Asian-European fusion bakery coming to Squirrel Hill.

Work started recently on what the owners call an Asian-European fusion bakery at 2104 Murray Ave. in Squirrel Hill (map). Situated next to Crazy Mocha in the old Chaya location, it's across the street from a Korean bakery (Sumi's Cakery), up the hill from a Taiwanese bakery (Bubble Pi), and down the street from two others.

Update: It has a name.

Chinese, Filipino performances at Pittsburgh International Children's Festival, May 14 - 18.

The Pittsburgh International Children's Festival starts tomorrow and runs through the 18th. It's moved this year from Oakland to the Cultural District downtown. Events of relevance to this blog include: the Organization of Chinese Americans Youth Ensemble and Phillipine Folk Dances, both on the 18th at Lilypad Park (.pdf map) on the corner of 8th St. and Penn Ave.

Spirited Away (千と千尋の神隠し) at Maridon Museum, May 23.

Butler's Maridon Museum will present the 2001 Japanese animated film Spirited Away on Friday, March 23. A brief summary of the Hayao Miyazaki / Studio Ghibli film from a 2002 A.V. Club review:

Spirited Away centers on Chihiro, a sullen, fearful Japanese girl whose parents are moving so far out into the country that they predict they'll have to drive to the next town just to shop. While traveling to their new home, they discover an abandoned, disintegrating theme park, which they cheerfully explore in spite of Chihiro's shrill protests. Suddenly, a boy approaches her and commands her to leave before nightfall. But before she can gather her wayward parents and escape, night does fall, in a breathtakingly eerie sequence that almost subsumes Chihiro's danger with its technical achievement. Chihiro is trapped in the spirit world, and in order to save herself, her parents, and eventually her new friend, she has to come to terms with herself and her unwitting captors. Gradually, in a series of almost episodic adventures, she learns to be brave and face up to her responsibilities to herself and the people she loves.

Wikipedia sums up its reception:

When released, Spirited Away became the most successful film in Japanese history, grossing over $274 million worldwide. The film overtook Titanic (at the time the top grossing film worldwide) in the Japanese box office to become the highest-grossing film in Japanese history with a $229,607,878 total. Acclaimed by international critics, the film is often considered one of the greatest animated films of all-time [and it won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature at the 75th Academy Awards, the Golden Bear at the 2002 Berlin International Film Festival (tied with Bloody Sunday) and is among the top ten in the BFI list of the 50 films you should see by the age of 14.

The Maridon is an Asian art museum located at 322 N. McKean St. in downtown Butler, roughly 40 miles north of Pittsburgh (map). The movie begins at 6:00 and is free and open to the public; reservations are required, though, and can be made by calling 724-282-0123. The movie is dubbed in English.

The "PITT" リサイクルコットン Tee, seen in Kagawa Prefecture. Part of the Spring 2014 collection by Free Rage.


From the Free Rage website.

Taiwanese film Yi Yi (一一) at Maridon Museum, May 15.

The Taiwanese film Yi Yi (一一, A One and a Two) will play at Butler's Maridon Museum (map) on May 15 as the last of three installments of the museum's Spring Film Series.

A lengthy 2011 Alt Screen post quotes from numerous contemporary and retrospective reviews the 2000 film. From a hyperbolic 2009 Salon review of what "might be the greatest [film] ever":

For me, Edward Yang’s “Yi Yi: A One and a Two …” may be the greatest film ever, let alone the best of the decade. What does that mean? For starters, it means that Yang’s final film lies somewhere between formalist hard-assery and middlebrow accessibility, between slow-burning Ozu and — in the abruptly climaxing story lines of the last hour — understated soap opera. In telling the story of a Taiwanese family in crisis, Yang has three hours to zero in on what makes one family’s members tick while positioning them exactly in the center of late-20th-century global economics: micro- and macro-, both specifically Taiwanese in its business scenes and universal in its familial dynamics.

The movie starts at 6:00 pm, is presented by Slippery Rock's Dr. Ken Harris, and runs nearly three hours.

CineFestAsia in Erie, May 9 and 10.

The Erie Asian Pacific American Association and the Film Society of North Western Pennsylvania will present CineFestAsia on May 9 and 10 at the Erie Art Museum (map). Friday's opening reception is free and is followed by the world premiere of the Korean documentary Entering the Second Half (잘 살거야) and a discussion with the filmmaker, Heyjin Jun. The Korean title translates to "I Will Live Well" and is

a short documentary on victims of leprosy who have been exiled from society for decades but came to dream of their new lives and talked about hope for the future at their ages of 70s since they learned reading, writing, singing, computer and performing on the stage for the first time of their lives. They are scared but try to step forward towards the society which once abandoned them.

(The name of the South Korean island is Sorok-do, and a Google search will lead to more on the topic.)

Singapore's Ilo Ilo will also run on the 9th, while Transit, The Lady, and Bhaag Milka Bhaag will play on the 10th. Tickets are $5 each. Times and trailers are available by visiting the Erie APAA website and clicking CineFestAsia.

Peelander-Z in Pittsburgh, May 7.

From Facebook.

Japanese punk band Peelander-Z will play Altar Bar in the Strip District on May 7. The show starts at 7:00 pm, and tickets are $10. Wikipedia provides an overview of their shows:

They perform on stage and appear in color-coordinated costumes, which they state are not costumes, but their skin. The costumes range from sentai style suits, to kimono, to rubber Playmobil style wigs. There is also a tiger costume and a giant squid/guitar costume to coincide with the song "Mad Tiger". Another aspect of their routine is their on-stage antics such as human bowling (diving head-first into bowling pins), pretending to hit each other with chairs in imitation of pro-wrestlers, and mid-performance piggyback rides. They often allow audience members on stage to join in on the fun, and often dive into the audience or hang from a balcony as part of their act.

They were last in Pittsburgh in September.

Original Godzilla film at Regent Square Theater, May 5 through May 8.

Via Wikipedia.

The original version of the 1954 Japanese movie Godzilla will play at the Regent Square Theater (map) from May 5 through May 8. From the Pittsburgh Filmmakers website:

It spawned 60 years of sequels, remakes, and rip-offs, but the original over-sized sea creature is as thrilling as ever. The US version was not only badly dubbed, it was revised, re-cut, and re-arranged to add scenes with Raymond Burr as a reporter. To make room (and to excise the strong anti-nuclear subtext) 40 minutes were deleted. This is the restored original: the monster, awakened after millennia by hydrogen bomb testing – and impervious to repeated shelling by the Japanese army – wreaks havoc on Tokyo. With subtitles.

Short Peace (ショート・ピース) at Hollywood Theater, May 3 and 4.

The 2013 Japanese animated anthology film, Short Peace (ショート・ピース), is coming to the Hollywood Theater in Dormont (map) this weekend, and tickets for the two showings, May 3 at 1:00 pm and May 4 at 7:00 pm, are available online.

This omnibus film called Short Peace, which consists of 4 short animated films. One of the films from Short Peace was nominated for this year's Academy Awards. Short Peace is also from the creator of AKIRA, Katsuhiro Otomo. in Japanse language with English subtitles

That nominee, Possessions, was in Pittsburgh earlier in the year. The complete film will have a nationwide release from April 18.

The theater is located at 1449 Potomac Ave. in Dormont, and is accessible by Pittsburgh's subway/LRT at a block south of Potomac Station.

2014 Korean Food Bazaar, May 3 in Shadyside.

The Korean Central Church of Pittsburgh (피츠버그한인중앙교회) will hold their 19th annual Korean Food Bazaar (바자회) on Saturday, May 3, from 10:30 am to 4:00 pm. The church is located at 821 South Aiken Ave. in Shadyside (map).

We went in 2012; it was good.

A few movies of note from the 2014 Silk Screen Asian-American Film Festival, April 26 through May 4.

The 2014 Silk Screen Asian-American Film Festival schedule was announced on March 26, with times and locations on the Silk Screen website. The annual festival runs from April 26 through May 4, with screenings at four local theaters. Here's a quick look at the festival's movies and short films from East Asia and thus of most relevance to this blog:






A Time in Quchi (暑假作业), Taiwan; Bunta, China; Cheong, South Korea; Confession of Murder (내가 살인범이다), South Korea; The Garden of Words (言の葉の庭), Japan; Hide and Seek (숨바꼭질), South Korea; Mourning Recipe (四十九日のレシピ), Japan; Norte, End of History (Norte, hangganan ng kasaysayan); Philippines; Touch of the Light (逆光飛翔), Taiwan; Trap Street, China; Unforgiven (許されざる者), Japan; Why Don't You Play in Hell? (地獄でなぜ悪い), Japan.

Chinese-Korean film Dooman River (두만강) at IUP, April 27.

The IUP 2014 Foreign Film Festival concludes on April 27 with Dooman River (두만강). From The Global Film Initiative:

Writer-director Zhang Lu’s fascinating window into a rarely seen corner of rural China revolves around 12-year-old Chang-ho, living with his grandfather and mute sister along the frozen river-border with North Korea. Although fraught with unemployment and other tensions, his community seems sympathetic toward the Korean refugees fleeing famine and misery; Chang-ho even bonds over soccer with one young border-crosser who comes scavenging food for a sibling. But he soon turns on his new friend as suspicions mount against the illegal immigrants and his sister reels from unexpected aggression, provoking a quandary over his loyalties in an exquisitely detailed story of compassion and strife across an uneasy geopolitical border.

Dooman River will be shown in McVitty Auditorium, Sprowls Hall (campus map) at 5:30 pm and 8:00 pm, and is free and open to the public.

One Night in Beijing, April 26 at CMU.

The annual performance by Awareness of Roots in Chinese Culture, "One Night in Beijing", will be held this year on April 26 at Carnegie Mellon University.

One Night in Beijing (ONiB) is the biggest annual event produced by Awareness of Roots in Chinese Culture (ARCC)! The show boasts a wide variety of performances, so be prepared to get swept away by an amazing storyline, inspired by the famous and traditional story, Journey to the West. ONiB will take you away and into this story set in ancient China through a series of traditional Chinese and hip hop dances, Chinese yo-yo, a capella, and much much more!

ONiB starts at 7:30 on the 26th in the Rangos Ballroom in the Cohen University Center (campus map). Tickets are $10 at the door or $8 in advance.

Japanese tea ceremony, music, at CMU on April 17.

The Department of Modern Languages at Carnegie Mellon University presents an evening with traditional Japanese music and a tea ceremony on April 17 from 4:30 to 6:30 pm.

Yuko Eguchi will first give a lecture and performance of Japanese traditional music and dance, called kouta (small songs) and koutaburi (dance of small songs), a genre uniquely created by women and primarily preserved in geisha artistic culture. She will also give a lecture and demonstration of Japanese tea ceremony (Ura-senke school). Participants will have a chance to learn the history of Japanese traditional arts and to try out the taste of Japanese tea and sweets.

The lecture and performance will be held in the Connan Room of University Center (campus map).

Castaway on the Moon (김씨 표류기) at Maridon Museum, April 24.

The Maridon Museum will show the 2009 Korean film Castaway on the Moon (김씨 표류기) on April 24, as part of its 2014 Spring Film Series. A plot summary from the Korean Film Archive's Korean Movie Database:

A man named KIM jumps into the dark, quiet waters of the Han River. He wakes up and finds himself lying on strange ground, covered with sand. For a second, he thinks he is in heaven, but soon recognizes that he simply drifted to a nameless island in the river. In one of the riverside apartment buildings, there’s a girl who hasn’t ventured out of her room for years. With her dishevelled hair and in the same old clothes she’s worn for years, she looks just like a castaway. Then one day, she catches sight of a man living alone on an island through her binoculars. Day after day, his lonely but seemingly contented life triggers her curiosity and compels her to step out of her room after so many years. KIM’s extraordinary life becomes the inspiration for change in this girl’s lonely, detached life.

The movie begins at 6:30 and is presented by Dr. Alison McNeal, a retired English professor from Slippery Rock University.

The Maridon Museum of Asian Art is located at 322 N. McKean St. in downtown Butler, some 40 miles north of Pittsburgh (map).

Passport to the World: Japan, at Carnegie Library in Sheraden, April 26.

On April 26, the Carnegie Library in Sheraden will take kids on trip to Japan with its Passport to the World program.

Stop by the library to experience a taste of Japan. Listen to a Japanese folk tale, learn how to make a Sumi-e painting, and try some Sushi!

The event runs from 2:00 to 3:00 pm. The Sheraden branch of the Carnegie Library is located at 720 Sherwood Ave in Pittsburgh's West End (map).

"Bamboo and Bronze: Flute and Gamelan Music of West Java" at Pitt, April 12.

The University of Pittsburgh's University Gamelan will present "Bamboo and Bronze: Flute and Gamelan Music of West Java" on April 12. The University Gamelan, according to its self-introduction,

plays the gamelan music of the Sundanese people, an ethnic group that inhabits roughly the western third of the island of Java. Gamelan refers to a set of predominantly percussion instruments including tuned gongs, metal-keyed instruments, and drums (as well as bowed lute and voice). Gamelan music is played as accompaniment to dance, drama, puppet theater, and martial arts, as well as for concerts of listening music. Gamelan is performed in conjunction with special occasions and to mark important life-cycle events.

Of the upcoming performance the department writes, in part:

Special guest artist and bamboo flute virtuoso Burhan Sukarma will perform on suling/bamboo flute. Kaitlyn Myers will lead members of the ensemble as they perform on Pitt's Gamelan Degung Ligar Pasundan. Ligar Pasundan is the name of the gamelan used for this performance and means "Fragrance of Pasundan." Gamelan degung refers to Ligar Pasundan's five tone tuning made up of both large and small intervals.

The April 12 performance begins at 8:00 pm at Bellefield Hall (map). It's free for Pitt students with a valid student ID card. General admission tickets are $8.50 in advance and $12 at the door.

Study Korean in Korea for free.

With even the shortest study abroad programs costing thousands of dollars, and with opportunities for Korean-language study in the US rather limited, it's worth considering a school in rural Korea that offers scholarships to students and college graduates. Geumgang University (금강대학교) is a Buddhist university in Nonsan, South Chungcheong province (Daum map) that offers tuition-free courses in the Korean language.

The Korean Language Program, offered by the Geumgang Language Center, is open to those foreign students, including ethnic Koreans, who are interested in the Korean language and culture. Applicants must be fluent speakers of English, Japanese, or Chinese, and they should

(1) be currently enrolled in university studies
(2) be on leave from university studies, or
(3) have graduated from university.
This program has primarily been designed with a view to promoting a better understanding of Korean culture on the part of foreigners and to creating an environment where Korean students will be exposed to foreign languages (English, Japanese, and Chinese) and cultures.

The next session begins September 1, and the application period begins in May. More information is available on the university's homepage. Sarah Shaw at Mapping Words has more information about applying to and studying at Geumgang in a post from last year.

"Voices from Japan" poetry exhibit opening reception, April 8.

The Japan-America Society of Pennsylvania will bring the Voices from Japan poetry exhibit to Pittsburgh from April 8 through April 30 at the US Steel Tower (map). An overview of the exhibit from the JASP:

In recognition of the relief efforts carried out in Pittsburgh for the 3/11/2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan, the Japan-America Society of Pennsylvania will present an exhibition of tanka poetry written by Japanese citizens in the aftermath of the disaster, “Voices from Japan.” The exhibition features tanka poems translated into English, 3 brush calligraphies of tanka in original Japanese and two large collages of damaged photos that were washed away by the tsunami.

Led by the Japan-America Society of Pennsylvania and Brother’s Brother Foundation, Pittsburghers and Pittsburgh businesses donated more than $500,000 for new hospital equipment and a youth center for orphans in one of the hardest-hit towns. With the generous sponsorship of UPMC, a major contributor in the Pittsburgh relief efforts, this exhibit reminds us that expression through poetry, art, and photographs connects us in the face of disasters.

The exhibition will be on view from April 8 -30, with a reception open to the public from 6-8 PM on April 8. Those wishing to visit the exhibition outside of reception hours must make an appointment with the Japan-America Society of Pennsylvania at 412-433-5021.

Register for the opening reception today!

To reiterate the flyer and release, after tonight's reception the exhibit will be appointment-only.

"Seeking Healing Through Internet Suicide Websites? Existential Suffering and Lack of Meaning Among Japanese Youth" lecture at Pitt, April 10.

The Asian Studies Center at the University of Pittsburgh hosts Emory University's Dr. Chiako Ozawa-de Silva and her lecture "Seeking Healing Through Internet Suicide Websites? Existential Suffering and Lack of Meaning Among Japanese Youth" on April 10. A summary from the Asian Studies Center website:

Suicide has become a major public health concern in Japan over the past decade due to extremely elevated suicide rates since 1998. Discourse in Japan on suicide prevention has nevertheless focused almost exclusively on the state of the Japanese economy and levels of mental illness, neglecting the subjective experience of suicidal individuals and the roles that meaning and positive mental health play in suicide and its prevention. Increasing evidence suggests that a lack of positive mental health may be more important than the presence of mental illness in predicting future suicide attempts, and also that treatment of mental illness alone may not address the lack of psychological and social well-being (including meaning or purpose in life, loneliness, and existential suffering) implicated in suicidality. Since positive mental health and subjective well-being involve meaning-making processes and social relationships that are heavily influenced by cultural factors and may vary widely cross-culturally, there is great scope for local ethnographic studies to contribute to our knowledge of factors conducive to positive mental health and potentially preventative for suicide.

The lecture is at 4:00 pm in 4130 Posvar Hall (map), and is free and open to the public.

KTown at Pitt on April 6, Asian Student Alliance Culture Fair on April 7.

The University of Pittsburgh Korean Culture Association will hold its annual KTown festival on April 6 in the O'Hara Student Center Dining Room (map). A brief description from its Facebook page:

We'll have plenty of food provided by Oishii Bento, performances, and fun booths afterwards!

The festival runs from 4:00 to 8:00 pm.



The following evening, several university student groups will participate in the Asian Student Alliance Culture Fair. Details are still sparse, though the generic "food, performances, and prizes" applies. The participating organizations include the Chinese American Student Association, the Pitt Filipino Student Association, the Korean Culture Association, the Pitt South Asian Student Association, and the Vietnamese Student Association. The ASA Culture Fair will run from 8:00 pm to 10:30 pm in the William Pitt Union Assembly Room (map).