Kathleen Drew-Baker died never having set foot in Japan, and never knowing what an impact her research would make. Plus, how to build a lazy bed, how to cook Irish blancmange, and other surprising seaweed stories.
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Posted inArts & Culture, Culture, Essays & Criticism, Highlight, Quotes
On the Origins of the Word ハーフ, or Hafu (Half): Belonging and Not Belonging at Once
Nina Coomes unpacks the origins and legacies of the Japanese word hafu, or half.
Posted inNonfiction
One Man’s Poison
The only way to protect herself from her father was to erase him from her life, but she survived being his daughter by acting just like he did.
Posted inEditor's Pick
Dying Alone in Japan: The Industry Devoted to What’s Left Behind
Companies that deal with the belongings left behind after you die are in demand in Japan, “where each year more people die with no one to mourn them.”
Posted inNonfiction, Quote Posts, Quotes, Travel
Where Your Stuff Goes When You Lose It in Tokyo
If you lost your umbrella in Tokyo, don’t worry. It’s probably among the thousands stored inside the Metropolitan Police Department’s six-story lost and found center.
Posted inUncategorized
This Month In Books: The Book Is an Escape Tool
Sometimes telling a story is the only way to escape it.
Posted inNonfiction
What Does It Mean To Be Moved?
We can all remember a time when the wind touched us when we needed touching, pushed us along when we were unsure.
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes, Science & Nature
Little Sunfish: The Robot That Could
How the best robot, “Little Sunfish,” helped Japanese scientists understand the scope of the damage at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
Posted inEssays & Criticism, Feature, Highlight, Story
In Absentia
A meditation on the nature of grief, at a time when the whole world seems to be grieving.
Posted inNonfiction, Quote Posts, Quotes
Haruki Murakami Strolls Through His Childhood Home After the Hanshin Earthquake
When Haruki Murakami walked the long distance between his childhood home outside Kobe and the city center, he found a city changed by the great Kobe earthquake, and the constant spector of violence.
