Yoko Hani - The Japan Times

LIFE

Jan 11, 2009

OXFORD ENGLAND — The last leaves were falling and the world was plunging into an economic crisis as journalists from around the world gathered for a meeting in England. The venue, though, was not a conference room in the financial hub of the City of London, but the ancient university city of Oxford,...

LIFE

Jun 8, 2008

Dutch women bid for techno parity

AMSTERDAM — Seen from Japan, a country known for dragging its feet in terms of gender equality, the Netherlands is often regarded as a model of social enlightenment.

LIFE / WEEK 3

Apr 20, 2008

Soccer that's played the wheely way

I like soccer. I like to watch it. I even tried to play it a few times when I was a kid, though I was not good at sports that didn't require me to use my hands, so I switched to tennis and basketball. But I can imagine how skillful you have to be to play football well, and how much fun and how exciting...

LIFE

Apr 13, 2008

Art and life in a grain of rice

Artist Mitsuaki Tanabe is stubborn.

COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP

Apr 6, 2008

Tom Maschler: A storied life of luck and literary passions

Regardless of whether you take it with a pinch of salt or think this consummate professional is simply being modest, Tom Maschler says that throughout his celebrated publishing career, "luck" has often played a significant role.

Events / Events Outside Tokyo

Mar 7, 2008

Booker pioneer Maschler to share publishing passions

Tom Maschler, a legendary British editor who put 13 Nobel Prize-winning authors into print, will address audiences at two events set for March 18 and 20 in Tokyo.

LIFE / Food & Drink

Feb 29, 2008

Slow-food movement creeps to Japan

Enjoying good food is a fundamental pleasure. But the slow-food movement asks whether "good food" can mean more than simply the flavor and presentation of a meal.

Events / Events Outside Tokyo

Feb 29, 2008

Animate yourself a la UrumaDelvi

A n exhibition of works by UrumaDelvi, who created the popular TV character "Oshirikajiri-mushi," will be held March 1 to 16 at Parco Factory in Tokyo's Shibuya.

LIFE / THE SKY'S THE LIMIT

Feb 24, 2008

Polar pioneer sets her sights high

For her doctoral thesis, Kazuyo Sakanoi studied the mechanisms of flickering auroras — those luminous phenomena in the atmosphere that appear like curtains of light.

LIFE / THE SKY'S THE LIMIT

Feb 24, 2008

Top techie programs change

When Kayoko Sugahara started working as a systems engineer 25 years ago, she sometimes stayed in her office late into the night running performance tests on computers, and often went there on weekends to use the computers there.

Events / Events Outside Tokyo

Feb 22, 2008

Get cultured in 'Little Edo'

Kawagoe in Saitama Prefecture invites you to its unique cultural events on Feb. 28 in conjunction with the famous monthly antique market held at Naritasan Betsuin temple in the city.

LIFE / WEEK 3

Feb 17, 2008

Up and away on a latte flight of fancy

It's a clear Wednesday morning and I have a very good view through the windows of my Cessna 172. We took off from Chofu Airport in the western suburbs of Tokyo a few minutes ago. I am already 4,000 feet up in the sky over Tokyo, flying stably north at about 185 kph. I am keeping my hands rigidly on the...

LIFE

Jan 13, 2008

Fighting the flab and shaping up can also be a lot of fun

New Year's resolution? "Doing more exercise," you may say.

LIFE

Jan 13, 2008

Soybean farming's rich harvest of exercise

Called hatake no gyuniku (beef from the fields), soybeans are known for the healthy, high-protein punch they pack and their contribution to lowering cholesterol. In Japan, consumers are lucky enough to receive their benefits in many forms, including tofu, miso and natto.

LIFE / WEEK 3

Dec 16, 2007

Tokyo's real floating world

One interesting phenomenon this year has been the growing popularity of tours to such unlikely places as factories and old bridges, where grimy stone walls, rusting mazes of pipes and crumbling concrete constructions have become a lure for worshippers at the altar of brutalism. In many ways, these tours...

LIFE

Nov 25, 2007

Jobs journal reflects social change

Back in 1980 when the weekly job-seekers' magazine Travail was launched, it was a social phenomenon that gave women the information they needed to independently switch jobs and build their careers. People even adopted the magazine's title (which means "work" in French, and is written in hiragana as torabayu)...

LIFE / Lifestyle / WEEK 3

Nov 18, 2007

Cup-and-ball master turns his 'toy' into an art form

Do you play kendama? Probably not, on an everyday basis at least, though you may well have tried it a few times if you live in Japan.

LIFE / WEEK 3

Oct 21, 2007

The not-so-secret market potential of bubble-wrap bubbles

Ask your friends what handy fun items they carry around and most of them will mention their Nintendo DS or their mobile phone, on which they can watch TV, play games and read a novel. But more and more these days, they may also grin and say, "puchipuchi" — referring to the pleasure — and the sound...

LIFE / Travel

Oct 19, 2007

In hot water at the seaside

I'd heard about the "bath in the sea" in Aomori Prefecture, Honshu's northernmost prefecture and a mere 600 km north of Tokyo. But this kaichuburo, as they call it in Japanese, isn't about splashing in the waves; it's a hot spring, and it's named Furo Fushi Onsen (hot spring of eternal youth and eternal...

LIFE / Language

Sep 23, 2007

Cellphone bards hit bestseller lists

Like many other young Japanese, Rin, 21, punches her mobile phone keys very quickly. Holding her phone with two hands, and moving her thumbs deftly and smoothly, she quickly generates sentences on the small screen.

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