The Joy of Kanji
THOMAS NOAH WOOD
Thomas Noah Wood Blog
When East Marries West
“When East Marries West” ran in The Japan Times from 1998 to 2015, with over 400 editions. Most – but not all – can be found on The Japan Times website for a fee. Here, I will upload one or two editions a month free of charge.
While the early columns offered funny commentary on East/West family and marital mishaps, within about a year I had depleted my supply of personal anecdotes and cast my humor in a wider direction.
The column burst into a mix of cultural observations, wild dialogues, literary parodies and, of course, continued swipes at married life, child-raising, and growing old, with one foot planted in Japan and the other clinging to my home in the American Midwest.
The Japan Times accepted all of my silliness, for which I am grateful. If you were in Japan then and recall, then please enjoy once more. If you have never read “When East Marries West,” then…
Welcome to my world! Which is sometimes wry, sometimes goofy and sometimes bittersweet. If you have an interest in the Japan of then, now or whenever, or just like to grin, please be my guest.
My first offerings will follow chronological order, with early editions from 1998, but I intend to follow my whims and bounce around through the years. Each column will also come with quick comments about how that specific edition grew and flew from my mind to the pages of The Japan Times.
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