Vivienne Kenrick - The Japan Times

COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE

Jul 30, 2000

When he was a youth, Kiyomu Shimomura found his mentor in the late scholar Masahiro Yasuoka. Yasuoka wrote the draft of the statement made by the Emperor Showa at the end of World War II. That was the first time for a Japanese emperor to speak to the people, and in his radio address to the nation he announced that Japan had surrendered.

COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE

Jul 23, 2000

Miki Wakamatsu

"The World Dance Alliance has initiated a project to join in celebrating the millennium. It is a time to consider where we have been, where we are and where we are going. Therefore the theme of World Dance 2000 is 'Dance in the Past, Present and Future,' " said Miki Wakamatsu.

COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE

Jul 16, 2000

Setsuko Arima

For the greater part of her life, Setsuko Arima has lived in the same district of Kanazawa-ku in Yokohama. She is devoted to the neighborhood, which is highlighted by the 13th century Shomyoji Temple, its garden with red bridges over a wide pond, and its background of an open field and wooded hills. She knows local histories and legends. Away from the heavily trafficked highways, her home keeps a feel of the countryside and village intimacy.

COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE

Jul 9, 2000

Andrew Wolford

"After the war, in England there was little opportunity for young people, and Africa seemed full of opportunity. So my parents and a friend bought a small plane, and flew out to South Africa in 1947."

COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE

Jul 2, 2000

Machiko Kobayashi

In "The Book of Tea," Okakura Kakuzo refers to the person "with no tea" in him, the one "insusceptible to the seriocomic interests of the personal drama." He mentions too the one "with too much tea" in him, "the untamed aesthete." Machiko Kobayashi, tea ceremony teacher and demonstrator, falls into neither category. Kimonoed, gentle and demure, she plays a decisive role of her own in showing the way for "humanity to meet in the tea cup."

COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE

Jun 18, 2000

Toshio Sugihara

Recently the College Women's Association of Japan held an anniversary celebration. "Music and Tea" was an afternoon program commemorating 25 years of the activities of Volunteers for Blind Students, a group that is part of CWAJ's education program. "In April, The Japan Vocational Development Center for the Blind gave VBS an award of appreciation. I am so proud of being a part of CWAJ," said Junko Abe.

COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE

Jun 4, 2000

Ayako Aoki

Today in Casablanca a Japanese soccer team is playing for the Third Hassan International Cup. The match will be televised worldwide.

COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE

May 28, 2000

Gaj Singh

JODHPUR, India -- Mehrangarh Fort dominates the skyline of this walled, gated, desert city in Rajasthan, India. Five hundred years ago a hermit chose this imposing site for the fort, which commands the wide stretch of land below. Huge spikes were erected on massive barrier gates to counter the charges of elephants in ancient battles. Thick walls bear the scars of cannonballs pounded into them centuries ago. Above high turreted ramparts, vultures move in strong, slow flight. Near the fort stands the marble memorial to Jodhpur's maharajahs, and the fabled Umaid Bhawan Palace. Part of this immense sandstone palace is now a hotel, and part is the home of Gaj Singh, who still goes by the title of maharajah of Jodhpur.

COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE

May 21, 2000

Mohan Kumar

NEW DELHI -- "Three things are necessary for a driver: a good horn, good brakes and good luck."

COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE

May 14, 2000

Etienne Taenaka

When he was growing up in California, Etienne Taenaka wanted to be an architect. As he watched his mother, a hairdresser, at work, he made an imaginative leap between architecture and "hair-chitecture." "Creating styles, form following function, building shapes and achieving balance," he said. "My mother wanted me to be a doctor or a lawyer, and I was on my way to college when I decided I would become a hair stylist." He has never regretted that decision.

COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE

May 7, 2000

Mari Ito

Mari Ito describes herself as "a photographer who has been taking photos of ethnic minorities and free-range pigs in Yunnan, China, for the past 10 years."

COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE

Apr 30, 2000

Colin McCulloch

"Those of us in New Zealand interested in live theater used to rely on shows put on by companies coming on tour from London. Over the last 30 years, all that has changed. Provincial professional theater groups grew up overnight. New Zealand now has its own flourishing theater," said Colin McCulloch.

COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE

Apr 23, 2000

Peter Wakefield

"One of the benefits of retirement is that you still have the energy to go to another career. When I came out of diplomatic service, I decided I wanted to do two things: charitable work and art. I am lucky to be able to do both. Now as chairman of Asia House, here I am again," said Sir Peter Wakefield.

COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE

Apr 16, 2000

Cindy Fueki

More than 70 years ago, a group of women living in Yokohama founded the International Women's Club. They devised lively social programs and gave their attention to welfare work. The outbreak of World War II meant that the club ceased its activities.

COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE

Apr 9, 2000

Jane Marwick

In the late 1980s the Tokyo International Learning Community began in a very small way as a support group for parents of children with special needs. TILC opened a school in a church room, where children suffering from a wide range of disabilities were brought together in a learning environment.

COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE

Apr 2, 2000

Benchapa Krairiksh

This year's Asian Festival charity bazaar, organized by the Asian Ladies Friendship Society, will be held April 27. Benchapa Krairiksh, wife of the ambassador of Thailand to Japan, says she is "honored and delighted to serve as chairperson of the festival in the year 2000."

COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE

Mar 26, 2000

Yoshihiko Ueda

People often ask Yoshihiko Ueda why he became a photographer. He replies that he has no clear memory of the beginning. "Perhaps it was almost coincidental," he said. His wife offers the explanation that his sister gave him a camera to console him when he was disappointed at failing boyhood examinations. She believes that he had never been interested in any form of art up until then. But that first camera pointed him in the direction he should go.

COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE

Mar 19, 2000

Tsutomu Yoshioka

Tsutomu Yoshioka's life has come full circle. In the early 1940s, he was a teenage student at Jiyugakuen, the Freedom School founded in 1921 by Yoshikazu and Motoko Hani. Now he is director of Myonichikan, Jiyugakuen's original buildings, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. The American architect said at the time that his "prairie house" style and the name of the school belonged together in implying a free spirit. The school was "intended to be a simple happy place for happy children," he wrote.

COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE

Mar 12, 2000

Muriel Jolivet

A year ago, Muriel Jolivet said, "Briefly, the subjects I studied up to now were, first, the social integration of Japanese male students through work. Then I focused more on women, and their social integration through work. I got interested in women and maternity in Japan, and wrote the book 'Japan: the Childless Society?' Then I worked on extended interviews with 60 men in the Tokyo and Kansai areas, who spoke about their families, their worries, their relations to the workplace, their families, their children, their fathers, and society at large." The result was the recently published book "Homo Japonicus," a Picquier edition.

COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE

Mar 5, 2000

Masanao Murai

"Horses are very gentle and kind to the weak," Dr. Masanao Murai said. "A child suffering from cerebral palsy can sit on a horse and feel the animal's warmth. He can see farther. The horse's movement reaches the child's brain through the spine, so that a child who cannot walk feels he has one body with the horse, and is himself walking."

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