 1995 film Ghost in the Shell (攻殻機動隊) will play at Row House Cinema from April 29, part of its Artificial Intelligence series. A 2014 Telegraph review provides a summary:

Oshii’s film, which was adapted from a manga series by Masamune Shirow, saw everything coming. In its near-future world, countries are like corporations under siege, whose protective walls are slowly being washed away by an ocean of communal data. Hackers are treated like terrorists, while programmers’ movements are restricted as part of a global arms embargo.

Helping to keep the uneasy peace is Section 9, a team of government agents who include Motoko Kusanagi: a cyborg who can plug herself into the data-sea via four jack ports in the nape of her neck.

. . .

We follow Kusanagi on her hunt for The Puppet Master, a hacker who can access the ‘ghosts’, or souls, of ordinary citizens and carry out cyber-crimes by proxy. Now entirely synthetic, her original human body replaced and improved on piece by piece, Kusanagi is unsure whether her ghost still lingers in her man-made form[.]

It will play in Japanese with English subtitles. Tickets are available online. The single-screen theater is located at 4115 Butler Street in Lawrenceville (map).

Environmental Charter School hiring high school Mandarin teacher.

The Environmental Charter School in East Liberty is hiring a high school Mandarin Chinese teacher for the 2022-2023 academic year.

The High School Mandarin Teacher has strong teaching abilities, an understanding of pedagogy and instructional practices, fluency in Mandarin, and a strong interest in environmental studies. The Mandarin Teacher works collaboratively within a team of educators in a High School setting. The teacher works closely with his/her specialist team and provides an introduction to Mandarin in an age-appropriate and developmentally-responsive manner. This role requires experience in language instruction for high school age students. Candidates should be energetic and progressive minded, with a willingness to work collaboratively with grade level and specialist teams.

Chinese Cemetery & Squirrel Hill Photo Tour with Leo Hsu & Lena Chen, May 21.

From Journey of the Hungry Ghost by Lena Chen.

Leo Hsu and Lena Chen will offer a Chinese Cemetery and Squirrel Hill Photo Tour on May 21, part of this spring's JADED public programming. This event is free and open to the public. It runs from 11:00 to 12:30, and those interested in joining should meet at the parklet at Murray and Darlington Aves. in Squirrel Hill (map).

"We Learn: Beginner Korean Learning Circle" at Carnegie Library in Oakland (and online), very other Saturday from May 7.

via the Republic of Korea's Flickr page.

The Carnegie Library Main Branch in Oakland will host "We Learn: Beginner Korean Learning Circle" every other Saturday, starting May 7.

In this beginner-level class, we will use the textbook published by the Korean government for foreigners who learn Korean as a secondary language. We will start from writing/reading Korean characters, ‘Hangul’, and learn how to organize sentence structures. Register for the event here.

The event runs from 12:00 to 1:00 pm.

Hi Beauty Skincare opens in Squirrel Hill.

Hi Beauty Skincare has recently opened on the second floor of 5801 Beacon St. in Squirrel Hill (map). The Chinese-owned spa is from the ownership of Sunshine Island in Greenfield.

Squirrel Hill's Mr. Egg's Kitchen relocates down the street and into Teppan-BBQ.

Signage recently went up at Mr. Egg's Kitchen in Squirrel Hill that the hot pot and juice restaurant has relocated down the street to Teppan-BBQ (板川名府). Mr. Egg's Kitchen opened in July 2020 on Murray Ave. after three years of planning and construction, and Teppan-BBQ opened in November 2020 at 2209 Murray Ave. (map) in the former Ka Mei location. Teppan-BBQ remains open; a counter inside the restaurant contains hot pot ingredients.

"Kawasaki, A City of Japan's Multicultural Vanguard" with Japan-American Society of Pennsylvania, April 28.

via @savvytokyo

The Japan-American Society of Pennsylvania will host Dr. Yoshihiro Yasuhara of Carnegie Mellon University and his talk "Kawasaki, A City of Japan's Multicultural Vanguard."

It has been long since the notion of multiculturalism (tabunka shugi or tabunka kyosei) emerged in the social and political discourses during the 1990s while the “myth of Japan’s homogeneity” was widely challenged by various scholars, thinkers, and business leaders in Japan and abroad since the 1980s. However, there are still issues regarding the diversity, equity and inclusion in Japan, a country where the population is declining and yet the number of foreign residents continue to grow. How is it possible for Japan to reinvent itself in response to the fast-paced global trend of multiculturalism?

To facilitate a discussion of multiculturalism in Japan today, this talk will introduce the case of Kawasaki, a city that “became the first municipality to pass an ordinance that makes hate speech a punishable offense”* and its repercussions.

The talk runs from 6:30 to 9:00 pm at Margaret Morrison Carnegie Hall on the CMU campus (map). Registration is required.

2021 Japanese animated film Pompo: The Cinéphile (映画大好きポンポさん) in Pittsburgh, April 27 and 28.

The 2021 Japanese animated film Pompo: The Cinéphile (映画大好きポンポさん) will play in Pittsburgh on April 27 and 28. A synopsis, from the distributor:

Pompo is a talented and gutsy producer in “Nyallywood,” the movie-making capital of the world. Although she’s known for B-movies, one day Pompo tells her movie-loving but apprehensive assistant Gene that he will direct her next script: a delicate drama about a tormented artistic genius, starring the legendary and Brando-esque actor Martin Braddock, and a young actress seeking her first break. But when the production heads towards chaos, can Gene rise to Pompo’s challenge, and succeed as a first-time director?

Directed by veteran animator Takayuki Hirao and produced by brand-new animation studio CLAP, Pompo the Cinephile is a rollicking, exuberant ode to the power of the movies, and the joys and heartbreak of the creative process, as a new director and his team devote their lives to the pursuit of a “masterpiece.”

It will play play locally at the Cinemark theaters in McCandless, Monaca, Monroeville, and Robinson, and tickets are available online.