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August 15, 2024
 

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Alice Gordenker

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Alice Gordenker
Alice Gordenker writes the "So, What the Heck is That?" column, providing in-depth, carefully researched explanations of the things foreigners find so puzzling about Japan. Her work has been modified as a textbook for Japanese university students called "Surprising Japan" (Shohakusha, 2012).
LIFE / Lifestyle / MATTER OF COURSE
Jan 11, 2002
Getting into the rat race in middle school
My children are back in school after two weeks of winter vacation. We went skiing and took a few day trips around Tokyo, but the boys spent most of their vacation playing, reading and relaxing. Some of their school chums, however, had no break at all. They spent the entire "holiday" studying for middle-school...
LIFE / Language
Jan 6, 2002
Kids: They've got it figured out
The year's end is a natural time for reflection. Every December, I take a break from the hectic activity of the season and sit down for a quiet cup of tea. I look back at the year passed and reflect on the year to come.
LIFE / Lifestyle / MATTER OF COURSE
Dec 28, 2001
Practice perfects New Year's calligraphy
Pencils and computers haven't replaced brushes at schools -- brush work is alive and well.
LIFE / Lifestyle / MATTER OF COURSE
Dec 14, 2001
Every child gets to be a musician here
My 7-year-old is learning to play a uniquely Japanese instrument. The shamisen? No. The koto? No. Like virtually every other first-grader here, my son is learning to play the kenban hamonika (keyboard harmonica).
LIFE / Lifestyle / MATTER OF COURSE
Nov 30, 2001
Kids get down to classroom clean-ups
A few weeks before my son started first grade, I asked my friend Nagako to help me read the list of school supplies I needed to buy.
LIFE / Lifestyle / MATTER OF COURSE
Nov 16, 2001
Sewing and cookery aren't just for the girls
On a recent observation day at the Japanese public elementary school that my children attend, I wandered into unfamiliar territory. I saw a mother entering a classroom I had never noticed. I followed her in and got quite a surprise.
LIFE / Lifestyle / MATTER OF COURSE
Nov 2, 2001
No fundraisers or bake sales? Sign me up!
I agreed to serve on the PTA of the Japanese elementary school my children attend, but on one condition: that I didn't have to do any fundraising.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Sep 28, 2001
Sesame Street for better English learning
The creators of "Sesame Street" are developing new content and materials to make the highly successful children's television program more useful for Japanese children learning English.
COMMUNITY / THE PARENT TRIP
Apr 27, 2001
Being completely fair
When I brought my children to Japan a year ago, I expected they'd pick up on certain things faster than me. I did not, however, anticipate that they'd so quickly succumb to the Japanese national obsession with janken.
Japan to revise consumption tax exemption for overseas tourists
Tourists walk through Nakamise shopping street near Sensoji Temple in Tokyo in April
Japan's tourism industry hit by cancellations after megaquake alert
A beach closed due to a megaquake alert in Hiratsuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, from Friday to Thursday.
Focus shifts to incoming typhoon as Tropical Storm Maria dissipates
Newly formed Tropical Storm Ampil, which is forecast to approach eastern Japan this weekend, is seen on the left side of this satellite image.
Kishida to step down in September in bid to show ‘LDP has changed’
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks during a news conference Wednesday at the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo.
Publisher finds surprise audience after translating history textbooks
Yamakawa Shuppansha president Takeshi Nozawa holds the publisher's textbook on Japanese history — used in high schools across Japan — alongside the new English version in Tokyo on May 23.
Economic security is about strengthening and sustaining growth, former minister says
Former economic security minister Takayuki Kobayashi says changes in the international balance of power, along with deepening economic interdependence, have led some countries to attempt to use their economic power to impose their will on others.
Ice bandanas, convenience store breaks: Running under Japan’s summer sun
Blistering heat is becoming a fixture of summer in Japan, but a few tweaks to your routine can make your outdoor runs bearable — if not enjoyable — until cooler temperatures return.
Japan issued its first-ever megaquake alert. What does that mean?
Naoshi Hirata (center), chairman of a committee tasked with evaluating the risk of a Nankai Trough earthquake, speaks at a news conference in Tokyo on Friday.
France brings down the curtain on its Olympic party with Tom Cruise and Leon Marchand
Fireworks are set off during the closing ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics at Stade de France in Saint-Denis on Sunday.
Japan fuels U.S. LNG boom even as climate targets and impacts loom
Flaring at the Cameron LNG export terminal in Hackberry, Louisiana. Flaring, a common sight at LNG plants, is a controlled burning of gas for reasons ranging from depressurizing equipment to disposing of gas that can’t be used. The practice is a "waste of money" and negatively impacts climate change and human health, says the International Energy Agency.

Podcast

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

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’
By Thu-Huong Ha

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

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

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