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 Kris Kosaka

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Kris Kosaka
Kris Kosaka, a resident of Japan since 1996, contributes regularly to The Japan Times. She is a lecturer at Meiji Gakuin University in the Faculty of International Studies.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Apr 21, 2013
There are no shortcuts to enlightenment, but plenty of laughs on the journey
Spring in Japan: a time to re-evaluate, to explore spiritually the choices of the upcoming fiscal year. A season of pilgrimage.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Apr 6, 2013
Irrepressible Irishman promotes Japan culture
Humor may be the hardest genre to translate, but laughter speaks any language. Poet and literary translator Peter MacMillan's recent foray into visual art, "Thirty-Six New Views of Mount Fuji," delights with wry whimsicality, employing mixed-media print-making to reveal a multicultural drollery.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Mar 29, 2013
Dine with a backdrop of cherry blossom
With an ephemeral canopy of pink sweeping Japan, the JT's food writers know the perfect spots to dine with an eyeful of sakura (cherry blossom) — or just the right sake to sip as you picnic under the petals.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Mar 24, 2013
Abashiri astounds with its ice and convict connections
In April 1890, the Japanese government shipped more than 1,200 political prisoners from all over the country, including samurai insurgents from the 1877 Satsuma Rebellion against the government of Emperor Meiji. Nine years before, more than 250 years of rule by the Tokugawa shoguns had finally ended....
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Mar 23, 2013
Photography buff behind Japan Camera Hunter thrives in Tokyo, the capital of cameras
Bellamy Hunt's name is part of his business: Japan Camera Hunter, a one-man enterprise supporting film photo buffs around Asia and the world. His work mainly involves hunting down vintage cameras, whether an elusive early model Nikon or a classic Leica.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Mar 9, 2013
Power of poetry penned by survivors of 3/11 is showcased by ASIJ project
Kathy Krauth, a social studies teacher at the American School in Japan, admits she was never a huge fan of tanka, traditional Japanese poetry. "Tanka never really spoke to me. I dismissed it as early Japanese history with cherry blossoms." That all changed when Krauth sat in a classroom at the University...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Mar 3, 2013
'A person and a possession': Japanese women in history
SELLING WOMEN: Prostitution, Markets and the Household in Early Modern Japan, by Amy Stanley. University of California Press, 2012, 282 pp., $49.95 (hardcover)
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Feb 15, 2013
British photographer documents lives outside the lines
Uchujin, aka Adrian Storey, a British photographer and filmmaker based in Tokyo, drolly explains his rather unusual business moniker: 'I'd rather be an alien than an outsider.'
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Feb 8, 2013
Founder of TIS makes creativity cornerstone of school's curriculum
Patrick Newell, 47, founder of Tokyo International School, calls himself a “learning activist,” a zealot on the frontlines of learning.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Feb 1, 2013
Canadian uses sports as bridge to teaching, writing, understanding
Writer, teacher and sports fan Trevor Kew, 32, pedals and kicks his way through culture shock. He uses sports to help him adapt to unfamiliar cultures or new places when traveling, trusting his bike or a soccer ball to bridge the gap with locals.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Jan 25, 2013
New Yorker opens doors for foreigners in Sapporo
Ken Hartmann, 71, still opens doors for ladies, and still speaks with a brusque, no-nonsense New York accent even after 27 years in Japan.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jan 24, 2013
With 'Desh,' Khan proves you can go home again
If art's purpose is to ask the relevant questions, then British-Bangladeshi dancer Akram Khan successfully interrogates humanity — and himself — with his latest production, 'Desh.'
Japan Times
MULTIMEDIA
Jan 12, 2013
Nomad writer and photographer keeps his passions fueled by travel
Fiction can work like a cheap flight; a good novel takes off, jetting readers to new worlds. Writers and photographers triple the distance traveled. Sean Lotman, 37, an avid reader, writer, photographer and nomad, has logged thousands of kilometers around the world.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Dec 29, 2012
Textile scholar advocates sustainable fashion
Yoshiko Wada, textile artist and scholar, believes the word "sustainable" in foods and fashion shares the same philosophical taste. "Both are a holistic approach, about health, environment, and the community that supports it. We must recapture and rethink how we are going to sustain our Earth and society,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / THE YEAR IN BOOKS
Dec 23, 2012
Celebrating the female dragons
"All That I Am" (Harper) by Anna Funder blazes across pre-World War II Europe, illuminating the period when Hitler eliminated all national opposition in his prelude to the rest of the world.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Dec 15, 2012
Writer, teacher, advocate finds her stride in the Japanese countryside
For Jane Joritz-Nakagawa, her sociopolitical outlook colors all aspects of her life, as a writer, educator or activist. "Activism runs through what I read and what I write and what I'm teaching; It's all one big thing, as the same mindset invades all those activities. It is inescapable," she says.
CULTURE / Books
Dec 9, 2012
Globe-trotting acrobat left a mark on Japan
PROFESSOR RISLEY AND THE IMPERIAL JAPANESE TROUPE: How an American Acrobat Introduced Circus to Japan — and Japan to the West, by Frederik L. Schodt. Stone Bridge Press, 2012, 336 pp., $35 (hardcover) When a storyteller wields a scholar's pen, history truly comes alive. When that history crosses the...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Dec 1, 2012
Martial artist credits his achievements to the philosophy of kendo
Alex Bennett was 18 years old when he first read the wisdom — "From one thing, know 10,000" — in Miyamoto Musashi's "The Book of Five Rings." Now living this maxim, Bennett is a scholar, teacher, translator, writer, coach and active competitor in the martial arts.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Dec 1, 2012
Martial artist credits his achievements to the philosophy of kendo
Alex Bennett was 18 years old when he first read the wisdom — "From one thing, know 10,000" — in Miyamoto Musashi's "The Book of Five Rings." Now living this maxim, Bennett is a scholar, teacher, translator, writer, coach and active competitor in the martial arts.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Nov 25, 2012
Introducing the irreverent, unconventional Ryokan
SKY ABOVE, GREAT WIND: The Life and Poetry of Zen Master Ryokan, by Kazuaki Tanahashi. Shambhala, 2012, 224 pp., $17.95 (paperback) It is fitting that the first poem in this book features Ryokan's nod to the most famous of Japanese poets:

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