Search - columns

 
 
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Apr 3, 2005

Giants no longer packing 'em in at the Big Egg

Perhaps this is a sign of the times indicating the Tokyo Yomiuri Giants, the once-almighty Kyojin team, does not have the overwhelming popularity it once had.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Mar 13, 2005

The Tokyo envoys: Englishmen in Japan

BRITISH ENVOYS IN JAPAN, 1859-1972, edited and compiled by Hugh Cortazzi. London: Japan Society, 2004, 352 pp., £39.95 (cloth). Hugh Cortazzi, distinguished diplomat and scholar, is an extraordinary octogenarian, penning columns for this newspaper and brainstorming, prodding and tirelessly seeing to...
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Jan 25, 2005

Bus hire, good food guides and more ISPs

The mailbox is choc-o-bloc with post New Year queries at the moment, so please be patient. We're answering them as fast as we can.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Jan 20, 2005

Wondrous fall whiteout heralded a warming winter of discontent

T here is nothing quite like writing controversially for stirring up a response, and commonly those responses come as a mixture of extremes.
LIFE / Lifestyle / MATTER OF COURSE
Dec 16, 2004

Reflections on rich learnings we all shared

When I began writing this column, I thought it would be a one-year gig. My editors thought so too. But things went well, and for nearly four years now I've reported in this space about my children's experiences in Japanese school.
Features / WEEK 3
Nov 21, 2004

Lolitas' bard is sitting pretty

The morgue-like, air-conditioned lobby of Tokyo's Keio Plaza Hotel is the haunt of businessmen in crisp black suits who sip $10 coffees and nod along to conversations that never rise above a murmur. But the studied cool is broken when Novala Takemoto swishes in, drawing faces in his direction like sunflowers...
LIFE / Language / KANJI CLINIC
Nov 4, 2004

Thinking of naming your baby 'Spiderman'? Think again

Unlike that of many countries, the Japanese government has the legal authority to prevent parents from giving their children certain names -- say the kanji incarnation of "Spiderman."
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Oct 17, 2004

Five years in Japan, a lifetime of influences

ONE HUNDRED SENTENCES WRITTEN ON FANS, by Paul Claudel, translated by Robin Magowan. Blair Atholl: Fras Publications, 2004, 28 pp., £6.50 (paper). Although the Catholic diplomat, poet and dramatist Paul Claudel (1868-1955) lived in Japan for only five years, from 1921-1925, when he was the French ambassador,...
LIFE / Language / KANJI CLINIC
Oct 14, 2004

New options raise the stakes in the 'Name that Baby' game

Since middle names are not used in Japan, the parents of a newborn need only agree on one name for their offspring. This is probably just as well: Choosing a kanji name involves a whole host of complex considerations, and while some couples settle on a name written in kana (Japan's phonetic script),...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / NAME OF THE GAME
Oct 7, 2004

A prince in time saves nine

When a young prince steals a magic dagger, he inadvertently empowers an evil magician with dark powers. In "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time," a three-dimensional adventure game from Ubi Soft finally making it into the Japanese market, the eponymous prince must find his way through his ruined palace...
COMMENTARY / WASHINGTON UPDATE
Aug 8, 2004

Happy Democrats suffer some nostalgia

WASHINGTON -- A lot of Democrats arrived home from the 44th national convention of their party happy that the performance of their new nominee exceeded their expectations and that the entire presentation was positive and error-free.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Jul 31, 2004

Some don't like it hot

My idea of hell is to be trapped for eternity in a tiny room with two women with one-track minds. All they want to do is talk, and their sole topic is this:
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jul 27, 2004

Know the law

You might have noticed the dragnet in Japan these days.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jun 29, 2004

Visa villains

With U.N. studies advising more immigration, and Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's worldwide campaign for more foreign visitors, Japan is not doing itself any favors with its new legislation on visa overstays.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Jun 25, 2004

Putting a bit of Color into the Meguro scene

Like Nakameguro 10 years ago, Meguro proper is one of those areas that has been quietly amassing bars and nightlife options over the last few years. When I first heard that Color, a multilevel restaurant and bar complex, had opened just down the hill from Meguro Station, I wasn't surprised. I was, however,...
COMMENTARY
Jun 13, 2004

Personality could crown Gordon Brown

LONDON -- Britain is governed by an unhappy couple -- a pair of men whose relationship excites more attention than any other aspect of British politics.
COMMENTARY / World
May 15, 2004

New jailers, same prison?

The stage-managed toppling of ex-Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's statue will not, after all, be the image defining the Iraq war. Like the famous photo of the young girl on fire running naked to escape the horror of napalm in the Vietnam War, the photographs emerging from Abu Ghraib prison will be the...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Apr 16, 2004

'Never say kekko...'

Tired of the daily routine of slogging to a gray building full of even grayer coworkers?
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Apr 16, 2004

The great outdoors -- on a plate

All it takes is the first hint of warm spring weather and we start thinking of the great outdoors. By that, we do not mean sea kayaking, a vigorous hike in the hills or a jaunt to some provincial onsen. For us, it is quite sufficient to salute the first blossoms and leaves from the vantage point of a...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Apr 2, 2004

Higashi-yama: 'Designer washoku' for all seasons

Cometh the season, as the saying almost goes, cometh the man. And every year when the hanami season rolls around, you are likely to find us strolling down by the Meguro River in Naka-Meguro. It's a favorite spot for us, not just for the superb cherry blossom that lines both banks, but also because there...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / THEN AND NOW
Mar 5, 2004

Doing the business in old Edo style

The 1830s woodblock print by Hasegawa Settan shown here depicts Surugacho, now in the neighborhood of the Mitsukoshi department store one block north of Nihonbashi Bridge in the center of Tokyo. Rendered with excellent visual accuracy, it seems to be humming in praise of the wealth and prosperity of...
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Jan 13, 2004

Prize trouble, study in Oz, and a recap

Student rants Let us begin on a note of tolerance and goodwill, with two similar reactions to the letter from student J. in southern Japan with fellow student troubles (Lifelines; Nov. 25, 2003).
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Dec 20, 2003

The early bird gets the proverb

A good beginning makes a good ending; that's my philosophy.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Dec 10, 2003

Is it a film? Is it a play? No, it's cinetheatre

Ever had a dream that was so real it made you lose your grip on reality? One that turned into hallucinations the following day? One that drove you close to madness?
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Nov 12, 2003

Gift-giving season came early for the Hawks and Giants

"Kokubo dealt to Giants" read our headline above the story reporting the transfer of infielder Hiroki Kokubo from the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks to the Yomiuri Giants on Nov. 4. But how would this appear in the sports transactions columns listed in many newspapers in North America and around the world?
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / VINELAND
Sep 19, 2003

Secret treasures of southern Sonoma

The sensual impact of a vacation in the wine country is hard to beat. Hot days, cold nights, good food and meandering drives under blue skies between vineyards and wineries that range from the manicured to the seemingly long-ago abandoned.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Aug 20, 2003

Hawks looking good for one last pennant under Daiei banner

Hanshin. Hanshin. Hanshin. That's all we've been hearing during most of the 2003 Japan pro baseball season.
JAPAN
Aug 3, 2003

Questions raised as Japan steams ahead on China bullet train

The race to win the contract for the high-speed rail link between the Chinese cities of Beijing and Shanghai has entered the home stretch, with Japan ready to pull out all the stops to beat its German and French rivals.

Longform

In 2020, 38% of all households were single-person. That figure is projected to rise to 44.3% by 2050.
The rise of AI companionship in a lonely Japan