Life | WEEK 3 Jun 19, 2011

Remembering the day the ocean rose

by Edan Corkill

“Come on up,” said a man wearing dark-blue overalls and a baseball cap. “Come up and see the view.” Anywhere else in Japan and it would have been a welcome invitation. In the tiny village of Unosumai in Iwate Prefecture, however, it was made ...

Life | WEEK 3 May 15, 2011

Japan's renegade hero gives Saipan new hope

by Rob Gilhooly

Graciano Lisua doesn’t look like someone who would get too worked up about ghosts. Yet superstition, says the broad-shouldered, barrel-chested Chomorron as he leans on his machete, is of great import for the inhabitants of the Mariana Islands. Traditionally, it seems, the aboriginal Chomorro ...

_unknown | WEEK 3 Apr 17, 2011

All fired up by Japanese wheels

by Tomoko Otake

Cycling has enjoyed a renewed boom in popularity in recent years as an eco-friendly means of transportation and for its health benefits. Reflecting this trend, more and more helmet-donning businesspeople are seen cycling to work on their glimmering sports bikes these days, often gliding ...

_unknown | WEEK 3 Apr 17, 2011

Bags of fun recycling old JTs

by Eriko Arita

In Japan, English-language newspapers are great sources of news and views and such (some more than others, of course). But a new use for them has lately arisen, with patrons of mini-trucks selling baked yaki-imo (sweet potatoes) in upscale Tokyo office districts thinking it ...

_unknown | WEEK 3 Apr 17, 2011

Capturing the eerie beauty of Chernobyl

by Eriko Arita

Pripyat, Ukraine, has been a ghost town for the last 25 years. On April 26, 1986, the Chernobyl nuclear power plant’s No. 4 reactor experienced a sudden power surge resulting in several explosions and fires that sent a massive amount of nuclear debris into ...

_unknown | WEEK 3 Mar 20, 2011

'Nothing can prepare you to witness this'

by Rob Gilhooly

ISHINOMAKI, Miyagi Pref. — It’s a relatively minor incident that gets me. I’m at a gymnasium in central Ishinomaki photographing members of Japan’s Ground Self-Defense Force (GSDF) as they unload dozens of corpses from a truck. Each is wrapped in blankets, some with flowery ...

_unknown | WEEK 3 Feb 20, 2011

Researchers find inner sleuths at Diet library

by Edan Corkill

There was a nice symmetry to the first task set at the Japan Specialist Workshop, which is currently being hosted by the National Diet Library (NDL) and the International House of Japan. “I want you to find the first Japanese translation of Sir Arthur ...

_unknown | WEEK 3 Feb 20, 2011

Aspiring animator comes to Japan to chase her dreams

by Mark Schreiber

It’s fun to walk down the street or get aboard a train with Tracey Seals and watch how Japanese people react. Once they notice the blue-eyed, bespectacled 21-year-old redhead from Mississippi in their midst, some break out in smiles. And others do double-takes, as ...

_unknown | WEEK 3 Jan 16, 2011

Calligraphy writ large takes in choreography, too

by Edan Corkill

Japanese calligraphy is a challenge at the best of times. So why go to the trouble of using a piece of paper as large as the side of a bus, and a brush that’s almost two meters long and weighs 50 kg? Come New ...

_unknown | WEEK 3 Jan 16, 2011

Living in a house of longevity

by Tomoko Otake

When New York-based artist Shusaku Arakawa died in May 2010 at the age of 73, it caused a sensation — not only because of his influence on many creators, scientists and philosophers, but also because of the gaping contradiction his passing left behind. For ...