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Amy Chavez

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Amy Chavez
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jun 10, 2006
Being one with nature is ducky
The other morning I noticed some marine ducks out in the port quacking away. "Ohayo!" I yelled to them from my window. They looked at me and, much to my surprise, started swimming in my direction. Figuring they must be hungry, I went out and served them a slice of bread. And this is how I inadvertently...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jun 3, 2006
Be Japanese -- love the whole firework
The first time I was ever asked to go see a fireworks display with someone I said, "Sure, why not?" I obviously did not exude enough enthusiasm. Fireworks are such a big deal in Japan they warrant festivals where young women don summer kimono and eat from food stalls on the street among thousands of...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
May 27, 2006
It takes a farm village to raise a 'gaijin'
Kazu-chan arrived in my "genkan," saying, "I am planting sweet potatoes, would you like to come along?"
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
May 20, 2006
It's a dog's life and I wan it!
The last time I went home to the U.S., my parents told me sternly over the telephone: "This time when you come home, bury your dog. He's been on that shelf in the garage for years now." And they were right. My dog, Dammit, had died while I was in Japan, and the few times I went home, I was either too...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
May 13, 2006
The Japan Lite reader shrine
Dear Amy: Every time I read you I get more sentimental for the land of my birth. I was born in Yokohama Japan, of British parents in 1920, and was evacuated just prior to Pearl Harbor, 1941. Thank you so much for all the pleasure you have given me over the years I have been reading you. I [went] back...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Apr 29, 2006
Purification process is painful
I'm pretty sure Shiraishi Island was once inhabited by giants. When you look at all the boulders perched in precarious spots around the island, and piled up in certain formations, you would swear someone was saving them for ammunition.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Apr 22, 2006
Enjoying life to the fullest during cherry-blossom viewing time
Imagine an entire old folks home on sake. That's what living on this island has been like ever since the cherry blossoms opened up. The first cherry-blossom viewing started last Sunday and the party hasn't stopped.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Apr 15, 2006
More than just a fair-weather friend
I've finally figured out why there are over 2.6 million beverage vending machines in Japan -- companionship.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Apr 8, 2006
In America, a smile gets you everywhere
A couple of weeks ago in this column, I gave some tips for foreigners visiting Japan. One reader suggested that in my next column, I give some tips for Japanese visiting the United States. So here goes: Amy's rigorous guide to what NOT to do when visiting the U.S.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Apr 1, 2006
Victim's best friend: savvy 'avy' dogs
I have just skied down a chute and am buried under more than a meter of snow. I have a two-way radio on and an avalanche rescue beacon. After 20 minutes of deathlike silence, I can finally hear a dog barking in the distance. I've done a lot of back-country skiing in my life, but this is the first time...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Mar 18, 2006
O-Higan: a time for prayer and Elvis
Today begins o-Higan, the week of the spring equinox, which is a national holiday in Japan. It is also traditionally a time to visit grave sites. However, unlike Bon, when everyone and their dog returns to their ancestral home to visit family graves, Higan is practiced mostly by those living near the...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Mar 11, 2006
No more nude surfing in Bali
A few weeks ago, while surfing on the Bukit, Bali's southernmost peninsula, where the population is small and the waves big, I paddled my board out among a group of three young Japanese surfers who were obviously on vacation. They chatted among themselves, not really giving me much notice, when suddenly...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Mar 4, 2006
A meeting with a (full) Komodo dragon
Celebrity profile Name: Komodo dragon Breed: Varanus komodoensis, the largest monitor lizard Favorite food: Homo sapiens "Charm point": none
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Feb 25, 2006
That's no kanji, that's just a hairball
So, how's your kanji study coming along? What? You've been slacking off? Well, me too. And I have a good reason: hairballs. Any Westerner who has studied Japanese kanji has had hairballs: those things that result when you start to write a kanji, usually one you've written a thousand times before, but...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Feb 18, 2006
New Year's resolution: self-mutilation, a trance and some milk
How's your New Year's resolution progressing? What? You've already forgotten about it! What happened -- not enough determination? Well, I suggest you not tell the Hindu people in Malaysia about how you broke your New Year's resolution. Because unless your resolution involved sticking hooks into your...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Feb 11, 2006
Japan: A nation in the naked flesh
Recently at the local "sento" (public bath), as I was changing back into my clothes, an old woman said to me, "Oh, what nice underwear you have!" Usually, when people start talking about my underwear, I either ignore them or feign not understanding Japanese. But as she spoke in that fashion of an old...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Feb 4, 2006
The year 2006 -- going to the dogs
Jan. 29 was the Chinese Lunar New Year, the official beginning of the year of the dog according to the Chinese calendar. I did some dog-on-the-street interviews to find out what we can expect this year under the helm of the dogs.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jan 28, 2006
The rah-rah radish, part II
On Shiraishi Island, the radish rah-rah starts in December, when you see "o-baa-chans" pushing wheelbarrows full of daikon. The esteemed radish is wheeled around -- entire radish families are given rides. In December and January, they are pulled out of gardens and transported to houses. If you look closely,...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jan 21, 2006
The rah-rah radish, part I
The cold winter months on Shiraishi Island are dedicated to the daikon, a long, white tapered radish that looks more like a weapon than a vegetable. The kanji for "daikon" literally mean "big root," but I suspect this is a typo for "big brute." At 7 to 12 cm in diameter and 30 to 40 cm long, the radish...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jan 14, 2006
Houses with faux fur lining
It's that time of year for me to give "gaijin" instructions on how to survive the subzero temperatures in Japan. Those inside your house, that is.
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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