LONG-DISTANCE LOVE AFFAIR
Marathons and other long-distance running events are immensely popular in Japan, and one such race has become an essential New Year custom. The Tokyo-Hakone Ofuku Daigaku Ekiden is one of the most popular such events in the sporting calendar.
(January 29, 2002)

SPICING UP LIFE
Celebrity homemakers show others how to spice up an ordinary household and are noted for devising ways to make everyday activities creative and fun.
(January 28, 2002)

SOUL MEN
In contrast to energetic young female pop stars like Hikaru Utada and Ayumi Hamasaki, who have dominated the charts in recent years, lately the Japanese pop music scene has seen the arrival of a new corps of young male vocalists boasting a smooth, melodic, soulful style.
(January 24, 2002)

WALLS? WHAT WALLS?--by Geraldine Harcourt
A translator writes about transcending the cultural barriers often associated with Japan.
(January 9, 2002)

UNIVERSITY STUDENTS' VISION OF THEIR FUTURE
Half of Japan's university students want to enter a large corporation or continue on to graduate school, and nearly 70% of them hope to get married by the age of 30.
(December 5, 2001)

DAVID PEACE--A writer tells the story of his first day in Japan
I have lived and worked in Japan for seven very happy and positive years that have changed my life. Why and how this came about has much to do with how my first impressions of the country were formed.
(October 31, 2001)