Concert film ZEROBASEONE The First Tour: Timeless World in Pittsburgh, from March 28.

The concert film ZEROBASEONE The First Tour: Timeless World will play in Pittsburgh March 28, 29, and 30.

ZEROBASEONE's first world tour concert movie is coming to cinemas worldwide! Achieving significant milestones in their first year of debut and captivating 140,000 fans across 8 cities on their first world tour, ZEROBASEONE’s journey with ZEROSE takes center stage on the big screen. From iconic songs such as "In Bloom", "Feel the POP", and "GOOD SO BAD" to “Say My Name” and “Here I Am” from the show Boys Planet, behind-the-scenes footage that can only be found in the movie, to intimate interviews brimming with heartfelt feelings for ZEROSE. ZEROBASEONE’s groundbreaking performance is coming to the big screen. The time ZEROBASEONE spent with ZEROSE that will forever be remembered as the best day ZEROBASEONE THE FIRST TOUR [TIMELESS WORLD] IN CINEMAS.

It it scheduled to play locally, so far, at the Cinemark theater in Robinson and tickets are available online.

Elizabeth Rodwell and "The Machine Without the Ghost: Early interactive television in Japan," March 19 at Pitt.

The University of Pittsburgh's Asian Studies Center will host Dr. Elizabeth Rodwell and her talk "The Machine Without the Ghost: Early interactive television in Japan" on March 19, part of this year's ASIA POP lecture series.

This article is part of an ongoing ethnography of the Japanese television industry focusing on its attempts to experiment with live, interactive content that was manipulable via smart devices, laptops, and remote controls. Based on 18 months of fieldwork in the Japanese television industry in four major TV network offices and two production companies, it also incorporates interviews with more than 30 broadcast company employees. Using two case studies of early interactive television programming to discuss the strategies producers have used to create community and promote identification among audiences of these shows: ‘Arashi Feat. You’ was a live music event that courted a large audience through the involvement of a massively popular boy band and promoted the idea of ‘turning viewers into users’ by allowing them to play musical instruments along with the band. ‘The Last Award’ allowed participants to submit and evaluate each other’s videos live through a dedicated user interface. Through these examples, Rodwell argues that participation alters the nature of television spectacle and results in changes to the way producers address and inscribe audiences as cocreators of content. The rhetoric used by interactive television accordingly defaults to ‘we’ and ‘us’ and features accessible and relatable celebrities as surrogates for the audience.

Elizabeth Rodwell is a media anthropologist who is interested in interactivity, television, emergent technology (in general), and artificial intelligence (specifically). She is also a usability researcher (UX). My first book Push the Button: Interactive Television and Collaborative Journalism in Japan (forthcoming) examines the post-Fukushima tensions in the Japanese journalism and television industries, and seeks to account for the ways that media professionals are responding to increasingly skeptical and distracted audiences. She tracks the global debut of interactive television in Japan– a cutting-edge fusion of mediums that represented the most dramatic departure from existing television technology in several decades.

The talk runs from 6:00 to 7:15 pm in 149 Cathedral of Learning (map).

"Movies & Motors" with Row House Cinema's Japanese Film Festival and Pittsburgh Kyūsha, March 22.

Row House Cinema in Lawrenceville and Pittsburgh Kyūsha will collaborate on "Movies & Motors" on March 22.

Join @pittsburgh_kyusha on March 22nd at @rowhouse_lawrenceville for a special feature taking place during the Pittsburgh Japanese Film Festival ( @jffpgh )

Come get up close and personal with iconic right-hand-drive (RHD) cars imported from Japan. Also, experience Japanese cultural demonstrations from our friends at @japanamericasocietypa and see some of @milliestinyvan tiny JDM fleet vehicles!

For anyone wishing to participate in the show with their RHD vehicle please RSVP no later than March 15th to ensure we have a spot for you.

For more info about the films being shown and to buy tickets to all screenings, you can visit the Japanese Film Fest website at:

https://jffpgh.org/

"Movies & Motors" festivities start at 2:30 pm.  Several movies are scheduled to run that day: The Hidden Fortress (隠し砦の三悪人) at 12:00 pm, The Colors Within (きみの色)  at 2:50 pm, Ice Cream Fever (アイスクリームフィーバー) at 5:00 pm, Cha Cha (チャチャ) at 7:15 pm, and Onibaba (鬼婆) at 9:30 pm. The Pittsburgh Japanese Film Festival opens on March 14 and runs through March 27 at the Row House Cinema in Lawrenceville. The single-screen theater is located at 4115 Butler St. (map).

Story Saturday: Sashiko’s Stiches, April 12 at Carnegie Museum of Art.

The Carnegie Museum of Art will feature a reading of Sachiko's Stitches for the April 12 installment of its Story Saturday series.

Join us in the Ailsa Mellon Bruce Decorative Arts and Design galleries for an in-person morning story time with Alyssa Velazquez as she reads Sashiko’s Stitches by Sanae Ishida. Following the reading stick around for a making activity for children 12 and under.

This reading is made possible by Worthy Kids.

About the Book

Sashiko is girl with very big feelings. Sometimes the feelings weigh her down, or make her feel all tangled up inside. But when she learns about sashiko, the traditional Japanese practice that inspired her name, she finds hope and comfort in creative expression.

The storytime runs from 11:00 am to 12:00 pm and is free with museum admission, but registration is required. The Carneige Museum of Art is located at 4400 Forbes Ave. in Oakland (map), accessible by numerous city buses.

Free screening of 1927 Chinese silent film The Cave of the Silken Web (盤絲洞) at Pitt for SCREENSHOT: Silent Asia 2025, April 7.

The University of Pittsburgh's SCREENSHOT: Asia and the Department of Music will present a free screening of 1927 Chinese silent film The Cave of the Silken Web (盤絲洞) for SCREENSHOT: Silent Asia 2025 on April 7. From the Asian Studies Center newsletter:

The film, which was thought lost until a partial copy was rediscovered in Norway, has been translated into English by UBC professor Christopher Rea. The silent film adapts an episode from the Ming dynasty tale The Journey to the West, in which the monk Tripitaka is held prisoner in a cave by magical spider-women, before being rescued by the Monkey King and his companions.

The version of the surviving print  is a restored digital copy that the National Library of Norway shared with the UBC Chinese Film Classics Project, the world’s largest free online collection of early Chinese films with English subtitles.

It will run from 7:00 to 9:00 pm in 125 Frick Fine Arts (map). 

Pittsburgh Opera’s Madama Butterfly Panel Discussion: Women’s Role in Tech, Video Games, Manga, and Comic Books, March 13 in East Liberty.

Photo credit: Philip Groshon, Cincinnati Opera

The Carnegie Library branch in East Liberty will host "Pittsburgh Opera’s Madama Butterfly Panel Discussion: Women’s Role in Tech, Video Games, Manga, and Comic Books" on March 13.

Join us for a free panel discussion with RAD Pass participating organization Pittsburgh Opera where we will explore Women’s Role in Video Games, Anime, Manga, and Comic Books. Women have often been unrealistically represented in these art forms leading to detrimental outcomes in the real world. This discussion aims to unpack the origins of female representation in art and explore the fine line between fandom and fetish.

Pittsburgh Opera leads this discussion in anticipation of its groundbreaking new production of Puccini’s Madama Butterfly. Created by an all-Japanese and Japanese American creative team, the story is set in a fantastical realm where reality and dreams intersect.

“The male protagonist, Pinkerton, puts on a VR headset and transports us into a vibrant virtual reality playground where he has ultimate control. As his avatar, a U.S. Navy Lieutenant, he can seduce and marry Cio-Cio San, his fantasy girl, and abandon her just as easily. But to Cio-Cio San, this is no game and the love and betrayal she feels is all too real.”

Attendees receive a discounted ticket offer to the performance of Madama Butterfly of their choice (March 22nd, 25th, 28th, and 30th) and will be entered into a raffle to receive a pair of free tickets. All performances of Madama Butterfly will take place downtown at the Benedum Center.

The event runs from 6:30 to 7:30 pm at 130 S. Whitfield St. in East Liberty (map).

"The Age of Daredevils: Money Game, Consumers & Literature of the Bubble Economy," March 24 at Carnegie Mellon.

Carnegie Mellon University's Department of Languages, Cultures & Applied Linguistics will host Dr. Ikuho Amano and her talk "The Age of Daredevils: Money Game, Consumers & Literature of the Bubble Economy" on March 24.

Join us for a lecture by Ikuho Amano, vice chair of the Department of Modern Languages & Literatures and professor of Japanese at the University of Nebraska, on the cultural impact of Japan's Bubble Economy (1986-1991). This era of rapid economic growth fueled a surge in luxury consumerism, financial speculation and societal shifts that continue to shape Japan today.

Professor Amano will explore how literature from authors like Shimizu Ikkō and Murakami Haruki captured the era's excesses and anxieties, offering insight into its lasting effects. Don't miss this engaging discussion on the intersection of economy, culture and literature in modern Japan.

The talk runs from 4:30 to 6:00 pm in Posner Hall Grand Room (map).

2025 Chinese animated film Ne Zha 2 (哪吒之魔童闹海), now the top-grossing animated film of all time, remains in Pittsburgh through (at least) March 19.

The 2025 Chinese animated film Ne Zha 2 (哪吒之魔童闹海), which opened in Pittsburgh on February 13, will remain here through at least March 19.

After the catastrophe, although the souls of Nezha and Aobing were saved, their bodies would soon be shattered. Taiyi Zhenren planned to use the seven-colored lotus to rebuild their bodies.

Ne Zha 2 recently became the highest-grossing animated film of all time. It plays locally at the AMC Loews Waterfront, and tickets are available online.

1997 animated film Princess Mononoke (もののけ姫) in Pittsburgh from March 26 with 4K IMAX screenings.

The 1997 animated film Princess Mononoke (もののけ姫) will play in Pittsburgh from March 26 in a series of 4K IMAX screenings.

While defending his village from a demonic boar-god, young warrior Ashitaka becomes afflicted with a deadly curse that grants him super-human power in battle but eventually will take his life. Traveling west to find a cure and meet his destiny, he journeys deep into sacred depths of the Great Forest where he meets San (aka Princess Mononoke), a girl raised by wolf-gods. Mononoke is a force of nature, riding bareback on a great white wolf and terrorizing the human outpost of Iron Town on the edge of the forest.

It will play locally at the AMC Loews Waterfront on March 26 and March 28 through April 1, and tickets are available online.

Pitt Japanese Student Association Matsuri, March 23.

The Japanese Student Association at the University of Pittsburgh will present its annual Matsuri on March 23.

JSA’s biggest event of the semester is here! 🤩🤩

Get ready for a night filled with many fun booths of games🕹️ and food 🍡🍣, awesome student-led performances 🎤, and even a special guest performer 🎸🎫!!!

Event Details:
Sunday, March 23rd
4-7:30pm
WPU Assembly Room

Over the next few weeks, keep an eye out for fun reels and post pertaining to Matsuri, and look at our story to see hints for our guest performer!!!! 🤔🤔

🫶We can’t wait to see you there 🫶