MET Column | My Eyes Tokyo

A Stopover in Georgia

March 20 2024

日本語 Daniel Penso Columnist/Proofreader/Translator Photo by Daniel Penso As one entranced by the cultures of Japan and other parts of East and Southeast Asia, going to somewhere in the former Soviet bloc would appear to be something out of the usual routine. Central Asia and Western Asia, albeit Asia, are not the same in all sorts of ways, be it food, language or ways people lead their lives. So going to Georgia was something I would not have imagined doing previously. I had been interested in the Georgian language (ქართული ენა Kartuli Ena) for the last few months and had

Rakugo has been pretty consistent for the last 400 years but it’s not as static as we might think. It’s changing and evolving to reflect the world around us.

February 13 2024

日本語 Written by: Daniel Penso Columnist/Proofreader/Translator As an avid rakugo fan, I enjoyed Kristine Ohkubo’s Talking About RAKUGO 1: The Japanese Art of Storytelling, a wonderful source for learning about the history of the art and those who have and currently participate in rakugo. In this interview, we talk with Kristine Ohkubo about that book and her thoughts about rakugo and what makes it such an interesting comedy form. Please introduce yourself. My name is Kristine Ohkubo. I’m an author based in Los Angeles, CA. I officially began writing over a decade ago. I’ve published eight books to

If you know them and know yourself, you need not fear communication with Japanese people!

March 22 2022

Yuki Sakuragi Executive/leadership Coach / ICF-ACC Coach / Mentor / Trainer *This article is based on a lecture given by Ms. Sakuragi to Japanese people working in the pharmaceutical industry, with expressions adjusted for English-speaking readers. I spent my childhood and adolescence in the U.S. After returning to Japan, I worked in the global R&D section of the pharmaceutical industry to bridge Japan and other countries. During that time, I felt frustrated every time I saw slight misunderstandings and struggles that occurred between non-Japanese and Japanese people. Later, as I was raising my son in Japan, I realized that

External coaching and mentoring is the key to onboarding support for foreign employees

April 05 2021

Yuki Sakuragi ICF-ACC Coach / Mentor / GCDF-Japan Facilitator / Trainer Samurai vs Kurofune Pharmaceutical companies make up one of the most globalized industries in the world, in which drugs are simultaneously developed worldwide. For me, who has been raised in multiple cultures, I always thought about how I could contribute within this industry. The Japanese pharmaceutical company I first worked for had already been working on global drug development for many different countries, including the US and the EU. However, many of the members at our foreign branches apparently wanted to take the lead of an entire project,

Japan Trip Cancelled

March 10 2020

Daniel Penso Columnist/Proofreader/Translator The first two words in the title of this article might be fun but the last one is certainly not. Cancelling any trip is not appealing. You just want to blow up the whole world. Obviously, you can’t do that for moral and legal reasons. I planned a trip this March to Tokyo to meet friends and take care of some private business. There is some business I would prefer doing in Japan over America, my birth country. I have lived in Japan for 10 years and have been involved in personal and business relationships with

The modern woman in Tokyo – perfectly balancing between family and dream career!

January 19 2020

Alexandra Ruseva CEO of DIGIASIA I will never forget the day I learned that I was expecting twins. After the great joy, I immediately started thinking how to tell my employer. I came in town recently and I had worked for one of the biggest banks for the last year and a half. My job was mainly with clients, often leaving the office late at night. The moment I realized that twins were coming, I realized that I would not be able to return to the office soon, at least not in the next few years. I was only 23

Shimanami Kaido

December 19 2019

Photo by Daniel Penso Daniel Penso Columnist/Proofreader/Translator Hiroshima. The name conjures up different images for different people given the sad events of WWII. For residents, the Hiroshima Carp are an exciting baseball team which have been pennant winners three years in a row recently, from 2016-2018. For visitors, there is Itsukushima Shrine, famous for being plopped right in the ocean, Hiroshima Castle and okonomiyaki among other things. Yet, the purpose of my journey there was to go cycling. In Hiroshima prefecture, there is a world-renowned cycling course, Setouchi Shimanami Kaido, which starts from nearby Onomichi Station and ends in

Happy Birthday to Bangladesh!

March 26 2019

The annual Bengali New Year parade. Bengali New Year (“Pahela Baishakh” or “Bangla Nabobarsho”) is the first day of Bengali Calendar. It is celebrated on 14 April as a national holiday in Bangladesh. *Photo from Wikipedia March 26 is Bangladesh’s Independence Day and National Day, celebrates the declaration of independence from Pakistan in 1971. The Greeks and Romans identified the region as “Gangaridai”, a powerful kingdom of the historical subcontinent, in the 3rd century BCE. Archaeological research has unearthed several ancient cities in Bangladesh, which had international trade links for millennia. The Bengal Sultanate and Mughal Bengal transformed the region

Happy Birthday to Greece!

March 25 2019

The Parthenon at the acropolis of Athens at night. *Photo from Wikipedia March 25 is Revolution Day, celebrates the declaration of the start of Greek War of Independence from the Ottoman Empire, in 1821. From the eighth century BC, the Greeks were organized into various independent city-states, known as polis, which spanned the entire Mediterranean region and the Black Sea. Philip of Macedon united most of the Greek mainland in the fourth century BC, with his son Alexander the Great rapidly conquering much of the ancient world, spreading Greek culture and science from the eastern Mediterranean to the Indus River.

Happy Birthday to Namibia!

March 21 2019

Children in Namibia. *Photo from Wikipedia March 21 is Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Namibia from South African mandate in 1990. In the late 19th century during European colonization, the German Empire established rule over most of the territory as a protectorate in 1884. It began to develop infrastructure and farming, and maintained this German colony until 1915, when South African forces defeated its military. After the end of World War I, in 1920 the League of Nations mandated the country to the United Kingdom, under administration by South Africa. It imposed its laws, including racial classifications and rules.

Interviews with Tokyo People Achieving Dreams