Alphabet City Kids: Story Hour with Jack Wong 黃雋喬, October 14 at Pittsburgh International Literary Festival.

City of Asylum will present Alphabet City Kids: Story Hour with Jack Wong 黃雋喬 on October 14, part of LitFest'23.

Following along with our ongoing Alphabet City Kids series, this youth centered program offers story time with Boston Globe-Horn Book Award Winning author/illustrator Jack Wong, as he celebrates the release of his new picture book The Words We Share. The story hour will be followed by an engagement activity and a Q&A with Jack.

In The Words We Share, a young girl named Angie helps her dad navigate life in a new country where she understands the language more than he does. Ever since they moved to Canada, he relies on her to translate for him from English to Chinese. Angie is happy to help: when they go to restaurants, at the grocery store, and, one day, when her dad needs help writing some signs for his work. Building off her success with her dad’s signs, Angie offers her translation skills to others in their community. She’s thrilled when her new business takes off, until one of her clients says he’s unhappy with her work. When her dad offers to help, she can’t imagine how he could. Working together, they find a surprising solution, fixing the problem in a way Angie never would have predicted.

1997 Japanese animated film Perfect Blue (パーフェクトブルー) in Pittsburgh, September 6, 7, and 10.

The 1997 Satoshi Kon film Perfect Blue (パーフェクトブルー) will play in Pittsburgh-area theaters from September 6, part of a nationawide presentation by AX Cinema Nights to mark the movie's 25th anniversary and a "Satoshi Kon Fest" that will bring additional Kon films here in the fall and spring.

Anime Expo Cinema Nights invites you to revisit PERFECT BLUE, the groundbreaking and rarely screened first film from the legendary director Satoshi Kon (Paprika, Paranoia Agent), as it returns to theatres for its 25th anniversary. Rising pop star Mima has quit singing to pursue a career as an actress and model, but her fans aren't ready to see her go... Harboring feelings of guilt and haunted by visions of her former self, Mima's reality and fantasy meld into a frenzied paranoia. As her stalker closes in, in person and online, the threat he poses is more real than even Mima knows, in this iconic psychological thriller that has frequently been hailed as one of the most important animated films of all time.

It will play locally at the AMC Loews Waterfront and the Cinemark theater in Robinson, and tickets are available online. The screenings on September 6 and 10 are in Japanese with English subtitles, while the screenings on September 7 are dubbed in English.

Japanese kawaii metal band BABYMETAL in Pittsburgh, September 8.

The Japanese kawaii metal band BABYMETAL will perform in the Pittsburgh area on September 8. They'll play the UPMC Events Center on the Robert Morris University campus in Moon Township (map) with DETHKLOK and tickets for the 7:00 pm show are available online.

New date, again: Korea-based travelling music family TENGGER in Pittsburgh, October 4.

The three-piece travelling music family band Tengger will play in Pittsburgh on October 4 as part of their North American tour (a change from a previously-announced date of October 3). Their official site describes their sound thus:

텐거/天郷
TENGGER is a traveling musical family, made up of Pan-Asian couple, itta and Marqido, who create their brand of psychedelic New-Age drone magic through the use of harmonium, voice, and toy instruments (played by itta) and analogue synths (played by Marqido). The duo originally started out with the moniker “10” but since the birth of their son RAAI (who joins them on tour and often on stage) in 2012, have called themselves TENGGER (meaning ‘unlimited expanse of sky’ in Mongolian) to mark the expansion of the family. It also means ‘huge sea’ in Hungarian. Travel, as spiritual experience in real environments, and the sound between the space and the audience have been central themes of their works. The family’s yearly pilgrimages inform every aspect of their art.

They will play at the First Unitarian Church of Pittsburgh in Shadyside (map), from 7:30 to 9:30 pm.

Japanese metal band HANABIE。at Preserving Underground in New Kensington, September 23.

The Japanese metal band HANABIE。will play in the Pittsburgh area, at Preserving Underground in New Kensington, on September 23. Their Reddit fanpage provides an introduction:

Loud rock band HANABIE。formed at their school light music club in June 2015. Centering in Kichijōji, Tokyo, they started performing live around areas such as Shinjuku and Tachikawa.

The sound of Hanabie features the sound mixture of metalcore, hardcore, Hip-Hop, and J-POP. Their 1st album, "Girls Manifest" was released in 2020. With this album, they have established their own genre "HARAJUKUCORE"

Their live performances have a speed and power that exceeds expectations and captivates their audience. Yukina's powerful screaming/growling vocals never leave anyone without being amazed, along with this excellent melodic lines given by the clean voice of Matsuri, this is a complete basis for an amazing metalcore band but as for them it isn't enough they add different layers of voices between rap lines. If vocally they are great, in the instrumental part they're not left behind, aggressive, heavy, and dynamic. Certainly to define this band you need at least two words: dynamic and powerful.

The all ages show starts at 7 pm, and tickets are available online. Preserving Underground is located at 1101 5th Ave., roughly 20 miles northeast of Pittsburgh (map).

2022 film Return to Seoul, September 8 at Pitt.

The University of Pittsburgh's University Center for International Studies (UCIS) will present the 2022 film Return to Seoul on September 8.

On an impulse to reconnect with her origins, Freddie, 25, returns to South Korea for the first time, where she was born before being adopted and raised in France. The headstrong young woman starts looking for her biological parents in a country she knows so little about, taking her life in new and unexpected directions.

It plays from 6:00 pm in 121 Lawrence Hall (map) and is free and open to the Pitt community.

2022 documentary Beyond Utopia, about families attempting to escape North Korea, in Pittsburgh October 23 and 24.

The 2022 documentary Beyond Utopia will play in Pittsburgh on October 23 and 24. A summary, from the Sundance Film Festival where the documentary made its premiere earlier this year:

A suspenseful look at the lengths people will go to gain freedom, Beyond Utopia follows various individuals as they attempt to flee North Korea, one of the most oppressive places on Earth, a land they grew up believing was a paradise. At the film’s core are a mother desperate to reunite with the child she was forced to leave behind, a family of five — including small children and an elderly grandmother — embarking on a treacherous journey across the Yalu River and into the hostile mountains of China, and a man of God on a mission to help these desperate souls. Leaving their homeland is fraught with danger — severe punishment if caught and possibly even execution — as well as potential exploitation by unscrupulous brokers. Family members who remain behind also may face retribution. Yet these individuals are driven to take the risk.

Gripping, visceral, and urgent, Madeleine Gavin’s film embeds the viewer with these family members as they attempt their perilous escape, palpably conveying life-or-death stakes. The result is a singular, illuminating, and unforgettable experience.

It plays locally at the AMC Loews Waterfront, the AMC Classic in Greensburg, and the Cinemark theaters in Monroeville and Robinson, and tickets are available online.

Hit Chinese movie No More Bets (孤注一掷) in Pittsburgh, from August 31.

The 2023 Chinese movie No More Bets (孤注一掷) will play in Pittsburgh from August 31.

The film is about a Chinese programmer and a model who, enticed by the promise of high-paying jobs, find themselves trapped in a foreign country as prisoners of a ruthless gang, and forced into online gambling fraud.

No More Bets has just finished its fourth week as the highest-grossing film in China. It plays locally at AMC Loews Waterfront and tickets are available online.

University of Pittsburgh library orientations in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean, September 5 and 6.

The University of Pittsburgh Library System will hold orientation sessions for international students and visiting scholars in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean. The Chinese and Japanese sessions will be held on September 5, and the Korean session on September 6. Registration is required and can be completed online.

Would you like to know...

A librarian who speaks your native language?
The difference between academic libraries in the U.S. and libraries in your home country?
The many wonderful services that the library offers to help your area of study and research at Pitt?
If so, please attend our library orientation sessions.

Shadyside's Nakwon Garden to reopen soon after nearly 9-month hiatus.

via @s_backs 

A sign on Nakwon Garden says "Open Soon," which should put an end to its nearly 9-month hiatus. The Korean restaurant in Shadyside closed on January 1 and hinted at reopening in the future, though the official website's URL has expired and both Google and Yelp marked the restaurant as "permanently closed." Nakwon Garden opened in 2014 and was one of the few places where Korean BBQ was available in Pittsburgh, though a few new establishments are coming soon to change that.  Nakwon Garden is located at 5504 Centre Ave. (map).