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Amy Chavez

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Amy Chavez
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Aug 4, 2007
Nuptial hopeful livens up the island
Man-chan and Kio-chan are my favorite Funky Old People who come to the Moooo! Bar on the beach. Local historians and the island's unofficial welcome party for tourists, they come to the bar hoping to meet some interesting gaijin. And gaijin come to the Moooo! Bar in hopes of meeting Man-chan and Kio-chan....
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jul 28, 2007
Marine Day sets off startling new theory on global terrorism
As you know, the national holiday on July 16, called Marine Day, has come and gone. Or, to be more correct, it came in on the typhoon and left on the typhoon.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jul 21, 2007
What's your Hokey Pokey biography?
So, where are you from? How old are you? What are your hobbies? What do you like sports? How long stay Japan? Tired of answering questions? Really?
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jul 14, 2007
Bathhouse dress codes, or tell Yo! mama, no army boots!
The Japanese are exporting one of their greatest commodities — sleep. Or at least the idea of it. The Japanese are masters of the power nap, and at any time of day you can see entire extended families sleeping while sitting upright on the train. A raise of an eyebrow at each stop is enough to make...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jul 7, 2007
How a look out to sea can help you determine lodging rates
Just as I was jogging down the beach past Amano-san's house, I saw her in her yard with a hoe, turning up the grass. I winced each time the hoe cut into the ground, digging up another patch of green, but she was working very hard at this. I suppose dirt is easier to take care of.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jun 30, 2007
The trouble with foreigners — wayward ways amid the regiment
Renting rooms to foreigners can be a sensitive subject for many minshuku owners in Japan. It's not that the owners can't speak English, nor that they don't like foreigners. Through the years, I've gotten to know some minshuku owners and have learned that foreigners can indeed be a bit mendokusai (troublesome)...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jun 23, 2007
'Rub hotels': Vegas in a box
I made a recent discovery: love hotels! Not dirty, sleazy hotels on the other side of the tracks, but hotels that are cleaner than a "minshuku," cheaper than a business hotel and located near the main shopping district. What's love got to do with it? Nothing, necessarily.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jun 16, 2007
Father's Day gifts on 100 yen
Dear Dad,
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jun 9, 2007
Key garbage experiences in the land of the sanitary enthusiast
Years ago when I first moved to my island, some Japanese friends from the mainland came to visit. The plan was to have a barbecue, so they brought all the ingredients from the mainland, since meat and some other things were hard to come by on the island.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jun 2, 2007
The chiropractic masseuse and the starfish
Several friends had recommended Tana-san for massage. "He's a little strange, but he's very good," one friend said. He sure sounded strange — Mr. Shelf?
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
May 26, 2007
Before you whack or splat — consult the Insect Hotline
Some insects are highly revered in Japanese culture. While in the West, we may whack first and ask questions later, in Japan, you should really shouldn't go around indiscriminately killing insects. It may even be bad luck.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
May 19, 2007
A reflection on harmonious cohabitation
It seems the insects arrive every year during Golden Week. Is it possible that even the insects are on this Japanese work schedule with set travel times? Or maybe it's insect tenkin. Transfer or travel, during Golden Week we are all on the same migration pattern. Face it, we're all just really large...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
May 12, 2007
One sure way to build your Japanese vocabulary
I'll never forget the first time I went to city hall in Japan to talk about the national health insurance plan. The man behind the desk explained the whole scheme in perfect Japanese, which at that time was perfectly unintelligible to me.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
May 5, 2007
Elvis impersonators may be answer to island's problem
Like many other places in Japan's countryside, Shiraishi Island is suffering from depopulation. When I came here 10 years ago, the population was 900. Now it is almost 700. Which goes to show that anyone can have his or her own island if one waits long enough.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Apr 28, 2007
Leading figures in the Funky Old People's Hall of Fame
After having spent the winter away from the island, I can say it is great to be back. As I take a walk around the island, I am comforted by the little touches of home: Bent-over ladies with bundles of sasaki on their backs, white-haired fishermen bringing in their day's catch, and old men sitting on...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Apr 21, 2007
The cherry blossom in a court of its peers
Imagine a clearing in the forest, where several species of flowers are blooming.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Apr 14, 2007
When life's a drag, wear a costume
Do you think Japanese people are too serious? Do you ever speak to someone in Japanese only to have them just stare back at you in confusion? Do you find living in Japan downright depressing sometimes? You may need help. You may be a gaijin.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Apr 7, 2007
The short-lived cherry blossom -- Japan's national identity
The most beautiful time to be in Japan is right now -- cherry blossom season. Oha-nami cherry-blossom-viewing parties are taking place everywhere, and you don't need an invitation to go to one.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Mar 31, 2007
Short on big? Stretch out in Hokkaido
Everything is big in Hokkaido. Big streets, big stores, big parking lots. Hokkaido doesn't give you that quaint, traditional, slightly claustrophobic feeling you get in Honshu and throughout the rest of Japan. Big gaijin would like Hokkaido.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Mar 24, 2007
If it looks like yesteryear, you know you're skiing in Japan
After a winter in Hokkaido, I feel at home skiing on the mountains here. Sometimes I even forget I am in Japan, until something "only in Japan" happens.
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.
Russia fired experimental ballistic missile at Ukraine, Putin says
Ukrainian firefighters work on a spot following an airstrike in Dnipro on Thursday.
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.
The slow-burn success of ‘A Samurai in Time’
A 19th-century warrior gets struck by lightning and wakes to find himself in 21st-century Kyoto in Junichi Yasuda’s surprise hit “A Samurai in Time.”
Around a quarter of Japan married couples in their 20s met through dating apps
A survey released by an organization promoting “Good Couples Day” shows that 24% of couples in their 20s met their marriage partner through a dating app.
'Tokyo Swindlers': Get deep into the minds of real estate con artists
In Ko Shinjo's "Tokyo Swindlers," a group of con artists manipulates real estate giants into falsified deals within the highly competitive, quick market.
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.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?
By Kathryn Wortley

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