Politics & Diplomacy
Hashimoto to retract sex suggestion for U.S. military
Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto aims to retract his remark that U.S. servicemen in Okinawa should use the local adult entertainment industry to avoid committing sex crimes.
Our Lives | WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST Sep 5, 2009
How to become a gaijin that can say no
by Thomas Dillon
I wish I could say, “No.” I wish I knew how. Meanwhile, 2009 marks the 20th anniversary of the publication of “The Japan That Can Say No,” a bestselling collection of essays penned by Sony co-founder Akio Morita and author Shintaro Ishihara, then a ...
Our Lives | WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST Aug 22, 2009
The right word and the right to choose it
by Thomas Dillon
If you are a foreigner living in Japan, odds are high that language learning has played a key role in your residency. Perhaps it’s provided the glue that has bound your bicultural life together. Or maybe it’s been more like Tabasco. As in adding ...
Our Lives | WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST Aug 8, 2009
Everyone knows it's windy
by Thomas Dillon
Most people don’t find much humor in typhoons. But maybe that’s ’cause they don’t look. I mean, take away the hammering wind and torrential rain, the crippling losses to agriculture and industry, not to mention the related human tragedies that can sometimes number in ...
Our Lives | WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST Jul 25, 2009
Why I fly the coop
by Thomas Dillon
There’s this foreign fellow I know that when asked about his favorite place in Japan, always answers like this . . . “The departure lounge at Narita.” I myself might give that very same answer — twice a year. During the school vacation months ...
Our Lives | WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST Jul 11, 2009
The lost decade
by Thomas Dillon
Dame Senility may one day cloak my eyes with her perplexing veils of memory gone astray, but when she does, I will be ready. For — in a way — I have been there, done that. My wife too. In fact, she met Dame ...
Our Lives | WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST Jun 27, 2009
Standard of living meets house of correction
by Thomas Dillon
Recently I had coffee in the Ginza with a friend from abroad, a Japanese gentlemen making a rare pilgrimage back to the land of his upbringing. From our second-story window we gazed down upon the pizzazz of the city streets — the glistening facades ...
Our Lives | WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST Jun 13, 2009
Superheroes to the rescue
by Thomas Dillon
What I could use in Japan is a superhero. You know, someone to help me escape my daily gaijin grind. A Spiderman, a Wonder Woman, a Harry Potter. Someone who could be my champion in life’s never-ending struggles with truth, justice and cross-cultural screwups. ...
Our Lives | WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST May 30, 2009
A look at the outside and the in
by Thomas Dillon
“Honne and tatemae” are terms that many feel are linchpinned to the Japanese psyche. The first — honne — refers to the intimate truth of the soul, one’s uttermost honest feelings, the rough skin under all the powder and rouge. The second — tatemae ...
Our Lives | WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST May 16, 2009
Holy mackerel — a fish story
by Thomas Dillon
If you live in Japan long enough, various shipwrecks of odd jobs will float your way. For example, a short while ago I was asked to do some translation work regarding . . . fish. Which is funny enough. But the bigger joke is ...
Our Lives | WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST May 9, 2009
In search of picture-perfect Tokyo
by Thomas Dillon
Tokyo is infested with camera bugs. I can identify three species, at least. First, there are the genuine camera “nutsos,” the kind who heft about 30-cm-long zooms and then bunch up in rows 10 deep to take photos of every single leaf that turns ...
Our Lives | WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST Apr 18, 2009
A little Mc-wrath with coffee
by Thomas Dillon
This is a chilly winter’s tale, one now warmed both by passing time and the gentle breezes of spring. But several weeks ago it was a hot topic for a cold day. A cold workday. I was heading for a train and would be ...
Our Lives | WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST Apr 4, 2009
Making my dentist smile
by Thomas Dillon
My very first kiss was not from a girl but from a Rawlings baseball. The Little League diamond was strewn with the pop flies I had muffed. “OK, Dillon,” snarled my coach. “This one, you catch!” Boy, did I. Right in the mouth. I ...