Word: japanized
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Decades before a white-faced Ziyi Zhang performed her electric dances in Hollywood's Memoirs of a Geisha-and years before the Arthur Golden novel of the same name ushered millions worldwide into the private corners of Kyoto's geisha quarter-an anthropologist from Stanford traveled to Japan's ancient capital to become the first foreigner to live and work along its narrow streets as a full-time geisha. Liza Dalby's experiences inspired several books, including her memorable and elegant Geisha, published in 1983, a book on kimono and a novel about Japan's first novelist, Lady Murasaki...
...deeper than such passing curiosities, what Dalby is really doing is reminding us that Japan and California are on much the same latitude, and are almost the same size. You can buy Californian oranges in Japan nowadays as easily as Japanese persimmons in California. Sometimes-as in the Memoirs of a Geisha movie, on which Dalby worked as a consultant, and where classic Japanese forms had to be adapted to suit modern tastes-the cross-pollination produces what Dalby calls a "sushi sandwich." But often, as in the "Brie-cheese maki" she puts inside her daughter's Berkeley lunch...
...There are no heavy-handed "explanations" of Japan among Dalby's whimsical observations of geese and dance forms. But by picking up details that open out, like a paper fan, she makes us feel that we're seeing Japan from within, yet in a language we can follow. It's common these days to hear of foreigners who find themselves in neon-crazy Tokyo, "lost in translation." By going to old, lantern-lit Kyoto, and drawing on four decades of being a student and lover of Japan, Dalby shows us how she, her young American culture-and even...
...founder of the open-source encyclopedia called Wikipedia is recruiting volunteer contributors from India to Japan, but collaboration comes with consequences. Jimmy Wales answers readers' questions...
...That's only one day earlier than the forecast by meteorologist Kida of Weathernews. His more accurate prediction is a result of combining careful crunching of meteorological measurements and history with a steady stream of data provided by a network of nearly 4,000 observers monitoring cherry trees around Japan. "We have people monitor specific trees in their region," says Kida. "They send us cell phone picture images on a daily or weekly basis, which gives us a much more accurate picture of how the cherry blossoms are doing in different regions...