Tag - japan-lite

 
Menu
Search
 
May 14, 2024
 

Today's print edition

Home Delivery
Subscribe for more access

JAPAN LITE

COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Mar 25, 2001
Few tasks are tougher than being thoughtless
Meditation increases concentration and mindfulness. That's what this book on Zen meditation says. It instructs me to concentrate for 20 minutes on nothing. Absolutely nothing. One strategy to prevent stray thoughts from entering the mind, the book says, is to concentrate on my breathing.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Mar 18, 2001
Where all your nightmares come together
I'm watching breathtaking video footage of a skier hucking air off 30-meter cliff then making smooth carved turns down a deadly 55-degree rock face. The last time I hucked and tucked a 55-degree rock face I woke up just before falling into a crevasse.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Mar 11, 2001
Pint-size English students learning up a storm
Every Thursday at 4 p.m., a big storm comes and whips around my house with enough force to rattle the walls, loosen fixtures and send things crashing onto the floor. The name of the storm is Nami-chan and she's 4 years old.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Mar 4, 2001
A trip to the sports club really wipes you out
I'm wiped out. I've never been to a gym where people spend so much time wiping the machines after they used them. They wipe the mats after they stretch. They even wipe the drinking fountain after drinking -- excruciatingly polite. And if you forget to bring your towel to wipe, they've got wiping mitts at every machine, hanging next to a bottle of disinfectant.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Feb 25, 2001
Japan studies has explosive effect on U.S. kids
Recently I gave a presentation on Japan to a class of preschoolers in the United States. This month, these 4 and 5-year-olds were studying Japan. Last month they studied Pakistan. They can write their names in Urdu.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Feb 18, 2001
Memories of Fido remain from hair to eternity
I am covered, head to foot, in dog hair. It's as if it had rained cats and dogs and I splashed through a puddle of them.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Feb 11, 2001
You haven't seen Japan till you've been in a bus
The bus is one of the best places for observing Japan. It's different from the train, where people pack in and do "gaman" till they get to their destination.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Feb 4, 2001
Life is too short, even when you have nine!
I used to think I knew how to bury a dead cat. Then I learned the Japanese way.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jan 28, 2001
In what other country can you ski in a zoo?
When we finally arrived at the ski area after three hours of driving, I realized I had not packed my ski jacket. I had packed my winter sailing jacket instead.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jan 21, 2001
Almost like a mouthful of Momma's tasty tofu
If you're a foreigner in Japan, Japanese people will always ask you, "Why are you in Japan?" If you're a foreigner who has been in Japan a awhile, Japanese people will always ask you, "Why are you still in Japan?"
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jan 14, 2001
Danger! Americans may smother you in kindness
I always get a kick out my students when they come back from the United States and exclaim, "Wow! Americans are so friendly!" Of course, what they really mean is, "Wow! No one even tried to kill us!"
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jan 7, 2001
Demolition derby in world's biggest game center
Whenever you step off the airplane in a new country, you are forced to throw all common sense aside and sacrifice your body and possessions to a complete stranger -- the taxi driver. From the moment you get inside his car, you become his.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Dec 31, 2000
Slithering on through the year of the snake
It's almost 2001, the year of the snake. I've done a little research using the Chinese "koyomi" calendar for the 13th year of Heisei, the year of the snake, in order to let you know what kind of year you're about to have.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Dec 24, 2000
Roll up your sleeve when Lance comes calling
Hospitals come and go -- especially on our island. You can always tell when the hospital comes because it's a large mobile contraption that rolls off the ferry. When it's time to go, it rolls back onto the ferry and you can wave goodbye to the hospital as it goes back out to sea. It's basically a big bus, stocked with everything you could possibly need for 10 minutes.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Dec 17, 2000
All I want for Christmas is some cud to chew
Since Japan has finally started to perform organ transplants, I can finally ask Santa for what I've always wanted -- an organ. And no, I don't mean a sex change. The organ I want happens to belong to a cow. And no, I don't mean the udder. What I'd like from a cow is something that would make my life a lot easier. So for Christmas, I'd like to ask Santa for a cow-stomach transplant. I want four stomachs, just like a cow, so I can chew my cud. Wouldn't it be lovely!
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Dec 10, 2000
Old Mother Hubbard had a better deal than this
I keep trying to convince my friend Reiko to burrow. "You'd have much more living space," I told her. Other than the underground shopping areas and a few pipelines, you'd have as much space as you wanted. "But this size apartment is normal in Japan," she said.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Dec 3, 2000
More testing times for students of Japanese
Today, many foreigners have put on their armor and have sharpened their swords in preparation for battling through the Japanese Proficiency Test. I wish you all luck and survival. I recently spoke with the god of the Japanese Proficiency Test, who lives on Uranus and appeared on my TV screen via my satellite dish. He gave the following predictions in a millennium special edition of the Japanese Proficiency Test-takers' horoscope.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Nov 26, 2000
Sweet potato season brings bloody good fun
These days I can see women on our island, all over 80-years old, carting piles of sweet potatoes in wheel barrows from their gardens to their homes. Japanese sweet potatoes are the size of hand grenades and have what look like fuses on the ends. I always think of artillery when I see piles of sweet potatoes. It seems like such a violent vegetable.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Nov 19, 2000
Top 10 commandments for Shiraishi Island
I've been camped out here all day. I'm demonstrating against the recent change in an old Japanese tradition. I'm protesting the closing down of Japan's beer machines.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Nov 12, 2000
How to pick a foreigner out of the crowd
The longer I live in Japan the more I realize how strange people of my own planet look. Compared to the lean, congruent Japanese, foreigners seem like gigantic globs of cellulite.
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.
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 first month of operations, ride-hailing services used more than taxis in Tokyo
As of last Sunday, ride-hailing services, which use personal vehicles to offer paid rides, had been used a total of 12,628 times in five areas.
Tech giants start to treat Southeast Asia like the next big thing
Attendees arrive for Microsoft's event on AI technologies in Jakarta on April 30.
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.
Japan’s tween skateboarders get head start on preparations for 2028 Olympics
Ibuki Matsumoto competes at an event in Osaka on April 21.

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

Things may look perfect to the outside world, but today's mom is fine with some imperfection at home.
How 'Reiwa moms' are reshaping motherhood in Japan
By Mai Yoshikawa

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Live like a lord or lady for a night at Ozu Castle
Live like a lord or lady for a night at Ozu Castle

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS note

Read more

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER