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May 03, 2024
 

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Kit Nagamura
For Kit Nagamura's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
Apr 6, 2018
Swordplay and samurai in Tokyo's Maruyamacho district
Traditional businesses are heating up in Shibuya's old geisha quarter.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Mar 4, 2018
Traditional arts live through kids
Nurturing respect for cultural traditions is a daunting challenge these days, when kids are glued to cellphones and game apps. So what does a country with centuries of carefully polished artistry do to preserve its heritage? Drop a curtain on the whole show? Not in Tokyo.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
Feb 2, 2018
On the hunt for Gaien Nishi-dori's taste-makers
In Tokyo, people set up funky cafes with all kinds of sideshows — curry, cats, goats, hedgehogs and maids come to mind — so when I catch a whiff of a good cup of joe escaping from a huge glass and concrete box near Gaienmae Station on Gaien Nishi-dori avenue, I wonder what the gig is.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
Dec 8, 2017
Warming to Sugamo's venerable shopping street
Gifting, and therefore shopping for gifts, seems part of the gestalt of winter. In Tokyo, though, retail wonderlands tend to be packed and pricey, full of ersatz Christmas music, harried customers and long lines. I opt instead for a low-key commercial street near Sugamo Station in Toshima Ward, known as Jizo-dori. Sugamo is often referred to as "Granny's Harajuku," and since I've got some elders on my list, I head there hoping to find a few age-appropriate presents.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
Nov 3, 2017
Changing times in Setagaya's Shoin Jinjamae
There's something alluring about the suburban stops between Sangenjaya and Shimotakaido stations, which has been serviced by the Tokyu Setagaya tramway for the past 110 years.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
Oct 6, 2017
Never mind the love hotels: Negishi is home to haiku, tea and famous pines
Alighting at one of the JR Yamanote Line's quietest stops, Uguisudani Station, I chat with the stationmaster about its name, which means "Bush-Warbler Valley." Apparently, the area used to have limpid streams and a bucolic setting that attracted the feathered songsters, also known as Japanese nightingales. A recording of the passerine's liquid song is broadcast on the platform in the early morning hours, the stationmaster tells me, but a quick glance around the vicinity makes me doubt the actual birds still sing here.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Aug 25, 2017
Drinking to health and history in Kagoshima
Passengers flying into Kagoshima Airport in Kyushu pass over verdant mountains and lush agricultural fields just before landing. This rich terrain, fertilized by ash from a nearby active volcano, partially explains one facet of the prefecture's reputation: Kagoshima is famous for healthy cuisine.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
Aug 11, 2017
Akasaka: Sublime and surreal spots in Tokyo's government district
A diplomat friend and I enjoy lunch at the Akasaka Capital Tokyu Hotel, in the governmental hub of Tokyo. As we part, he tips me off that there's a little-known footpath from the hotel, leading uphill to the Hie Shrine, one of Tokyo's most important Shinto sites. I decide to climb the discreet bamboo-shaded path for a quick visit.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
Jun 30, 2017
A visit to a preschool leads to lessons in noh and nothingness in Higashi-Gotanda
A gentleman I met at an educational conference invites me to tour the backstreets of Higashi-Gotanda, where he has opened a brand new preschool. Exiting A7 of the JR Yamanote Line's eponymous station in the early hours of a cool spring morning, I strike off northeast, along Sakurada-dori, more or less toward the address he provided.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
Jun 2, 2017
A trip to formal gardens yields finds of other kinds in Mejiro
Early summer, before the rains arrive and the squadrons of mosquitoes hatch, is a blissful time to stroll Tokyo's formal gardens.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
May 5, 2017
Pineapple cakes, pirouettes and petals in Aoyama
The one time of year I'm happy to linger in Aoyama Cemetery is when the venerable rows of old cherry trees growing around the gravestones blossom. Before heading there, though, I decide to first get in the mood with a bit of personal spring renewal.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
Mar 25, 2017
More than fare trade: backstreet by taxi
A combination of rain showers and tax prep in March signal Tokyo's segue into spring.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
Feb 25, 2017
East of Meiji Shrine, west of Jingu Stadium
It's a brisk February day, with a neoprene blue and cloudless sky. I alight at Harajuku Station and head northeast, threading narrow alleyways filled with cute guys and kawaii gals browsing boutiques.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
Jan 28, 2017
Good fortune in the Tokyo suburbs
The Tokyu Setagaya Line, a sweet little tramline, makes stops between Sangenjaya and Shimotakaido stations. A mere 5.1 kilometers long and one of only two trams left in Tokyo (the other being the Toden Arakawa Line), the Setagaya Line boasts a sleek fleet in candy colors. I hop onto a cherry red one headed toward Sangenjaya.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
Dec 24, 2016
It's a small world after all in Komagome
On a crisp and cloudless winter morning, the streets outside Komagome Station in Tokyo's Toshima Ward scintillate with shards of sunlight cutting between sharp shadows. I bundle up against the cold, and set off to seek out an artisan that I heard tell of on a backstreet last summer. It's a luxury to have both a destination and plenty of time to wander.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
Nov 26, 2016
Graves and gods of Otsuka
It's a bright fall morning when I return to Gokokuji Temple, an Important Cultural Property in Tokyo's Bunkyo Ward. Exiting Gokokuji Station, it only takes me a few minutes to find the two monks who promised to help me when I visited here earlier: 33-year-old Shinsei Miura and 23-year-old Kenkai Yamada. Today, they are dressed in formal monk's robes and wearing broad smiles.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
Oct 29, 2016
Living on prayer and paper in Otsuka
Hoping to catch the earliest blush of autumnal colors, I seek out the Important Cultural Property of Gokokuji, a prominent temple located in Tokyo's Bunkyo Ward. A satellite map shows it embraced by a forest of trees. I suspect a cemetery might lurk below the leaf canopy, but in late October who would want to say "boo" to that?
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
Aug 27, 2016
Vintage ventures in Tabata Ginza
The midday sky swirls with typhoon clouds as I set off to explore a little shopping area known as Tabata Ginza in Tokyo's Kita Ward. I'm thrilled to be in the charismatic company of a third-generation rakugoka (traditional storyteller) who lives nearby. I met Mikio Katsura, 32, by chance in Tabata last month, and he has kindly agreed to give me an insider's tour of the area.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
Jul 30, 2016
Inky points of interest in Tabata
Under glowering clouds, I decide to explore the area around Tabata Station in Tokyo. Though recently renovated, the station is one of Tokyo's oldest depots, dating from 1896. The station offers nifty spots for watching shinkansen trains bullet by, but I take the north exit to find the Tabata Bunshi Mura Kinenkan (Memorial Museum of Writers and Artists).
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
May 28, 2016
Backstage drama on Ginza's Konparu-dori
A temperate breeze swings through the surrounding willow trees as I pass jewel-encrusted ball gowns in the display windows of Ginza Takaraya, near Shinbashi Station in Tokyo. I'm scouting out Konparu-dori, a street named for the eponymous noh troupe that was gifted land here by the Tokugawa shoganate in the early 1600s. Konparu performers owned the neighborhood until the early years of the 1870s.
'So hot you can't breathe': Extreme heat hits the Philippines
A pedestrian cools himself with a folding hand fan as he waits for a ride along a road in Manila on Wednesday, as extreme heat hit the Philippines.
Did Japan intervene to prop up the yen? Analysts think it did.
A man walks past an electronic board displaying the exchange rate for the yen against the U.S. dollar (right) in Tokyo on Tuesday.
Town to block view of Mount Fuji in response to overtourism
The town government of Fujikawaguchiko, Yamanashi Prefecture, decided to set up a 2.5-meter-high screen to prevent tourists from taking pictures of Mount Fuji looming behind a convenience store.
Number of vacant homes in Japan hits record high of 9 million
A vacant house in Tokyo is seen demolished in January 2020.
Weak yen fattens tourist wallets in Japan
People visit the Ameya Yokocho market in Tokyo's Ueno district during the Golden Week holiday on Tuesday.
Kishida sets sights on energy and climate in South America trip
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will use a policy speech in Sao Paulo to set out his vision for ties between Japan and South America, almost 10 years after former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe advocated for stronger ties between the two in the same city.
Yellow sand allergy: A health issue made worse by climate change
A screenshot of the Meteorological Agency's satellite image of clouds and yellow sand (in pink) on Sunday.
Climate change, chalky grains and the risks for Japan’s rice farmers
A farmer plants seedlings in Satsumasendai, Kagoshima Prefecture. Japan’s self sufficiency rate for rice is nearly 100%, compared with 38% for food overall, on a calorie basis.
Japan wants you to spend more with ‘luxury tourism’
Performers play a traditional drum unique to Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, in the prefectural capital of Kanazawa on March 16 to mark the extension of the Hokuriku Shinkansen line to Tsuruga Station in Fukui Prefecture.
Theaster Gates’ ambitious ‘Afro-Mingei’ brings Black Chicago to Tokyo
Theaster Gates' “A Heavenly Chord” lines up church pews before seven speakers and a Hammond B3 organ, a type of electric organ prevalent in Black American churches.

Podcast

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

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Climbing the branches of a Japanese family tree
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