Angela Jeffs - The Japan Times

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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

Oct 11, 2002

What's a working mom to do with her kids in Tokyo?

Childcare An entrepreneur in central Tokyo, is up in arms. One of her Japanese assistants is about to have a baby and wants to continue working afterwards. But so far her assistant has been unable to find public child-care facilities for children under the age of 2.

Japan Times

COMMUNITY

Oct 5, 2002

Huddling against cold to keep oil, gas on move

It is down to 15 degrees Celsius by day on Sakhalin Island, and already under 5 at night. By December the temperature will be minus 30, and still going down.

COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES

Sep 26, 2002

Oral hygiene, oral history and aural pollution

Flouride in Japan The queries we get! About looking after our teeth, for example. Nancy Ridenour, who lives in Gifu, recalls being told a decade ago by a Colgate rep that fluoride is not introduced into Japanese toothpaste, nor is it legal in water here. As a result, she's been bringing in supplies...

Japan Times

COMMUNITY

Sep 21, 2002

Alternative secondary school meets special needs

The first floor of the building that houses International Secondary School (ISS) in Tokyo's Meguro Honcho is deserted. This is English Studio, a conversation school for toddlers and tinies that starts late afternoon.

Japan Times

COMMUNITY

Sep 14, 2002

Silver, socks make Afghan refugees independent

Shahnaz Akhtar arrived in Tokyo from Pakistan on Sept. 3, a guest of Global Village's Fair Trade Co. in Jiyugaoka, which distributes and sells leather and silver work and embroidered, woven and knitted goods crafted by Afghan refugees under her guidance. The purpose in being here? "To gather information...

Japan Times

COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST

Sep 12, 2002

The discord and rhyme of Japanese rules

The sea, and Mount Fuji, 'closed' for another year on Aug. 31. Is it madness, or is it just Japan. On Aug. 31, the sea closed on my local beach.

COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES

Sep 12, 2002

Words on Apple, more on pets and culture vultures

Last Apple bite As promised last time, Apple-man Anthony Walter of Caliburn responds to queries about Macintosh computers in Japan.

Japan Times

COMMUNITY

Sep 7, 2002

Not Iraqi or English, just creative without borders

Hani Mazhar sits in Spica Gallery in Tokyo's Minami-Aoyama, looking unlike any artist ever met. He wears a double-breasted jacket with silver buttons, carefully pressed trousers, immaculately polished shoes. A perfectionist in more ways than one.

Japan Times

COMMUNITY

Aug 31, 2002

Falun Gong seeks peace and freedom to practice

Shinly Shaw is slender with short hair, and Chinese. This is how she described herself so I could pick her out in the crowd. Luckily we found one another in Tokyo Station, but only the second time around.

COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES

Aug 29, 2002

Clearing the air, resurrecting cash and finding a pet

Clearing the air With summer winding down, and in readiness for new seasonal beginnings, time to clean the slate.

Japan Times

COMMUNITY

Aug 24, 2002

A drink is only as good as the pub that serves it

We are sitting in Enjoy! House, a small pub cum club in Ebisu. There is hardly room to swing a cat, yet somehow a bar, tables and a minuscule dance floor are all squeezed in. The decor is ethnic meets neo-hippie; the service foreigner-friendly; the food good.

Japan Times

COMMUNITY

Aug 17, 2002

Tuning in to Bruno Groening's 'healing stream'

It is a small gathering in central Yokohama one Sunday morning in early August. Around 20 people are sitting in an unusually relaxed position, listening to quiet meditative music.

COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES

Aug 15, 2002

A load of computer clubs and a wad of financial advice

This column may be produced in Tokyo, but the newspaper circulates nationwide and indeed is read online worldwide. So we feel we are not doing our jobs properly to focus on Tokyo alone. While we have heard of a Macintosh computer group in Osaka, there must be others -- and in Nagoya, Fukuoka and Sapporo,...

Japan Times

COMMUNITY

Aug 10, 2002

For country, for Coca-Cola, for cool companies

Jud Taylor is not only George Taylor, but George P. Taylor IX. His father was a psychologist, his grandfather a doctor and (according to family lore) the generations stretch back to a blacksmith who signed the American Declaration of Independence, for Pennsylvania, in 1776.

Japan Times

COMMUNITY

Aug 3, 2002

Keeping up with family weddings around world

Betty Glover from Perth, Australia, cannot walk too easily these days. This does not stop her from traveling however. Assisted by daughter Mo (Maureen) and son-in-law Deg (Derek), she is just coming to the end of a two-month trip to the U.K. and -- a bit of a surprise this one! -- Japan.

COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES

Aug 1, 2002

Support groups for foreign spouses and kimono essentials

Since it's too hot to hang around chatting, let's plunge straight in.

COMMUNITY

Jul 27, 2002

Creating a museum as a sacred, powerful place

Asked what it is like to be a goddess, Hiroko Koyama laughs. Of course she's not really a goddess, she says, "but if some of our congregation believe me and my mother to be so blessed, well, there's not much we can do about it."

Japan Times

COMMUNITY

Jul 20, 2002

Kyoto's unique guide gives you tour to remember

It's unfortunate that I can't join one of Johnnie Hillwalker's world famous walks. His tours -- Walk in Kyoto, Talk in English -- are scheduled come rain or shine on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays (excluding national holidays). I am in the city for the weekend.

COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES

Jul 18, 2002

Taking a break in Tokyo and getting to grips with coins

Did you miss me? Hopefully not. Due to stockpiling three columns, I was able to escape the worst excesses of rainy season to the U.K. for five weeks without leaving a gaping hole on the page.

Japan Times

COMMUNITY

Jul 13, 2002

Nisei woodworker follows grain of ancestral roots

His mailbox in Kikoba, where the town of Hayama meets Yokosuka City in Kanagawa Prefecture, reads "toco," the Portuguese word for log. Lengths of bamboo lean against an outside wall.

You can often see generations of families enjoying performances together at Fuji Rock Festival.

Japan’s summer music festivals are feeling the heat in more ways than one

Akiko Trush says her experience with the neurological disorder dystonia left her feeling like she wanted to chop her own hand off.

The neurological disorder that 'kills culture'

By Tomoko Otake

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