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January 18, 2025

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COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE

Apr 20, 2002

Japan traffic, one of life's little screams

By Amy Chavez

I have always wondered why people insist on driving in Japan. This country just wasn't set up for moving vehicles. First of all, it is too small to have a portion of the population rallying around, flirting with momentum and dodging buildings. Imagine cramming 125 million people into land the size of...

Japan Times

COMMUNITY

Apr 20, 2002

'Madame Butterfly' and the real Cho-Cho-san

By Angela Jeffs

Jan van Rij's interest in the story behind Giacomo Puccini's opera "Madame Butterfly" began on a visit to Nagasaki when he was working here in the 1980s. "I visited Glover Garden with all its confusions -- the ugly escalator, music coming out of the bushes. I could see he had a Japanese wife, with mixed-blood...

COMMUNITY

Apr 14, 2002

Off on the road of laughs

By Julian Ryall

Paul Betney is perpetually in motion. It's the first thing that everyone notices about him. To put it bluntly, he shakes. Sometimes he looks like he's going to rattle himself apart, but then he arches his eyebrows and says, "Can you imagine me at airports?" and the audience is in fits.

Japan Times

COMMUNITY

Apr 14, 2002

Heading in her own direction

By Chris Cook

In the fashion world, it's not what's in your head, but what's on your head that counts. A baseball cap? A beret? Or something a little more provincial, like a wool cap? Milliners spend a lifetime mulling such matters and creating new styles of headwear.

COMMUNITY

Apr 14, 2002

Designers unveil new looks to fall for

By Chris Cook

As the weather warms up and the days get longer, memories of summer's trial-by-heat again begin to send shivers down the collective spine.

Japan Times

COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE

Apr 13, 2002

By Vivienne Kenrick

This year marks the 49th annual Cherry Blossom Charity Ball sponsored by the international Ladies Benevolent Society. A major fundraising event for charitable causes, the ball is also a starred occasion on Tokyo's international social calendar.

COMMUNITY

Apr 13, 2002

Support for foreign wives to make their own lives

By Angela Jeffs

Joanne Elbinger Higashi recalls the hardships of being newly married to a Japanese in the wilds of Mie Prefecture 20 years ago with a wry smile. "Returning here after visiting the States to show my 8-month-old son to my parents, it rained for weeks on end. It was a nightmare trying to get the diapers...

COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE

Apr 13, 2002

Ignored by your pet? Try my ESL course

By Amy Chavez

Trying to communicate with your cat or dog and not getting through? Maybe you are just not speaking their language. What language is that? Of course, that universal language: English! After all, Lassie understood English. Garfield thinks in English. And Mr. Ed, the horse, spoke it.

Japan Times

COMMUNITY

Apr 7, 2002

Ex-foreigner on a Diet 'mission'

In February, Marutei Tsurunen made political history when he became the first Westerner to take a seat in the Diet. This was as much of a surprise to him as anyone. After being first reserve in the proportional representation list of Minshuto (Democratic Party of Japan) after last July's Upper House...

COMMUNITY

Apr 7, 2002

Ishihara gambles on casinos

By Masami Ito

"Building a casino will create employment for 10,000 people."

COMMUNITY

Apr 7, 2002

A dicey history

By Mark Schreiber

The earliest reference to gambling in Japan -- found in the eighth-century, 31-volume "Nihon Shoki (Chronicle of Japan)" -- states that in 685 AD, Emperor Temmu passed the time playing a dice game similar to backgammon called sugo-roku (double sixes). Once his successor Empress Jito assumed the throne,...

Japan Times

COMMUNITY

Apr 7, 2002

The trickle-down effect

By Eric Prideaux

It's late in Tokyo's Yurakucho district, and the pachinko parlors clustered here have shut off their garish neon signs. The consoles through which the game's trademark metal balls are sent cascading have gone quiet, and the hard-core players who hang on until closing time are scurrying out onto the pavement...

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Atsuyoshi Koike, the president and CEO of Rapidus, says there is a “sense of urgency” when it comes to Japan’s efforts in manufacturing semiconductors. “We have to make sure we are successful,” he says.

Atsuyoshi Koike’s big game: Fourth down and 2 nanometers to go

By Kazuaki Nagata and Richard Meyer

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Challenging spirit and teamwork keep ANA flying high

Challenging spirit and teamwork keep ANA flying high

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