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May 14, 2024
 

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JAPAN LITE

COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
May 19, 2012
Reasons I don't buy a nuclear restart
I've heard many excuses for the nuclear accident that happened as a result of the March 11, 2011 earthquake and tsunami, followed by reasons why we should return to nuclear power. I don't buy any of them.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
May 12, 2012
Can Japan's countryside be saved from the edge of extinction?
Once upon a time in Okayama, Japan, lived an old man and an old woman who had no children of their own. One day, the old man went into the forest to cut down bamboo while the old woman went to the river to wash clothes. While at the river, she noticed a giant peach bobbing up and down in the water. She took the peach from the river and brought it home to show to her husband. In the evening, when the husband came home, he started to cut open the peach to eat it, but before he could, the peach split open by itself and a baby boy jumped out. They named him Momtaro, the Peach Boy. So far so good, eh?
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
May 5, 2012
English fluency and alligator pits
When I used to teach English at university, I was sure to leave an impression on my students on their first day of class. I'd tell them that as Japanese speakers, they could only speak with a mere 130 million people. But if they could learn English, they would be able to communicate with 500 million to 1 billion people. This is why you need to learn English, I told them. Heads invariably nodded, and students turned to each other and exclaimed "naruhodo!" (Indeed!). I had caught their attention.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Apr 28, 2012
Springtime comes — and goes — on the Love-Love Island
Spring has sprung on Shiraishi Island. The cherry blossoms have bloomed and gone, their fallen pink petals pushed back into the good earth by passersby. We have attended the Kobo Daishi Spring Festival at the temple to be purified. The fishermen have changed from going out in their boats in the warmth of the daytime to going out in the cool of the nighttime. Neighborhoods have banded together and cleared the Shiraishi Pilgrimage path for another season of holy hiking.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Apr 21, 2012
Kansai's new budget airline offers juicy savings
On March 1, the first flight of All Nippon Airways' new low-cost carrier, Peach Aviation Ltd., was launched. Yes, now we know that fruit can fly. This may bring on a whole slew of flying fruit — flying bananas, pineapples, and even low-budget strawberries.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Apr 14, 2012
What's needed to put something on the World Heritage list?
Last week I talked about Japanese food becoming a UNESCO World Heritage. This got me to thinking that perhaps American food too should qualify. Stop laughing.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Apr 7, 2012
Washoku on World Heritage menu?
Let's talk about food cultures of the world. And I don't mean yogurt.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Mar 31, 2012
A guide to Jizo, guardian of travelers and the weak
"Jizo Bosatsu has confirmed you as a friend on Facebook," said the email. I clicked on "view profile," which took me to Jizo's Facebook page. Not much information was revealed, except that his religious views are Buddhist, and he has 409 friends. His profile picture is a stone Jizo statue sitting peacefully with eyes closed, a hand-knitted cap atop his head, and a string of juzu beads around his neck. Jizo Bosatsu (or Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva in Sanskrit) is known as the earth bearer, and he holds a shakujo staff in his right hand and a mani jewel in his left. The shakujo staff is the kind with six rings that jingles. His mani jewel grants all wishes.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Mar 24, 2012
Some breaking mews on cat cafes
With animal employment rates on the rise, Japanese officials are now stepping in to regulate animal cafes. Citing new Animal Protection Laws, authorities are especially cracking down on 24-hour cat cafes. Makes you wonder: Where's a nocturnal cat to go for a cuppa?
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Mar 17, 2012
'Super priority' seats — what will they do ?
We are about to enter a new era: that of the super priority seat. The Yokohama municipal subway has just announced their ¥4 million mission to add these seats. What are "super priority seats?" No one has said. Perhaps they're for VIP elderly? The 100-and-over crowd? The only thing that has been revealed is that the start date is undecided and that the new seats will be in cars where cell phones use is prohibited. Um, isn't that all cars?
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Mar 10, 2012
Stages of assimilation
When you first set foot in Japan, it's hard not to be impressed by the efficiency and social order. The streets are clean, trains run on time, and the people are quiet and polite, yet possess enough of the bizarre to make them interesting. (One of the first Japanese people I met was a woman who always wore purple and my staid boss was a Beatles fanatic).
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Mar 3, 2012
Is Japan's enrollment season really a problem?
The University of Tokyo -or Todai as it is locally called — is considering changing its enrollment from spring to autumn to be more in sync with universities around the world, 70 percent of which are said to have enrollments in the fall.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Feb 25, 2012
Austerity — we've embraced it in the countryside
Austerity. It's a word steeped in meaning. No one is more aware of a stagnant economy than the Japanese people, who are spending less and learning to relish cheap, imported goods.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Feb 18, 2012
Learning a foreign language: blood, sweat and beers
A recent education ministry survey evaluated Japanese "third-year middle school students" on their attitudes toward learning English. One editorial indicated that the results of the survey showed that students nationwide had an "ambivalent and contradictory attitude toward English." Wow, imagine 14-year-olds being ambivalent and contradictory!
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Feb 11, 2012
A sure way to get rid of a cold
Have you ever thought about where colds come from? Where they start?
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Feb 4, 2012
Valentine's Day — the perfect holiday for one
Valentine's Day is coming up, and once again, you may be wondering how to deal with it in Japan.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jan 28, 2012
Watching Nishikori Down Under
All Japan was watching as Kei Nishikori, the first Japanese tennis player to make it to the quarterfinals in a Grand Slam since Shuzo Matsuoka at Wimbledon in 1995, took on the No. 4 seeded Brit, Andy Murray, at the Australian Open Wednesday night. Nishikori, ranked 24th in the world, knew he was up for a tough match but went in optimistic.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jan 21, 2012
Hold the plastic grass — I want the real stuff
Holding the kama (scythe) at the hilt, I tore into the grass. This is the way we cut grass on the island. Not many people actually have grass, and I cherish my small 2 sq. meter patch. My neighbor Kazu-chan, who was watching me in the distance, calmly walked over and said, "Amy, you're doing it all wrong."
MULTIMEDIA / JAPAN LITE
Jan 21, 2012
Hold the plastic grass — I want the real stuff
Holding the kama (scythe) at the hilt, I tore into the grass. This is the way we cut grass on the island. Not many people actually have grass, and I cherish my small 2 sq. meter patch. My neighbor Kazu-chan, who was watching me in the distance, calmly walked over and said, "Amy, you're doing it all wrong."
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jan 14, 2012
Reflections on being an expat
The hairstylist exclaims, "Wow, you live in Japa'an!" — pronouncing the word as if it was a diphthong. I am home for a friend's wedding, and getting my hair cut.
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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