Search - life

 
 
COMMUNITY
Aug 10, 2000

Have lifestyle, don't need kids

Kazumi Kato has been married for 15 years. When she got married at the age of 22, she planned to have a baby once she turned 26 or 27. But when she reached that age, she still did not feel like becoming a mother, and decided to wait until she was 30. When she turned 30, however, she still did not feel...
JAPAN
Aug 9, 2000

Survivors' memories published in English

Michiko Nakano set out with the ambition of publishing a collection of stories of her peers' experiences of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki in English, hoping to educate more of the world's people about the historic facts of the attack, which occurred exactly 55 years ago today.
LIFE / Travel
Aug 9, 2000

Kyoto welcomes back the dear departed

Bon, the Buddhist Festival of the Dead, is celebrated throughout Japan, but exact dates vary from region to region. Kyoto traditionally observes Bon Aug. 7-16, and, not surprisingly, given its more than 1,200 years of history and strong Buddhist traditions, the town has some unique ways of paying tribute...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Aug 8, 2000

Japan: everything and more

THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE: A History of Japan from the Mythological Age to the Meiji Era, by William Elliot Griffis. A facsimile printing of the 1895 edition. New York, Tokyo, Osaka & London: ICG Muse, Inc. 2000, 462 pp., 1,300 yen. William Elliot Griffis, educator and clergyman, first came to Japan in 1870....
CULTURE / Books
Aug 8, 2000

White guys to the rescue

OUTPOSTS OF CIVILIZATION: Race, Religion and the Formative Years of American-Japanese Relations, by Joseph M. Henning. New York and London: New York University Press, 2000, 243 pp., $35 (cloth). U.S. foreign policy has a mission. Many American politicians or diplomats would be proud rather than hesitant...
JAPAN
Aug 7, 2000

'New breed' of woman emerges in Japan

Two weeks after Sakae Sasaki decided to open a cake shop in Tokyo's Meguro Ward in 1996, she realized she was pregnant.
COMMENTARY
Aug 7, 2000

Laissez faire destroys itself

The market economy is akin to nature. Government intervention in the market is comparable to the destruction of the natural environment and should be avoided. Nature untouched by the human hand is great. The fury of the elements dwarfs human power. Essentially, that is the opinion of free-market advocates,...
COMMENTARY
Aug 7, 2000

Updating the nuclear debate

LONDON -- Appearing before the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee, Defense Secretary William Cohen has confirmed that he and his colleagues see the threat to the United States of long-range missile attack as growing. The intention to develop a national missile defense system against is therefore still...
JAPAN
Aug 6, 2000

Marist headmaster inspired by nation's morals, quake ordeal

KOBE -- What is behind Japanese people's moral behavior remains a mystery to Brother George Fontana, although he has spent 11 years here as headmaster of Marist Brothers International School in Suma Ward.
EDITORIALS
Aug 6, 2000

Between a rock and a riptide

Where culture and technology are concerned, the news isn't just news any more; it's a chronicle of emblems. Barely a week passes without some fresh development highlighting the fact that everyday life is caught up in a riptide of change. Even those still standing timidly on the shore can see the way...
COMMUNITY
Aug 6, 2000

Founder of ballooning in Japan plans pioneering flight

A licensed hot air balloon pilot herself, Ichiyoshi Sabu's wife knows about fear. After her husband came close to losing his life trying to fly over Mount Everest, she put her foot down. No more daredevil stunts, she declared; you've a family to think of. This explains why he will be ground master of...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 6, 2000

It's Delhi's move in Kashmir

India recently celebrated the first anniversary of victory over Pakistan-backed incursion into the Kargil sector of Kashmir. Some victory: The two had faced off in the most dangerous nuclear confrontation since the Cuban missile crisis of 1962. They have gone to full-scale war three times already and...
CULTURE / Music
Aug 6, 2000

Fuji Rock fest hits its stride

After only four years, it might seem premature to subtitle the Fuji Rock Festival a "summer classic," but the event's institutional status was boosted this year by the fact that it was held at the same location as it was the year before. The Naeba Ski Resort was never the organizers' first choice --...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Aug 6, 2000

Breaking down the Japanese inferiority myth

Do Japanese people have an inferiority complex? Japanese people often tell me they feel inferior to foreigners. You've probably heard Japanese people say some of following yourself:
CULTURE / Art
Aug 6, 2000

Untruely, unmadly, shallowly in love

Daisuke Takeya went to New York to study art in 1989 and got thoroughly sick of being told by everybody and anybody that they loved him, in typically free and easy American style. On the other hand, he enjoyed the mispronunciation of his name Daisuke into Daisuki, meaning "I really like you" in Japanese...
EDITORIALS
Aug 5, 2000

The Philadelphia story

It is official. Texas Gov. George W. Bush, "W" (that is "Dubya" to Texans), is now the Republican Party candidate for U.S. president. In another perfectly coordinated, masterfully executed convention, the GOP rallied behind Mr. Bush and his running mate, Mr. Dick Cheney, and began the real campaign for...
JAPAN
Aug 5, 2000

A-bomb survivor tells of torments, appeals for peace

A survivor of the 1945 atomic bombing of Hiroshima this week told of the torments she suffered as a result of the bomb and issued an appeal for peace ahead of the 55th anniversary of the attack Sunday.
JAPAN
Aug 5, 2000

U.S. POW, 80, forgives Japan but not his mine slave masters

KYOTO -- Despite the torturous experiences he underwent during his 31/2 years as a U.S. prisoner of war in World War II, Lester Tenney says he does not dislike the Japanese people.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 4, 2000

A faltering lama, and the boy who is Tibet's new hope

NEW DELHI -- Will the Tibet problem ever be solved? The last several months have seen sheer despondency among the people of the plateau. With little sign of China granting them even a small degree of autonomy, let alone freeing them from its decades-old subjugation, Tibetans are now beginning to have...
JAPAN
Aug 2, 2000

July sees twice as many heat stroke victims

The number of heat stroke victims in Tokyo taken to hospitals by ambulance doubled in July from the same month last year, the Tokyo Fire Department said Tuesday.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Aug 2, 2000

'Grampa' walks among us

In most head counts my international family totals five: my wife and two sons, plus my mother-in-law and then yours truly. This reckoning, however, fails to include my father-in-law, who at times will visit for days on end.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 2, 2000

Lebanon's Daily Star does battle on a new front

BEIRUT -- The Daily Star did not need to send a reporter to the front line to cover the first salvos of the 15-year civil war that nearly broke Lebanon's back. The newspaper's offices were already there.
JAPAN
Aug 1, 2000

Disneyland offers gays chance to come out in the sun

As is always the case at weekends during summer vacation, Tokyo Disneyland was packed by tens of thousands of visitors Sunday.
JAPAN
Aug 1, 2000

Legal response to domestic violence "insufficient," panel says

An advisory panel on gender equality submitted a report to Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori on Monday labeling domestic violence a criminal act and seeking adequate legislation and measures to stop violence in the home.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Aug 1, 2000

First glimpses of the West

THE SATSUMA STUDENTS IN BRITAIN: Japan's Early Search for the "Essence of the West," by Andrew Cobbing. Japan Library: Curzon Press, 2000, 201 pp., with maps and 11 b/w photos, unpriced. On a summer morning in 1865, the steamship Delhi dropped anchor in Southampton. On board were 17 young students...
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Aug 1, 2000

Hard training is its own reward as big event looms

Note: By the time you read this you're still probably suffering a hangover with the force of two stars colliding in a distant galaxy (courtesy of Fuji Rock Festival): far out and painful, in other words. Well, this article concerns the Fuji Rock warmup weekend, an annual ritual where Fuji Rockers imbibe...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 31, 2000

Russians cheer thaw with Pyongyang

VLADIVOSTOK, Russia -- Until recently, the leader of North Korea's Stalinist state had never been known to meet a noncommunist, travel abroad as head of state or publicly utter more than a single slogan at a military parade.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 31, 2000

Japan-Russia exchanges build vital trust

Last month I had an opportunity to visit Kunashiri and Etorofu Islands -- two of the four Russian-occupied islands claimed by Japan -- under a visa-free exchange program. It was my second trip to the Northern Territories, which consist of Kunashiri, Etorofu, Shikotan and Habomai Islands. On my first...
JAPAN
Jul 30, 2000

Hair care for all the community . . . with a twist

Most people are a bit weary of hair salons; it's difficult to get what you want. Granted this may have something to do with the desired image you want. Yourself with say, Julia Robert's hair. It just can't be done. In a parallel universe maybe, but not this one.

Longform

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