Ten years ago, on March 11, 2011, a magnitude 9.0 earthquake off the northeast coast of Japan triggered a tsunami that devastated a large swath of the country’s Tōhoku region. As people were still trying to grapple with...
Author - Tim Patrick
Tim Patrick
How Japan Survived the Coronavirus Pandemic
It was just over one year ago that the coronavirus pandemic became the top story on the nightly news—every single night. Japan got a head start on most of the world with the arrival of the Diamond Princess cruise ship...
How Powerful Was That Earthquake?
My very first earthquake happened in Los Angeles back in the late 1980s, a rather frightening affair. I mean, the while house was moving, despite it being attached to California and the rest of the contiguous forty...
Today is the Emperor’s Birthday
February 23 is the emperor’s birthday, a national holiday in Japan. Well, at least that’s the case this time around. As a holiday, it keeps jumping all over the calendar. Something to do with the 126 Japanese emperors...
The Weather Cities of Japan
The essayist Charles Dudley Warner famously quipped, “Everybody complains about the weather, but nobody does anything about it.” That changes today. While I can’t fix your crazy weather, I can at least help you identify...
The Yayoi and the Origins of Modern Japan
The Jōmon, the hunter-gatherer civilization that populated parts of the main Japanese islands for most of its prehistory, had by 300BC almost completely disappeared from the archipelago. Life was always difficult in the...
Today is National Foundation Day
Today is National Foundation Day (建国記念の日), an official Japanese holiday. It is a time to remember the origins of Japan, to instill a heartfelt love for the country, and to fight over whether you need an apostrophe or...
Of Course There Is a Kanji for “Dollar”
I have always found it strange that the Japanese term for “dollar” is ドル, Romanized as doru. As a transliteration, it makes a good initial effort, getting the “do” part right. But then it meanders off, as if the...
AmaoJapan Podcast Episode 16
Episode 16 of the AmaoJapan podcast is now available. As with other episodes, this one reviews recent news stories as found on the Yahoo! Japan ニュース web site and other sources.
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Senkaku: The Tiny Islands Japan and China Keep Fighting Over
When it comes to world affairs, even small things can cause significant conflicts. And “small things” is the perfect description for a remote collection of islands situated between Okinawa and Taiwan that has brought...
