Tag - japan-lite

 
Menu
Search
 
July 16, 2024
 

Today's print edition

Home Delivery
Subscribe for more access

JAPAN LITE

COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Sep 11, 2004
Want to be royalty? Try a home stay
When it comes to hospitality, the Japanese are champions. In Japan, hospitality is like an Olympic sport and requires rigorous cross training in fields such as politeness, modesty, unconditional giving and overall self-sacrifice. There is no better display of this hospitality than in the Japanese home...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Sep 4, 2004
Typhoon No. 16 brings real flower power
All we could do was wait. We all knew the Big Hibiscus was coming from its tropical roots south of Okinawa. The flower, in full bloom, had already hit Kagoshima and was now headed our way. Who ever imagined the hibiscus could be such a violent flower?
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Aug 28, 2004
Hammer throwing for the whole family
Every time I turn on the TV, the Japanese are winning Olympic medals -- mostly the same ones -- over and over again. But this is Japan, where repetition is highly prized as a way to impress upon us the vital importance of repetition. Practice, practice, practice and you will succeed.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Aug 21, 2004
Beat the heat -- get out to the islands
It has been one of the hottest years on record in Japan, especially in Tokyo. Something about too much pavement and too many high-rise buildings blocking the breeze. It makes you wonder, why don't those people in the high-rises just open their windows to let the breeze through?
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Aug 14, 2004
Bon brings more than family back home
...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Aug 7, 2004
Bon ancestor worship going to the dogs
It's almost Bon, the festival of the dead, a time when the spirits return to their ancestral homes. On our island, that's a lot of returnees. With the population dying off so rapidly, the ratio of spirits to living people is so great that at Bon, the living become a minority.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jul 31, 2004
'Addams family factor' in Japanese food
When a friend of mine who is a Japanese cook offered to make me pizza, I have to admit that my stomach did a turn. I mean, this guy specializes in preparing sashimi -- would the pizza come with the sausage still twitching?
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jul 24, 2004
Rent-a-cats bring women love at first bite
It has long been said that for men, walking a dog is a good way to meet girls. I have to admit, I'm a sucker for a cute dog too. Whenever I see a dog, especially a black Labrador retriever, I run over and pet it, hug it, kiss it and tell it how beautiful it is. So walking a dog is a good way to meet...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jul 17, 2004
Sea Day -- For good or bad, a holiday
Happy Sea Day! Monday, July 19, is Sea Day, a national holiday when we are supposed to go out and enjoy the sea. But for me, this has not been a good year with the sea. First, on a yachting trip from Japan to Guam, the boat turned over in the Pacific Ocean and we had to be rescued. More recently, I sprained...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jul 10, 2004
Benten: goddess of luck and watercolors
It's summertime, the festival season in Japan. On Shiraishi Island, the festival season is already in full force, with a number of Shinto festivals and celebrations to start off the summer. These are traditions from hundreds of years ago.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jul 3, 2004
Sussing Aussie English -- it's a bugger
When I found out I'd be spending a month accompanying two Australians around Japan, I thought, "Easy -- we speak the same language." Bloody wrong! "Aussie English" is completely different from the English used on my planet, the United States.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jun 26, 2004
Potty training for joy of the Grand Pee
One thing most foreigners are surprised to see when they come to Japan is men urinating in public. Taxi drivers, salarymen and just plain drunks can be seen standing against a wall, a hedge or over a grid in public streets any time of day or night, peeing. I call it the Grand Pee.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jun 19, 2004
Things you must do before leaving Japan
Leaving Japan? Don't. At least not until you've experienced some of these must-do things here:
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jun 12, 2004
The one-man national yacht movement
On my planet, the U.S., people change things at the grassroots level. In Japan, the root of the blade is often an "obaa-san" or "ojii-san," a single person out to change things. You can find these individuals all over Japan, conjuring up their own ways of making a difference in this country. I ran into...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jun 5, 2004
Glitzy city jars journeyer to 'real' Japan
"We are having a gale all night and a beauty too. The waves are lashing about us at a desperate rate, even against my window at times away up on the upper deck, but they can't drive us off our course. I go to bed at night, I fully expect to find myself on the floor in the morning. Please have a cradle...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
May 29, 2004
Miyajima to Oshima: sailing back in time
"The Inland Sea is a dangerous one unless the ship has a pilot of the greatest skill and one who thoroughly knows the channels," wrote my great-grandfather on his passage through the sea in 1900.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
May 22, 2004
Sacred flames and burning Tahiti dreams
On our sail through the Seto Inland Sea, whenever we pull into a harbor for the night, we never know what to expect. At Shiraishi Island, we found people wearing deer skins, blowing though bull horns and shooting arrows into the air. What's this?
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
May 15, 2004
Cow Island and a naked bath in the sky
Perhaps the best part about sailing through the Seto Inland Sea is stopping along the way at the islands. The Inland Sea has over 150 islands, and each one has a different atmosphere. After passing under the Seto Ohashi Bridge, we stopped at a small island called Ushi Shima. The name of the island (Cow...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
May 8, 2004
Stomach lining jumps ship in a typhoon
At 1 p.m. I received a message on my cell phone from my husband: "I hope you're not sailing today. A typhoon is coming." Too bad I didn't see this message before we left Awajishima at 1:30 headed for Shodoshima. As a matter of fact, at 1 p.m., we were still sitting in an "onsen" overlooking the Seto...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
May 1, 2004
The well-heeled, gut-knotting yacht life
I wanted to sail through the Seto Inland Sea as my great-grandfather had done 100 years ago on a U.S. Navy ship. He had kept a diary of his experiences, and I yearned to be a modern great-grandfather like him. I started near the Kii Channel, where he would have entered Osaka Bay, located at 33 degrees...
Who needs AI when you have Hatsune Miku?
Over the first six months of 2024, a handful of songs using Vocaloid singer Hatsune Miku’s voice have enjoyed widespread attention, underlining a global interest in the character and the technology she represents.
Bloodied Trump survives assassination attempt at political rally
Former U.S. President Donald Trump is surrounded and evacuated by Secret Service agents at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday. Trump was rushed off stage at the rally after shots rang out.
Shooter came within inches of killing Trump, but left few clues as to why
An aerial view shows the stage where Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump had been standing during an assassination attempt the day before, and the roof of a nearby building where a gunman was shot dead by law enforcement, in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Sunday.
Yen’s woes seem too big for even a BOJ hike this month to solve
The Bank of Japan headquarters in Tokyo
How to beat Japan’s summer heat in ways better for the planet
Tenugui towels hang up to dry at a dyeing company in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture, on May 8. The durable and versatile tenugui, which many people have in their homes, can be used in many ways to cool one’s body.
The neurological disorder that 'kills culture'
Akiko Trush says her experience with the neurological disorder dystonia left her feeling like she wanted to chop her own hand off.
How to beat Japan’s summer heat in ways better for the planet
Tenugui towels hang up to dry at a dyeing company in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture, on May 8. The durable and versatile tenugui, which many people have in their homes, can be used in many ways to cool one’s body.
After Trump shooting, U.S. presidential race might take a violent turn
United States Secret Service Counter Snipers stand guard on a rooftop during a campaign rally for U.S. President Donald Trump in Avoca, Pennsylvania, in 2020.
No AC this summer? No problem (for me).
Think air conditioning is a requirement for a Tokyo summer? Think again.

Podcast

You can often see generations of families enjoying performances together at Fuji Rock Festival.
Japan’s summer music festivals are feeling the heat in more ways than one

Longform

Akiko Trush says her experience with the neurological disorder dystonia left her feeling like she wanted to chop her own hand off.
The neurological disorder that 'kills culture'
By Tomoko Otake

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Exploring Japanese culturevia Tohoku’s festivals
Exploring Japanese culturevia Tohoku’s festivals

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS note

Read more

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER