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May 14, 2024
 

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WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST

COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Jun 21, 2008
It's a Disney world after all
Once upon a time — about 50 years ago — a man had a dream. The dream involved the creation of a magical kingdom where the man's many visitors could frolic happily. So happily, in fact, that they would each shell out tons of money to be there. Oh, and the dream also involved a mouse.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Jun 7, 2008
Anyone for a game of curling?
Here we stand, on the lip of the frying pan that is Japanese summer, with the humidity soon to be so thick that people will dog paddle to work instead of walk.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
May 24, 2008
Not going anywhere in Tokyo
The only things that stands perfectly still in this city of ceaseless motion are its statues. Not that most Tokyoites notice them. But I do.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
May 10, 2008
Cure for what ails you
My hair is rife with dandruff.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Apr 26, 2008
Overrated and underrated — again
Over the past couple of years I have twice offered lists of overrated and underrated aspects of Japanese life as seen from my bespectacled point of view. My glasses aren't exactly rose-colored, but neither do I have the evil-eye. These are just some friendly peeks and pokes at what I have come to like and not like in my many years here. So here goes. . . One more list — but probably not the last — of the best and worst in Japan.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Apr 12, 2008
Playin' the look-alike game
It's a game my wife plays whenever she's bored.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Mar 29, 2008
Research on some research
Most of my Stateside friends and family have knowledge of Japan only as deep as what they see on TV. Which means they think I live my life in a "dizzified" world of ninja, yakuza and robots.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Mar 15, 2008
Thoughts on the ritual of spring — and summer
Spring — in certain countries in the world — means more than just flowers, butterflies and taxes. It means the crack of bat on ball, the pounding of fist on glove, and a season of hope for something beyond just peanuts and Cracker Jack — yes, hope for a championship pennant. Spring means baseball.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Mar 1, 2008
Dialects: How to addle your brains
The verb, "addle," meaning to "make muddled or confused," can be used into only two contexts. This is from a linguistics prof who taught me years ago.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Feb 16, 2008
In the land of the statistically speaking
Numbers don't lie. Not in Japan anyway. Here, they tend rather to flatter. Or "fibulate." Or nourish.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Feb 2, 2008
The changing Japanese face and the eye of the beholder
"The camera doesn't lie," says my friend, a professional photographer with long years in Japan.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Jan 19, 2008
Anticipating our future with robots
Money talks and it doesn't mince words.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Jan 5, 2008
Give the rats among us their due
Let's start by calling a rat a rat. And not a mouse.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Dec 29, 2007
Wringing out the year
When I arrived in Japan in the 1970s, I was both young and stupid. Now, over three decades later, I can only make half that claim.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Dec 8, 2007
Yes — I have a cell phone
"Hate" is a powerful word, and one that I would never toss around lightly, not even to such potentially worthy targets as the Tokyo Giants, Fox News and eggplant (blech!). But having said that, let me further say this:
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Nov 24, 2007
Ship of roaches: break from the teaching grind
"When my ship comes in," says my friend, "It's gonna be overrun by roaches."
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Nov 10, 2007
Buddy Hackett, Bob Newhart and why I came to Japan
The man on my right is not comedian Buddy Hackett. But perhaps — if you're a little drunk and have an imagination — you might think he is.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Oct 27, 2007
The last of the ninja
There's this guy I know in his late 50s who, like many Japanese, looks much younger than his age. Blessed with a boyish smile, a flat tummy and jet-black hair — in all likelihood dyed — the man has already retired from employment at an electronics firm and now stands at the door of his second youth.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Oct 13, 2007
Sentinels of the streets
Three years ago my family moved from within Tokyo to just across the border in Saitama. So close to that border, in fact, that I can open a window and almost spit across the line.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Sep 29, 2007
The curse of the middle name
When I was new to this country, I had regular "episodes of misunderstanding" about Japanese life. Episodes that taught me that Western thinking and Japanese thinking did not, could not, would not match. Episodes that always left me muttering that I had been in Japan too long, even though I had just arrived.
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.
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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