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Amy Chavez

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Amy Chavez
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Feb 14, 2009
Hauling in the souvenir binge
An Australian friend and I recently had the opportunity to show two of our good Japanese friends around Australia. Even though my native country is the United States, just being a gaijin who can speak Japanese was good enough for my Japanese friends, a couple (both 53 years old) who had traveled to other...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Feb 7, 2009
Float this stimulus package
For years Japan has struggled with the question of how to revive the countryside. With few jobs and an aging population, the countryside isn't much of a draw for anyone under the age of 80.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jan 31, 2009
Milking bovine tourism in '09
Happy Chinese Moo Year! It's the Year of the Cow. And you know what that means: bovine tourism. No, I don't mean cows stampeding to Japan for the "Visit Japan Campaign." I'm talking about the role of cows in Japanese culture and famous places of bovine interest within Japan.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jan 24, 2009
English chain-saw massacre
I have only had two experiences team teaching (the pairing up of a Japanese teacher with a foreign teacher in the same classroom.)
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jan 17, 2009
Beyond to the backcountry
Yeah, yeah, you've heard all about Niseko, the ski and snowboard mecca of Hokkaido. You already know it's the in place to go and that people from all over the world flock to Niseko for the famous deep powder snow that averages 15 meters per year.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jan 10, 2009
The English language is going to the dogs
On Friday nights, I teach private English lessons to five people and three dogs. The dogs are good students: They are very quiet and never bark or interrupt. They always come to class well-groomed, wearing smart looking T-shirts and dresses. Absenteeism is rare, with just one absence due to a veterinary...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jan 3, 2009
No reason to have a cow over being bovine!
This column is to give thanks to the cows who have contributed so much to our lives. To those cows who have put their lives at steak for us humans as well as to those who have fodder to ruminate on and greener pastures to seek. Cows have made contributions to our society in many ways, but today I'd like...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Dec 27, 2008
Who said no man is an island?
I saw 81-year-old Man-chan, along with the plumber, putting up Christmas decorations in the park next to the ferry port. This is the third year Man-chan has headed up this Christmas illumination project with the help of the plumber who puts up the Christmas lights. Each year the display expands — an...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Dec 20, 2008
Mail from the countryside
I went to the post office today and was third in line. This is very unusual on our island of just 687 people. I've never seen more than two people in the post office at any time. Then it hit me: It's Daikon December. December is when the daikon radishes are harvested.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Dec 13, 2008
A frosty reception
It's getting cold , a bit frosty, you might say. But I'm used to having frost on the windows of my house, even in the summer time. This is due to an amazing phenomenon in Japan called frosted glass.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Dec 6, 2008
Sending out smoke signals to the gods
While November is fire prevention month in Japan, on our island we are out deliberately starting fires. And during this dry time of year with crispy leaves and fallen twigs, the likelihood of setting the entire island on fire is at its highest. But fire is one of the many ways the island people communicate...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Nov 29, 2008
Festival takes cryptic turn
I was walking home when I saw, up in the distance, four Buddhist priests dressed in purple and gold robes. "Hey, Amy!" they called to me. "We hope you don't mind that we tied our boat up next to yours in front of your house," one said, pointing to their 30-foot (9-meter) motorboat tied to the dock. No...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Nov 22, 2008
Barely squeezing by in Japan
I walked into a restaurant to get a quick bite for lunch. After I squeezed myself through the narrow door, I noticed the restaurant's first floor was completely full. "Packed" would be a more appropriate word: All four seats were taken.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Nov 15, 2008
Autumn is for 'metabolic syndrome'
In the face of the increasing problem of "metabolic syndrome," in Japan, they really ought to revise the phrase shokuyoku no aki (Autumn is for eating). Another popular axiom is, dokusho no aki (Autumn is for reading) so if you put these two messages together, one can only conclude: Eat, and when you...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Nov 8, 2008
What's all the shouting about?
I boarded the shinkansen the other day and couldn't believe what I saw: everything! Yes, things I never used to see in the shinkansen are now extremely visible, in your face, in big, bold letters making it very hard to avoid reading them. The aisle and seat numbers were all in much larger fonts. Even...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Nov 1, 2008
The secret of living to 200
It takes a special kind of person to live on a small island of 688 people — a crazy person. And it takes a special island to put up with 688 crazy people.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Oct 25, 2008
Mourning lost Japan
I recently visited Osakishimo Island off Hiroshima Prefecture in the Seto Inland Sea. Since the Jomon Period, this island has only been accessible by boat.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Oct 18, 2008
Taming lions with laughter
"I'll be OK," I reassured myself before walking into the lion cage. Textbook secured under one arm, I walked in with confidence and closed the door behind me. The door made that definitive "click." Just 50 minutes, I told myself. Fifty minutes of screaming commands at the top of my lungs, 50 minutes...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Oct 11, 2008
English for one's health
A friend recently asked me to teach some English classes for her while she took a semester off to have a baby. Of course, I was happy to help out.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Oct 4, 2008
Life — it's all in the books
Sometimes it seems I live holiday to holiday. Having just finished Respect for the Aged Day, and the Autumn Equinox (both national holidays) I am now looking forward to Sports Day in October. The problem with national holidays in Japan, however, is that they are rarely a chance to relax. Instead, they...
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

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