Feature
Preserving the past |
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The Oni and Tengu welcome visitors at the Shagiri festival in
Sagiura |
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| Writer Matt Goerzen and photographer François
Bergeron visited an ancient Japanese fishing village while 2003
was in its infancy, and stumbled upon an ancient New Year's
rite that very few people outside the village have ever seen,
let alone heard of. In the following feature, the Canadian pair
take a closer look at a living piece of history. |
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Column
Sink or swim? Lessons in Kanji |
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 What
is the single most engaging way to live the Japanese experience
and get a grip on their unique culture and lifestyle? Of the
many wild and occasionally plain stupid ideas and preconceptions
swimming through my mind, this seemed to be the one to most
closely define my immediate future. Things change so rapidly
that having a chance to stop and smell the roses requires some
sort of prior knowledge, game plan or even hunch. And so I arrived
at this hopelessly cliched ultimatum and its answer. Learn the
language! |
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| Editor's Notes |
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| Welcome to the
first edition of The Foreigner - Japan! Our aim is
to provide interesting and informative stories, in both print
and photography. We want to help foreigners in different parts
of Japan better understand the customs, news and sometimes strange
occurrences that make living, working and traveling in this
country unique. |
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| The Foreigner - Japan will look at
different parts of the country every month, and we'll be adding
more features to our website as the next year progresses. In
this, our first edition, we decided to focus on the area we've
lived in for the past several months, namely Shimane-ken, an
ancient part of Japan that is still largely unknown to the Japanese
and foreign traveler. |
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News
Climate impedes Japanese farming |
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 In
the heart of a warm and fertile river valley, nestled between
the rugged tree-covered hills that lie like a barricade against
the salty face of the Sea of Japan, sits the little known city
of Izumo. This land was once part of a great and ancient empire,
the seat of kings and warrior samurai, fighting wars of conquest
and rebellion, the ghostly sounds of which still seem to wander
among the greening hills and valleys. |
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