National
NRA makes new reactor safety regimen official
The Nuclear Regulation Authority officially approves new safety requirements for reactors aimed at preventing disasters like the catastrophe at the Fukushima No. 1 power plant.
Our Lives | WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST Jan 14, 2012
Some cups of revisionist history
by Thomas Dillon
There’s this guy I drink morning coffee with. Like me, he came to Japan as a young man and now wonders where the decades have flown. We sit at the window and watch the people rush past, so much like the years of our ...
Our Lives | WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST Dec 31, 2011
Just when you think nothing can go wrong
by Thomas Dillon
You’ve heard it . . . Japanese can take an idea and improve upon it, but they can’t come up with the idea themselves. A tiresome notion that needs to be washed away by all the abundant evidence to the contrary. For the Japanese ...
Our Lives | WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST Dec 17, 2011
Tis the season to tell stories
by Thomas Dillon
The warmth of the holiday season often cooks up a nice story — a helping of good will to be served with turkey and plum pudding, osechi and omochi or whatever other delicacies might grace your international table. And that’s what I’ve got this ...
Our Lives | WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST Dec 3, 2011
Playing a little chicken
by Thomas Dillon
Here it comes, the eternal question . . . Why did the gaijin cross the road? Today’s answer: To get to the yakitori bar. On the other side. And if you’re wondering about that other eternal question — which came first, the chicken or ...
Our Lives | WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST Nov 19, 2011
The poetry of pet peeves
by Thomas Dillon
First, let’s clarify the term, “pet peeve.” It’s not like they’re actual “pets.” No one wants to hold one in their laps. Or tease one with a squeaky toy. They’re not kittens, they’re not poodles, they’re not bunny rabbits. They’re peeves. And as peeves, ...
Our Lives | WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST Nov 5, 2011
Refusal, disposal, separation . . . exasperation
by Thomas Dillon
Japan is fond of buzzwords and perhaps one of the buzziest of the last two years has been the term “danshari.” It leapt into Japan’s ever-fickle public limelight in 2010 and continues to cast shadows even now. Each “danshari” syllable can be tracked to ...
Our Lives | WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST Oct 22, 2011
Yawn of the dead? Not in this life
by Thomas Dillon
“The reason I love zombies . . .” The speaker has skin the hue of a soft-shell taco. At his jaw line, the taco has been ripped away to expose bleeding gums and skeletal teeth. His right cheek has been chewed into hamburger, the ...
Our Lives | WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST Oct 8, 2011
Where have all the heroes gone?
by Thomas Dillon
Sound cannot travel in a vacuum and perhaps that explains the growing silence in the Japanese spirit. For we are entering a vacuum. A hero vacuum. Yes, Japan is running short on heroes. This has happened before. And when it does there is always ...
Our Lives | WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST Sep 24, 2011
You weigh 140 kg . . . how stylish!
by Thomas Dillon
Two years ago I had a bet going with my younger son about who could lose 10 kg the fastest. So I bought a Wii Fit unit. Now I admit I am nothing but a grunt in the army of the techno-challenged. When it ...
Our Lives | WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST Sep 10, 2011
A guide to fortunetellers
by Thomas Dillon
Japan is a fortunetelling nation and so, to start, here is Truman Capote’s famous line about fortunetellers . . . They lie. Which is not quite true. Actually, Capote said . . . They fib. And it wasn’t really him. It was a character ...
Our Lives | WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST Aug 27, 2011
Summertime's biggest fans
by Thomas Dillon
“The first time I went to see a fan dance . . .” I am speaking to a colleague who is close to snapping the bones in her wrist. She is fanning her face that hard. “. . . I thought the women would ...
Our Lives | WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST Aug 6, 2011
Another day, another murder
by Thomas Dillon
A snap of her wrist . . . and she has yanked back our kitchen curtains. Her eyes dart over the yard. That is, what we call a yard — a few square meters of gravel and grass that our neighbor’s house now shadows ...