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Amy Chavez

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Amy Chavez
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Oct 28, 2006
Living the slow life -- at warp speed
Autumn on Shiraishi island -- the tourists are gone and weekends are for cycling, sailing and holding impromptu beer parties.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Oct 21, 2006
Oh deer, what can the matter be?
Ah, Miyajima! One of the most photographed spots in Japan. That fantastic torii gate in the sea, the vermilion Utsukushima Shrine, magnificent Mount Misen, those damn deer!
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Oct 14, 2006
English language disaster in the making
"Hello!" said a smiling boy next to me on the train. "Well, hello," I said, startled that anyone should actually use this phrase unaccompanied by at least a giggle and at most rolling on the floor laughing.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Oct 7, 2006
Tell me, just whose festival is it, anyhow?
October is a great month for festivals in Japan and our island is no exception. The Shiraishi Aki Matsuri is my favorite event of the year. It's a time when you meet your neighbors at 8 a.m. and start toasting to the Shinto gods. The matsuri men come out and pull the mikoshi and all-day merriment follows....
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Sep 30, 2006
Stayin' alive in health check 'stamprary'
I was recently asked to get a health check by one of my places of employment. On my planet, the United States, one doctor does the health check in 30 minutes. How boring.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Sep 23, 2006
Sports festivals: menace to health?
It's autumn in Japan, and you know what that means -- sports festivals! Oct. 10 is Sports Day, a national holiday started in 1964 to mark the opening day of the Tokyo Olympics. Since then, autumn has been a time of year for schools and communities to hold annual sports festivals.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Sep 16, 2006
Commode confession of Sound Princess
All the talk of royalty these days has got me to thinking -- has anyone else ever wondered why so many royal words are associated with toilets? Think about it. You sit on the throne. If you're a woman in a public bathroom in Japan, you probably use the Oto Hime (Sound Princess) to cover up the sounds...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Sep 9, 2006
The Japanese Chrysanthemum Thrown
Congratulations to Princess Kiko and Prince Akishino on the birth of their baby! While the fact that it is a boy is even greater news for the royal family, it's a shame for Japan. Looking for excuses not to face modern realities, Japan may now wallow in its past of allowing only male heirs of male lineage...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Sep 2, 2006
In earthquakes, avoid bending machines
I was recently asked to edit an emergency evacuation manual for Kasaoka City Hall. "Don't worry," they told me, "we've already translated it into English. All you have to do is edit it." Right.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Aug 26, 2006
'Sagi' -- a major interruption of 'wa'
"I was so surprised!" said the policeman, sipping on a Mooey Blue Hawiian at the Moooo! Bar. He's on duty. "I've never been called on my cell phone before for an emergency."
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Aug 19, 2006
Bon stories: fire heads and stuffed turtles
"Ne, ne, Amy-chan . . ." Kio-chan is calling to me from across the Moooo! Bar. "Man-chan wa ne . . ." he starts to tell me a story about his best friend, 80-year-old Man-chan, who is sitting next to him. The only thing he likes more than Man-chan is telling stories about him. "You should see Man-chan's...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Aug 12, 2006
Bon -- the spirit of ancestor worship
The Bon holiday is here, when everyone returns to their hometown to visit family and pay homage to their ancestors. It's a built-in way of forcing your grown children to come back to visit you, even if you're dead.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Aug 5, 2006
Paving over the Kyoto Protocol realities
The Kyoto Protocol aimed to slow down global warming, but I have a better way of dealing with global warming in Japan. It requires each person to walk outside of their house with a jackhammer and remove a 1-meter slab of concrete.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jul 29, 2006
The secret to stomping the rainy season
It has been a long rainy season, with destruction from landslides and floods. But we don't worry about those things on the island. Because living on an island, we're used to having lots of water around. Thirty cm of rain here is just another drop of water in the sea.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jul 22, 2006
All aboard! -- Jump on the super express train to English
The other day, a Japanese man came up to me in Starbucks and said, "Could you help me with this word?"
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jul 15, 2006
Zidane -- a bit of the old cow
Many people have been left perplexed by the performance of French soccer player Zinedine Zidane in the 110th minute of the World Cup final. Provoked by Italian Marco Materazzi, Zidane turned around and head butted the Italian so hard, he knocked him down.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jul 8, 2006
On the train, the English teacher is 'out'
I often hear foreigners complain that Japanese people will not sit next to them on the train. The perception is that this is some form of discrimination, or perhaps more simply, that we just plain smell bad. Or maybe foreigners feel this is a form of ostracizing, leaving them feel all alone.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jul 1, 2006
Fighting against Japan's colonial powers
It's just after dark and you hear a rumble coming from above. It's a bird, it's a plane, it's a North Korean missile! Well, close. You see a large black cloud in the distance and it seems to be moving your way. It IS moving your way -- and it's aimed right at you! Anyone who has lived through a rainy...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jun 24, 2006
Geta fliers and Bo(y) Derek on a jet ski
The Moooo! Bar season has started on Shiraishi Island and I have to admit that I am a little disappointed. Now into our third season, not one cow has come to the Moooo! Bar, even though I advertise that cows drink for free.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jun 17, 2006
World Cup spirit runneth over
Zzzzzzzzzz. Eh? Oh, it's Saturday morning? Time for Japan Lite? Sorry for the drowsiness, but if you've been watching the World Cup soccer on TV, you'll understand. All the games are on at night here. I usually go to sleep after the 10 p.m. game and wake up for the 4 a.m. game.
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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mission sustainability vol.12 : Kose Corp.Kose takes pride in creating beauty in the world

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