Amy Chavez - The Japan Times

COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE

Sep 27, 2008

COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE

Sep 20, 2008

While I was in the city the other day, I saw a sign on a building that described a certain company, in English, as "human life coordinator." I suppose life is something like a pant suit — you've just got to coordinate it.

COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE

Sep 13, 2008

Learning how to duck

For a long time I had noticed a strange absence of wild birds in the back of my house. The front of the house, facing the port, has plenty of seagulls, blue herons, and wild ducks. In the morning I wake up to quacking, cawing and arguing herons.

COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE

Sep 6, 2008

Land of the Great Pumpkin

The last time I went to Naoshima was in June of 2001, when it was just an island with a museum, a hotel and some tents. It was called Bunkamura (culture village). The museum was Mr. Fukutake's own private art collection of mostly modern art. In 2004 came Claude, Walter and James (Monet, De Maria, and...

COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE

Aug 30, 2008

The Awashima crab murders

Matsumoto-san bellied up to my bar and said, "Amy, I've started Moooo! Bar II on the beach at Awashima Island. You must come see it!" I wasn't really sure what to think about this, not having planned on expanding anything except my beer belly by owning a bar. This being Asia, however, it is supposed...

COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE

Aug 23, 2008

Reaping summer's rewards

In July, a package arrived on my genkan doorstep like all packages arrive at my house — with a thud. I could hear the postman grunt out a greeting before he shut the screen door behind him. I went downstairs to investigate the thud.

COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE

Aug 16, 2008

Get back to where you once belonged

The countryside in Japan has a reputation for being backwards. This is partly true. In the countryside where I live we walk backwards, we drive backwards and sometimes we even do our laundry backwards — by drying it out first, then washing it.

COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE

Aug 9, 2008

Putting Cool Biz to the test

Here we are in the middle of Kuuru Bizu. Cool what? you say. There is nothing cool about the hot and humid summer in Japan. Perhaps they meant "cool busy" as in busy trying to find someplace cool to hang out.

COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE

Aug 2, 2008

In the cool lap of luxury

I first met Uncle earlier this year at the cherry-blossom-viewing party on Shiraishi Island. He seemed kind of young to be an uncle, but his beard made him look a little older. Uncle was passed out under the cherry trees.

COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE

Jul 26, 2008

In need of a beach for snails

The more I travel around Japan, the more I realize I don't live in Japan. Nor have I for the past decade. I guess I've gotten so used to my safe, comfortable island life, that when I go to some other places in Japan, I am astounded to find it is not the same warm 'n' fuzzy place I'm used to.

COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE

Jul 19, 2008

A well-armed goddess

On July 2, at the lowest tide of the year, my neighbors and I prayed to the goddess of the sea. The islanders call her Benten (also known as Benzaiten), and she lives on her own special island, just off the coast of Shiraishi Island. Here she convenes with the sea and brings us luck, prosperity (well,...

COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE

Jul 12, 2008

Climbing Mount Misen

I recently took a group of tourists on a sail through the Seto Inland Sea for three days. Our destination was Miyajima, home of the Great Torii Gate and Itsukushima Shrine (built in A.D. 593), a World Heritage site since 1996.

COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE

Jul 5, 2008

Truly, it's a jungle out there!

While the rest of the brave world is out fighting terrorism, on my island we are fighting a different kind of evil: age, sickness, and most recently, weeds.

COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE

Jun 28, 2008

The rainy season, brought to you by snails

Aspersa: Nothing like a nice slither in the rain. That dry concrete is so hard on the foot.

COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE

Jun 21, 2008

Gaijin of the Inland Sea

Believe it or not, I am not the only foreigner living on an island in the Seto Inland Sea. Allow me to uncover other insane gaijin "doing it" island style. And these are no ordinary people, mind you.

COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE

Jun 14, 2008

Pilgrimages done on the run

Welcome to the hood: the Buddhahood. Some sects of Buddhism believe you can attain Buddhahood by chanting certain purification chants over and over. Others, such as Shingon, use pilgrimage as a method of achieving divine enlightenment and understanding of the world.

COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE

Jun 7, 2008

A new kind of ambassador

I recently woke up to my cat staring me down. "Hello, kitty," I said.

COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE

May 31, 2008

'Rusting olive trees' of peace

With the goal of (eventually) visiting every island in the Seto Inland Sea, I set out last weekend on an island explorer trip. (For the record, I've only visited 28 out of about 200!)

COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE

May 24, 2008

Invitation to a spawn party

In any well-known Japanese garden in Japan, you are bound to come across a pond full of carp, large decorative fish that look like they had orange paint spilled on them. Koi, as they are called, also come in black and white, in which they look more like Holstein fish.

COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE

May 17, 2008

Buddha's birthday prompts call to temple

May 12 was Buddha's birthday. Don't tell me you forgot about it! You didn't even send a card? How about a gift? Well, don't feel too bad. I forgot about it too. But luckily, on the morning of the 12th, an announcement came over the loudspeaker saying "Attention Shiraishi Island residents, today is Buddha's...

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