Tag - japan-lite

 
 

JAPAN LITE

COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jun 11, 2000
Haven't got the yang of Japanese gardening
I came home the other day and noticed my neighbor had cut my grass, trimmed my trees and watered my plants. This is normal. I apologized profusely, thanked Ueda-san repetitively and she said, as always, "Oh, it was nothing."
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jun 4, 2000
It's the season for cool drinks and hot talk
Right now it's 28 degrees, sunny with a light breeze. It couldn't be a more perfect day on the island. Yet when I went to the post office this morning, Mr. Saito said, "It's hot!" When I stopped by the supermarket, Mrs. Amano, the store owner said, "It's hot!" When I stopped by the ferry port, Mrs. Amano,...
COMMUNITY / JAPAN LITE
Dec 26, 1999
Forget this year, and the last 999 as well
At the end of the year now, Japan is in the throes of "bonenkai," or "forget the year" parties. I wonder, though -- shouldn't we be having "forget the millennium" parties?
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Dec 5, 1999
Born to fail the Japanese proficiency test
Today at this very moment, while you are reading this newspaper, myself, as well as thousands of other foreigners in Japan, are failing the Japanese Proficiency Test.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Nov 28, 1999
Work full-time and raise a bonsai? No thanks
The other day I mentioned to my husband that I might like to take a class in growing bonsai trees. I don't even know why I mentioned it. I had been growing some pretty good mold in the bathroom and refrigerator so perhaps it seemed like a good time to move on to something more challenging.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Nov 7, 1999
Hail Japan, for you will surely miss it one day
The foreign community in Japan is transient. People come and go. The funny thing is, when they go, they're usually ready. It's something biological: that need to return home.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Oct 31, 1999
Jed and Ted's spine-tingling fishing adventure
In Japan, the heat of the summer is the time for telling ghost stories. In the United States, we wait for Halloween. One of the most famous ghost stories is "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow," a story by Washington Irving that tells the tale of the headless horseman who rides his horse through the night....
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Oct 24, 1999
Who needs coffee when you've got kids around?
On Saturdays I volunteer at the Shiraishi Island Kindergarten, where I teach English at high volume. That's because Japanese kindergarten students are taught to shout everything in unison. So, a simple "good morning" becomes "GOOD MORNING!" Multiply that by 15 students and it's kind of like an alarm...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Oct 10, 1999
It's a wonder more letter writers don't go postal
Everyone in Japan is worried about unemployment but islands like mine are suffering from overemployment.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Sep 17, 1999
Ten reasons why English is an evil language
English is an evil language. If it wasn't, all Japanese people would speak fluent English upon graduating high school. After all, seven years of English study should be enough.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Sep 12, 1999
Three cheers for Respect for the Aged Day
There's a naked lady in my "genkan." I was upstairs in my office just now, when I heard someone calling my name. I went downstairs and there was 88-year-old Yamakawa-san, standing there naked.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Sep 5, 1999
Ultranationalist groups: aliens with sunglasses
It's another Sunday in Japan as rightwing organizations in black buses the size of semi-trailer trucks roll through the city streets spewing nationalist slogans. These military-style buses are driven by men who are usually described by others as "wearing sunglasses." Japanese people hardly notice when...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Aug 15, 1999
Food with an attitude coming to a table near you
Irritated? Feel like having an argument? Argue with your food. And don't presume that just because you'll get the last bite, that you're going to win the argument every time. Linda Matthie-Jacobs, author of two cookbooks about "food with an attitude," has followed up her previous "Fire 'n' Ice" cookbook...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Aug 10, 1999
Goodbye yuckie duckies, hello hollering herons
Have you been shopping lately? The price of rubber ducks is outrageous. While remodeling my bathroom, I paid over 1,000 yen for a mother duck and three chicks for my bathtub. And they were pink! I think someone's been tampering with the rubber duckie formula because within minutes of tubbing with these...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jul 25, 1999
Gesture your way to Japanese fluency
Yesterday I went into a convenience store to buy some aspirin. I asked the clerk using the English loanword "asupirin." The clerk pointed to the freezer section and said, "it's over there." "No, not 'aisu kurimu,' asupirin," I said. "Pudding?" he asked. At that point, he did what all befuddled clerks...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jul 18, 1999
Becoming a black belt in things Japanese
When foreigners arrive in Japan for the first time, they are full of wonder. Many of us aren't familiar with the Japanese language or kanji and have only read about Japanese culture in magazines or books. We all start out with a "white belt" in things Japanese.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jul 4, 1999
Slurp noodles right with the lip-o-suction method
Japanese people can eat a bowl of noodles in just five minutes. That's because they don't chew. Real noodle connoisseurs know that the taste of the noodle is felt in the throat, not the tongue, so to appreciate the true flavor of noodles, you must swallow them whole. I wonder how the stomach feels about...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jun 20, 1999
All it takes is a miracle to save the Earth
Last weekend I attended the 55th All Japan UNESCO conference in Okayama, where together we solved Japan's environmental problems. It's easy for everybody to do their part to help the environment. But it's surprising how many people don't do anything. So many people are environmentally unconscious --...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
May 23, 1999
Slim down for summer with the chopstick diet
When my mother announced she would finally be coming to visit me in Japan this September, I asked her if she had any questions. She replied, "Yes, do I have to eat with those sticks?" This is when I realized that perhaps a lesson in "chopsticking" would be helpful. Mom, this one's for you: Chopsticks...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
May 16, 1999
Hate is a many-booted creature that bites
The word in Japanese politics these days is reform. Japan is faced with an aging population, a weakened yen and a less-than-thriving economy.

Longform

People in cities across Japan will pop into their local convenience store for any number of products they believe will help them with a night of drinking.
Hangover cures are everywhere in Japan — but do they work?