Linda Inoki - The Japan Times

ENVIRONMENT / IN BLOOM

Aug 9, 2001

Kusa (Meadow grasses)

"It's Bon, it's Bon -- but Only today and tomorrow. The next day we're up in the hillsCutting grass for fodder."

ENVIRONMENT / IN BLOOM

Aug 2, 2001

Yamayuri (Golden-rayed lily)

"The snake fleeing away, The mountain is silent. This lily flower!"

ENVIRONMENT / IN BLOOM

Jul 26, 2001

Chosen asagao (Korean morning glory)

"Kae stretched out her hands and snatched the cold, wet flowers. One after the other she picked them in defiance, as she was too upset merely to contemplate their rapaciousness and beauty. 'Do you know the name of that flower?' inquired a voice overhead. Kae had been too engrossed to hear footsteps....

ENVIRONMENT / IN BLOOM

Jul 19, 2001

Kyochikuto (Oleander)

"Today, while Mother was watching me work, she suddenly remarked, 'they say that people who like summer flowers die in the summer. I wonder if it's true?' I did not answer but went on watering the eggplants. It is already the beginning of summer. She continued softly, 'I am very fond of hibiscus,...

ENVIRONMENT / IN BLOOM

Jul 12, 2001

Canna

"Among these tottering houses, with their moldering earthen walls which wind and rain would soon return to the soil, the vigor of life could be glimpsed only in the vegetation, in the occasional shock of a blossoming sunflower or canna."

ENVIRONMENT / IN BLOOM

Jul 5, 2001

Asagao (Morning glory)

"Leading Mother to our old-fashioned well, I told her the legend of the maiden who went to a well to draw water and, finding a morning glory tendril twined about the handle of the bucket, went away rather than break the tender vine. She planted the seeds around the well curb while I softly hummed, over...

ENVIRONMENT / IN BLOOM

Jun 28, 2001

Benihana (Safflower)

"The dew of the rouge-flower, When it is spilled Is simply water."

ENVIRONMENT / IN BLOOM

Jun 21, 2001

Tsuyu-kusa (Dew flower)

"It was true then: he had after all the shifting hue of the dewflower. She had heard about that. She had heard, albeit in general terms, that men were good at lying, that many a sweet word went into the pretense of love."

ENVIRONMENT / IN BLOOM

Jun 14, 2001

Gaku-ajisai (Lace-cap hydrangea)

"We rode for some time within hearing of the Kinugawa River with an undergrowth of red azaleas, blue hydrangea the very blue of heaven, yellow raspberries, ferns. The redundancy of the vegetation was truly tropical, and the brilliancy and variety of its living greens, dripping with recent rain,...

ENVIRONMENT / IN BLOOM

Jun 7, 2001

Dokudami (lizard's tail)

"Only the very richest people could afford to call the doctor out to visit them if they were sick. Country people used to pick plants like green gentian, cranesbill and lizard's tail when they went up into the mountains to avoid, as much as possible, having to rely on the services of a doctor."...

CULTURE / Stage

Jun 3, 2001

What star shines yonder east?

There is always a danger that productions of "The Tempest," the play Shakespeare set on an enchanted island, will indulge in too many theatrical effects and, thus, destroy its magic. Yet in the latest production to arrive in Tokyo, no spirits fly through the air nor is anyone soaked or tossed about in...

JAPAN

May 25, 2001

Japan's tour operators asked to join global battle against child sex trade

Leaders of the battle against child-sex tours have recently called on major Japanese travel groups to join a growing international campaign against the widespread practice.

ENVIRONMENT / IN BLOOM

May 24, 2001

Mizu-basho (Asian skunk cabbage)

"When summer comes, I think of Oze Under distant skies. Midst rising mists and shadowed ways Marsh lilies are blooming, And dreams are flowering, too. Where evening tints, azalea pink, Those far-off, distant skies."

ENVIRONMENT / IN BLOOM

May 17, 2001

Shi-ran (wild orchid)

"How pitiful it was, This thin weak orchid But it has budded!"

CULTURE / Art

May 16, 2001

Revealing the mystery hidden in the ordinary

A vase of flowers. A bowl of fruit. Why have images of still, unmoving life fascinated artists for centuries?

ENVIRONMENT / IN BLOOM

May 10, 2001

Fuji (wisteria)

"Now that I have reached the age of 60, and my life seems about to evaporate like the dew, I have fashioned a lodging for the last leaves of my years. It is a hut where, perhaps, a traveler might spend a single night. Creeping vines block the trails and the valleys are overgrown, but to the west...

CULTURE / Art

May 9, 2001

The shock of the Nouveau

Like a femme fatale, Art Nouveau has long guarded her secrets well. Were her sinuous lines symbolic or erotic? Did she bring fresh beauty into the modern world, or exploit a fin de siecle taste for the decadent? And why did she suddenly disappear, after a rapid rise to fame?

ENVIRONMENT / IN BLOOM

May 3, 2001

Hana Shobu (Japanese iris)

There is nothing to equal the Festival of the Fifth Month, when the scents of the iris and sagebrush mingle so charmingly. The children are proud of themselves and keep looking at the flowers on their sleeves, comparing them with those of their companions. This is all delightful, as are the little...

CULTURE / Art

May 2, 2001

The golden age of Flemish art

"In the early 17th century, Antwerp was a kind of Hollywood," said Paul Huvenne, director general of Antwerp's Royal Museum of Fine Arts. "There were more painters in the city than bakers!"

ENVIRONMENT / IN BLOOM

Apr 26, 2001

Tsutsuji (azalea)

Presently two nuns clad in dark robes were seen making their way slowly and painfully down through the rough rocks of the mountainside. The Priestly Sovereign asked who they were, and the nun replied, "The one carrying a basket of mountain azaleas on her arm is the former Empress and the other,...

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