Lecture

The World in a Mine

Type: 
Friday, January 27, 2023 - 14:00
Event Location: 
4130 Posvar and online via Zooom

In this talk, historian Victor Seow will be introducing his recently published book, Carbon Technocracy: Energy Regimes in Modern East Asia. This book uses the story of what was once the largest coal mine in East Asia—the Fushun colliery in southern Manchuria—to examine how the different Chinese and Japanese states that had owned and operated this enterprise in the first half of the twentieth century came to embrace fossil-fueled visions of development and mobilized various extractive technologies toward that end.

Asia Pop Lecture Series: Chinese Transnational Fandoms

Type: 
Tuesday, April 4, 2023 - 18:00
Event Location: 
5201 WW Posvar Hall

Want to learn about fan cultures of East Asia? Interested in the online culture of k-pop fans? What is Otaku and how does it help define Japanese fandom? This semester's lecture series will explore the fan cultures of East Asia and their influence on contemporary fan cultures across the world. In this lecture, Dr. Lu Chen, Guangzhou University, will discuss traditional fandoms.

Asia Pop Lecture Series: K-Pop Online Fan Cultures

Type: 
Tuesday, March 28, 2023 - 18:00
Event Location: 
5201 W. W. Posvar Hall

Want to learn about fan cultures of East Asia? Interested in the online culture of k-pop fans? What is Otaku and how does it help define Japanese fandom? This semester's lecture series will explore the fan cultures of East Asia and their influence on contemporary fan cultures across the world. In this lecture, Dr. Jade Kim, Texas A&M International University, will discuss K-Pop online fan culture.

Asia Pop Lecture Series: Otaku Fandoms

Type: 
Tuesday, February 21, 2023 - 18:00
Event Location: 
5201 W.W. Posvar Hall

Want to learn about fan cultures of East Asia? Interested in the online culture of k-pop fans? What is Otaku and how does it help define Japanese fandom? This semester's lecture series will explore the fan cultures of East Asia and their influence on contemporary fan cultures across the world. In this lecture, Dr. Patrick Galbraith of Senshu University, Tokyo, will discuss Otaku fandoms.

Asia Pop Lecture Series: Fan Cultures

Type: 
Tuesday, January 24, 2023 - 18:00
Event Location: 
5201 W. W. Posvar Hall

Want to learn about fan cultures of East Asia? Interested in the online culture of k-pop fans? What is Otaku and how does it help define Japanese fandom? This semester's lecture series will explore the fan cultures of East Asia and their influence on contemporary fan cultures across the world. In this lecture, Dr. Keisuke Yamada will discuss virtual vocaloid culture.

Traditional Japanese Puppetry in Dialogue with Contemporary Puppet Theater

Type: 
Thursday, November 10, 2022 - 11:00
Event Location: 
Chevron Hall, Room 135

Join us for this talk with director, designer, and puppet artist Tom Lee. Mr. Lee is the creator of the multimedia puppet piece "Akutagawa," which he will be directing in Pittsburgh this February. During this talk, he will discuss this piece and his process to puppetry as an art form. For questions about the event, please contact Elizabeth Oyler (eaoyler@pitt.edu).

China Town Hall with Matthew D. Johnson

Type: 
Wednesday, November 16, 2022 - 17:45
Event Location: 
via Zoom

Join us for a discussion about current issues and the recent successes and challenges of China's Belt and Road initiative with AltaSilva VP and Director of Research, Matthew D. Johnson, along with a national webcast to follow at 7 pm ET with former U.S. Ambassador to Russia, China, and Singapore, Jon M. Huntsman, Jr. To register for this event, please click here.

Yukikaze, 1944-45: Defeat and the Obligations to History

Type: 
Wednesday, November 2, 2022 - 16:30
Event Location: 
211 David Lawrence Hall or via Zoom

This lecture is part of a larger biography of a WWII-era Japanese destroyer named Yukikaze, or Snowy Wind. Yukikaze fought at most of the major battles of the Pacific Theater, including Java Sea, Midway, Guadalcanal, and through the Solomon Islands, the Philippine Sea, Leyte, and Okinawa. In 1944, as Japan faced imminent defeat, the Imperial Navy made a series of tactical decisions that have puzzled military historians and strategists.

Nakashima: A Bridge between East and West

Type: 
Saturday, November 12, 2022 - 13:30
Event Location: 
Cathedral of Learning, CL 324

Mira Nakashima is the daughter of the acclaimed architect, furniture designer, and craftsman George Nakashima. She will speak about her father's legacy and how his cultural ties to Japan affected his method of design in both furniture and architecture.
Mira Nakashima is President and Creative Director of George Nakashima Woodworkers, who produce one-of-a-kind, hand-crafted, made-to-order furniture at their workshop in New Hope, Pennsylvania.

The Kimono: From Tradition to High Fashion

Type: 
Monday, October 17, 2022 - 15:00 to 16:00
Event Location: 
4130 Wesley W. Posvar Hall

Since the opening of Japan’s borders to the West in the late nineteenth century, the kimono has become a dynamic and evolving source of inspiration for global fashion design, particularly in the West. It has had an impact on early haute couture and influenced the “Japanese Fashion Revolution” of the 1980s, as well as the work of contemporary fashion designers. This presentation will examine the kimono as a sophisticated garment that has continually influenced the evolution of fashion.