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December 31, 2024
 

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Thomas Dillon
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.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Oct 28, 2006
Once upon a crow hunt weary
This story is true. Most of it.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Oct 14, 2006
Exorcising the untrained brain
Once at a Japanese hospital -- after first camping in the outer waiting room for an eternity and then sitting in the inner waiting room for half an eternity more -- I heard the nurse hold the following conversation with the doctor, whose desk was parked around the corner, just beyond my sight.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Sep 30, 2006
Look what they've done to my food, Ma
It is a marriage made in hell's kitchen.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Sep 16, 2006
A train chock full o' nuts
They're not my family, they're not my friends. They're . . . my "famuters" -- those familiar commuters who ride the train with me each and every day.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Sep 2, 2006
Quiet on the set. Ready . . . Action!
"All I need is the backing," says the man. "Then I've got a surefire hit."
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Aug 26, 2006
In the heat of the city
My son calls it "air you can wear."
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Aug 12, 2006
The ghost of a summer past
A catch of breath, a creak of wood and a shadow going thump in the night. . . . Fascination for the spooky and inexplicable perhaps bubbles more intensely in Japan than anywhere else, even in Amityville -- especially during Japanese ghost season, the hot month of August. Is what follows a "Flactured...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Jul 29, 2006
When Crete meets NEET
An unholy union with an unholy result -- a monster!
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Jul 15, 2006
Me and me: those extraordinary twins
On his deathbed in 1910, Mark Twain supposedly mumbled about Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Jul 1, 2006
A mite louder than mice: city gaijin vs. country gaijin
OK, so it's not the greatest conflict of all time. It's not Pepsi vs. Coke, Tom vs. Jerry or even Freddy vs. Jason. Plus it's not Japan-specific. The following swords of debate can be crossed in any nation at any time by anyone.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Jun 17, 2006
Those were the good old days
The other day I spied a foreign couple across the room in a Japanese restaurant. They were so new to Japan they bore an aura of green. Bright green. So bright, I had to squint.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Jun 3, 2006
Just say it ain't so, Joe
At times in my life I have been vain enough to imagine my name up in lights, embossed upon a novel or even typed beneath the head of a newspaper column. A good one, I mean.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
May 20, 2006
How sweet it is -- or isn't
My wife bakes in flurries and when the storm hits hardest, our kitchen becomes a virtual hurricane of flour and dough, not to mention Category 5 aromas.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Apr 29, 2006
A boom time for Japanese electronics
Recently the day that my wife had long been predicting finally arrived -- sort of.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Apr 15, 2006
When rankings go rank
One symptom of a society addicted to quick information is the popularity of lists.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Apr 1, 2006
A few gestures of renown -- really
A non-Japanese-speaking friend of mine was telling me a story of how he once tried to talk his way onto a dinner cruise, even though he knew all the seats were booked. Persistence, he figured, plus his clumsiness with the language would work its "gaijin" spell on the English-burdened clerk, who he just...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Mar 18, 2006
Confessions of a priest . . . sort of
Meet "Father Smith" -- silver hair, gentle smile and a voice so mellow that it flows with a grace from beyond. Maybe there is a God and maybe there isn't, but when you're with Father Smith, you tend to believe that maybe there is.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Mar 4, 2006
What would the village hugger do?
Eons ago in an America light-years away, my wife and I stopped at the only eatery available in a town that hit the bull's-eye in the middle of nowhere. As we ordered coffee and toast, an old man shuffling past suddenly stopped and spoke to my wife. She may have been the first Oriental he had ever seen....
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Feb 18, 2006
Winesburg, Japan, and the will of God
Sherwood Anderson once charmed America with a collection of short stories focused on the fictional town of Winesburg, Ohio. The stories portrayed normal people in the normal agony of their normal lives, tales that made Winesburg a hometown for everyone. One story in particular told of a modest clergyman...
Ukraine risks losing all Russian land it seized within months, U.S. says
Ukrainian soldiers carry the coffins of three comrades killed in recent fighting in eastern Ukraine during their funeral in the western city of Lviv on Dec. 20.
Japanese Princess Kako turns 30
As an adult member of the Imperial Family, Princess Kako has performed various official duties at home and abroad this year.
South Korea's worst plane crash in decades leaves 179 dead
Rescue personnel are seen near the tail section of a Jeju Air Boeing 737-800 series aircraft after the plane crashed and burst into flames at Muan International Airport in Muan, South Korea, on Sunday.
U.S. military coordination unit eyed in central Tokyo
A Self-Defense Forces soldier from a Patriot Advanced Capability-3 missile unit takes part in a drill at Yokota Air Base in Fussa, western Tokyo, in August 2017.
Shohei Ohtani ends blockbuster year with baby announcement
Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani and his wife, Mamiko Tanaka, attend a Lakers game in Los Angeles on Dec. 8.
Japan’s weather in 2024: Record temperatures hurt people’s health and wallets
People cover themselves with umbrellas during a hot summer day in Tokyo's Ginza district in August. Temperatures shot up in early July, even before the official end of the rainy season, and the high temperatures persisted well into the fall.
How Hokkaido quietly became a culinary treasure trove in 2024
The central Hokkaido city of Asahikawa made headlines this year when one of its suburbs was named as the best place to live in Japan — a ranking earned in part due to the community's many outstanding restaurants and cafes.
Bling-Bang, baby: The J-pop soundtrack of 2024
Hip-hop duo Creepy Nuts' uptempo “Bling-Bang-Bang-Born” quickly became a TikTok favorite after its release days into 2024, which helped turn the song into a Billboard Japan Hot 100 topper for 19 weeks before rising up viral streaming charts around the world.
Shohei Ohtani ends blockbuster year with baby announcement
Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani and his wife, Mamiko Tanaka, attend a Lakers game in Los Angeles on Dec. 8.
Flu cases surge above ‘warning’ levels in much of Japan
Authorities are calling for utmost vigilance as Japan heads into the New Year holiday season, when many people plan getaways.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Members of the Wajima City Morning Market Association pose for a group photograph on the site where the market once stood.
In the wake of disaster, the revival of Wajima's market brings hope
By Alex K.T. Martin

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