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Angela Jeffs
After 26 years in Japan, Angela is currently test driving the Scottish winter. Describing herself as a “people person,” she wrote weekly profiles and features for The Japan Times between 1987 and 2011. For writings since 3/11/2011, see www.embrace-transition.com/. Her first book, "Chasing Shooting Stars – A South American Paper Trail into the Past," was published in paperback in January 2013.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Sep 6, 2005
Smoking, Japanese and clothes
Still smoking Bruce is being pestered by a friend back home who wants him to find a "heavy duty" pocket ashtray.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Sep 3, 2005
El Haddawi seeks sensational Bavarian waterfall
On any normal day, Thomas Farnbacher can wave to his partner, Ingo Taleb-Rashid, across Lake Chiemsee in Bavaria. "I live one side with my wife and children in a small village. Rashid lives on the other. The lake is too big to see one another, of course. But we know we are there."
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Aug 23, 2005
Old clothes and capsule delight
Waste not, want not Elizabeth in Kyoto Prefecture is leaving Japan in a month's time, having spent two years here.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Aug 13, 2005
Wanted: 'crazy creepy mixologists' for 42 Below
With the chance to promote New Zealand's prizewinning 42 Below vodka at a beach bar on the Shonan coast last Saturday, Tom Huskinson was there at 5 p.m. to find a long line for beer but no one queuing for the long sensuous mixers he calls cocktails.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Aug 9, 2005
Staying mobile and Book-Off
Used CDs John Mackin says the Book-Off store near his home in Kawasaki not only buys and sells books, it also buys and sells CDs, DVDs, WalkMans, iPods, TVs, PCs, clothes, women's handbags -- you name it.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Aug 6, 2005
Jambo: 'hello' in Swahili, help for nature at large
David Howenstein does not believe in being jinxed, or in giving up, which is why after two abortive attempts to meet we finally link up. He arrives, suitably attired, by a typical three-speed bike for morning tea in Seibu, which is also rather derring-do.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jul 30, 2005
Messages of peace seek empathetic human canvas
A peace symbol set modestly with diamonds. A tiny image that is open for interpretation as a tree, an atom-bomb cloud or even an angel. The curved line of a whale suggesting the swell of the sea while winking freedom with a precious eye. All are designs on a theme -- the work of jewelry artist-craftsman...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jul 23, 2005
'Breakthrough Japanese' book sees light of day
It is rare to be interviewed twice for this column. But Hitomi Hitayama, president of the executive Japanese language school Japanese Lunch, deserves the space because she has kept faith with her book project for so long. Also, the result -- "Breakthrough Japanese: 20 Mini Lessons for Better Conversation"...
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Jul 19, 2005
Buying in bulk and omiyage
Costco JS in the U.S. writes: "I am a Costco member in the U.S. and I am able to use my card at the stores in Japan. All I had to do was stop by the membership desk on the way in the first time and make sure that their system could access my account. I have to imagine that the arrangement works in reverse...
COMMUNITY
Jul 9, 2005
Humanitarian paints hope for students of Vietnam
Fred Harris looks around the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan in Yurakucho, central Tokyo, and observes with his usual keen but fond eye, "This was the first club I joined when I came here in 1964." (He was also in Japan while serving as a U.S. soldier during the Korean War.)
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Jul 5, 2005
Making sense of kanji
Kanji query Two very interesting responses to the letter of June 7 about pronouncing kanji.
COMMUNITY
Jul 2, 2005
Tokyo's 'ambassador of light' high on old spirits
Channeler Rae Chandran refuses anything to drink but water. He sits on a "zabuton" and takes a deep breath, stiffens, then shudders, his posture and face relaxing into what can only be described as a light trance-like state.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jun 25, 2005
Democrat abroad shapes multimedia for export
Terri MacMillan is marvelous. Funny, outgoing, dramatic and driven, she has a heart of pure gold. Ask anyone who knows her. Come to think of it, it's hard to imagine this funky, articulate American has a single enemy -- except among hard-core Republicans, who must surely hate her guts.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Jun 21, 2005
Money, good men, Vikings and markets
Fast, reliable AG offers advice from Yokohama on a fast and reliable way to get money from the USA to Japan.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jun 18, 2005
'Testament': Poems that speak of life's dark side
I meet two men in one: Tomonori Saito, who works for a shipping company in Tokyo's Shinagawa district, and Saion, the nom de plume of a young Japanese poet.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jun 11, 2005
'Artistic space consultant' unites walls and works
Nob Hagiwara is a brave man indeed. How many top-rank executives decide one day to chuck it all in and pursue personal goals? Not many -- and especially not in Japan.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Jun 7, 2005
Massage, reading kanji and ATMs
Hands on D is a U.S. trained massage therapist with a spousal visa, currently living in Hiroshima.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jun 4, 2005
Puppets build spirit and release pent-up feelings
Speaking from personal experience, Heather Goodwin believes that puppets can speak for human beings in ways that lead to improved health and confidence -- indeed, improvement all round. Heather teaches puppetry at Emerson College in Sussex, south of London in the U.K., and she will be in Tokyo this month...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
May 28, 2005
Tokyo Families, Fun House maker gets fine start
Why does it come as such a surprise to find Carin Smolinsky with an Audi TT Roadster? Certainly it suits her driving personality -- the bubbling nature of her entrepreneurial spirit. For her own part, it's perfect for nipping ("sedately," she insists) through Tokyo traffic and slides into the smallest...
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
May 24, 2005
Vikings, traditional gear and theater
Viking Katya has what she calls a "random goofy question." She wants to know why it is that a buffet here is called "viking."

Longform

Sociologist Gracia Liu-Farrer argues that even though immigration doesn't figure into Japan's autobiography, it is more of a self-perception than a reality.
In search of the ‘Japanese dream’