Search - places

 
 
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Mar 6, 2004

'Tokyo Stories' wittily points up the expat scene

Two years ago, as a balance to researching and writing up projects for financial institutions in the U.S. and preparing reports for fund managers in Japan, Christine Cunanan-Miki began a novel -- a series of interrelated tales about expats in Tokyo.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Mar 4, 2004

Pottering in a paradise too easily lost

Whenever I get the chance I like to spend time in Okinawa, which is where I am writing this. As I said to my long-suffering editor, who is getting this article in longhand, I am here to work on the first draft of a novel in Japanese, so I sit at a table loaded with books and dictionaries, a big window...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Mar 3, 2004

And never the twain shall meet, on canvas

Modernism, which was born in Paris and came of age in New York after World War II, was one of Europe's most successful cultural exports of the 20th century, making it to South Africa, Vietnam, Brazil . . . and Japan.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Feb 29, 2004

A past becoming urban myth

JAPANESE CAPITALS IN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE: Place, Power and Memory in Kyoto and Tokyo, edited by Nicolas Fieve and Paul Waley. London: Routledge/Curzon, 2003, 418 pp., 75 plates, £65.00 (cloth). Japanese cities are unusual. Compared to those in Europe or even the United States, there are few physical...
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Feb 26, 2004

Getting underneath the language of skin

"Obsessed" is probably the right word to describe the Japanese's woman's relationship with her hada (skin). From her earliest years, she is exhorted by her elders to look after her skin -- scrub, cleanse, moisturize -- to achieve that tsuru-tsuru (polished) texture and shittori (moist) feel. If a young...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Feb 24, 2004

McEnglish for the masses

American sociologist George Ritzer coined the term McDonaldization to describe how a method of production that originated in fast food restaurants is sweeping through every aspect of society.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 20, 2004

Music at the heart of Kichijoji's spirit

Most of Tokyo's main business districts are inside or around the JR Yamanote Line, but Kichijoji is a notable exception, being a part of Tokyo that's beyond the city's 23 wards.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Feb 20, 2004

Yakitori for gourmets: a 1-2-3 guide

There was a time when yakitori shops were hole-in-the-wall grills, often under railway tracks, where cheapness made up for the lack of sophistication and rotgut sake or rocket-fuel shochu were the libations of choice. Much has changed, though, and "upmarket yakitori" no longer seems a contradiction in...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Feb 19, 2004

Distance lends enchantment

Take a look at a map of the west side of the Pacific and you'll find a fractured scatter of islands from the Kuriles south of Kamchatka, through Japan, the Philippines, Indonesia, New Guinea and New Caledonia all the way to New Zealand and its sub-Antarctic Islands straddling the Roaring 40s and the...
LIFE / Lifestyle / MATTER OF COURSE
Feb 19, 2004

Schools step in to teach kids table manners

Why is it so difficult to teach children table manners? My kids are quick learners. My oldest only needs to hear a Weird Al song once and he's got the lyrics memorized. His little brother can recite the specs for every fighter plane ever built. So why can't they master the trick of getting their napkins...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 18, 2004

A bombardment of images leaves riddles in the rubble

Naqoyqatsi Rating: * * * * 1/2 (out of 5) Director: Godfrey Reggio Running time: 89 minutes Language: English Currently showing [See Japan Times movie listings] While all the attention has focused on "The Matrix" and "The Lord of the Rings," another trilogy, 20 years in the making, has...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 18, 2004

Unpeeling Melt-Banana

Melt-Banana are one of the most popular Japanese bands in Europe and the United States, and there's two reasons for this: 1) They play more shows abroad than any other Japan-based band; and 2) They are one of Japan's most original-sounding bands, who, although highly experimental, make quality music...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Feb 15, 2004

Asian Sherlocks pursue exotic crimes

THE FENG SHUI DETECTIVE, by Nury Vittachi. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2004, 280 pp., $23.95 (cloth). THE LAST KASHMIRI ROSE, by Barbara Cleverly. New York: Bantam Dell, 2003, 314 pp., $6.99 (paper). The "feng shui detective," an elderly Singaporean named C.F. Wong, doesn't wear a trench coat or pack...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Feb 14, 2004

Roland Thompson

His happiest memory, Roland Thompson says, is of his training, and learning advanced techniques, in Soke Shioda's black-belt aikido classes. His saddest memory is of the day Shioda died. He regards himself as "very fortunate to have been with him, and to have trained with him, during that last part of...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / CERAMIC SCENE
Feb 11, 2004

You are always on my mind

Familiarity with an object or place can dampen the senses. It may not necessarily breed contempt, but it often leads to indifference. We see it all too frequently, as in the simple case of not visiting wonderful places in our own neighborhood, or the attitude folk here in Shizuoka have toward Mount Fuji:...
JAPAN
Feb 10, 2004

Kanzaki to hand letter to Hu proposing Koizumi meeting

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has written a letter to Chinese President Hu Jintao in which he proposes that the two leaders meet.
Events
Feb 8, 2004

KANSAI: Who & What

Aquarium to bring snow to Osaka's children: Kaiyukan Aquarium, in Osaka's Minato Ward, is inviting people to a snow festival that features a field covered by natural snowflakes from Hyogo Prefecture today, Wednesday and Feb. 14 and 15.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 7, 2004

Harajuku Segway stunt draws Tokyo cops' ire

Tokyo police turned over to prosecutors Friday their case against a businessman who asked an employee to ride a U.S.-made Segway scooter on a public street, allegedly in violation of the Road Traffic Law.
JAPAN
Feb 7, 2004

Ski resorts hope discount programs will lure people back to the slopes

The ski industry, another victim of the nation's frigid financial state, is trying to get people back on the slopes.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Feb 6, 2004

Dhaba India: a South Indian oasis in central Tokyo

Fans of Indian food -- and the Food File is a lifelong member of that happy congregation -- are always pleased to discover new places to satisfy those insistent cravings for the spicy flavors of the subcontinent. As we sat down for dinner at Dhaba India, though, we felt overjoyed.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 4, 2004

Chicken, beef scares seen as good time for ostriches to swoop

The recent mad cow disease case in the United States and the bird flu epidemic sweeping Asia have disrupted food imports to Japan, but some restaurateurs here say it's whetted diners' appetites for the offbeat: ostrich meat.
Events
Feb 1, 2004

KANSAI: Who & What

Foreign students sought for Japanese classes: The Osaka International House Foundation is seeking foreign students to sign up for its weekly Japanese-language classes, which begin on April 6 at its facility in the city's Tennoji Ward.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 1, 2004

A testament to the love of Gainsbourg

A week before her concert appearance in Tokyo, I call Jane Birkin. That's Jane -- heavy breathing on the raunchy 1969 Serge Gainsbourg classic, "Je t'aime . . . moi non plus" -- Birkin.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 1, 2004

China-Southeast Asia relations blossom

SINGAPORE -- Chinese worldwide ushered in the Year of the Monkey on Jan. 22. The outgoing Year of the Goat had been excellent for China -- despite the outbreak of SARS last winter -- and a relatively good year for Southeast Asia.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Jan 30, 2004

Manchester United soap opera looks set for very long run

LONDON -- The Manchester United soap opera continues and shows no sign of running out of far-fetched scripts.
EDITORIALS
Jan 29, 2004

Defense policy put to test

With Monday's government order to dispatch the main contingent of ground troops to Iraq, the Self-Defense Forces is ready for full deployment in the conflict-torn country. The troops will be sent in stages, starting with a group of engineers, to Samawah in southern Iraq. With air and navy units also...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
Jan 28, 2004

A love/hate relationship set in concrete

In the classic 1971 British action film "Get Carter," Michael Caine plays a small-time criminal who avenges the death of his brother by tossing one of the gangsters responsible (played by Brian Mosely) off the top of a multistory car park in the gritty northeast England town of Gateshead. From what I...

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?