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May 04, 2024
 

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BACKSTREET STORIES

Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / BACKSTREET STORIES
Feb 27, 2011
Notes from the underground
When my yoga class was canceled recently, I decided to explore Yoga instead.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / BACKSTREET STORIES
Jan 30, 2011
Aoyama warmth beats the cold
Kotto-dori (Antiques Avenue), a pin-straight link between Aoyama and Roppongi avenues in Tokyo's Minato Ward, was once a melange of pricey boutiques and high-end antique stores. Word has it that the street is going through changes, so I set off to see what's up.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / BACKSTREET STORIES
Jan 9, 2011
The narrow roads of Senju
In the frantic yearend season known as shiwasu (lit. "teachers running"), when even dignified people grow harried, a friend invited me to play hooky from the madness and take a ramble together around her Tokyo neighborhood. Since the gift of time together is a great one, I hopped the next train to Senju in Adachi Ward.
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
Nov 28, 2010
Eats, shoots and leaves in Hakusan
It's hunting season in Tokyo. I kit up and trek out to the Hakusan area of Bunkyo Ward, hoping to shoot (with camera) the wild shades of autumn.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
Oct 31, 2010
Crafts meet art in Nihonbashi
Perhaps all writers love paper — it's in our fiber, so to speak — and when it comes to paper, Japanese washi rules. So, off I head to Ozu Washi store in central Tokyo's Chuo Ward to take a class in how to make it.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
Sep 26, 2010
Moving pictures of Shibamata
I change trains three times before boarding one of Tokyo's shortest lines, the 2.5-km Keisei Kanamachi. I'm bound for Shibamata, which isn't precisely a backstreet, but it's tucked so far from most major thoroughfares in the back-beyond of Katsushika Ward that I imagine it will fit the bill.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
Jul 25, 2010
Brilliant facets of Nishi-Ojima
Setting off to explore Nishi-Ojima (West Large Island) and Kita Suna (North Sand) in Tokyo's downtown Koto Ward, I know better than to expect a seaside resort.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
Jun 27, 2010
Cool (old) Japan flourishes along flowing rivers of Edo
In blistering midday heat, traffic blasts by, spitting out exhaust and grit at the busy intersection of Yotsume and Shin Ohashi Avenues. I've exited Sumiyoshi Station on the Toei Shinjuku Line, eager to find Sarue Onshi Park, said to be pretty with streams and water features. About to produce a water feature of my own (sweat, that is), I take desiccative action by ducking under the fresh white noren curtain flapping in front of soba shop Oedo.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
May 30, 2010
Miso happy in Nakamurabashi
I hear somewhere near Nakamura in Nerima Ward, miso is still made in the age-old traditional way. I figure I'll just wander around the tidy little neighborhood and find it.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
Apr 25, 2010
Horsing around in Shinjuku
At the tail end of this year's cherry-blossom season I set off for one of Tokyo's prime viewing spots, Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden. My idea is to walk the quiet backstreets circling the garden, then canter through the park itself, which features several late-blooming varieties of sakura cherry trees.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
Mar 28, 2010
Thatched spring in Setagaya
To slough off winter sluggishness and get into step with spring, I set a course from Seijo Gakuen-mae on the Odakyu Line to Jidayubori Minkaen — a compound of late-Edo Period (1860s) thatched farmhouses in Tokyo's Setagaya Ward — and ending at Futako Tamagawa Station, about 4 km away as the crow flies.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
Feb 28, 2010
Bulking up in Bush Warbler Valley
I'd like to improve my grip on sumo wrestling, so when a friend invites me to watch the big boys tussle through a morning practice, I jump at the chance. I get off at Uguisudani (Bush Warbler Valley) Station on the Yamanote Line, where the station-identity jingle is of this warbler's mellifluous chortle which heralds spring in Japan.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
Jan 31, 2010
Rags and riches by the Myoshoji
Few writers have been able to evoke the bare beams of poverty or the lambent lives of those who endure it with more dignity than Fumiko Hayashi (1903-1951).
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
Dec 27, 2009
Fun and funky Fukagawa
After so many yearend parties and as the weather grows wintry in Tokyo, it might seem like madness to go for a walk, but a stroll east of the Sumida River, in Fukagawa, is an ideal way to clear the head. The area offers expansive parks of lingering colored leaves, magnificent art shows and, in some back streets, a jovial and humane spirit that bodes well for the coming year.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
Nov 29, 2009
Kichijoji captivations
Kichijoji has shopping covered, literally and figuratively. The roofed malls at this popular stop on the Chuo Line 15 minutes west of Shinjuku sport prices markedly lower than those of central Tokyo, and the lure of its bargains is easily as strong as its famed live jazz and blues scene.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
Nov 1, 2009
The haunting beauty that is Yushima
On a glowering October morning, I exit the Chiyoda Line at Yushima Station and stroll northwesterly through the back streets of Tokyo's Bunkyo Ward.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / BACKSTREET STORIES
Sep 27, 2009
Hot stuff in Tsukishima
Dating from 1892, Tsukishima is Tokyo's oldest island of reclaimed land — and also its monjayaki Mecca. Once a cheap after-school treat cooked on griddles in working-class neighborhoods of postwar Tokyo, monjayaki has morphed into a dinner entre — and Tsukishima is the place to try it.
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
Sep 27, 2009
Hot stuff in Tsukishima
Dating from 1892, Tsukishima is Tokyo's oldest island of reclaimed land — and also its monjayaki Mecca. Once a cheap after-school treat cooked on griddles in working-class neighborhoods of postwar Tokyo, monjayaki has morphed into a dinner entre — and Tsukishima is the place to try it.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
Aug 30, 2009
A textiles tour to dye for
A landlocked train stop named Hikifune (Tugboat) begs a question. Two such stations in Tokyo's downtown Sumida Ward — the other is nearby Keisei Hikifune — suggest there should be some answers.
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
Jul 26, 2009
Hopping on through Mita
High on a hill in Tokyo's central Mita district, the Australian Embassy is easy to spot. Two national coats of arms bolted to the outside of the building feature oversize images of emus and kangaroos, designated as symbols of this self-styled progressive nation because they supposedly can't walk backwards.
Biden calls ally Japan ‘xenophobic’ along with rivals China and Russia
U.S. President Joe Biden speaks in Syracuse, New York, on April 25.
Yen swings stir talk that Japan is in the FX market once again
An electronic screen in Tokyo displays the yen exchange rate against the U.S. dollar and the graph showing its recent swings, on Thursday.
Harajuku strives to reclaim its former glory — and surpass it
Laforet Harajuku, which celebrated its 45th anniversary last year, has been a witness to the district's evolution over the years.
Weak yen fattens tourist wallets in Japan
People visit the Ameya Yokocho market in Tokyo's Ueno district during the Golden Week holiday on Tuesday.
Kishida sets sights on energy and climate in South America trip
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will use a policy speech in Sao Paulo to set out his vision for ties between Japan and South America, almost 10 years after former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe advocated for stronger ties between the two in the same city.
Yellow sand allergy: A health issue made worse by climate change
A screenshot of the Meteorological Agency's satellite image of clouds and yellow sand (in pink) on Sunday.
Climate change, chalky grains and the risks for Japan’s rice farmers
A farmer plants seedlings in Satsumasendai, Kagoshima Prefecture. Japan’s self sufficiency rate for rice is nearly 100%, compared with 38% for food overall, on a calorie basis.
Japan wants you to spend more with ‘luxury tourism’
Performers play a traditional drum unique to Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, in the prefectural capital of Kanazawa on March 16 to mark the extension of the Hokuriku Shinkansen line to Tsuruga Station in Fukui Prefecture.
Theaster Gates’ ambitious ‘Afro-Mingei’ brings Black Chicago to Tokyo
Theaster Gates' “A Heavenly Chord” lines up church pews before seven speakers and a Hammond B3 organ, a type of electric organ prevalent in Black American churches.

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