Jan 16, 2021
We’ve already established that there’s a fantastic canon of Japanese cookbooks out there when you’re craving a washoku meal or hearty bowl of noodles. But you can’t exactly curl up and read them cover to cover. Fortunately, many authors writing about Japan use the country’s cuisine as a central plot point. Here are five food-centric books perfect for a lazy afternoon:
Fiction, Ellis Avery, Riverhead Books, 480 pages
Winner of the annual Lambda Literary Award for Debut Fiction, which recognizes the best LGBTQ novels, “The Teahouse Fire” is set during the tumultuous Meiji Era (1868-1912), as Japan wrestles with tradition and Westernization. Aurelia, newly orphaned in Kyoto, is adopted by the prestigious Shin family as an attendant for their daughter, Yukako. As the title would suggest, much of the story centers around
Osaka lawyer says Japan’s marijuana regulations are ‘absurd’
By Tokyo Reporter Staff on January 13, 2021
Michiko Kameishi (Twitter)
OSAKA (TR) – Over the past decade, some countries around the world have loosened regulations regarding the possession and use of marijuana.
Japan is not one of them violators of the Marijuana Control Law can face prison time for possession of even small amounts.
To wit, the Tokyo District Court last month handed actor Yusuke Iseya a one-year prison term, suspended for three years, for the possession of marijuana. The year before, male idol Junnosuke Taguchi also received a suspended term for the same crime.
Jan 3, 2021
Hanko seals made headlines like never before in recent months, as administrative reform minister Taro Kono made it his priority to do away with the traditional stamps, used to approve official paperwork, which are as ubiquitous in Japan as signatures elsewhere.
Kono has been targeting the nation’s reliance on cheap, ready-made hanko seals, often ridiculed by foreign media outlets as a symbol of Japan’s outdated customs in an age of widespread digital signature use.
But with hand-carved, high-quality hanko made by artisans considered virtually impossible to counterfeit, hanko culture which has existed in Japan for over a millennium is likely to endure.
Siale Pasa works as a gardener at Murin-an, a nationally designated place of scenic beauty, and other gardens. (Kenta Sujino)
KYOTO When his dream of becoming a top rugby player in Japan fell through, a devastated Siale Pasa planted the seeds for a new career.
Now, Pasa, 34, who left his home in Tonga in pursuit of that dream, says he has found working as a gardener in Kyoto to be more fulfilling.
He works at the Murin-an garden, among other well-known Japanese gardens, for Ueyakato Landscape Co., which has been around in the ancient capital since 1848.
Although there are no autumn leaves nor gardening companies in Tonga, Pasa said he has a new dream to chase in his homeland.
“……….. the main sticking point to the promotion of thorium as a cleaner nuclear fuel is that it remains unproven on a commercial scale. Thorium MSRs (Molten Salt Reactors) have been in development since the 1960s by the United States, China, Russia, and France, yet nothing much ever came of them. Further, only about 50 of the world’s 440 reactors can currently be configured to run on thorium.
…… Unfortunately, practical nuclear fusion remains a long-shot and could be decades away from becoming a commercial reality.
We simply don’t have the luxury of time.
Further, nuclear power in the U.S. faces an uncertain future. ……………