2025 Japan Lecture Series with The Japan-America Society of Pennsylvania, Then and Now: Japanese Performing Arts, April 17.

The Japan-America Society of Pennsylvania will present "Then and Now: Japanese Performing Arts" on April 17, part of its 2025 Japan Lecture Series.

As Artistic Director, Yoko Shioya has carried out the Japan Society’s Performing Arts Program mission of presenting works inspired by the arts and culture of Japan in New York City and beyond. Her award-winning curation of about 200 programs of Japanese theater, dance, and music spans the very traditional to the most cutting edge. In this year of special programming celebrating her accomplishments over the past twenty years, Yoko will join us in Pittsburgh to share an update on her perspective of the evolutions in the field to ways in which artists are innovating and keeping traditions alive.

Join the JASP on April 17, 2025 for a lecture about the performing arts landscape inside and outside of Japan. Light hors d’oeuvres and beverages will be provided.

Yoko Shioya became head of Japan Society’s Performing Arts program in 2004 and Artistic Director in 2006. Her many contributions including increasing commissions for new non-Japanese works about Japanese culture, expanded North American tours, readings for contemporary plays in English, and the JAPAN CUTS film festival. Shioya received BAs in musicology and dance history from Tokyo University of the Arts. In Japan, she is known as a writer and researcher on the arts, presenting at various symposia, TV programs, cultural institutions, and as a writer for the Asahi Newspaper.

The event runs from 6:00 to 8:00 pm in the JVH Auditorium in Thayer Hall at Point Park University downtown (map). The event is free, but registration is required.

2012 Japanese animated movie Wolf Children (おおかみこどもの雨と雪) in Pittsburgh-area theaters in 4K, May 11 - 13.

The 2012 Japanese animated movie Wolf Children (おおかみこどもの雨と雪) in Pittsburgh-area theaters in 4K May 11, 12, and 13.

College student Hana falls in love with a “wolf man” and together they have two half-human, half-wolf children, Ame and Yuki. The young family’s happy but humble life comes to an abrupt end when the father is tragically killed during a hunt. After struggling to raise her children in the busy city, Hana boldly decides to move to a dilapidated house in the countryside, in hopes that her children may one day decide their own path to happiness – whether “human” or “wolf.” This heart-wrenching modern fairy tale is a staggering work of beauty and emotion from Academy Award®-nominated director Mamoru Hosoda. Rich with gorgeous animation and set to a poignant musical score, Wolf Children is a sweeping tale about self-discovery and the bonds of family.

It is scheduled to play locally (so far) at the Cinemark in McCandless, though other theaters are likely to be announced later. Tickets for the May 11 and May 13 shows in Japanese with English subtitles and the May 12 show dubbed in English are available online.

Hong Kong Dim Sum in Oakland eyes April 15 soft opening.

Hong Kong Dim Sum management confirms it is working on some finishing touches and aiming for an April 15 soft opening. It will be located at 4520 Centre Ave. in North Oakland's One on Centre complex (map). The space features a large dining room plus three private rooms for events. Announced back in September 2023, Hong Kong Dim Sum was to help fill in one of the remaining gaps in Pittsburgh's Asian food scene, though dim sum offerings have expanded around town since then.

The management team shared a few additional photos of dishes and sauces its working on.

Rangos Giant Cinema at Carnegie Science Center adds three more Japanese animated films in May.

The Rangos Giant Cinema at Carnegie Science Center, which had previously announced a May 9 screening of Howl's Moving Castle (ハウルの動く城), has added three more Japanese animated movies to May: 

• The End of Evangelion (新世紀エヴァンゲリオン劇場版 Air/まごころを、君に) - May 16
• A Silent Voice (聲の形) - May 23
• Spirited Away (千と千尋の神隠し) - May 30

Tickets and showtimes are available online. The movies start at 7:00 and tickets are available online: $10 for members and $12 for non-members. The Carnegie Science Center is located at 1 Allegheny Ave. on the North Shore (map).

1993 film The Joy Luck Club in Pittsburgh, from May 9.

The 1993 film The Joy Luck Club will play at the Row House Cinema in Lawrenceville from May 9 through 15, part of its "Thanks, MOM" film series around Mother's Day.

Adapted from Amy Tan’s best selling novel, Wayne Wang’s film artfully illustrates generational divides and universal truths through the stories of four Chinese women born in America and their respective mothers born in feudal China.

Tickets and showtimes are available online. The single-screen theater is located at 4115 Butler St. (map).

Andrew Ahn's The Wedding Banquet, starring Bowen Yang and Youn Yuh-jung, among others, in Pittsburgh-area theaters, from April 18.

Andrew Ahn's The Wedding Banquet, a remake of the 1993 film, will play in Pittsburgh from April 18.

From Director Andrew Ahn comes a joyful comedy of errors about a chosen family navigating cultural identity, queerness, and family expectations. Frustrated with his commitment-phobic boyfriend Chris and running out of time, Min makes a proposal: a green-card marriage with their friend Angela in exchange for her partner Lee's expensive IVF. Elopement plans are upended, however, when Min's grandmother surprises them with an extravagant Korean wedding banquet. Starring Bowen Yang, Lily Gladstone, Kelly Marie Tran, Han Gi-chan, Joan Chen, and Youn Yuh-jung, The Wedding Banquet is a poignant and heartfelt reminder that being part of a family means learning to both accept and forgive.

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

2025 Japanese animated movie Colorful Stage! The Movie: A Miku Who Can't Sing (劇場版プロジェクトセカイ 壊れたセカイと歌えないミク) in Pittsburgh, from April 17.

The 2025 Japanese animated movie Colorful Stage! The Movie: A Miku Who Can't Sing (劇場版プロジェクトセカイ 壊れたセカイと歌えないミク) will play in Pittsburgh from April 17.

COLORFUL STAGE! The Movie: A Miku Who Can’t Sing is an animation film by studio P.A.WORKS featuring an all-new Hatsune Miku and the first film with the iconic Virtual Singer. Based on HATSUNE MIKU: COLORFUL STAGE!, a game about high school students finding their true feelings through music in an alternate world called “SEKAI" with the help of Hatsune Miku. Ichika is a high school musician who can enter a mysterious place called “SEKAI,” where she and her friends express their innermost emotions through music alongside Hatsune Miku. One day after giving a live performance, Ichika meets a new Miku that she has never seen before. No matter how hard this new Miku tries to sing, she struggles connecting with the hearts of her listeners. Miku must rely on the help of others to find a way to sing again.

It is scheduled to play locally, so far, at the AMC Loews Waterfront, the AMC Westmoreland in Greensburg, and the Cinemark in Robinson, and tickets are available online.

Tsung-Che Cheng (鄭宗哲) makes Major League debut, becoming third Taiwanese player in Pittsburgh Pirates history.

Shortstop Tsung-Che Cheng (鄭宗哲) became the third Taiwanese player in Pittsburgh Pirates history when he made his Major League debut this afternoon against the Cardinals. The Pirates called him up on Monday after infielder Jared Triolo went on the injured list. They signed him as a 17-year-old prospect in 2019, and he's the third Taiwanese player to make the regular season roster, after Wei-chung Wang in 2019 and Yu Chang in 2022. Chang is the longest-tenured Taiwanese player in Pittsburgh Pirates history, logging 18 games played and 42 at-bats. The Pirates have had numerous other Taiwanese players in the system, dating back to at least 2009 with Sheng-qin Hong, Pin-Hong Ji, and Ji-wei Xu.

The Pirates have had a number of other Asian-born players in their system, including: Chan-ho Park, Jung-ho Kang, Hoy Park, Ji-hwan Bae, and Ji-man Choi from Korea; and Masumi Kuwata, Akinori Iwamoto, Hisanori Takahashi, and Yoshitomo Tsutsugo from Japan.

Cheng is currently wearing #71 for the Pirates.

American premiere of Miss Julie, adapted by Amy Ng, in Pittsburgh April 18 through May 4.

The Pittsburgh International Classic Theatre will present a production of Miss Julie, adapted by Amy Ng, from April 18 through May 4.

Following on the heels of the hit productions in London and Hong Kong, PICT is thrilled to stage the AMERICAN PREMIERE of this brilliant adaptation of August Strindberg’s classic play by acclaimed playwright Amy Ng.

It’s Chinese New Year in post-World War II Hong Kong. Julie is the daughter of the island’s former British governor newly released from the Japanese internment camp. When her father is away for the holiday weekend, Miss Julie, who was raised in British colonial Hong Kong, comes downstairs to join the servants as they party initiating a sexually charged power game with her father’s Chinese chauffeur who is engaged to the kitchen servant Christine. What starts as a lark descends into a fight for survival as sex, power, money and race collide on a hot night in the Pearl River Delta.

There are three additional events surrounding the production:

• Asian Cultural Celebration - April 23
• Pre-theatre dinner with Amy Ng - April 26
• Film Screening and Adaptations Discussion - April 30

Tickets for the show and the events are available online. The performances are held at the Carnegie Stage at 25 West Main Street in Carngie (map).

1997 animated film Princess Mononoke (もののけ姫) continues in Pittsburgh through April 16 with 4K IMAX screenings.

The 1997 animated film Princess Mononoke (もののけ姫), which opened in Pittsburgh on March 26, will continue here through (at least) April 16 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 and tickets are available online.