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November 22, 2024
 

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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
COMMUNITY
Nov 5, 2011
Hokkaido roots spur woman to bring folk tales to masses
For Deborah Davidson, Hokkaido is not only home, it is a door to other worlds. As a child, she played with Ainu children and watched them care for the frolicking cubs of the "iomante" (bear ceremony). As a translator, she now focuses on bringing Ainu folk tales to an English-speaking audience.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Oct 29, 2011
Longtime Kyoto resident relishes Irish music scene
Jay Gregg, a resident of Kyoto since 1980, starts each day with a "bowl of matcha and a few tunes." The music drifts through his living space, across his Kano School art collection, and brings back memories of his banjo-strumming university days at Colorado State.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Oct 16, 2011
The hills of Kotsubo hide the tombs of fallen samurai
No matter how warm and sunny the day, there's always a chill in Mandarado Yagura, a samurai graveyard in Kotsubo, right at the boundary between Kamakura and Zushi in Kanagawa Prefecture just south of Yokohama.
CULTURE / Books
Oct 9, 2011
Hymns for human potential
March and After, by Jon Mitchell. Printed Matter Press, 2011, 34pp., ¥1,000 (paperback) "March and After" brims with pithy song, but it is not merely a collection of poetry. The slim volume cuts with journalistic economy and biographical precision.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Oct 8, 2011
Communication skill, beyond language, called key necessity
When Mark Rubiner drove tens of thousands of kilometers from Arizona to Mexico and through South America when he was only 21 years old, his high school Spanish skills became a key tool for survival.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Oct 7, 2011
Helping Japan with a dance
Take any teenager nearly 10,000 km (6,000 miles) from home on their first-ever overseas trip and you are bound to reap wonder. For 16-year-old French ballerina Sylvie Guillem, who came to Tokyo with the Paris Opera Ballet School in 1981, that wonder grew into 30 years of mutual admiration.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Sep 10, 2011
Swiss tries to bring foreign tourists back to Japan, a step at a time
The undulating sea observes the solitary walker. A triangular bamboo farmer's hat shades his face as the infinite horizon stretches ahead, marking out his path.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Aug 20, 2011
Fate's path led Canadian to Kamakura
Rarely does life offer a clear-cut crossroads, but Heather Willson, a 34-year resident of Japan, faced one squarely when she was 22 years old.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Aug 13, 2011
Young dancers reap fruits of choreographer's expertise
Kimiho Hulbert danced before she could talk. Crawling backstage between dressing rooms of her Japanese mother and British father, both professional dancers in Belgium where she was born, Hulbert even disdained her first official ballet class at 2 years old as "too babyish."
CULTURE / Books
Jul 31, 2011
Literary sludge insults child abduction issue
IN APPROPRIATE: A Novel of Culture, Kidnapping, and Revenge in Modern Japan, by Debito Arudou. Lulu Enterprises, 2011, $10, 149 pp., (paper) That prickly gadfly of gaikokujins, Debito Arudou, has done it again, diminishing a worthy topic — in this case, international child abduction — into dross...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jul 16, 2011
Canadian martial artist finds the way to tea of tranquility
The intricate stained glass window in the heavy wooden door provides an artistic and unusual welcome. Stoop inside the restored Kyoto machiya (town house) and step into a future melded with the past. Drinking in the Art-Deco/Taisho roman decorations, your eye moves away from the geometric stained glass...
CULTURE / Books
Jul 10, 2011
Watch your manners!
MANNERS AND MISCHIEF: Gender, Power and Etiquette in Japan. Edited by Jan Bardsley and Laura Miller. University of California Press, 2011, 245 pp., $22.95 (paper) Don't let the cutesy Hello Kitty cover fool you. "Manners and Mischief" disdains frivolity and stands firm as an academic text for students...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jun 25, 2011
'Reluctant' musician blows success his way with horn
Over half his lifetime ago, reluctant horn player Jonathan Hammill, at 15, slumped in the back seat of the family car. Sweaty and bored on a family trip to his grandparents' house in Florida, Hammill watched as his mother impulsively popped in a tape his music teacher had given him as encouragement at...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
May 28, 2011
CARE official helps Tohoku after a career of hot spots
Futaba Kaiharazuka, an assistant program director with the aid organization CARE International Japan, remembers clearly the first time she visited a refugee camp in Pakistan.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
May 21, 2011
Fusing aikido and language studies a potent combination
Literally across the globe, martial arts fans flock to their favorite dojos and disciplines, thanks to the fluid strength and cool demeanor of the activity's many superstars. Equally as important to fans are the philosophies behind the physical aspects of martial arts.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
May 19, 2011
Yoshida returns to dance with the BRB as it tours her homeland
Miyako Yoshida, who retired from The Royal Ballet last year after a 25-year career at the top of the ballet world, is now bringing the grace that she has become world-famous for home to her native Japan — as guest principal of the Birmingham Royal Ballet (BRB), which tours the country for the first...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
May 7, 2011
American's food import firm has grown organically
Jack Bayles, owner of Alishan Organic Center and founder of Tengu Natural Foods, has lived within a 5-km radius his entire time in Japan in the shadow of the verdant, hazy mountains of Chichibu near the Koma River in Hidaka, Saitama Prefecture.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
May 3, 2011
Dancewear's 'principal' designer, on stage and off
Growing up in the small town of Ebetsu outside of Sapporo, Yumiko Takeshima discovered ballet at the age of 4. By the time she reached 11, she knew she wanted to be a dancer, although she insists she had no special talent.
CULTURE / Books
May 1, 2011
Temperance comes to Japan
REFORMING JAPAN: The Woman's Christian Temperance Union in the Meiji Period, by Elizabeth Dorn Lublin. University of Hawaii Press, 2010, 176 pp., $35.95 (paper) A temperance movement supports a reduction in consumption or total abstinence from alcohol beverages. It found followers in Europe and North...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Apr 16, 2011
Quest to gain, impart knowledge drives expat
The importance of education informs Aileen Kawagoe's life view, although early on she turned down the chance to become an educator like her father.
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.

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