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Yumi Wijers-Hasegawa
For Yumi Wijers-Hasegawa's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / WEEK 3
Dec 21, 2008
Mums team up to make Holland a happy home far away from home
AMSTERDAM — No friends or acquaintances, cold winters, a hard-to-learn language and the depression that comes with all that.
Japan Times
JAPAN / MIXED MATCHES
Jul 12, 2008
Shy Belgian boy falls for worldly Japanese girl
Marc Van Cauteren and Reiko Shinozaki met in Tokyo in 1993 after mutual friends encouraged him to call her during a business trip to Japan.
Japan Times
LIFE
Jul 22, 2007
Beauty beheld in huge concrete forms
Astonishingly, despite their unsightly impact on natural scenery, the Internet is full of geeks who appear to love tetrapods.
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Jul 15, 2007
'Tasty science' puts mystery on the menu
Fed up with foie gras; tired of truffles; and simply sick of sturgeons' eggs? If you're one of those gourmets who's gagging for a new and taste-transporting experience, Tapas Molecular Bar at the Mandarin Oriental Tokyo hotel may be the eatery of your dreams.
Japan Times
LIFE
Jun 24, 2007
PARKLIFE: You'd be amazed
Pick a park. Get up early. Stay till late. In between you'll be amazed what goes on.
Japan Times
LIFE
Jun 10, 2007
Here comes the sun . . .
Some may shudder at the very thought of it, but more and more people are flinging off their duvets with glee and bounding into action-packed days that start when even larks are still lounging in their nests
Japan Times
LIFE / QUEUING
May 27, 2007
Patience pays off for firms on standby to queue for you
With queuing playing such an important role in Japanese life — just watch any breathlessly excitable TV magazine program fearlessly reporting any day of the week on long lines outside noodle shops or dog groomers — there are even those who cash in on the phenomenon directly.
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
May 20, 2007
Caring team helps retie life's loose ends
We have all had one or two unforgettably heartfelt encounters in our lives, whether long-lost first loves or more distant crushes whose intensity it is still possible, years later, to reconjure with ease.
Japan Times
LIFE
Apr 22, 2007
Tokyo's Indians in 'home from home'
Hari Hara Krishnan knew no one when he arrived in Tokyo in 1997. But thanks to him, fellow Indians have brought a flourishing flavor of home to the government housing project where he lives in the city's Edogawa Ward.
Japan Times
LIFE
Apr 1, 2007
"Rebel" cartoonist Rieko Saibara
Rieko Saibara is a catoonist known for her work that has both a lyrical and "rebellious" side to it. While regarded as a rebel in the cartoonist world, at times shocking her readers with indecent expressions, she also brings them to tears by her portrayal of hopeless poverty, affection to her children and descriptions of separation with her husband. The cartoons introduced here are from her series "Mainichi Kasan", which three books so far sold 500,000 copies and won several prizes - including the Cultural Affairs Agency's media art festival award in 2004 and Osamu Tezuka Cultural prize in 2005.
Japan Times
LIFE
Apr 1, 2007
Drawing on experience
Cartoonists in Japan are as abundant as the cherry blossoms at this time of year -- but Rieko Saibara is probably the only one who has both a lyrical and rebellious side to her work -- along with an astonishing power and what has been called a "lethal poison.''
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Mar 18, 2007
Flaky or fact? Are 'power spots' wacky ... or what?
After minus-ion bottled water to transform your entire being, and natto (fermented soybeans) that was claimed to effortlessly turn chubbies into model specimens, "power spots" look to be taking their turn at the pinnacle of Japan's ever-fleeting (but ever-marketable) fascination with the slightly otherworldly.
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Feb 18, 2007
Close your eyes, count to 10 . . . and play to your heart's content
It seems only natural that everyone should have a wild time, at least once in their life, because for the most part our mortal span is occupied with studying, making a living or raising a family. All that, of course, can be fun -- but it tends to be rather serious stuff as well.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Feb 4, 2007
Princess Tenko: conjuror of pure mystery
The life of illusionist Tenko Hikita -- better
Japan Times
LIFE
Jan 14, 2007
Get out of this world
Forget Hawaii, Hong Kong, Bali, Britain or Paris -- before too long your family vacation choices will include staying at space hotels or taking a 10-day spin around the moon.
Japan Times
LIFE
Jan 14, 2007
It's high time for Japan to ride the space-tourism wave
The United States and Europe are finally, albeit slowly, paving the way for space tourism to become a revolutionary source of new business -- some economists even believe it could save the stagnating world economy.
Japan Times
LIFE
Jan 14, 2007
Japan's pioneers of new space age
So what kind of people will be Japan's first space tourists?
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Dec 17, 2006
Classified information
Every week in Japan, English-language magazines carry upward of 200 classified ads placed by both Japanese and non-Japanese people seeking to meet strangers whom they hope to strike up a relationship with.
Japan Times
LIFE
Dec 3, 2006
Deep and meaningful dance
Dutch artists Monique van Kerkhof and Rob Oudendijk have performed in many unusual places -- a synagogue and a company office in New York, and in a huge dried-up reservoir and an art gallery in Japan. But until Nov. 18, they and fellow dancers they brought together had never before entertained an audience in a fantastic concrete palace 25 meters underground.
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Nov 19, 2006
Scourge of skinnies stands firm on fleshiness
A third of the models who appeared in Madrid's civic-sponsored Cibeles collections last year were banned from the same fashion event this September. The move -- which triggered debate in and beyond fashion circles around the world -- came after city officials declared that the women's extremely underweight figures would encourage eating disorders.

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