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New Hampshire Union Leader Night Editor Sherry Wood spends 10 days in Japan on the trail of the 1905 Portsmouth Peace Treaty.
October 2007 - Posts
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On the bullet train to Kyoto, my guide, Sumiyo, purchased a box of chocolates from the snacks trolley rolling down the aisle. It was labeled "Gentlemen's Pocky." "Why gentlemen's," I asked. Sumiyo explained that Japanese men Read More...
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On the way to Tokyo/Narita airport Thursday, I presented my interpreter and guide, Sumiyo, with a small stuffed bear wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with the words "New Hampshire." The bear, whose lips curved slightly, appeared to be smiling. "I Read More...
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Today is my last day in Japan. After a trip to witness cutting-edge technology at the Panasonic Center, I am headed to Narita/New Tokyo Airport. I will be sad to say goodbye to this fascinating country and my new friend, interpreter Sumiyo Terai. And Read More...
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I've never worked for a paper whose circulation was more than 100,000 (on Sundays). Yesterday I visited a paper whose circulation is 10 million and change. OK, OK before you start yawning, let me give you a few juicy facts. The Yomiuri Shimbun, which Read More...
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I have eaten many unfamiliar things since I arrived in Japan last week. Most were delicious. Some had eyes staring up at me -- the raw lobster sashimi I enjoyed in Nichinan was laid across the body of the crustacean, whose eye stalks seemed to follow Read More...
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Say the word "Portsmouth" anywhere in Nichinan City and doors open. The two are sister cities because Nichinan was home to Jutaro Komura, the lead negotiator for the Japanese in Portsmouth in 1905 and a revered figure in Japan. I learned quite Read More...
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Yes, I'm on the trail of the Portsmouth Peace Treaty. But I'm also in search of Dice-K, who is pitching for the Red Sox Monday. My assignment? To get reaction in Japan for a story in Tuesday's New Hampshire Union Leader. Will people be watching Read More...
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I admit it. After a day of golden and silver pavilions, Zen gardens and palace floors that sing like nightingales, I needed a cheeseburger. I just returned from the food court of a shopping center next to Kyoto train station, where after perusing the Read More...
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Rushing into the hotel room in Nagoya (after a long ride on curvy roads to an interview at Meijo University, and a trip on the 163-mph Nozomi Super-Express Train No. 29 out of Tokyo) I managed to make two blunders in less than 30 seconds. I pressed the Read More...
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"Have you been to a Godzilla movie," my guide, Sumiyo, asked as we stood on the main deck of the Tokyo Tower, the beautiful curve of the Rainbow Bridge beneath our feet. I admitted I had seen the antics of the cranky lizard, who regularly terrorizes Read More...
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I'm here. The first person I met was my guide, Sumiyo Terai, a lovely woman who spent a summer in New Hampshire studying at Dartmouth and lived a year in Boston in the mid-90s. And yes, she's heard of Dice-K. The first thing I saw on approaching Read More...
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I was woken this morning by the cries of a flock of geese and looked out the window to see them curving their way south. It seemed a fitting beginning for a day in which I will be on a plane for 15 hours. Let's just hope someone is there to meet me Read More...
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Anne of "Anne of Green Gables" is the inspiration for Annie Daniels in my serial story, "Keeping the Peace." Annie has Anne's same boundless curiosity and penchant for getting herself into trouble. Annie Daniels drops her hat at Read More...
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Never stand your chopsticks upright in the rice. (It’s bad luck.) Bow from the waist. (It’s more respectful than bowing only the head.) Slurp your soup. (Everybody does it, plus it cools off the steaming noodles.) My head is buzzing with facts Read More...
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