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April 28, 2024
 

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BILINGUAL

LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Mar 25, 2004
The bento -- a scrumptious expression of love
As the season of hanami (cherry-blossom viewing) comes upon us, it's timely to reflect on the single most important aspect of hanami -- the o-bento (boxed meal). I say this because I grew up in a family in which the creation of the hanami bento was so elaborately planned, heatedly discussed and lovingly executed that, to this day, I can't conjure the image of cherry blossoms without madly anticipating what the accompanying hanami bento will look like.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Feb 26, 2004
Getting underneath the language of skin
"Obsessed" is probably the right word to describe the Japanese's woman's relationship with her hada (skin). From her earliest years, she is exhorted by her elders to look after her skin -- scrub, cleanse, moisturize -- to achieve that tsuru-tsuru (polished) texture and shittori (moist) feel. If a young girl should bruise her face in the slightest way, there is a big fuss: "Kizumono ni nattara oyome ni ikenai! (If you damage the goods, you can't get married)."
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Feb 12, 2004
'Iyashi': relief for tired Japanese salarywomen
It's widely assumed that whatever their station in life, most Japanese women over the age of 24 are tsukarete iru (tired). This has less to do with modern living than something ingrained in the Japanese tradition that tires women out before their time -- namely, the emphasis on shigoto (work). Women are expected to work harder and longer than men, especially at menial tasks in the workplace and home. Why? They're generally thought to have more energy reserves (true, they live longer) and much higher endurance. How often have I heard my grandfather remark, with a sort of grudging admiration as he watched his wife going about her never-ending round of household tasks: "Onna wa tairyoku ga arukarana (Women have such strength)." Obviously he didn't choose to hear her sighs of fatigue or complaints about backaches. Most women I know can't get through the week without popping vitamins or gulping energy drinks, and the phrase "Kattarui (I'm exhauuuuusted)!" has become more a salutation than a confession.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jan 22, 2004
The 'shitagidorobo': from criminal to fashion critic
It's not something that's widely advertised, but Japan is home to a massive shitagi-bunka (underwear culture). The most demure and modest of women will often be the owners of a collection that would put Frederick's of Hollywood to abject shame. And it's no secret that lan-pabu ("lingerie pubs," in which women strut around in underwear) charge more than sutorippu (strip bars). Women scantily clad are more expensive than women unclad -- that's how much lingerie is valued here. So valued in fact, that we have a unique, lingerie-related criminal: the shitagidorobo (underwear thief).
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Dec 25, 2003
Be good to your rice and your rice will be good
"Aaaaah. Nihonjin dana . . . (Ahh, isn't this what being Japanese is all about?)"
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Dec 4, 2003
Learning the finer points of this, that and 'nani'
Like the Japanese economy, the Japanese conversation has dwindled. Our words have lost their luxurious sheen, our sentences have been reduced to short strings of blah. We no longer need the metaphors of Osamu Dazai to convey our emotions, since a handful of familiar phrases have been encoded to cover most situations with ease.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Nov 13, 2003
The indispensable vagueness of 'domo-domo'
It's when I'm away from Japan and forced to speak in another language (in this case English) that I realize just how vague Japanese can get. At home, it's possible to go through a whole day without uttering one coherent sentence built on spontaneous thought and logic.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Oct 23, 2003
Forget Starbucks, we're doing the ocha thing
Do you have a little time? If so, then "ocha shimasho (Let's do tea, or take a break over something to drink)." This is one of Japan's most favored phrases and oldest customs. A breaking of the ice and shortening of the distance between people, the little ritual of ocha is to the Japanese what mealtimes are to the Chinese.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Oct 2, 2003
When American values get a woman's mind cooking
My brother has plunged into this deep gloom. It's his girlfriend, naturally. He's taken to calling me three times a week, genuinely perplexed and begging me to tell him why the romance is gone. He's my brother and I love him, but honestly, like most Japanese men the guy does not have a clue. I can tell by listening to his monologue, which after hearing similar versions almost everyday, I can repeat verbatim:
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jul 31, 2003
When in doubt, just blame it on the wind
The Japanese have traditionally described their island country as being governed by the forces of mizu (water) -- what, with all this rain falling for what seems like 360 days of the year, but our grandmothers say kaze (wind) is the other ruling force that tends to be overlooked. Mizu will wash everything away or keep things afloat. Kaze, on the other hand, blows through and changes events and emotions.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jul 10, 2003
Let's all open a window and see what happens
I'm depressed. And hyperventilating. This is because I just came back from visiting my cousin and his wife in their new Tokyo manshon (condo) that boasts among other things, a fully automatic kuchoki (air adjustor) that comes with a year's free supply of shinsenna sanso (fresh oxygen).
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jun 19, 2003
A sensitivity course in the frigid effects of hiesho
"Hey, what's with all the clothing during the hottest months of the year?" That's my friend Alan's observation of the working women populace in Japan. Nagasode (long sleeves), uwagi (outer jacket) and suttokingu (nylons) are the norm for so many of them, despite the unbearable heat and humidity of a Japanese summer.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
May 29, 2003
Confessions of a Tokyo shojo
You can take the girl out of Tokyo but you can't take Tokyo out of the girl . . .
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
May 8, 2003
O-soji: the way of the Japanese housewife
A lot of things baffled when I attended a Japanese school for the first time at the age of 14. Lot's of things baffled me, but the custom of soji -- or cleaning -- of the classroom and school buildings everyday after the last bell, seemed outrageous.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Mar 13, 2003
OK guys, it's payback time
Oh heck. It's that time of year again, the dreaded White Day that forces us males to dispense several mansatsu (10,000 yen bills) whether we're ready to or not.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Feb 17, 2003
The art of making excuses
Part of growing up in Japan is about naturally acquiring shoseijutsu -- phrases and expressions that get you through difficulties and make good impressions.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jan 27, 2003
Trials of a singleton
When a man's been single for too long, he can start to exhibit strange symptoms.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jan 6, 2003
Making an exit, Japanese style
My grandmother used to say that people of her generation never expected much out of life. In her prime, her mantra was "Ikiteiru dakede arigatai (I'm thankful just to be alive)" and in her final years, that changed to "Pokkuri ikitai (I want to die suddenly and quietly)."
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Dec 16, 2002
The thorny topic of 'office flowers'
Nowadays the term "OL (office lady)" is seen as semiderogatory (about time, too), and some companies have trashed it completely and started using simply jyosei shain (women employees). This is to differentiate them from sogoshoku (general worker), which is not gender-specific but is used to describe women who take on the same responsibilities as their male colleagues.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Nov 15, 2002
And you wonder why women don't want to have babies . . .
Rumiko, the 29-year-old president of her own computer-graphics company, says she has decided to become an achiragawa no ningen (person who has crossed over to the other side) by having a baby.
Town to block view of Mount Fuji in response to overtourism
The town government of Fujikawaguchiko, Yamanashi Prefecture, decided to set up a 2.5-meter-high screen to prevent tourists from taking pictures of Mount Fuji looming behind a convenience store.
In Japan, regional revitalization fails to halt population decline
Sakiyama elementary school in Tamba, Hyogo Prefecture, in March .Over the past decade, the government has directed efforts toward policies designed to give young people incentives to base themselves in rural areas.
Number of homeless in Japan hits record low
Homeless people sleep on the street in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward in August 2021.
Ukraine is far from doomed
When comparing Ukraine’s military situation in 2024 to Europe’s in 1941, Russia’s defeat seems entirely possible.
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.
Tokyo's Koto Ward by-election a race unlike any other
Natsumi Sakai, the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan’s candidate and one of four female candidates running in the by-election, touts her experience as a cancer survivor and midwife as having prepared her to tackle issues that women currently face.
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.
Casa del Cibo: A thriving jewel born from Tohoku’s harsh past
When chef Ryohei Ikemi moved to Hachinohe, Aomori Prefecture, and opened Casa del Cibo in 2011, it was the first proper Italian restaurant in the city.
Town to block view of Mount Fuji in response to overtourism
The town government of Fujikawaguchiko, Yamanashi Prefecture, decided to set up a 2.5-meter-high screen to prevent tourists from taking pictures of Mount Fuji looming behind a convenience store.
Top U.S. and China diplomats talk tough amid warnings of new ‘downward spiral’
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing on Friday

Podcast

From easily navigable train stations to the helpfulness of its municipal staff, Tokyo has earned high praise for its commitment to accessibility for disabled travelers.
[Rebroadcast] Japan is doing better on accessibility than you may think

Longform

Later this month, author Shogo Imamura will open Honmaru, a bookstore that allows other businesses to rent its shelves. It's part of a wave of ideas Japanese booksellers are trying to compete with online spaces.
The story isn't over for Japan's bookstores
By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

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Prize winner Maki Imoto catches light with glass

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