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P/SUNNY
The head of an official inquiry into the deadly collapse of a Bangladesh factory complex said the building’s owner was the “main culprit” for the disaster because he violated construction codes. The cave-in of the eight-story Rana Plaza outside the capital last month killed ...
Throughout most of Japan, June is the rainy season. While all that rainfall is great for rice paddies so that we can have delicious new harvest rice in the fall, it makes it a rather dull month for seasonal produce: The summer’s bounty of ...
“I was stopped by two men in a government-registered vehicle, blindfolded and dragged off the street. They took me away to a house in a place I did not know. I was forced into a room with blood all over the walls and floor, ...
Claude Regy says the team at the Shizuoka Performing Arts Center (SPAC) threw him the “best birthday party ever” when he arrived in Japan just days after the actual May 1 occasion. The 90-year-old French director is hoping for an even better birthday gift, ...
As far as debuts go, Shohei Otani's delivered. The celebrated rookie pitched fairly well on Thursday night, and though he finished outside the decision, he left the mound with the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters well within striking distance of the Tokyo Yakult Swallows.
A striking fact regarding modern Japanese surnames is their sheer number. There’s no precise count, but the consensus is that there are more than 100,000. That will not astonish an American, whose melting-pot country harbors representatives of most of the world’s ethnicities and is ...
“How do you do, my name is Saito Ichiro Sama-no-kami Minamoto-no-Ason Tadayoshi.” We can be grateful to the reformers of the Meiji Period (1868-1912) for cutting Japanese names down to size. Renaming the Japanese people was part and parcel of their overthrow of feudalism. ...
“Well, uncle, what did you think of him?（Ano hito no koto dō omotta? あの人のことどう思った?)” “I take it it’s Professor Keyes you’re talking about.” “Who else?” Sakurai-san sighs (tameiki wo tsuku, ため息をつく). “I’ll tell you what I think of him, Madoka-chan. The next time you ...
“Professor Keyes, you’re drunk (yopparatta, 酔っ払った)! Ha ha!” “Well?” I say. “What of it?” (Sore de? それで？) “Nothing, nothing. Chotto shitsurei shimasu (ちょっと失礼します, back in a moment).” He staggers off (chidoriashi de aruku, 千鳥足で歩く) to the men’s room; I catch the bartender’s eye (b?ten ...
“Dad?” “Peter! Come in. What are you doing up at this hour?” “I couldn’t sleep.” “Sit, sit.” I’m glad to see this unexpected visitor. Sometimes I see me in him — me as I was at 14. Yet Reiko says we don’t look at ...
The sun was mortally offended — with good reason. Civilized progress deadens the impulse to see gods in the workings of nature. It’s a price we pay, willingly or unconsciously. To the ancient Japanese, the sun was the goddess Amaterasu Omikami. She was gentle ...
“Where’s grandmother?” The little girl, just home from school, flings off her randoseru (ランドセル, school bag). “Ah, Kimika-chan!“ The Keyes’ home helper is in a panic (panikku ni ochiitta, パニックに陥った。). “I took my eyes off her for just a second . . . and ...
“You’re up very late,” says Reiko. What time is it?” “Past 2.” “Really. I no longer know what time of day or night it is.” “Let’s talk, Stu.” Reiko sits down in the chair across the desk from me. We are in my room, ...
“Reiko, this is so unlike you! (Reiko-chan-rashikunai, レイコちゃんらしくない).” “Is it?” “I don’t think I’ve ever . . . “ ” . . . seen me like this. I know. But you haven’t seen me in a long time.” “I never thought I’d hear you ...
In Tokyo and even in the Occident, I have known almost no society except that of courtesans. — Nagai Kafu There’s not much left of Kafu today. Among the major Japanese writers of the early 20th century, he scarcely ranks as a survivor. Natsume ...
“Why don’t you get a divorce? (早く離婚したら, Hayaku rikon shitara?).” We are in our usual cafe, Madoka and I, a quiet little place where jazz flows softly from overhead speakers and everyone seems to talk in whispers. I stare at her over my coffee ...
Wonderful, wonderful! Outside, the world as we know it is on the brink of collapse, but here in my study it is snug and warm; my books surround me, the coffee is hot and fresh . . . There is a perfunctory knock at ...