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May 15, 2024
 

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JAPAN LITE

Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jan 7, 2012
Confessions of a beer lover on the New Year
So, how's your New Year's resolution coming along? "The what?" you say? Given up already, have you? Well, I haven't given up mine. And so enthusiastic am I that I've already completed three weeks of my resolution even though we're only one week into the New Year. And I don't even consider myself an overachiever.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Dec 31, 2011
Year of the dragon — it'll be a hot one
The year of the dragon, (tatsu, ryu or ryo in Japanese) is upon us — and now just hours before the New Year, I can see the dragon peeking out of his lair, counting down the seconds until he is allowed to take over the world for a year. As midnight approaches, he waits . . . 10, 9, 8, 7, ready to pounce . . . 6, 5, 4, breathing fire 3, 2, 1. . . . Happy New Year! We are engulfed in flames.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Dec 24, 2011
Politeness beyond words
We all know the Japanese are "very polite." But being polite goes beyond just saying excuse me or thank you or holding the door open for someone. Let's start with the word "teinei," or "polite," in Japanese. Teinei goes beyond the English word "polite" because it applies to far more than just people and their actions. In Japanese, you can treat a fragile item "politely" meaning "gently" or "with care." A birthday present should be wrapped "politely." A friend recently complimented my cat, exclaiming how "politely" she uses her litter box (clean and orderly).
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Dec 17, 2011
Herbivorous men, where's the beef?
My single Japanese girlfriends complain that there are no interesting guys out there. Could they be right? It seems that these days the average Japanese guy is, well, you know, kinda boring. Kinda quiet. Nothing wrong with being quiet of course, especially if you have nothing to say.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Dec 10, 2011
How does 'Come all ye Bodhisattvas' grab you?
Many people know that most Japanese believe in Shinto and Buddhism. Fewer are aware that many also participate in "commercialized Christianity" in order to take advantage of those fun Christian holidays.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Dec 3, 2011
Sorry, please excuse me, thank you
"I hear the Japanese are very polite. Is it true?"
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Nov 26, 2011
Keeping abreast of the bra trends in Japan
Oh fun, time for an annual breast examination. Not that there is any pain involved with the examination. It's finding time to go to the hospital that's tough.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Nov 19, 2011
When are we going to eat udon?
"When are we going to eat udon?" asks our neighbor Rikimatsu-san.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Nov 12, 2011
Meanwhile, on the island where they say hello . . .
"This year we have a class where we introduce the children to their neighbors on the island," said the principal of the Shiraishi Elementary School. "So we'd like you to come and talk to the children and tell them why you like living on the island."
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Nov 5, 2011
What are they thinking?
People in the Japanese countryside do some strange things. It's enough to make you wonder, "What are they thinking?"
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Oct 29, 2011
A hippo goes under the drill
The meeting room was packed with dentists in white smocks — men and women, interns and doctors nearing retirement — about 30 of them sitting in front of a screen and another 20 standing along the sides of the room. The lights go out and on the screen appears an X-ray of hippopotamus teeth.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Oct 22, 2011
Telling time with animals
There are many ways to tell time: the sundial, the 12-hour clock and the 24-hour clock. But there is a much more interesting way to tell time too, one the Japanese used in ancient times: by animal.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Oct 15, 2011
When favors throw you into a vicious circle
The Japanese countryside is a place where the people are so nice, it's well, ridiculous. Actions that wouldn't even register in my mind as "thankable" are commonly thanked for here.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Oct 8, 2011
He waits and measures
My husband went to the local hardware store the other day. What's so exciting about that? You've obviously never been to a hardware store in Japan.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Oct 1, 2011
Not just cats — will dogs also get nine lives?
They say cats have nine lives, but dogs? With the help of the Japan Earthquake Animal Rescue and Support, dogs may soon get nine lives too.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Sep 24, 2011
Amore mio, Aomori
With reconstruction underway and tourism returning to northern Japan, Aomori Prefecture is once again a viable tourist destination. You can ride the Hayabusa (not the space probe, but the bullet train) and probe northern Japan. As the new bullet train pierces the northernmost reaches of Honshu, to me, it looks like a giant hurtling thermometer.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Sep 17, 2011
Why you shouldn't worry about receiving a pension
Worried about all those years you have, or haven't, contributed to the Japanese pension system? Worry no more! The good news is that you won't need a pension from the Japanese government anyway. In honor of Respect for the Aged Day, I'll explain why.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Sep 10, 2011
The power of spiders in rural Japan
Although I have lived in Japan's countryside for well over a decade, I have only recently come to understand the power of spiders.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Sep 3, 2011
When people ask, 'Do you remember me?'
Believe it or not, many Japanese people go to the beach just once a year, go skiing for one day a year and have a BBQ . . . once a year! It's no wonder Western holidays such as Valentine's Day and Christmas have become so popular in Japan — they happen just one time a year! And it's no wonder that there is no room for Japanese events to happen year-round.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Aug 27, 2011
Do you know the origins of sea salt?
The Japanese summer is officially over. But the heat lingers.
Japanese stripper bids to have her porn movies taken off internet
Plaintiff Miyuki Ariga (left) speaks at a news conference along with her lawyer, Yoshitomo Morohashi, after filing a lawsuit at the Tokyo District Court on Monday.
Yen’s fragility raises specter of a new currency war in Asia
Suspected intervention to drag the yen off a 34-year low against the dollar is already seen as unlikely to have a lasting effect if Japan continues alone.
Online booking for Mount Fuji climb to open on May 20
Visitors climb the slopes of Mount Fuji, Japan's highest peak at 3,776 meters. From May 20, climbers will have access to a new online booking system for Mount Fuji's most popular Yoshida trail in Yamanashi Prefecture.
Ex-METI bureaucrat given 10-year sentence for drugging and raping women
The Tokyo District Court on Monday sentenced a former industry ministry bureaucrat to 10 years in prison for drugging six women with sleeping pills and then raping or groping them in 2022.
Political party Tsubasa no To investigated over election obstruction
Officers from the Tokyo Metropolitan Police raid the Tsubasa no To office in Tokyo on Monday.
In a rare event, the Northern Lights show up in Hokkaido
The Northern Lights in Nayoro, Hokkaido, on Saturday
Is black the new green for Japan’s flagging tea farmers?
George Guttridge-Smith brews tea at Kyoto Obubu Tea Farm in Wazuka, Kyoto Prefecture, where he serves as head of international development.
Japan's logistics firms seek partnerships to cope with driver shortage
Japan Post CEO Tetsuya Senda (right) and his Seino Transportation counterpart Satoshi Takahashi announce their companies' agreement on joint long-haul truck operations, in Tokyo on Thursday.
How the discovery of a giant sword in Nara offers clues into ancient Japan
Archaeologists say a 1,600-year-old wooden coffin at the Tomio Maruyama tumulus in the city of Nara was kept in good condition probably because it was protected by a layer of clay and copper ions that had seeped out of the mirrors that were buried together.
Unlike 10 years ago, Japan's new security bill sparks little debate
The Lower House starts discussing a security clearance bill on April 19 in Tokyo.

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