Summer
May 04, 2013
May 5 is "rikka," the day that marks the beginning of summer on Japan's traditional calendar. It is also the day the nation celebrates its most treasured possession--our...
April 27, 2013
April 29 is the birthday of poet Chuya Nakahara (1907-1937), who penned many beautiful poems in his short life. One of his works I find oddly unforgettable is "Tsuki" (The...
August 14, 2012
Looking to beat the heat? Maybe you fancy a game of chess, or joining fellow sports fans to cheer the national high school baseball tournament.
July 23, 2012
Tropical birds are generally colorful, and I suppose this is to make it easier for them to spot one another in the murky jungles.
July 18, 2012
The approach of midsummer brings to mind the following "senryu" comical poem: "Stopping passers-by in their tracks/ Is the smell of an eel restaurant." I don't recall who wrote ...
June 01, 2012
GIFU--Workers are being kept busy at a traditional paper fan company here as consumers are turning to an old standby to stay cool this summer in the wake of a possible...
April 25, 2012
I heard that the word taboo derives from a Polynesian word for “sacred.” The inhabitants of those islands scattered across the Pacific Ocean must have had taboos and...
September 24, 2011
Old cherry trees that line a street in my neighborhood had their routine "health checkup" on Sept. 23. Apart from losing leaves and some small branches, they all survived...
September 08, 2011
YOKOTE, Akita Prefecture--In the Tonamikousen inn at the end of a narrow road running through apple orchards, Soichiro Inagaki, 10, teases his 12-year-old sister, Mao, about an ...
August 18, 2011
It's just my personal observation, but when Japanese say "salaryman," the word is used with something akin to mild contempt. For instance, when people aren't happy with us...
August 10, 2011
When the temperature soars, women's hairstyles rise, too. In fact, beauty products maker Kao Corp. did some scientific research on this. It found that when you put your hair up,...
August 08, 2011
As "semi" (cicadas) are rare in northern Europe, many people there are said to have no idea what sounds these bugs make. For this reason, "The Ant and the Cicada," one of...
July 04, 2011
At JR Hitachi Station in Hitachi, Ibaraki Prefecture, it was business as usual on this hot summer morning, with salarymen in business attire headed to work, including the...
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