Kaori Shoji - The Japan Times

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Kaori Shoji

Kaori Shoji writes about movies and movie-makers for the Film Page, plus takes a turn at the Bilingual Column. Biggest mistake of her career: taking the very dignified Nagisa Oshima to McDonald's for an iced coffee.

COMMUNITY

May 12, 2000

Keeping your money alive and kicking

Because I come from a family whose men are confirmed gamblers, I grew up thinking that a chronic shortage of o-kane (money) was the normal state in any household. The grownups didn't even call it o-kane but o-ashi (honorable legs), which accounted for the attack of wanderlust money seemed to get when...

COMMUNITY

Feb 11, 2000

Words and eras to build character

Kanji is also prone to fashion. During the Meiji Era, the mods were chu (loyalty), kun (lord), ai (love) and koku (nation). Politics were condensed into four characters: fukokukyohei (rich nation, strong army). Kind of taps right into the psyche of the period, doesn't it. And the Taisho Era which marked...

SUMO

Jan 14, 2000

Wrestling with a national tradition

The more I think about it, the more I'm convinced that sumo is not really a sport. No one calls it spootsu anyway -- sumo is and always has been the kokugi (national skill).

CULTURE / Music

Jan 8, 2000

Oh, the glamour of poetic injustice

Violence aspires to poetry and vice versa in "Death in Granada," an American/Spanish production that sheds a fleeting but eerie light on one of Spain's greatest poets: Federico Garcia Lorca.

CULTURE / Film

Aug 28, 1999

Rooting for a new life on the open road

After a bad day, I pamper myself by mapping out, hour by hour, scene by scene, a fantasy date with Jean Reno.

LIFE / Travel

May 13, 1999

Nishi-Ogikubo -- waist-high in green

Tokyoites complain about Tokyo: its chaotic haphazardness, its sprawling largeness, its adamant refusal to be beautiful. Like the room of a teenage boy, it keeps accumulating things, things, things. Then everything is kicked under the bed and the boy goes out for a cheeseburger. Tokyoites can only shrug...

CULTURE / Film

Apr 10, 1999

Making the grade from the couch

When I think of the wealth of America, I think of its national concern for psychological well-being. People will actually set aside a number of hours each week to talk to therapists or attend group. They will go to court to demand justice for such crimes as "emotional damage" and "acute psychological...

LIFE / Travel / ON THE ARCHIPELA-GO

Mar 10, 1999

The seductive stench of Yurakucho

"Shall We Meet in Yurakucho (Yurakucho de Aimasho)" was the title of a 1958 megahit number, sung by the king of Japanese blues, Frank Nagai. As Frank described it, Yurakucho was always misty with fog and the collective sighs of hundreds of lovers, the streets were damp with just-fallen rain and lined...

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

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Omron helping firms achieve carbon neutrality

Omron helping firms achieve carbon neutrality

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