Gil Asakawa's Nikkei View

November 27, 2011

Visiting Japan is the best way to help the country post-earthquake and tsunami

It's such a cliche to point out that Japan is a contrast of old and new traditional and modern, but the comparison keeps coming up because it's true, and is a part of the country's cultural DNA. It would be a surprise not to see some people -- women, men, old, young, children -- dressed in traditional kimono at...

November 24, 2011

34 short videos of our 2011 trip to Japan

I recently returned from a fantastic trip to Japan, with my wife Erin Yoshimura and my mom. We flew first to Sapporo in the northern island of Hokkaido, where one of my uncles lives, and then traveled to Nemuro, my mom's hometown on the easternmost tip of Hokkaido, where another uncle lives. Then we flew down to Tokyo for a...

May 30, 2005

Notes from Japan

Post / Gil Asakawa

Real sushi, from the source: a bento box at a sushi restaurant in Sapporo.

I'm in the middle of a two-week trip to Japan, and it's been a fascinating visit. I was born here in Tokyo (an Army brat -- my dad, a Nisei from Hawaii, was stationed here and met my mom during the Korean war) and moved to the states when I was 8. But as an adult, I've only been in Japan twice -- in 1994 and 1995. This time it's for a family trip, and I'm traveling with my mom. Here are some observations: