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May 14, 2024
 

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JAPAN LITE

COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
May 20, 2002
Kobe beef's secret: nice alcoholic cows
As we enter the barbecue season, that tiny lovely sliver of a season stuck between "o-hanami" and the rainy season, the question on everyone's mind is: What is Kobe beef? And what could make Kobe beef so special that people willingly pay over 10,000 yen for a steak?
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
May 11, 2002
Japan's life cycle of death ceremonies
I recently attended a "kankin" ceremony to mark the 100th day since the death of my neighbor Ueda-san. The usual funeral-goers were there as well as a couple of Sweat Suit Boys. Many of the attendees were people I only see at funerals. I'm beginning to wonder if this isn't a sort of hobby. It's hard to avoid funerals when 20 people die of old age per year on our island. Add to that "kankin" ceremonies (which the locals call "kanki") and "hoji" at one, three, seven, 13 years and so on up to 50 years after death, and that's 320 ceremonies in just the four years I have been here. That's frequent enough to be called a hobby, or at least a part-time job.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
May 4, 2002
'Nagashibina': a tradition just for girls
Tomorrow is Children's Day, the politically correct way to say "Boys' Day." This is not to say that girls don't have a special day. The Doll Festival was March 3, but is not a national holiday like Boys' Day is.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Apr 27, 2002
Let's celebrate nature at Disneyland
Monday is Greenery Day, a national holiday. Let's hear it for plants! But the question on everyone's mind is: Do plants really need a day off? Let's find out with some roving in-the-pot interviews.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Apr 20, 2002
Japan traffic, one of life's little screams
I have always wondered why people insist on driving in Japan. This country just wasn't set up for moving vehicles. First of all, it is too small to have a portion of the population rallying around, flirting with momentum and dodging buildings. Imagine cramming 125 million people into land the size of of Montana. Now imagine giving them all a vehicle.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Apr 13, 2002
Ignored by your pet? Try my ESL course
Trying to communicate with your cat or dog and not getting through? Maybe you are just not speaking their language. What language is that? Of course, that universal language: English! After all, Lassie understood English. Garfield thinks in English. And Mr. Ed, the horse, spoke it.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Apr 6, 2002
Sweat suit boys and psychedelic kids
On my planet, the United States, we have all kinds of people, even centaurs and mermaids. But there are a few types of people I have seen in Japan that we don't have in the U.S.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Mar 30, 2002
Ugly Americans? Just loud but lovable
If you're an American living abroad, it doesn't take long to realize that American's don't have a very good reputation. For those of us living in Japan, it's not the Japanese who speak badly about us, it's the other foreigners. Americans are the most disliked people, yet there is no one group of people Americans dislike. Shouldn't that say something about us?
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Mar 23, 2002
Gods and sea monsters: culture quiz
It's time for another Japanese culture quiz!
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Mar 16, 2002
Conspiracy behind itty-bitty kitty tails
There is one question about Japan that even the Japanese cannot answer: What has happened to all the cats' tails? I have never seen a kitten without a tail, but adult stray cats in Japan seldom have tails. Although many Japanese have offered theories, no one seems to really know the answer.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Mar 9, 2002
Burial, cremation and getting flushed
I have always thought the worst way to die is to get flushed down the toilet. My father used to flush everything: large roaches that might revive themselves even after you had stepped on them, flies buzzing their last break dances on the sink, and goldfish. The first sight of a goldfish listing to one side in the fishbowl meant a trip to the can. I would stand looking inside the fishbowl: "C'mon Goldie, Dad's coming! Vertical, vertical!" and Goldie, with her big round eyes full of fear, would flap her fins in a desperate struggle to right herself, the whole time shouting, "But I don't want to go to hell!"
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Mar 2, 2002
Metal horse, stun gun: I'm ready to roll
I have always been hesitant to drive a car in Japan. I'm afraid I'll run over pedestrians. I'm from the countryside in Ohio, where we have no pedestrians, just possums and raccoons. You're allowed to run over them. Sure, I had seen pedestrians before, but they were always on signs. They never actually walked off the sign and crossed the road. So when I came to Japan, I was surprised to see many pedestrians crossing the street.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Feb 23, 2002
Martha Stewart does a Japanese house
Today I will give Martha Stewart a tour of my house.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Feb 16, 2002
'Couch rice' unwrap grains of wisdom
In the U.S., we have "couch potatoes." Japan has "couch rice." These sleepy little "onigiri" spend most of their time curled in the fetal position in front of the TV. Many of them are in my English Speech class at the university. Now that it's final exam time, the couch rice must break out of their safe triangle worlds wrapped in seaweed blankets and adopt a vertical position long enough to give a speech.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Feb 9, 2002
Ueda-san: busy staying home no more
On our island, the passage of time is measured in lives. With the passing away of my neighbor Ueda-san, I feel like a part of Japan has gone with her.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Feb 2, 2002
Five ways to ensure classroom collapse
All the talk in Japan about classroom collapse, where teachers have lost control and students wander in and out, brings back memories of my junior high in the United States. There was no such thing as classroom collapse in those days. Instead, it was called normal.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jan 26, 2002
No snow tires allowed in your carry-on
Surely anyone who has tried to fly recently has found themselves mumbling, "Osama bin Ladin, you weenie!"
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jan 19, 2002
Who am I?
Traveler A: For my winter vacation, I tried to join the "Around the World in 60 Minutes" campaign tour but lost the lottery. So I booked a different package tour: five days and three nights in Thailand and Cambodia. The package included airfare, hotel and some meals.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jan 12, 2002
Time for an ant, frog and cement facial
Most university students I teach have part-time jobs. These girls aren't using their money to pay for school fees, though. They use it to buy new clothes and go to "estee" facial treatments, starting at 25,000 yen for five visits.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jan 5, 2002
The trucks and bolts of perfect massage
Anyone who has spent some time in Asia has become familiar with massage. You can get all kinds of massage here: Japanese "shiatsu," Chinese foot massage, Thai, Vietnamese and even Swedish massage. But all the different methods can be confusing. Let me set it straight for you.
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.
Three men rearrested over brokering of overseas prostitution
A woman speaks of her experience of being sent to Macau by an overseas prostitution broker during an interview in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward on April 8.
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.
Money stolen via online transfers up fivefold in Tokyo
Special fraud cases in Tokyo in which stolen money was sent via online banking services grew some fivefold from the previous year in 2023.
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.
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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