Amy Chavez - The Japan Times

COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE

Aug 13, 2000

Seven key ways to enjoy the rest of your days

I've finally figured out why Japanese people don't take more vacations -- they don't want to. Work is comfortable and safe for them. Vacations offer too much adventure. Japanese people try to avoid using the "f" word: Fun.

COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE

Aug 6, 2000

Breaking down the Japanese inferiority myth

Do Japanese people have an inferiority complex? Japanese people often tell me they feel inferior to foreigners. You've probably heard Japanese people say some of following yourself:

COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE

Jul 30, 2000

A cell phone lets you say 'hello kitty' anytime

My suspicions have been confirmed: Cats need cell phones. If you think cats aren't smart enough to have cell phones, think again. Intelligence has never been a requirement for using a cell phone.

COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE

Jul 23, 2000

Baffling Japanese mysteries solved at last

There are many myths about Japan. Let's look at some of them and see whether they're true or false.

COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE

Jul 16, 2000

Over the rainbow beckons home sweet home

If a foreigner stays in Japan more than five years, Japanese people start asking, "When are you going home?" This is because Japanese people can't imagine being away from their home country for so long. Sometimes Japanese people ask me, "Don't your parents miss you?" There is a feeling too that by staying...

COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE

Jul 9, 2000

'Alien 5' now playing in your local neighborhood

A band of junior high-school students showed up at my door the other morning. "Can we interview you?" they asked.

COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE

Jul 2, 2000

Way too much jello has been going to waist

My husband is in to soft-porn: the Victoria's Secret catalog. Whenever a new catalog comes in the mail, he's got it ripped open before I even get a glance at the latest cheetah-print lingerie Naomi Campbell is modeling. Victoria's Secret is most famous for their lingerie, but they also sell an array...

COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE

Jun 25, 2000

The do's and don'ts of business card etiquette

Please don't tell Mr. Watanabe that his business card is now in a million pieces strewn among the bras and underwear in my washing machine. This is just the latest faux pas in my history of malicious treatment of business cards.

COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE

Jun 18, 2000

Three weeks is a lifetime for pet crickets

Welcome to Japan's rainy season, also known as the Insect Season. Although I live in an old Japanese house with generations of insects going back as far as the Heian Period, I also live with the comfort of knowing I'll never starve to death. "Getemono," the Japanese word for "gross things to eat," includes...

COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE

Jun 11, 2000

Haven't got the yang of Japanese gardening

I came home the other day and noticed my neighbor had cut my grass, trimmed my trees and watered my plants. This is normal. I apologized profusely, thanked Ueda-san repetitively and she said, as always, "Oh, it was nothing."

COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE

Jun 4, 2000

It's the season for cool drinks and hot talk

Right now it's 28 degrees, sunny with a light breeze. It couldn't be a more perfect day on the island. Yet when I went to the post office this morning, Mr. Saito said, "It's hot!" When I stopped by the supermarket, Mrs. Amano, the store owner said, "It's hot!" When I stopped by the ferry port, Mrs. Amano,...

COMMUNITY / JAPAN LITE

Dec 26, 1999

Forget this year, and the last 999 as well

At the end of the year now, Japan is in the throes of "bonenkai," or "forget the year" parties. I wonder, though -- shouldn't we be having "forget the millennium" parties?

COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE

Dec 5, 1999

Born to fail the Japanese proficiency test

Today at this very moment, while you are reading this newspaper, myself, as well as thousands of other foreigners in Japan, are failing the Japanese Proficiency Test.

COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE

Nov 28, 1999

Work full-time and raise a bonsai? No thanks

The other day I mentioned to my husband that I might like to take a class in growing bonsai trees. I don't even know why I mentioned it. I had been growing some pretty good mold in the bathroom and refrigerator so perhaps it seemed like a good time to move on to something more challenging.

COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE

Nov 7, 1999

Hail Japan, for you will surely miss it one day

The foreign community in Japan is transient. People come and go. The funny thing is, when they go, they're usually ready. It's something biological: that need to return home.

COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE

Oct 31, 1999

Jed and Ted's spine-tingling fishing adventure

In Japan, the heat of the summer is the time for telling ghost stories. In the United States, we wait for Halloween. One of the most famous ghost stories is "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow," a story by Washington Irving that tells the tale of the headless horseman who rides his horse through the night.

COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE

Oct 24, 1999

Who needs coffee when you've got kids around?

On Saturdays I volunteer at the Shiraishi Island Kindergarten, where I teach English at high volume. That's because Japanese kindergarten students are taught to shout everything in unison. So, a simple "good morning" becomes "GOOD MORNING!" Multiply that by 15 students and it's kind of like an alarm...

COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE

Oct 10, 1999

It's a wonder more letter writers don't go postal

Everyone in Japan is worried about unemployment but islands like mine are suffering from overemployment.

COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE

Sep 17, 1999

Ten reasons why English is an evil language

English is an evil language. If it wasn't, all Japanese people would speak fluent English upon graduating high school. After all, seven years of English study should be enough.

COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE

Sep 12, 1999

Three cheers for Respect for the Aged Day

There's a naked lady in my "genkan." I was upstairs in my office just now, when I heard someone calling my name. I went downstairs and there was 88-year-old Yamakawa-san, standing there naked.

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