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May 15, 2024
 

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WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST

COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Sep 15, 2007
The fading pitter-patter of little feet
The flip-side of Japan's ever-aging population is that there are increasingly fewer kids. Record-low statistics from 2005 put the birthrate at 1.26 children per woman, a count that somehow sounds painful — but the real hurt is the one being put on Japanese society.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Sep 1, 2007
The honorable language
Whenever the work and weariness of life fills my house with gloom, the one sure way to drive away the clouds and ring in the laughter is this:
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Aug 18, 2007
Some things never change
In the last edition of this column, I sewed together a few of the major changes I have seen in Japan since first arriving here close to 30 years ago.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Aug 4, 2007
The times, they've been a changin'
Thumbing through some faded photographs of my early days in Japan, I find a mustachioed face with shoulder-length hair and water-clear eyes, eyes perhaps indicative of a vast open space behind. My face.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Jul 21, 2007
The all-in-one conspiracy theory
"Life in Japan is like tofu," announces a friend over drinks at a late night eatery. "It's much too bland. What this country needs is a good dose of . . . evil."
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Jul 7, 2007
Jawing over Japanese jaws
"Let's talk," says my wife. Her euphemism for, "Shut up and listen."
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Jun 23, 2007
A doughnut by any other name
Basically, I try to live my life according to that time-tested maxim from the Roman philosopher Seneca, who said wisdom is knowing the proper limit of things.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Jun 9, 2007
The Grand Ole Opry it ain't
Topping the list of things that I came to love about Japan — but which I didn't care for at first — is not tofu, hot baths, nor even noodle sandwiches, all very soul-soothing at present. No, my No. 1 "I learned to love it" item is something much closer to home — country music.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
May 26, 2007
In the darkness of our times
One night after visiting friends, I hopped on the local bus for a ride home. At the very first stop, the other passengers — a cane-clutching obaasan and a mother with her pre-schooler — stepped off, leaving me all alone as the bus barreled through the dark.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
May 12, 2007
The freshman wears Prada
"Because I want to make a statement," says the girl. "And my statement is that I am unique, which my choice of fashion demonstrates."
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Apr 28, 2007
Eating more than your heart out
If the old saw is correct and, "You are what you eat," then Takeru Kobayashi is a hot dog. In more ways than one.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Mar 17, 2007
A pixel paints a thousand words
What I am thinking is this: "Looks can be deceiving."
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Mar 3, 2007
That's OK. I thought it was the horse
Here's a joke I once read in a worn volume of rib ticklers. A bit off color, but my ribs loved it.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Feb 17, 2007
My sense of meiwaku
It's the morning rush and the only train that can get you where you need to go on time will be hissing to the track in two minutes. Meanwhile you have to buy a ticket.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Feb 3, 2007
Love Stories: the five rules
All is fair in love and war, but still there are rules. At least -- according to a romance-reading colleague -- there are rules in love stories.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Jan 20, 2007
The child in me, the child in you
Mirrors don't lie, but they can mislead. Mine, for example, will sometimes offer unkind reflections upon my age. Especially in the morning.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Jan 6, 2007
Bear with me on this
Hiker beware. For the woods are full of bears. And they will get you if you don't watch out.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Dec 9, 2006
Painting the air baby blue
The world used to be more beautiful. The sky was bluer, the grass was greener, and good always triumphed over evil.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Nov 25, 2006
A land without similes
If I've heard it once, I've heard it a thousand times.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Nov 11, 2006
The overrated and the underrated
Several months ago I devoted a column to aspects of Japanese life that I felt received too much or too little attention in the eyes of foreign visitors.
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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