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August 15, 2024
 

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Amy Chavez

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Amy Chavez
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
May 26, 2001
Job-hunting tips for the nation's students
Japan's unemployment rate is the highest ever in the postwar era. This is especially bad news for students, who are finding it difficult to find jobs upon graduating. But don't despair, students, deep down the bubble economy is still bubbling! Japan is still paying people to do jobs that don't even exist...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
May 19, 2001
Satellite radio: a commuter's best friend
Ever wonder how Japanese people can sleep on trains? Ever wonder how they know exactly when to wake up at their stop? I've finally figured it out: They're not really sleeping. They're listening to satellite radio. Satellite-radio stations offer a variety of programs, many of them designed with Japan's...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
May 12, 2001
Newcomer's guide to interpreting Japlish
English can be seen and heard all over Japan. However, the meaning of the English isn't always obvious. Here is a list of Japanese-English words and phrases explained.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
May 5, 2001
Just how long will you stay in Japan?
When foreigners come to Japan, we often don't know how long we'll end up staying. Wouldn't it be great if there was some way of knowing? Now there is! Take this quiz, designed to let you know how long you'll stay in Japan.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Apr 28, 2001
Not your average garden-variety squabble
My garden is a mixture of potted house plants, herbs and flowers. I can't help but think that when I'm not home, they squabble. I don't think they're your average garden-variety squabbles, either.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Apr 21, 2001
A time of rapid change and slow speech
Are you, or have you ever been, a member of the Japanese workforce? Like cards, you have been shuffled and dealt out to a different department or location within your company, as if you worked for Trump.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Apr 14, 2001
No more excuses for not knowing your fish
Confused by all the different kinds of fish in Japan? I have learned to recognize fish by studying their facial expressions as they lay on my plate. It also helps to know which fish are served in which seasons.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Apr 7, 2001
One with nature beneath the blossoms
It's the cherry-blossom season, and you know what that means -- we no longer have to look at those silly purple cabbage plants that have grown into conehead spectacles begging to be trodden down by a loose hippo. Yes, Japan's winter pallor will soon be infused with the colors of spring: pink "sakura"...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Mar 31, 2001
The gift from kitty that never stops giving
If you travel enough, there is going to be a day when your cat pees in your suitcase. It's something that only happens if you have gone out of town and left your cat behind so many times that the cat becomes determined to accompany you in the most odorous way. Basically, your cat's message is: I love...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Mar 25, 2001
Few tasks are tougher than being thoughtless
Meditation increases concentration and mindfulness. That's what this book on Zen meditation says. It instructs me to concentrate for 20 minutes on nothing. Absolutely nothing. One strategy to prevent stray thoughts from entering the mind, the book says, is to concentrate on my breathing.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Mar 18, 2001
Where all your nightmares come together
I'm watching breathtaking video footage of a skier hucking air off 30-meter cliff then making smooth carved turns down a deadly 55-degree rock face. The last time I hucked and tucked a 55-degree rock face I woke up just before falling into a crevasse.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Mar 11, 2001
Pint-size English students learning up a storm
Every Thursday at 4 p.m., a big storm comes and whips around my house with enough force to rattle the walls, loosen fixtures and send things crashing onto the floor. The name of the storm is Nami-chan and she's 4 years old.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Mar 4, 2001
A trip to the sports club really wipes you out
I'm wiped out. I've never been to a gym where people spend so much time wiping the machines after they used them. They wipe the mats after they stretch. They even wipe the drinking fountain after drinking -- excruciatingly polite. And if you forget to bring your towel to wipe, they've got wiping mitts...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Feb 25, 2001
Japan studies has explosive effect on U.S. kids
Recently I gave a presentation on Japan to a class of preschoolers in the United States. This month, these 4 and 5-year-olds were studying Japan. Last month they studied Pakistan. They can write their names in Urdu.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Feb 18, 2001
Memories of Fido remain from hair to eternity
I am covered, head to foot, in dog hair. It's as if it had rained cats and dogs and I splashed through a puddle of them.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Feb 11, 2001
You haven't seen Japan till you've been in a bus
The bus is one of the best places for observing Japan. It's different from the train, where people pack in and do "gaman" till they get to their destination.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Feb 4, 2001
Life is too short, even when you have nine!
I used to think I knew how to bury a dead cat. Then I learned the Japanese way.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jan 28, 2001
In what other country can you ski in a zoo?
When we finally arrived at the ski area after three hours of driving, I realized I had not packed my ski jacket. I had packed my winter sailing jacket instead.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jan 21, 2001
Almost like a mouthful of Momma's tasty tofu
If you're a foreigner in Japan, Japanese people will always ask you, "Why are you in Japan?" If you're a foreigner who has been in Japan a awhile, Japanese people will always ask you, "Why are you still in Japan?"
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jan 14, 2001
Danger! Americans may smother you in kindness
I always get a kick out my students when they come back from the United States and exclaim, "Wow! Americans are so friendly!" Of course, what they really mean is, "Wow! No one even tried to kill us!"
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

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Azabudai Hills, Tokyo’s green new downtown ‘village’
Azabudai Hills, Tokyo’s green new downtown ‘village’

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