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LIFE / Language

The wonderful worlds of 100 waka

For 1,500 years, people in Japan have being writing poems in lines of 5-7-5-7-7 syllables each. Even today they’re a part of daily life — and especially at New Year’s, the role played by the revered ‘Hyakunin Isshu’ collection often becomes decidedly unpoetic

By Stuart Varnam-Atkin
Special To The Japan Times

Dec 30, 2012

The scene: England, Boxing Day 2012. The archetypical Carters are relaxing after a cold turkey lunch (with bread sauce) and are watching the Royal Family’s latest sonnets being read on the goggle-box. Time for a game!

“’厂肠谤补产产濒别’?”

“No, it always becomes ‘Squabble’!”

Amid the heat and humidity in Japan, a good night’s sleep is growing increasingly elusive without the heavy use of air conditioning.

Summer has arrived in Japan and so have hot sleepless nights

By Tomoko Otake

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

For many people, utility poles and power lines have become such a familiar part of Japan’s landscape that they often go unnoticed.

Why Japan’s utility poles won’t be disappearing anytime soon

By Alex K.T. Martin

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