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Mami Maruko
Staff writer Mami Maruko writes stories about the international community in Japan, including profiles of Tokyo-based ambassadors and international marriages. She received education in Japan, England and the U.S. She graduated from Goldsmiths College, University of London, with a masters degree in Theater Arts.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHO'S WHO
Apr 17, 2012
Texan's magic transforms verandas
When you step out onto the veranda of Theodore Jennings' penthouse apartment in Tokyo's Shinjuku district, it almost feels like you're on vacation in some other location — be it New York or some European resort.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / MIXED MATCHES
Apr 10, 2012
Architect builds bridge to Thai wife
Yoichi Kubota, a scholar in environmental planning and design, met Patmakorn Suntharothok, who was to become his future wife, for the first time when she was studying business management in the United States 12 years ago.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHO'S WHO
Apr 3, 2012
Polish envoy comes to terms with 3/11 via noh
Jadwiga Rodowicz-Czechowska, Poland's ambassador to Japan, says she was utterly heartbroken when she witnessed the catastrophe caused by the earthquake and tsunami that hit Tohoku last March.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Mar 24, 2012
Emmert shares beauty, power of noh dramas with a wider audience
Richard Emmert has endeavored for decades to share the beauty and power of noh with English-speaking audiences and performers through "English noh."
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / MIXED MATCHES
Mar 13, 2012
Sansei's pursuit of love overcomes distance
Dale Araki is a third-generation Japanese-American who spent most of his childhood in Arkansas, Alabama, Georgia and North Carolina before settling in San Francisco.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / MIXED MATCHES
Feb 14, 2012
Sharing a raft: Things click from get-go
Hiroshi Kato, 40, born in Sendai and raised in Kawasaki, met his wife Ying — from Harbin in northeast China — in Tokyo in fall 2007.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHO'S WHO
Jan 31, 2012
Culture ensnares Czech Japanophile
Petr Holy, who over the past two decades has spent a considerable amount of his time learning the Japanese language and culture, is now in return trying to spread the culture of his home country, the Czech Republic, throughout Japan.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jan 24, 2012
Troupe takes Japanese folk tales abroad
A Tokyo-based actors' group working to spread Japanese folk culture abroad is now helping the Japanese-Brazilian community preserve the culture of their ancestors.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Dec 27, 2011
Quake workers bolstered by training
Following the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in Tohoku, staff members of the Tokyo-based nonprofit organization Tokyo English Life Line felt they needed to help not only the survivors, but also the volunteers, NGO and welfare workers who supported the hard-hit people in the affected areas.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Dec 24, 2011
Volunteers' hugs warm tsunami-hit Ofunato
When the March 11 earthquake and tsunami hit northeastern Japan, numerous volunteer organizations rushed to help the survivors with basic necessities like food and clothing.
Japan Times
JAPAN / READERS' FUND
Dec 22, 2011
NPOs give needy hope for future
Many women and children in developing countries still have very few opportunities to receive an education and training, but Japanese nonprofit groups are working in nations such as Afghanistan and Cambodia to give them hope for the future.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / MIXED MATCHES
Dec 6, 2011
Pair's engagement blossomed in China
Kazunobu Seto and his wife, Robin, met in his hometown of Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture, in 2004.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHO'S WHO
Nov 29, 2011
Jose Alvares finds Portugal-Japan links
Jose Alvares has tried to "reconnect" the Portuguese and Japanese cultures over the last 43 years he has spent in Japan.
COMMUNITY
Nov 26, 2011
Tohoku kids to get Irish cheer
Irish musicians will bring songs, drawings and messages to encourage and give hope to survivors of the March 11 catastrophe — especially the children — in the Tohoku region from Dec. 6 to 8.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 17, 2011
Tohoku kids to get Christmas cards
Tokyo elementary school children gathered Wednesday to write Christmas cards to raise the spirits of young survivors of the March 11 Tohoku region catastrophe.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / MIXED MATCHES
Nov 15, 2011
Musical couple's commitment helps husband beat addiction
American Mike Rogers and his wife, Yuka, of Kanagawa Prefecture, met at an HMV store in Toshima Ward, Tokyo, in 1992.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Nov 8, 2011
More diversity in workforce touted as recipe for success
To achieve success both domestically and internationally, Japanese companies need to develop a strategic mind-set that allows employees from various backgrounds — regardless of gender, nationality or age — to build their skills and confidence and apply them to their jobs, according to speakers at...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Oct 29, 2011
Macedonian's one-man mission to build embassy
A Macedonian diplomat is on a mission to set up his country's first embassy in Tokyo all by himself.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHO'S WHO
Oct 25, 2011
Hiroshima-area family roots inspire Canadian film director
When Linda Ohama, a third-generation Japanese-Canadian, heard the news about the earthquake and tsunami that hit the Tohoku region on March 11, she says she was "very shocked" and felt a strong urge to do something for the people there — especially the children.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHO'S WHO
Oct 18, 2011
Greenthumb plants 'kolonihave' seed
Jens Jensen makes almost anything he needs for his weekend life from scratch, from a doorknob to a window frame to a small wooden hut.

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