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November 22, 2024
 

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Amy Chavez

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Amy Chavez
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jul 14, 2012
Why we came to Japan — a different realm
"Why did you come to Japan?" We've all been asked this question. I still can't give a good answer.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jul 7, 2012
The price you pay for electronic bells and whistles of businesses
The setsuden (power-saving) campaign is now in full force, as residents all over Japan are being encouraged to conserve electricity so there is enough to get through the high-use summer months. Even on my small island of 609 people, each household received a list of suggestions on how we can help Japan...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jun 30, 2012
The toad tax and other ways to raise money
Read my lips: no new taxes! Just old ones raised.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jun 23, 2012
The most exciting season
Welcome to the rainy season. Welcome to the invasion of insects! Contrary to what most people will tell you, I think the rainy season is the most exciting part of the year in Japan. Believe me, you're gonna see plenty of strange things. Every June, I'm filled with unbridled curiosity of what new, never-seen-before...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jun 16, 2012
The midlife crisis hotline — dreams to fulfill before you get too old?
I've recently been reading books about athletes. Lance Armstrong's "It's Not About the Bike," Andre Agassi's "Open," and more recently, Scott Jurek's "Eat and Run." All these books are memoirs, but they have something less obvious in common. They all had ghostwriters.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jun 9, 2012
Anti-aging tips for the elderly — don't let the society age you
I can never remember my mother being younger than 50. I'm sure she was born 50, and married my father at 60. Then they went to a store and bought me when they were both 63.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jun 2, 2012
A 100-mile race — it keeps you runnin'
Paul Walsh has just finished running 156 km. For fun. Around the bottom of Mount Fuji.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
May 26, 2012
See Japan by car? Well, it does sort of make sense
As I started to plan our trip to Mount Fuji from Okayama, I was met with obstacles at every turn. The local trains would take too long, the shinkansen would be too expensive and not direct enough, and to take the express bus, we'd have to go to Osaka first, wait a few hours for the next overnight and...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
May 19, 2012
Reasons I don't buy a nuclear restart
I've heard many excuses for the nuclear accident that happened as a result of the March 11, 2011 earthquake and tsunami, followed by reasons why we should return to nuclear power. I don't buy any of them.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
May 12, 2012
Can Japan's countryside be saved from the edge of extinction?
Once upon a time in Okayama, Japan, lived an old man and an old woman who had no children of their own. One day, the old man went into the forest to cut down bamboo while the old woman went to the river to wash clothes. While at the river, she noticed a giant peach bobbing up and down in the water. She...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
May 5, 2012
English fluency and alligator pits
When I used to teach English at university, I was sure to leave an impression on my students on their first day of class. I'd tell them that as Japanese speakers, they could only speak with a mere 130 million people. But if they could learn English, they would be able to communicate with 500 million...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Apr 28, 2012
Springtime comes — and goes — on the Love-Love Island
Spring has sprung on Shiraishi Island. The cherry blossoms have bloomed and gone, their fallen pink petals pushed back into the good earth by passersby. We have attended the Kobo Daishi Spring Festival at the temple to be purified. The fishermen have changed from going out in their boats in the warmth...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Apr 21, 2012
Kansai's new budget airline offers juicy savings
On March 1, the first flight of All Nippon Airways' new low-cost carrier, Peach Aviation Ltd., was launched. Yes, now we know that fruit can fly. This may bring on a whole slew of flying fruit — flying bananas, pineapples, and even low-budget strawberries.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Apr 14, 2012
What's needed to put something on the World Heritage list?
Last week I talked about Japanese food becoming a UNESCO World Heritage. This got me to thinking that perhaps American food too should qualify. Stop laughing.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Apr 7, 2012
Washoku on World Heritage menu?
Let's talk about food cultures of the world. And I don't mean yogurt.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Mar 31, 2012
A guide to Jizo, guardian of travelers and the weak
"Jizo Bosatsu has confirmed you as a friend on Facebook," said the email. I clicked on "view profile," which took me to Jizo's Facebook page. Not much information was revealed, except that his religious views are Buddhist, and he has 409 friends. His profile picture is a stone Jizo statue sitting peacefully...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Mar 24, 2012
Some breaking mews on cat cafes
With animal employment rates on the rise, Japanese officials are now stepping in to regulate animal cafes. Citing new Animal Protection Laws, authorities are especially cracking down on 24-hour cat cafes. Makes you wonder: Where's a nocturnal cat to go for a cuppa?
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Mar 17, 2012
'Super priority' seats — what will they do ?
We are about to enter a new era: that of the super priority seat. The Yokohama municipal subway has just announced their ¥4 million mission to add these seats. What are "super priority seats?" No one has said. Perhaps they're for VIP elderly? The 100-and-over crowd? The only thing that has been revealed...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Mar 10, 2012
Stages of assimilation
When you first set foot in Japan, it's hard not to be impressed by the efficiency and social order. The streets are clean, trains run on time, and the people are quiet and polite, yet possess enough of the bizarre to make them interesting. (One of the first Japanese people I met was a woman who always...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Mar 3, 2012
Is Japan's enrollment season really a problem?
The University of Tokyo -or Todai as it is locally called — is considering changing its enrollment from spring to autumn to be more in sync with universities around the world, 70 percent of which are said to have enrollments in the fall.
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.
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.
Ruling coalition and DPP strike last-minute deal over economic policy
DPP policy chief Makoto Mahaguchi speaks at the party's policy gathering in Tokyo on Wednesday.
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.
Japanese expats in Asia find community through rugby
The Taiwan Fivewoods celebrate their victory at the 2023 Asian Japanese Rugby Cup in December of last year.
In Fukushima, a weekend of prose, poetry and translation
Aomori-based writer JJ Carter presented on tabletop gaming as creative inspiration for building characters and narratives.
For Dr. Nakamats, aging is just experience in action
Though he didn't win the recent gubernatorial election in Tokyo, the 96-year-old Dr. Nakamats' run was seen as inspirational in Japan's aging society.

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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