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November 01, 2025

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COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE

Mar 25, 2001

Shisen Fukasawa

By Vivienne Kenrick

"Examples of the earliest beginnings of expressive writing go back as far as Egyptian hieroglyphic writings found on animal bones, Hindustan writings found in India, Sumerian inscriptions and Chinese characters found on tortoise shell. Of these, Chinese characters alone remain today in their original...

Japan Times

COMMUNITY

Mar 25, 2001

Covering Japan on foot, for abused women, kids

By Angela Jeffs

In late 1999, photojournalist Mary King and IT systems analyst Etsuko Shimabukuro began to get itchy feet. Back in 1996 they had completed a two-year trip that took them through three continents. This time they decided to stay closer to home.

COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE

Mar 25, 2001

Few tasks are tougher than being thoughtless

By Amy Chavez

Meditation increases concentration and mindfulness. That's what this book on Zen meditation says. It instructs me to concentrate for 20 minutes on nothing. Absolutely nothing. One strategy to prevent stray thoughts from entering the mind, the book says, is to concentrate on my breathing.

Japan Times

COMMUNITY

Mar 23, 2001

How diplomats express Japan

By Takuya Asakura

An Australian diplomat found modern Japanese weddings exciting and representing of the adaptability of the nation's culture, while a British participant described how much he loves "onsen" hot springs. And both did so in smooth Japanese.

Japan Times

COMMUNITY

Mar 22, 2001

I'll see your spell and raise a goblin

By Rob Gilhooly

Akira Kan wipes away the beads of sweat rapidly gathering on his forehead. The 15,000 yen that Pavel Matousek is asking for Juzam Djinn is beyond his budget. But the alternative -- trade in his Mox Pearl and Island of Wak-Wak -- seems like a bum deal.

COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST

Mar 21, 2001

Confessions of an outsize fashion cretin

By Thomas Dillon

If it is true that clothes make the man, then I confess to being poorly constructed.

COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE

Mar 18, 2001

Tsuyoshi Akiyama

By Vivienne Kenrick

According to Dr. Tsuyoshi Akiyama, until rather recently psychiatry as a branch of medicine did not receive in Japan the recognition it merits. He, however, made psychiatry his specialty. His reasons at the time were very specific.

COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE

Mar 18, 2001

Where all your nightmares come together

By Amy Chavez

I'm watching breathtaking video footage of a skier hucking air off 30-meter cliff then making smooth carved turns down a deadly 55-degree rock face. The last time I hucked and tucked a 55-degree rock face I woke up just before falling into a crevasse.

COMMUNITY

Mar 18, 2001

For top U.K. ceramics, no need to see Cornwall

By Angela Jeffs

Koichiro Isaka was traveling with his wife in the south of England when he first became aware of a ceramic tradition. Like many Japanese, he knew the name Bernard Leach, who studied with Shoji Hamada in the early 1900s as part of Japan's folkloric revivalist movement and helped establish Mashiko as a...

COMMUNITY

Mar 15, 2001

Queuing for the exclusive

By Estelle Viskovich

Harajuku, on any given Saturday, is filled with shoppers. On the main streets, the shops see a steady stream of customers move freely through their doors. In the back streets, however, the clientele is made to wait. The young people queue up -- for the privilege of buying basic street clothing off near-empty...

COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE

Mar 11, 2001

Pint-size English students learning up a storm

By Amy Chavez

Every Thursday at 4 p.m., a big storm comes and whips around my house with enough force to rattle the walls, loosen fixtures and send things crashing onto the floor. The name of the storm is Nami-chan and she's 4 years old.

COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE

Mar 11, 2001

Ignatius Cronin

By Vivienne Kenrick

At the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo, Ignatius Cronin holds the title of director of international public relations. His brief covers "everything from checking the level of English used everywhere inside the hotel and in its promotional materials and in-house magazine, to news releases and consultation on...

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

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Mamoru Iwai, stationmaster of Keisei Ueno Station, says that, other than earthquake-proofing, the former Hakubutsukan-Dobutsuen (Museum-Zoo) Station has remained untouched.

Inside Tokyo's 'phantom' stations — and the stories they tell

By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Foreign wrestlers have a long history in sumo

Foreign wrestlers have a long history in sumo

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