Search - places

 
 
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
Jul 30, 2008

Waribashi: Waste on a gluttonous scale

I f I were writing about one of my favorite Tokyo eateries for the JT's Food Page, this story would mostly focus on its delicious fare. However, as this is the Nature Page, my verbal meanderings here are not about the nosh at cheap and cheerful Shokudo Shogetsu in Tamachi, but about the tools used to...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 19, 2008

The rising middle classes want their wheels

BEIJING — W hat becomes immediately apparent on entering the 10th annual Beijing car show is the emotional intensity with which China has thrown itself into its greatest consumerist passion to date: the first throes of an affair with the car. The entire nation, it turns out, is in love with them, is...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
Jun 11, 2008

Luminescent mushrooms cast light on Japan's forest crisis

'Look over there! Turn out your flashlights," exclaimed Kunihiko Otsuki one recent Sunday night as he stood in an area of broadleaf mixed woodland with five other forest enthusiasts.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 22, 2008

A life on the streets

'I'm not always a stray dog. Sometimes I'm a cat," says Daido Moriyama. "Or an insect."
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Mar 28, 2008

Finding the real Okinawa in Yanbaru

The three baby goats frolicking in their enclosure, hewn out of northern Okinawa's itajii (evergreen oak) forest, were having a great time.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Mar 20, 2008

Photos preserve architecture that's disappeared with time

Unless blessed with unlimited time and resources, visiting all the buildings around the world that you would like to see is rather unlikely. Even if you do manage to reach some of them, entrance inside may still be prohibited or restricted.
JAPAN
Mar 15, 2008

Guide to top urban cherry blossom-viewing spots

The following is a guide to some popular cherry blossom-viewing spots in Tokyo and the Kansai region:
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / MY PLAYLIST
Jan 25, 2008

MY PLAYLIST: British Sea Power

"Originally we wanted to record it as a psychedelic jam session, but in the end we just couldn't help writing tunes," says British Sea Power vocalist Yan (born Scott Wilkinson) of the making of their third (and arguably best) album, "Do You Like Rock Music?"
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jan 8, 2008

An up-close view of Mount Fuji

Mount Fuji is the most beloved mountain in Japan — an honor it has held since the dawn of history.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Oct 19, 2007

Suji's and Bills: Stateside menus go big in Tokyo

Spend too much time wandering down the main Roppongi drag and you start wondering what country you're in. Since Suji's threw open its doors earlier this year, close to the Iikura-Katamachi Crossing, that particular stretch of Gaien-Higashi-dori has started to feel more like Main Street, USA.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Aug 26, 2007

It's ladies first now in Japanese love hotels

Japanese Love Hotels: A Cultural History, by Sarah Chaplin. London/New York: Routledge, 2007, 242 pp. with photos, figures and tables, £85 (cloth) The love-hotel industry is one of Japan's most profitable. It accounts for more than ¥4 trillion a year, a figure nearly four times than that of the profit...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jun 22, 2007

An inside track on the Japan Alps

As the overnight buses roll into the car park at Kamikochi at six on a summer's morning, disgorging disheveled and sleep-deprived long-distance travelers from as far afield as Tokyo, Yokohama, Osaka and Kyoto, the whole area is already buzzing with people.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Apr 7, 2007

Pamela Bodle

The Yokohama International Women's Club is holding its 52nd Azalea Tea from 10:30 a.m. on April 19 at the Hotel New Grand Yokohama.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Feb 10, 2007

Time custom-designed for that unique experience

It takes Charlie Spreckley no time at all to leave his apartment in Ebisu and meet at the station. He is tall, smiling, and very droll. Nicole Fall, his business partner, falls in not far behind, looking brisk and wearing wrist weights. "I've no time to go the gym these days. These help keep my upper...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Dec 16, 2006

Kiyonori Kanasaka

Last October, the Royal Scottish Geographical Society conferred its Diploma of Fellowship upon Professor Kiyonori Kanasaka of Kyoto University.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Dec 15, 2006

Reminiscing on a year at the table

The solstice is upon us, and the holiday season is closing in fast. But before we take refuge under the mistletoe and give ourselves over to the usual Yuletide overindulgence, we must first clear the clutter from the Food File desk and tidy up all the loose ends.
CULTURE / Books
Nov 5, 2006

Following the paper trail to a modern Japan

JAPAN IN PRINT: Information and Nation in the Early Modern Period, by Mary Elizabeth Berry. Berkeley/Los Angeles/London: University of California Press, 2006, 325 pp., $45.95 (cloth). The title of this book is to be taken literally. "Japan in Print" is not about Japanese prints or printing in Japan,...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Sep 29, 2006

Finding the finest foods from afar

Tokyo is not just one of the world's great restaurant cities, it's equally good for those who prefer to cook at home. Name the country or cuisine: Chances are you can find whatever ingredients you need, if not at your local supermarket, then certainly without having to leave the metropolis.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Aug 25, 2006

Ainu culture in Hokkaido's Akan National Park

When Japan's Meiji Era (1868-1912) government concluded that the country had a manifest destiny to commence full-scale colonization of the hitherto barely developed northern island of Hokkaido, it set about the task assiduously.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Jul 19, 2006

Home comforts in a natural idyll

It's 07:30 and I'm just back from hiking to the 1,860-meter summit of Mount Yashigamine, having set out at 4 a.m. and been soaked to the skin in the rain along the way, and I am slipping into a welcoming hot bath -- squeezing in a soak, as well as a mountain, before breakfast.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
May 17, 2006

Mud, mud, glorious mud

Loss: That sense of deep detachment when a loved one has departed; the bewilderment and displacement at finding something or somewhere treasured to have gone; the confusion of returning to one's childhood haunts only to find them changed beyond recognition. We have, no doubt, all felt these loses, but...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Mar 1, 2006

Dead wood mars warm winter retreat

Once a year I try to spend time in Okinawa, if possible a month, during which I usually get a block of writing done. Okinawa is one of my favorite places in Japan, and nowadays I would say that it is where I most like to be in winter.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Feb 24, 2006

A guide for doing the Nakameguro stroll

Naka-Meguro is one express stop southwest of Shibuya on the Tokyu Toyoko Line. And, like its one-stop counterparts on other commuter lines, the shopping streets closest to the station tend to attract a high concentration of eateries and bars all vying for your post-work cash. But like anywhere in Tokyo,...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jan 29, 2006

Understanding, visiting and living in North Korea

NORTH KOREA IN THE 21ST CENTURY: An interpretative Guide, by J.E. Hoare and Susan Pares. Global Oriental, 2005, 253 pp., including index, references/bibliography, b/w illustrations, £14.95 (paper). Jim Hoare opened the British Embassy in Pyongyang in 2001 and was the first British diplomat and charge...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Dec 18, 2005

What did you read about Asia this year?

Donald Richie THE COLUMBIA ANTHOLOGY OF MODERN JAPANESE LITERATURE, edited by J. Thomas Rimer and Van C. Gessel (Columbia University Press) This new take on Japanese modern classics -- old standbys and lots of recent writing as well -- is big (864 pages and it's only the first volume). It includes examples...

Longform

The byzantine process for converting a foreign driver’s license into a Japanese one entails mountains of paperwork and significant stamina — unless you're a lucky license holder from a country or region where these requirements are waived.
Driving in Japan isn’t hard. Getting the license is.