Word: tatami
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...wife head out to a large, chilly warehouse next door. He climbs up a loft, pulls out a 2-m-high bundle of blue-green straw called igusa, carries it downstairs and dumps it in the hopper of a weaving machine where it will be made into tatami mats. The Matsumotos have worked in Kagami, on the southern island of Kyushu, for three generations; it was igusa that turned a poor country backwater into a modern middle-class town, one of the wealthiest farming communities in all of Japan. The farmers had a nickname for their prized crop: Blue Diamond...
...Tokyo accept girls, and then just a handful. The regimen at one, a century-old institution in a leafy suburb, remains unchanged from the days of its founding. Girls in their early to mid-teens exercise, study and farm sweet potatoes and cabbages. They live cheek-by-jowl in tatami-mat rooms, sunny and clean but devoid of pop-star posters or any personal belongings whatsoever?the girls can't have cell phones, makeup or even their own underwear. They can leave the campus one day a month on group outings to spend a $23 monthly allowance. Parents rarely visit...
...Trips start in Kyoto with a little training in guesthouse etiquette. On entry, for instance, you should slip off shoes and put on slippers or go barefoot on tatami mats (that are usually in the dining room and bedrooms). Wear a separate pair of slippers in the bathroom (forgetting to change back and walking around in lavatory shoes is a horrifying faux pas). In the anteroom of bathing rooms, disrobe and wash vigorously under the showers. Only when spotless can you soak...
...Saturday, Lucie went on a dohan with a customer from Casablanca. The man, whose name Lucie did not share with anyone, had offered her a prepaid mobile phone if she would accompany him to a restaurant near the beach. Her roommate Louise was still in bed in their six-tatami matted room when Lucie left. Louise recalls glimpsing Lucie on her way out in sandals and a black one-piece dress, and a silver necklace with hearts on it. They had plans to see each other in the evening, along with Scott. Lucie phoned Louise three times that day, first...
...merchandise. (There are about a zillion variations of the name Alissa, though. Alisa, Alysa, Alyssa, etc.) But there's a restaurant near Fort Lee, N.J. with my name. I've never actually been there myself, but a friend handed me an advertising card. "Fine Japanese Cuisine...Sugi features Six Tatami Rooms accommodating up to 20 people." What? There are at least 100 Sugi's on America Online. Sugi.net is a Web site. I hope to buy sugi.org upon graduation. Or maybe ganeshananthan.com. I'm torn. I'm pretty sure no one would ever make it to ganeshananthan.com because they...