Shortly after a tsunami devastated Japan in March 2011, Andrew Scheer gathered up food and supplies from where he lived on the Upper West Side and traveled there. The March 11 2011 earthquake and tsunami pummeled northeastern Japan, particularly the region of Fukushima—where a nuclear reactor melted down. It spiraled into an unprecedented crisis. Japan’s…
Coronavirus has changed everything about life in Asia, including the lives of the Jews who live there. Case in point: for the first time, separate Jewish communities in China, Taiwan, Japan, Thailand, and Singapore are coming together to co-host digital events. One of them, the upcoming Asian Limmud conference to be held online May 3-4,…
WASHINGTON (JTA) — President Donald Trump nominated Kenneth Weinstein, a prominent Jewish conservative thinker, to be ambassador to Japan. Weinstein is the president of the Hudson Institute, a conservative Washington, D.C., think tank. He also has been deeply involved in the Washington-area Jewish community. In his writings, he focuses on the Middle East and Europe….
Note: This article has been updated to reflect comments made by by the screenwriter. In Japanese writer Arata Tendo’s novel “The Mourner,” a young man named Sakachiku Shizuto commits to traveling Japan, mourning for those who have no one else to mourn for them. The novel, which won the prestigious Japanese Naoki Prize in 2008,…
Every day throngs of Lubavitch Hasidim pass by Pho-Men in Crown Heights and stare. A Japanese place that doesn’t serve sushi nestled in the middle of Hasidic Crown Heights is bound to raise some eyebrows. The man (or “visionary,” as one of his staffers called him) behind those raised eyebrows is Levi Jurkowicz. “I never…
Prime Minister of Israel ?? and his wife ❤️ host the Prime Minister of Japan ?? Great honor to cook for you! Not obvious for me #unforgettable night ❤️?? A post shared by segevmoshe (@segevmoshe) on May 2, 2018 at 1:04pm PDT (JTA) — After a day of high-level meetings in Israel on May 2…
The Kushner Companies made a real estate deal last year with a company whose largest shareholder is the government of Japan, raising more concerns that White House senior advisor Jared Kushner may have a conflict of interest between his foreign policy work and his family business. An ownership stake in 175 Pearl Street was sold…
Japanese schoolgirls are known for moving quickly through zany and playful trends. But this latest one might need some explaining for Westerners. The swastika symbol — called a “manji” in Japanese (卍) — has meant good health and fortune in Buddhism for millennia. Now, it’s taken on new meanings — and become ubiquitous on Japanese…
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