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Raju Thakrar
For Raju Thakrar's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
Jul 30, 2008
Waribashi: Waste on a gluttonous scale
I f I were writing about one of my favorite Tokyo eateries for the JT's Food Page, this story would mostly focus on its delicious fare. However, as this is the Nature Page, my verbal meanderings here are not about the nosh at cheap and cheerful Shokudo Shogetsu in Tamachi, but about the tools used to convey it to the mouths of diners.
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Jul 20, 2008
Fly fanboys in the living room
Parents the world over would surely prefer their children not to throw things about. It's just plain bad manners, among other things. But Atsushi Kikuchi, a serious-looking father of two boys, positively encourages it. And, he evenmaintains, his sons' ballistic behavior has produced considerable benefits for life at his family's home.
Japan Times
LIFE
Jun 22, 2008
Grounded rulers of the sky
His sharp, calm gaze follows yet another aircraft swooping down from the cloudless sky, its tires screeching in clouds of blue smoke as it returns to Earth on Haneda's concrete runway. One more flight successfully completed, he thinks — and now the next.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / WEEK 3
Jun 15, 2008
Get into golf's virtual swing
Considering that people can be prosecuted for driving a car under the influence of alcohol, what about those who go hitting golf balls while imbibing? Perhaps it's just a matter of time before "drink-driving" by golfers becomes the latest buzzword on the greens and fairways in safety-conscious Japan.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Jun 6, 2008
Star-studded cast imparts sparkle to Verdi spectacular
The New National Theatre Tokyo is currently staging the opera "La Traviata" for the first time in four years. Renowned Japanese conductor Toshiyuki Kamioka, making his first-ever appearance at the NNT, will lead a cast peppered with world-famous singers.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / WEEK 3
May 18, 2008
Handsome is not enough: beauticians make the man
Perhaps no words send shivers down a company employee's back more than when your boss gravely tells you that he'd "like to have a chat with you." So, when mine at the English-language conversation school that I was teaching at said this to me a few years ago, my heart sank to the ground.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
May 9, 2008
'Hamlet' production does not leave the question unanswered
From next week, the International Theatre Company London will be in Japan, conducting its 30th tour of the country with a production of "Hamlet."
Japan Times
LIFE
Apr 27, 2008
Bestowing beauty on a fearful blade
If you were to call 51-year-old Yoshihiko Usuki a makeover maestro, he'd probably just chuckle, go back to his hunched position and continue sliding the sword clasped in his hands over a polishing stone.
Japan Times
LIFE
Apr 27, 2008
Musashi: A do-or-die warrior not to be crossed
When he killed his first man, Miyamoto Musashi was a mere boy of 13 — in present-day terms, a first-year junior-high-school student.
Japan Times
LIFE
Apr 27, 2008
Deadly weapons forged as art
The slow, rhythmic thrust of a piston covered in tanuki (raccoon dog) skin blasted air from box bellows onto the searing-hot charcoal. A casual glance at his forge was, however, all that Yoshindo Yoshihara needed to know the fire's exact temperature.
Japan Times
LIFE
Apr 27, 2008
Hack, slash and hew — all with Zen in mind
As hobbies go, you might describe mine as, well, quite bloodthirsty.
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Mar 16, 2008
Seeing is disbelieving
One, two, skip. Three, four, jump. Five, six, do a back flip. Seven, eight, now break dance.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Mar 7, 2008
Change the channel of your sexual energy
The ancient Chinese practice of Taoism tells us that "sexual energy is not just about sex!"
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Feb 22, 2008
Laugh yourself healthy
'I want to open 1 million laughter clubs around the world in the next 10 years in the hope of bringing about world peace."
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Feb 15, 2008
Tokyo Players bring N.Y. comedy to town
The dearth of good comedy in English in Tokyo will be relieved in a few weeks' time, when Tokyo International Players — a 100-percent volunteer-run company that has been entertaining theatergoers since 1896 — will present "The Plaza Suite" at Akasaka V Theater. And The Japan Times has a pair of tickets to give away to each of two lucky readers.
Japan Times
LIFE
Jan 13, 2008
Let loose nature's way to tone body and soul
Ha-ha, funny isn't it, but Laughter Yoga has nothing to do with telling jokes. In fact, humor plays no part in this unusual form of the ancient Hindu discipline. Here, laughter has to be unconditional.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Jan 4, 2008
Young artists kick off 2008
Budding artists need to be given a chance to show the world what they have got. Design Festa offers just this. Ever since it started in 1994, this twice-yearly event has been open to artists from all over the world to exhibit their talent.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Dec 2, 2007
Dalai Lama: Ocean of wit and wisdoms
Lhamo Thondup was born on July 6, 1935 in Taktster, a small village in the Amdo region of northeast Tibet. But neither his parents — farmers who grew barley, buckwheat and potatoes — nor his three elder brothers and one elder sister (a younger sister and brother came later) were to discover his true identity until a few years later.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Nov 23, 2007
Plight of Tibetan orphans
"Open Your Heart," a charity exhibition that includes photos from Tibet, France and Japan, will take place in Kamakura from Dec. 1 to 9 to aid the plight of Tibetan orphans. The exhibition opens with a musical event featuring Tibetan dancers, a biwa (Japanese lute) performer and a chanson singer. Profits from the sale of photos and postcards will go toward buying clothing, shoes and school supplies for the children.
JAPAN
Nov 20, 2007
Dalai Lama hits East's consumer craze
The Dalai Lama indicated Monday in an interview that he had set a budding democratic process in motion in Tibet that was effectively doomed by China's invasion in the early 1950s.

Longform

A statue of "Dragon Ball" character Goku stands outside the offices of Bandai Namco in Tokyo. The figure is now as recognizable as such characters as Mickey Mouse and Spider-Man.
Akira Toriyama's gift to the world