The death toll from a blizzard that hit Hokkaido and the Tohoku region over the weekend has risen to nine, local police said Monday. The latest fatality as of Monday was Kuniko Jingi, 76, who was found collapsed under the snow on a road ...
Sleeping in. Breakfast in bed. Sunny brunches. Strolls in the park. Laid-back afternoon tea. Cocktails at sunset. Decadent late nights. Saturday — the word brings to mind a flurry of images associated with the first day of the weekend and the chances are, they ...
For the past year, Tokyo sixth-grader Manami has had dinner at home an average of four times a week. The rest of the time she has had to make do with a juku-ben, a boxed dinner prepared by her mother and consumed between classes ...
SELLING WOMEN: Prostitution, Markets and the Household in Early Modern Japan, by Amy Stanley. University of California Press, 2012, 282 pp., $49.95 (hardcover) In the vast cultural landscape, Japan fascinates the mainstream with manga and anime, the martial arts, Zen and kimono. Of course, ...
Cuba overpowers China, winning 12-0 and advancing to the second round of the World Baseball Classic.
Our island of 602 people has a PA system that is used to make important public announcements. While these announcements usually concern typhoon warnings, ferry cancellations and funeral announcements, the PA system is not limited to these. Temple ceremonies are announced too, such as ...
I really feel sorry for dentists because they have to deal with difficult patients, especially those who have inflated ideas about their own dental IQ. I recently went in to have some dental work finished that had been started six months ago. I just ...
Despite the temperature being hot as blazes, mid-August is still considered the end of the swimming season in Japan. In our area of the Seto Inland Sea, it used to be said that after O-bon (around Aug. 15) the enko (sea nymphs) come out ...
I walked into the veterinarian’s office with my disgruntled cat. I’d been worried about my cat for a week already. Her health was steadily declining and I knew something was seriously wrong when the 4 a.m. Kitty Alarm stopped going off — that feline ...
One job that exists in Japan that doesn’t in my country is that of the career fairy. These are people, usually women, who work at places like the central post office or the bank and are on hand to help customers as they walk ...
“We went to the beach on the mainland,” said a foreign friend, “and it wasn’t very nice.” Why not? I wondered. The Seto Inland Sea has some great beaches. “Well,” she said, “first of all we had to pay ¥1,000 just to park the ...
Fed up with long working hours, minimal job security and paltry remuneration in Japan’s depressed economy, maneki neko cats all over Japan are going on strike. “I don’t know where the hard-working, beckoning cat image comes from,” said one battery-enhanced cat who agreed to ...
When my cat turned 13 recently, I knew it was time for the dreaded “cat discussion.” You know, the one where you tell them about the happy hunting ground in the sky. Since cats usually die before their owners do, it’s tough for me ...
The ban on serving raw beef liver at restaurants in Japan is a small victory for the bovine community. The question now is, will this cause a black market to fill the gap? Could mere cow tipping turn into liver-stealing? Will we have little ...
“Why did you come to Japan?” We’ve all been asked this question. I still can’t give a good answer. I certainly know why I came here, but such a point-blank question, usually from someone you hardy know, calls for an equal and reticent answer. ...
The setsuden (power-saving) campaign is now in full force, as residents all over Japan are being encouraged to conserve electricity so there is enough to get through the high-use summer months. Even on my small island of 609 people, each household received a list ...
Read my lips: no new taxes! Just old ones raised. Civil service workers are taking a pay cut to help pay off Tohoku earthquake and tsunami debt, the government is discussing raising pension payments while cutting benefits, Tokyo Electric Power Co. is raising electricity ...
