Philip D. Zitowitz - The Japan Times

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Philip D. Zitowitz

For Philip D. Zitowitz's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:

CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF

Nov 11, 2001

Mixing it up in the States

THE SUM OF OUR PARTS: Mixed Heritage Asian Americans, edited by Teresa Williams-Leon and Cynthia L. Nakashima. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2001, 296 pp., 22.95 (paper) High intermarriage rates, massive waves of immigration, and the easing of restrictions on global travel are blurring racial and ethnic boundaries more than ever. This was highlighted in 1997 when, in an interview on the Oprah Winfrey Show after he won the Masters, golfer Tiger Woods identified himself as "Cablinasian" -- a word he himself coined to describe the mixture of Caucasian, Black, Indian and Asian in his family tree.

CULTURE / Books

Aug 19, 2001

Uniformly stylish Japanese

WEARING IDEOLOGY: State, Schooling and Self-Preservation in Japan, by Brian J. McVeigh. Berg, Oxford, 2000, 231 pages, $19.50 The Japanese are some of the most fashion-conscious dressers in the world. They spend large amounts of their discretionary income on clothes, have a strong preference for designer-made outfits, and take great care in coordinating their dress and accessories. Beneath all this stylishness, however, some social scientists see another, more disturbing, pattern in their dress: uniformity.

CULTURE / Books

Jan 16, 2001

Three identities and one life

LIVES OF YOUNG KOREANS IN JAPAN, by Yasunori Fukuoka, translated by Tom Gill. Melbourne: Trans Pacific Press, 2000, 330 pp. It is estimated that there were 2.5 million Koreans living in Japan at the end of World War II. Although many returned home after the war, there are still approximately 600,000 "Zainichi" Koreans, as these migrants and descendants are called, living and working in Japan. They make up the nation's "largest ethnic minority."

CULTURE / Books

Oct 17, 2000

Japan's pop culture conquers the world

JAPAN POP Inside the World of Japanese Popular Culture, edited by Timothy J. Craig. M. E. Sharpe, 235 pp., $58.95 (cloth). Japan is undergoing a quiet revolution. Long known for its talents in miniaturization and for the mass production of electronic consumer products, Japan is gaining a new image: Miniaturization is giving way to "manga," and automobiles to "anime." The traditional arts -- ikebana, "sado" and "shodo" -- continue to flourish but they are being jostled aside by the dynamic domestic and international interest in Japanese popular culture.

CULTURE / Books

Jun 14, 2000

How Japan's JET program got off the ground

IMPORTING DIVERSITY: Inside Japan's JET Program, by David L. McConnell. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000, 328 pp. (paper). Stung by international criticism that Japan was too insular, the government decided in August of 1987 to initiate "one of the largest educational programs in the history of mankind" -- the Japanese Exchange and Teaching Program. In its inaugural year, 848 graduates from America, Britain, Australia and New Zealand were brought to teach in public schools all over Japan.

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

When trying to trace your lineage in Japan, the "koseki" is the most important form of document you'll encounter.

Climbing the branches of a Japanese family tree

By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Prize winner Maki Imoto catches light with glass

Prize winner Maki Imoto catches light with glass

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