My grandma used to be the easiest of all my relatives to buy souvenirs for. That's because she was a collector and, like many a collector, what she collected most was . . . . . . junk. And Japan is full of junk. Which Grandma called ...
The Internet is ablaze with lists suggesting ways to fight back against the deadliest foe of modern man — stress. Yes, stress. It will boil your blood pressure, electrify your nerves, scramble your stomach, ruin your happiness and lead you straight to the grave. As ...
I once had this Japanese student who told me he could tell a book's publisher from the smell. He would close his eyes, crush a paperback into his face and inhale. Deeply. As if sucking down a cold beer after a hot day on the ...
A Japanese colleague trying to improve her English via episodes of the TV sitcom "Friends" once asked me this . . . "Was 'Friends' really aired on prime time television? The content seems so racy. Here this would have been late night fare, for adults ...
"Weird," he says. "Give me something weird." The menu boasts both fish sperm and odorigui — small fish you chew while they're alive. But such food is not on his wish list. At least not anymore. My dinner friend has lived here for years. Years, he ...
"Ever thought to change your nationality?" This asked by my dentist, as he bent over my mouth and polished my molars with what sounded like a buzz saw. For full effect, repeat his words while running a power tool next to your ear. And you ...
Whenever you find someone tossing bits of bread into a pond, you have to assume this: Something's fishy. "Fish?" the guys snorts. "These aren't fish. They're carp. Meaning they're a lot closer to cows. Fat, stupid cows." The water below him froths with the hungry frenzy of ...
If you haven’t noticed, the most popular sports in sports-zany Japan are imports. Homegrown offerings — sumo, judo, karate and so on — rank more like your mom’s oatmeal cookies.
I sit at a table, drinking with an old friend with whom I share a lot, and not just bar tabs. We have both gulped away most of our adult lives in Japan. Long enough to remember not only the bursting of the economic bubble ...
If the Grinch — that well-known wet blanket of holiday mirth — were both a betting man and Japanese, it wouldn't be Christmas he was after. Nor New Year's, nor the Emperor's birthday, nor Golden Week, nor National Toilet Day (Nov. 10. Mark it ...
