Angela Jeffs - The Japan Times

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Angela Jeffs

After 26 years in Japan, Angela is currently test driving the Scottish winter. Describing herself as a “people person,” she wrote weekly profiles and features for The Japan Times between 1987 and 2011. For writings since 3/11/2011, see www.embrace-transition.com/. Her first book, "Chasing Shooting Stars – A South American Paper Trail into the Past," was published in paperback in January 2013.

For Angela Jeffs's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:

Japan Times

COMMUNITY

Jun 6, 2009

Nepalese 'VIP' advocates investing in disability

Nepalese Kamal Lamichhane chuckles when he describes himself as a VIP. "As I told the audience at Manchester Metropolitan University last month, I really am a VIP — a visually impaired person. Unlike those people who become very important because of what they achieve in life, I have been a VIP since birth."

COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES

May 19, 2009

Going clubbing in the capital

New to Tokyo, T.B. is trying to make friends and wants to know if there are any clubs that he can join to meet new people and get involved with the international community.

COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES

Apr 21, 2009

Travel by train on a budget

Rail on the cheap In Japan for only a limited time, J.K. is desperate to travel and see as much as possible. But there's a problem. "Cash is pretty limited. Are there any money-saving ways of traveling by train in Japan?"

COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES

Apr 14, 2009

Seeking permanence; ignoring Easter

Easter absence Brenda and family wonder why Easter has been ignored by Japanese commercial interests.

COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES

Mar 24, 2009

Tatami care, and dust to dust

Spring cleaning Kate wonders if it is OK to wash tatami mats. "I'm spring-cleaning," she writes.

COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES

Mar 10, 2009

Antiwar groups, Almond and Michi Aoyama

Nuts! Where's Almond? Julie was with friends on a bus passing through Roppongi and saw from the window that the famed Almond coffee shop on the crossing was no more.

COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES

Mar 3, 2009

Working holidays and Amerasian roots

Mareen, an 18-year-old German citizen, spent three weeks in Japan, loved it, and now wants to come back.

COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES

Feb 17, 2009

Dealing with a death abroad

Reader S.B. seeks advice on how to deal with arrangements following the death of a foreign relative in Japan.

COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES

Feb 10, 2009

'Neko-cide' prevention; document dealings

'Contemplating neko-cide' writes, "There is a cat next door that in meowing all night causes me to lose sleep, which then hurts my performance at work."

COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES

Jan 20, 2009

Lifelines back to the 1900s

With 2009 so far looking bleak, here are some queries from around the world that take us into the past with the hope of finding positive solutions for the present.

COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES

Nov 18, 2008

Escalator etiquette, TV tours

A couple of replies to the query about why people stand on escalators on the right in Osaka and on the left in Tokyo:

Japan Times

COMMUNITY

Nov 8, 2008

Translating in the spirit of samurai

Iehiro Tokugawa arrives at the publishing house Kobunsha, for which he works on occasion as a translator, accompanied by his Vietnamese wife. He is all in black; she is in blue jeans with a waterfall of shining hair down her back, and very lovely too. Speaking in fluent English, he extends his hand to introduce himself as potentially the 19th shogun in the Tokugawa family line — should Japan ever have use again for a new-style feudal lord with an American accent and an international marriage, that is. "You will remember that Ieyasu Tokugawa established his power base in Edo in 1603," he begins, clearing his throat nervously. "My family then ruled until the Meiji Reformation towards the end of the 19th century."

Japan Times

COMMUNITY

Nov 1, 2008

Inside the Japanese pub

Mark Robinson, author of "Izakaya: The Japanese Pub Cookbook" (Kodansha International, May 2008) is recently back in Tokyo from New York, where he spent three weeks "signing books at stores like Barnes & Noble, meeting people and seeking inspiration."

Japan Times

COMMUNITY

Oct 4, 2008

Music firm goes to seed for a rockin' good future

Last year, all too aware that sales of CDs were dropping, Douglas Allsopp of Buffalo Records went along to the annual fair of promotional goods at Tokyo's Big Sight to look for a possible additional venture.

Japan Times

COMMUNITY

Sep 27, 2008

Ties that bond though cultures apart

With a wry but happy smile, Jennifer Rose DiLaura recalls the day she and her husband first met their daughter, adopted from China.

COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES

Sep 23, 2008

Hat headaches, work woes

Alan wants to know where he can get a Panama hat cleaned and blocked.

COMMUNITY

Sep 20, 2008

Putting women on paths of potential at work and at play

Australian-born Sara-Shivani is learning hard and fast the nature of her bliss — what she was born to be and do. Her mantra — As I am now, recognize/ As I was born to be, remember/ As I wish to be, visualize/ As nature intended, live — is the motto of the program of holistic heath she is offering to the public: Living Shizen.

Japan Times

COMMUNITY

Aug 30, 2008

A Welshman's 10,000-km tale of Japan

What on earth would induce anyone to cycle around a country for six months?

Japan Times

COMMUNITY

Aug 23, 2008

Communicating through the unsaid

Sculptor Gakushi Yamamoto arrives looking as if he tumbled out of bed — or rather rolled off his futon and into the nearest shirt and pair of jeans that came to hand. And that may be so, considering he has had to travel two hours to meet up in Moto-Azabu for 10 a.m.

COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES

Aug 19, 2008

Be prepared for the 'Big One'

'How can we be prepared?' BJ writes in the wake of the recent spate of earthquakes. "Our family is increasingly concerned about what we can do if an earthquake or some other calamity strikes. We live in an apartment. Will we be OK? What kind of resources are there and what should we do in case of a disaster?"

From easily navigable train stations to the helpfulness of its municipal staff, Tokyo has earned high praise for its commitment to accessibility for disabled travelers.

[Rebroadcast] Japan is doing better on accessibility than you may think

Rows of irises resemble a rice field at the Peter Walker-designed Toyota Municipal Museum of Art.

The 'outsiders' creating some of Japan's greenest spaces

By Stephen Mansfield

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