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November 22, 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
Mar 18, 2004
Wartime stories of schoolkids on the move
I recently stumbled across a war story I knew nothing about. I was at the library looking for books to keep my older son reading in Japanese, now that he no longer attends Japanese school. Since he had just made a trip to Hiroshima with his international school, I chose books about Japanese children's...
LIFE / Lifestyle / MATTER OF COURSE
Feb 19, 2004
Schools step in to teach kids table manners
Why is it so difficult to teach children table manners? My kids are quick learners. My oldest only needs to hear a Weird Al song once and he's got the lyrics memorized. His little brother can recite the specs for every fighter plane ever built. So why can't they master the trick of getting their napkins...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / MATTER OF COURSE
Jan 15, 2004
Meiji schoolhouse offers lessons in history
"You want us to go to school on our day off?" my 9-year-old cried in disbelief. "Zettai iyada! (Absolutely no way!)" He's been in Japan since he was 5 and tends to speak in Japanese when he's riled. "Yeah, leave it to our mother to come up with a cockamamie scheme like going to school while we're on...
LIFE / Lifestyle / MATTER OF COURSE
Dec 18, 2003
Colorblind schoolkids can see clearly now
Red. Green. Red. Green. A simple pattern. Or so I thought, until I spent an hour at the Japanese elementary school my son attends. I had come in to do holiday crafts, and was showing the kids how to make a paper chain in Christmas colors. I told them to take a strip of red paper and bend it into a circle....
LIFE / Lifestyle / MATTER OF COURSE
Nov 20, 2003
Empty school buildings: reuse or recycle?
Not far from where I live, there's an elementary school with just 36 students. It's not a private school. It doesn't have a special curriculum. It's a regular public school designed to serve several hundred students. But the neighborhood has changed into a business district, and the few residents who...
LIFE / Lifestyle / MATTER OF COURSE
Oct 16, 2003
Lessons in the field yield unexpected harvests
Call me a coward, but I get nervous when surrounded by rowdy youths carrying sharp blades.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / MATTER OF COURSE
Sep 25, 2003
When the grass is greener on the other side
I was starting a load of laundry, my son's dirty trousers in hand, when I sensed something was wrong. I couldn't put my finger on what was troubling me. I held up my kid's khakis, looking for a clue. It wasn't that his pants were filthy. They are always filthy. It wasn't that they were full of holes....
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / MATTER OF COURSE
Jul 31, 2003
Guest teachers build barrier-free minds
My 8-year-old wanted to use my computer. "I need to search the Internet for a picture of a kurumaisu," he said, in his usual blend of English and Japanese. Never mind that both his parents are American; he's lived in Japan since he was 5 and attends a Japanese elementary school. This qualifies him as...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jul 20, 2003
Get in touch with your inner Tarzan
It can be difficult to get my kids moving on weekends, but I knew just how to motivate them for an outing one Saturday. "Hey boys," I said. "Wanna go to a park where visitors fall into the water so often that they rent out spare clothes?"
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / MATTER OF COURSE
Jul 3, 2003
Learning firsthand about rice cultivation
I have new respect for the rainy season. I used to hate tsuyu, these dreary weeks of drizzle. But now that I'm a farmer, I see the value of so much rain. I'm farming a bucket of rice on my balcony and can't keep up with the watering.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / MATTER OF COURSE
Jun 5, 2003
National hygiene begins in the classroom
I always like to hear from readers, but it's especially nice when they provide ideas for my column. Several wrote in recently about severe acute respiratory syndrome.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / ON THE ARCHIPELA-GO
May 11, 2003
Family biking weekends for a song
UTSUNOMIYA -- Comfortable lodging for a family of four, with meals, for less than 20,000 yen? Yes, it's possible, even in Japan. That's all my family paid for a very enjoyable overnight in Utsunomiya, at a public facility that promotes bicycling.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / MATTER OF COURSE
May 8, 2003
More breathing space in the classroom
Last month, just before the new school year started in Japan, I ran into a neighbor at the supermarket. She's a bit high-strung and gets worked up over school matters, so I try to avoid her. But she collared me by the cabbages and dropped her voice to a dramatic whisper. "Have you heard? The Suzukis...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / MATTER OF COURSE
Apr 10, 2003
Can our kids get a healthy meal for less?
Would you pay 2,500 yen for a simple lunch on a battered tin tray? Of course not. For that kind of money, you could get a three-course luncheon served on fine china. But believe it or not, 2,500 yen is the cost of the lunch my kid eats at school every day. It's no wonder so many local governments have...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / MATTER OF COURSE
Mar 13, 2003
Don't wait till bullying hits close to home
This is the column I thought I'd never have to write. It's about how my son was bullied at school.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / MATTER OF COURSE
Feb 11, 2003
Finally, anti-tobacco lessons come to schools
Every time our family sits down in a restaurant in Japan, my 11-year-old sniffs the air with disgust. He waves a hand through the cigarette haze and glares at the smokers all around us. "What's the matter with these people?" he growled when we went out for a meal the other day. "Didn't anyone ever teach...
LIFE / Lifestyle / MATTER OF COURSE
Jan 13, 2003
Learning from living things, often the hard way
Since I write this column at home, school holidays are always a problem. It's impossible to get any work done with my kids hanging around. One day during the recent winter holidays, I complained about feeling pressured. The deadline for today's column was looming, but I didn't even have a topic.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / MATTER OF COURSE
Dec 16, 2002
Will dramatic arts take a backseat?
Two months ago, my 8-year-old came home from the Japanese elementary school he attends and told me about the play his grade would do at the upcoming gakugeikai (drama festival).
LIFE / Lifestyle / MATTER OF COURSE
Nov 22, 2002
Are our schools ready for a big one?
Every few months, I have the same nightmare: A major earthquake strikes Tokyo when my kids are at school. The city is in ruins. There's no electricity, the phones are out and the trains have stopped. I run through the streets, unable to find my children, until I wake up in a cold sweat.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / MATTER OF COURSE
Nov 8, 2002
Fishing for parental help on field trips
For me, a major benefit of moving to Japan was not having to chaperone school field trips anymore.
Two of America’s biggest debt holders are dumping Treasurys
The U.S. Treasury building in Washington. Investors in Japan and China sold a pile of U.S. debt in the last quarter, just before the U.S. presidential election.
Ishiba aggravates his own political failures with diplomatic faux pas
Prime Minster Shigeru Ishiba is greeted at the APEC summit in Lima by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday. The Japanese leader was criticized for remaining seated while meeting several world leaders at the event.
Japan's 3.31 million visitors in October set monthly record
Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto in December 2023. Famous autumn leaf colors contributed to increased tourism demand last month from many markets across Asia, Europe and North America, the Japan National Tourism Organization has said.
Japan ranks last in romance satisfaction for second straight year
In a survey of 31 countries, Japan ranked last in terms of those who felt loved, with just 51% of respondents saying so.
Ruling coalition and DPP strike last-minute deal over economic policy
DPP policy chief Makoto Mahaguchi speaks at the party's policy gathering in Tokyo on Wednesday.
Japan, U.K. and Italy discuss inviting more countries to joint fighter project
A new concept model of a next-generation fighter jet to be jointly developed by Japan, Britain and Italy is on display in Farnborough, Hampshire, in July.
Haruki Murakami's 'The City and Its Uncertain Walls' gives deep deja vu
For “The City and Its Uncertain Walls,” translated into English by Philip Gabriel, Haruki Murakami confronts the ghosts who won't leave him alone.
Japanese expats in Asia find community through rugby
The Taiwan Fivewoods celebrate their victory at the 2023 Asian Japanese Rugby Cup in December of last year.
In Fukushima, a weekend of prose, poetry and translation
Aomori-based writer JJ Carter presented on tabletop gaming as creative inspiration for building characters and narratives.
For Dr. Nakamats, aging is just experience in action
Though he didn't win the recent gubernatorial election in Tokyo, the 96-year-old Dr. Nakamats' run was seen as inspirational in Japan's aging society.

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By Kathryn Wortley

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