BY KIMBERLY HUGHES (Image to left: Kimberly Hughes, Members of Tokyo’s international lesbian community) It’s shaping up to be a pretty busy year for LGBT folk in the metropolis. Since my last piece highlighting lesbian happenings in Tokyo and beyond, which was written two years ago, so much has gone on that I hardly know [...]
BY LEIGH WELLSVIEW For BAB’s own ‘American Housewife in Japan,’ Heather Shida, the inspiration to actually sit down and commit the time to write her first E-book The True Stories of Dream Fairies: Bloom, came from an unlikely source: “To be honest, I was playing SIMS 3 and I had my character learning a new [...]
BY MANDY KITCHENER WITH JOANNE WONG “If Roald Dahl were asked to rewrite ‘Lost in Translation’ for a younger audience, it would probably be a little like Alice!” Joanne Wong. With over 116 years of theatre in Tokyo, you know that the Tokyo International Players have the experience and history to pull off a good production. [...]
BY CYNTHIA HOOF Imagine you are at a party. There are people talking in another language. Others speak your language but walk differently or are dressed outrageously. Some bark, some meow, some are loud, and others have soft, high pitched voices. The host offers you a bowl of pungent soup. It has a dirty shoe [...]
BY MANDY KITCHENER (image to left (C) flickr.com / puuikibeach “She says you’ve put on a lot of weight recently,” my friend translated for me. My other friend had a kind of weird expression on her face. She looked mostly amused and a little embarrassed. The friend that translated it just looked embarrassed. I paused. [...]
BY MAY BAKER, PHOTOS BY HARUHI OKUYAMA As a foreigner unfamiliar with Japan, penetrating the opaque surface of its society can sometimes be a daunting prospect. When Sayuki decided to enter the secretive and ancient world of the Japanese geisha, she took on cultural practices much more complex than just standing to the left on the [...]
BY CATHERINE HAGAR When someone asks how long I’ve been in Japan, the conversation goes something like this: “How long have you been in Japan?” “A little over two years.” “Wow! You don’t find many American girls who stick around that long. Good for you.” I’ve had strangers brave with beer ask me to be [...]
The Tyler Foundation journeys to the summit This summer, the Tyler Foundation will be leading a group of climbers to the top of Mt. Fuji. But the reward will be more than the sunrise. Participants will be carrying Beads of Courage (r) to the top to inspire children fighting cancer in Japan. Small in size, [...]
Several nights a week I enjoy a hot bowl of miso soup along with a wide variety of Japanese food. And while I love my Japanese food as much as the next gaikokujin I inevitably end up craving, no, desperately craving, food and other products from home. Years ago my Sunday routine consisted of a [...]
BY JOANNE WONG This is the last in a four-part series about Joanne’s experiences being in TIP’s The Wizard of Oz. To start from the beginning, click here. After more than a year of planning and design and over three months of rehearsals and construction–not to mention over 600 costumes made–performance week was finally here, [...]
