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December 22, 2024
 

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Thomas Dillon
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Jul 5, 2008
Deja vu . . . or biting the bullet train
They say deja vu occurs when your brain burps and somehow interprets what is happening now as a memory.
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...
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.
Record 78% of people in Japan feel anxious, government survey finds
The public opinion survey on people's lives, conducted by the Cabinet Office, found that 28.1% of respondents think that their standard of living is at a lower-middle level among the general public — the highest percentage to give that response in 35 years.
Police raided suspect's home to arrest him after fatal Kitakyushu stabbing
Broken window glass is seen at Masanori Hirabaru's house in Kitakyushu's Kokuraminami Ward.
Taiwan lawmakers brawl over bills that would 'damage democracy'
Lawmakers from the Democratic Progressive Party and opposition party Kuomintang brawl in parliament in Taipei on Friday.
Ride-hailing restrictions to be eased during 2025 Osaka Expo
A venue for the 2025 Osaka Expo in the city of Osaka
Foxconn's interest in Nissan said to be on hold amid Honda merger talks
Foxconn’s pause in its pursuit of Nissan is the latest development in the unexpected emergence of two suitors for the ailing Japanese carmaker.
Japanese officials inspect Yokota Air Base over PFAS concerns
The Yokota Air Base in western Tokyo in September 2019. An inspection of the base by Japanese government officials on Friday came amid public pressure to investigate suspected links between the use of PFAS-containing firefighting foam by the U.S. base and contamination of soil and groundwater in western Tokyo.
Crime numbers rise in Japan for second straight year
A police officer stands in front of the residence of a man alleged to have stabbed two junior high school students in Kitakyushu.
A year of Oscar wins and a quiet push for diversity
Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s “Evil Does Not Exist,” released in Japanese theaters in April, sharply dramatizes the clash between rural and urban values. The film won five awards at the 2023 Venice Film Festival, including the second-place Silver Lion prize.
Curiosity didn’t kill the meme: Why cats still rule Japanese YouTube
A screen shot from YouTube user @lagelda shows the simplicity of going viral in Japan in 2024: A cat dancing to EDM in front of a green screen.
With rare Asia carrier deployment, France seeks greater interoperability
The flight deck of the French Navy's Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier during a stop at Changi Naval Base in Singapore in May 2019

Podcast

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

Longform

Yasuyuki Yoshida stirs a brew in a fermentation tank at his brewery in Hakusan.
The quake that shook Noto's sake brewing tradition
By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Azabudai Hills, Tokyo’s green new downtown ‘village’
Azabudai Hills, Tokyo’s green new downtown ‘village’

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