Kit Nagamura - The Japan Times

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Kit Nagamura

For Kit Nagamura's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:

Japan Times

LIFE / Travel / WALKING THE WARDS

Oct 6, 2006

Animal magic in the jungle of Setagaya

Taxi drivers claim that, unless you've lived there all your life, Setagaya is nearly impossible to navigate. Major thoroughfares pulse straight across the second largest of Tokyo's 23 wards, but off the highway a maze of tapering, winding one-way alleys will often as not dead-end you in someone's back yard. Forget the map, bring a ball of string.

Japan Times

LIFE / Travel / WALKING THE WARDS

Sep 1, 2006

Slow train coming downtown

Arakawa Ward snuggles like a puzzle piece in the bends of the Sumida River. The third smallest of Tokyo's 23 wards, it has an intimate, unpretentious atmosphere that matches the attitude of many of its residents. Asked what makes Arakawa special, locals and even city officials tilt their heads in thought, as though the question has never occurred to them before.

Japan Times

LIFE / Travel / WALKING THE WARDS

Aug 4, 2006

Shibuya's got glamour, and more

Anyone with more than a week in Tokyo has spent some time with Shibuya's mascot, Hachiko, waiting and watching thousands of individuals merge on cue into a tsunami of mass determination and consumerism, a scramble of humanity.

Japan Times

LIFE / Travel / WALKING THE WARDS

Jul 7, 2006

Reach for the sky

Sumida Ward spans an area that has endured ruinous fires, floods, plagues, and seismic as well as economic jostlings. Residents of this battered part of the city nonetheless have always kept their pride buoyant and their spirits aloft. Even when the chips are down, residents of Sumida Ward insist that things are looking up.

Japan Times

LIFE / Lifestyle

Jul 4, 2006

How not to lose your cool with the kids this summer

July and August are brutally hot across most of Japan, and for parents with young children at home, the challenge is on to somehow enjoy the summer without getting bitten, burned or bummed out.

Japan Times

LIFE / Travel / WALKING THE WARDS

Jun 2, 2006

The hidden charms of Nerima

Do you have daikon ashi (giant-radish legs)? Let's hope not, as the Japanese metaphor usually applies to fat, lard-white and water-laden gams. If the daikon in question is from Nerima, however, it's no insult, as the northwestern ward's famous daikon is a long, slender and highly prized variety.

Japan Times

LIFE / Travel / WALKING THE WARDS

May 5, 2006

Unlocking the secrets of Kita

To keep Tokyo high and dry, management of local river and water resources has been always been a key concern, and to this key, Kita Ward holds the locks. Sluice-gate locks, that is.

Japan Times

LIFE / Travel / WALKING THE WARDS

Apr 7, 2006

Getting animated in Suginami

Suginami Ward may be known as a bed town, but the residents are restless. Butting up against Musashino and Mitaka cities and sharing a "west wing" location with Setagaya Ward to the south and Nerima Ward to the north, what appears to be a quiet residential area has always been a hotbed of activism.

Japan Times

LIFE / Travel / WALKING THE WARDS

Mar 3, 2006

Water, water . . . almost everywhere

Squeezed between the Sumida and Arakawa rivers, sliced with canals, and facing Tokyo Bay, Koto Ward is sometimes known as the "Venice of Tokyo." While the comparison is a considerable stretch -- many of the canals have been filled in or obscured by buildings and highways, and you certainly won't spot a gondolier -- the water features of Koto are integral to its past and its future.

Japan Times

LIFE / Travel / WALKING THE WARDS

Feb 3, 2006

Counting Nakano among the best

There's no better word than "counter" to encapsulate Nakano, a ward in Western Tokyo. It's an area of counterculture, counterintelligence, casino-card counters and, of course, lunch counters; perhaps even a place where you might find your counterpart in life.

Japan Times

LIFE / Travel / WALKING THE WARDS

Jan 6, 2006

Tokyo's 'Toontown' is game for a laugh

Outsiders often associate Adachi, Tokyo's northernmost ward, with the Aum Shinrikyo religious cult (still in residence), the recent Tobu Railway Co.'s Takenotsuka crossing accident that cost two women their lives, or the fact that the ward's alluvial ground makes it especially vulnerable if an earthquake struck.

Japan Times

LIFE / Language

Oct 4, 2005

At what point is a child being too active?

Current media is full of warnings that kids are being overbooked, overstimulated and, ultimately, overwhelmed. While articles on stress used to invariably feature the children of Japan, taxed by the country's rigorous academic pressures and long hours of juku (cram school), the focus now is going international.

LIFE / Language

Sep 1, 2005

Peace scholarship looks to resourceful students

The Rotary Foundation, a century-old, worldwide benevolent group of over one million business and professional leaders, has a new scholarship on offer. Rotarians have long provided a variety of international exchange opportunities, but their newest project, the Rotary World Peace Scholarship, is committed to seeing that peace efforts get circulated throughout the world.

Japan Times

LIFE / Language

Mar 31, 2005

Field of figures captivates kids

Last November, when students at the Early Learning Center of the American School in Japan went off to view an installation titled "Asian Field" by the renowned sculptor Antony Gormley, probably no one guessed just how big an impact the experience would have.

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

Live like a lord or lady for a night at Ozu Castle

Live like a lord or lady for a night at Ozu Castle

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