More Community Articles - The Japan Times

Today's print edition

Subscribe for more access

COMMUNITY / How-tos / GETTING THINGS DONE

Dec 8, 1999

By Jean Pearce

Certain products come in many shapes and sizes, and a reader must thank the Italian Trade Commission in Tokyo for the successful ending of her search. She was looking for a special kind of Italian support hose made by IBICI and she wondered where she could buy them in Japan. It could be an endless search,...

COMMUNITY / How-tos / GETTING THINGS DONE

Dec 5, 1999

By Jean Pearce

I have long relationships with some of my readers. One contacted me first with a challenging project -- teaching her cat to use a scratch post -- and moved on through a wedding at a shrine and later a divorce, and finally the establishment of her own business. We have never met but we are friends so...

COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE

Dec 5, 1999

Born to fail the Japanese proficiency test

By Amy Chavez

Today at this very moment, while you are reading this newspaper, myself, as well as thousands of other foreigners in Japan, are failing the Japanese Proficiency Test.

COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST

Dec 1, 1999

With time, players learn the house rules

By Thomas Dillon

When in Rome, do as the Romans do . . . Jaywalk. Anyway that's what I did on my sole trip to the Eternal City some years back, cautiously following snappy Italian shoes here and there across the Via del Corso and elsewhere.

COMMUNITY

Dec 1, 1999

Dreaming of a posh X-mas

How was your Christmas last year? Midnight Mass by candlelight in a 12th-century chapel? Convivial gatherings of friends and family around old oak tables laden with turkeys and rich, dark, steaming puddings? After-dinner strolls through frost-crisp fields and woodlands? Roaring fires?

COMMUNITY / How-tos / GETTING THINGS DONE

Dec 1, 1999

By Jean Pearce

Recently I quoted letters from a university English writing class commenting on a column about General MacArthur. That prompted a letter from longtime resident G.A. Chandru who has done much over the years to promote his adopted city of Yokohama as well as Indian culture and products. A few years ago...

COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE

Nov 28, 1999

Work full-time and raise a bonsai? No thanks

By Amy Chavez

The other day I mentioned to my husband that I might like to take a class in growing bonsai trees. I don't even know why I mentioned it. I had been growing some pretty good mold in the bathroom and refrigerator so perhaps it seemed like a good time to move on to something more challenging.

COMMUNITY / How-tos / GETTING THINGS DONE

Nov 27, 1999

Unwelcome companions

By Jean Pearce

Thanks to e-mail, a vast assortment of unsolicited information comes my way. Some of it is even interesting and occasionally I share it with you. My amazement is not so much with the information I am sending your way today as it is with the person who noticed it and then did the necessary projection....

COMMUNITY / How-tos / GETTING THINGS DONE

Nov 24, 1999

The ultimate solution

By Jean Pearce

This notice was posted recently on my neighborhood bulletin board -- To people who feed stray cats: Please also take care of spaying or neutering them. While strays have become a problem recognized by the government, little has been done to eliminate it by the most obvious way: providing an inexpensive...

COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST

Nov 17, 1999

Hemingway's dead; long live the future

By Thomas Dillon

Hemingway once said that good writing begins with the simple production of but one true sentence. OK. Here's something that's true. Hemingway is dead.

COMMUNITY / How-tos / GETTING THINGS DONE

Nov 17, 1999

Getting things done

By Jean Pearce

From time to time I have been asked to remind people that although Japan is a very safe country, there are times when it is not. The yearend has always been a time when people should be especially careful. In old Japan, all debts had to be paid by the end of the year, but even a cursory perusal of today's...

COMMUNITY

Nov 13, 1999

Goodwill ambassador delivers hope

By David Chester

Akasaka Prince Hotel's Crystal Palace Room was filled with billowing arcs and floating columns of peach, rose and violet balloons Nov. 9 to help celebrate the opening of the stage play "Friendship (Yujo)" and the release of "The Paradise of Angels (Tenshi no Paradaisu)," a five-volume set of children's...

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.

What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji

By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Ishii Iron Works remakes self for workers, new energy

Ishii Iron Works remakes self for workers, new energy

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER

international-reports