Search - things-to-do

 
 
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jun 21, 2003

To feel better, get in touch with Mojo Massage

Benjamin Beardsley was in high school when he was jumped on by a group of his classmates and beaten up. They accused him of thinking he was different, somehow better than them. "You'll never leave this town," they mocked. Well, here I am talking with Ben in Tokyo about theater, massage and holistic integration,...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
May 25, 2003

Vietnamese cuisine in a Parisian scene

The Book of Salt, by Monique Truong. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2003, 261 pp., $24 (cloth). It's Paris, 1929. You're young, Vietnamese and gay. You don't speak much French, but you can cook a mean omelet. You see an ad in the paper: "Two American Ladies Wish to Retain a Cook." You answer the ad. You get...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / CLOSE-UP
May 4, 2003

Alice Walker: Love makes her world go round

Alice Walker is best known as the author of "The Color Purple," her 1983 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel about the lives of African-American women in the Deep South early in the 20th century -- which Steven Spielberg made into a film in 1985 starring Whoopi Goldberg and Oprah Winfrey.
CULTURE / Books / THE BOOK REPORT
Apr 24, 2003

Challenging English at 65

April is traditionally the time of new beginnings in Japan, at school and at work. Novelist Sae Shuichi, however, makes it a practice to embark on a new project every five years. At 55, for example, he took up kendo. And at 65, as detailed in his latest book, "65-sai Ojisan no Eikaiwa Benkyo ga Tanoshiku...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / ON THE BOOK TRAIL
Apr 3, 2003

"Going for Stone," "Through the Night"

"Going for Stone," Philip Gross, Oxford University Press; 2002; 224 pp. It seems there's only one thing more terrifying than anything you could dream up -- the world you actually live in. Nick is a teenager who hasn't seen much of that world while growing up, but he's in for a shock when he leaves home....
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Mar 30, 2003

Lock & key

KAZUYOSHI UEHARA -- not the Kazuyoshi Uehara -- rang the doorbell. He sensed a pause, a hesitation, an interrupted action -- his imagination no doubt -- and tensed slightly as approaching footsteps grew audible.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Mar 30, 2003

East to West: the seductive Madame Sadayakko

MADAME SADAYAKKO: The Geisha Who Seduced the West, by Lesley Downer. London: Review Press/Hodder Headline, 2003, 336 pp., map, photos, £20 (cloth) In 1899, a 27-year-old ex-geisha who called herself Sadayakko embarked on a new career in San Francisco. With her entrepreneur-husband's enthusiastic backing,...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Mar 30, 2003

The young, the beautiful, the talented

COLLECTION OF BEAUTIES AT THE HEIGHT OF THEIR POPULARITY: A Novel, by Whitney Otto. New York: Random House, 2002, 283 pages, $23.95 (hardcover) When we think of Japonisme, it is primarily in the decorative arts -- a painting of a European woman holding a Japanese fan or wearing a kimono, some oriental...
JAPAN
Mar 27, 2003

25,296 without homes: survey

The number of homeless people in Japan stood at 25,296 earlier this year, according to a survey released Wednesday by the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / MATTER OF COURSE
Mar 13, 2003

Don't wait till bullying hits close to home

This is the column I thought I'd never have to write. It's about how my son was bullied at school.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 12, 2003

Charlie Watts: The beat goes (40 years) on

Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts, 61, has sunk into a deep leather chair in a huge hotel room in Toronto. In the corner hundreds of jazz CDs cover the walls. The table is strewn with old snapshots. Watts coughs and straightens his brown jacket.
Japan Times
SUMO
Mar 7, 2003

Takanohana getting grip on life off the dohyo

Recently retired yokozuna Takanohana was the idol of the sumo world during the 1990s and his departure from the sport earlier this year leaves many wondering how it will carry on.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / CLOSE-UP
Mar 2, 2003

Weighing in on the 'real Japan'

Murray Sayle, 76, likes to tell how he was delivered by the same doctor as Australian Prime Minister John Howard; how he lived a few streets away from him and went to the same high school, and then the same university.
BUSINESS / ON MANAGEMENT
Feb 11, 2003

Fatal Distraction: There's no such thing as a 'safe' investment, when it comes to a micromanaging CEO

A news story the other day included a list of a certain CEO's business activities, all on top of his "day" job: part-owner of a golf course, a hunt club and a new marina, each in a different part of the country; silent partner in his son's startup venture; prime mover behind a regional ski resort development;...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Feb 8, 2003

Faith Bach

From her home in Boston, Faith Bach says she always wanted to come to Japan. "I don't know why. These things just happen," she said. She was not encouraged by her parents, who "were not in any way interested in Japan." They had bequeathed her in childhood love and understanding of theater, providing...
COMMENTARY
Jan 30, 2003

Making waves over foreign policy 'realism'

HONOLULU -- One of the advantages of living in Hawaii is that you get to spend weekends at the beach. I spend mine with the Grizzled Old Vet, a longtime observer of East Asia who has spent a lifetime straddling academia and the minefields that litter the Beltway. Between waves, the Gov (as I will call...
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Jan 14, 2003

Pension posers, recycling visas, and a re-entry tip-off

New year, new faces Happy New Year from Tokyo. Congratulations to two new leaders in the community; Mr. Lance Lee, the new president of The American Chamber of Commerce in Japan, and Mr. Larry Blagg, the new president of The Tokyo American Club. They don't come any better. We wish them the best. Also,...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Dec 29, 2002

Koma Square -- a new years' tale by RK

1997-99 He woke to the sound of a prerecorded voice booming from the nationalists' minitruck rolling through their neighborhood, making the windows rattle. Shirtless on the tatami, his bare back pressed to the ribbed weave, he heard the voice as part of his dream and then part of the day, and then...
COMMENTARY / JAPAN IN THE GLOBAL ERA
Dec 16, 2002

Sicily's sobering message for grandparents

SYRACUSE, Sicily -- Sicily is an ideal place to ponder the fate of civilizations and to reflect on the future. This island off the boot of Italy, with a population of 5 million, has been a crossroads of civilizations for almost three millennia. The Greeks, Romans, Saracens, Normans, Catalans, French,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / THE SECOND ROOM
Nov 30, 2002

The funkier side of Mike Maguire; new Antidote release; Domino at Fire

Somewhere standing off to the side of all the people who have claimed titles in electronic music -- the various kings, queens, godfathers and godmothers -- is Mike Maguire, marking his own beat, seemingly oblivious to the world.
EDITORIALS
Nov 24, 2002

Picking on Tiger

There are some things that enlightened people nowadays pretty much agree are beyond dispute. A good example would be the view that it is wrong to discriminate against women. And then there are things that enlightened people find themselves arguing about quite heatedly. An example of this would be the...
COMMENTARY
Nov 13, 2002

Midterms heap accountability on Bush

HONOLULU -- U.S. President George W. Bush is basking in the results of last week's midterm elections. Bush's Republican Party increased its presence in Congress, an outcome that the president claims validates his policies and provides him with a mandate for the remaining two years of his term. Fears...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / CLOSE-UP
Nov 3, 2002

A 'young blood' at Yokohama's helm

Hiroshi Nakada shocked the nation in March when, at the age of 37, he was elected as the mayor of Yokohama, beating 72-year-old Hidenobu Takahide. Takahide, who died in August, ran the city for 12 years and was backed in the election by the ruling coalition and the opposition Social Democratic Party....
LIFE / Travel / NATURE TRAVEL
Oct 22, 2002

Bogged in Botswana's mudholes

It is traditional for this column to supply a Nature Travel horror story as close to Halloween as scheduling permits. Halloween is still some time away. But this one's most definitely a two-part column. So forgive us for starting early.
COMMENTARY / JAPAN IN THE GLOBAL ERA
Oct 21, 2002

Contributing to the spread of democracy

LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- In a recent editorial, the Financial Times admonished the European Union and its member states, "(for) having consistently failed to grasp the broad historic significance of the fall of the Berlin Wall nearly 13 years ago." It is in fact an awesome event, the significance of...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / ON THE BOOK TRAIL
Oct 11, 2002

"Time Stops For No Mouse," "Hairy Bill"

"Time Stops For No Mouse," Michael Hoeye, Puffin Books; 2002; 262 pp. It's a mouse's world.
LIFE / Lifestyle / MATTER OF COURSE
Sep 27, 2002

It really is sink or swim in Japanese schools

Life is never dull when your children attend local school in a foreign country. My kids have been in Japanese school for two years, but things still catch me by surprise. My daily thrill, if you can call it that, is reviewing the stacks of purinto (handouts) from the school. I never know quite what I'm...
COMMENTARY / WASHINGTON UPDATE
Sep 26, 2002

Iraq dominates Washington's agenda

WASHINGTON -- The Oct. 4 target date for the adjournment of Congress is fast approaching. The top priority for President George W. Bush is to convince Congress to give him some form of support for his crusade against Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Sep 11, 2002

The maestro at work

MATSUMOTO, Nagano Pref. -- "What does everyone think?"
COMMUNITY
Sep 8, 2002

Hey Taxi!

An arm stuck out from the sidewalk and Hideaki pulled up his cab, let the customer in . . . and immediately sensed trouble.

Longform

Totopa in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward was picked by consultants TTNE as the best sauna of the year.
Japan’s sauna movement: Relax, refresh, repeat