Articles by Mari Yamaguchi

As a Japanese war orphan in China, Takayoshi Ishihara’s life was one hardship after another. Read more

Camera poised, Tomoaki Kasuga peers eagerly forward as Coco takes her first swimming lesson. Read more

A daughter’s engagement is a time of joy for any proud father, but not for Ikuo Aoki. Read more

The rave parties promoted by a college social club calling itself “Super Free” were always packed with hundreds of young women, and the beach trips were always booked solid. Read more

Across Japan, traditional craftsmen are struggling to find young people willing to carry on their arts. Read more

The Japanese government asked the nation’s food manufacturers to stop using ingredients made from animal parts most likely to carry mad cow disease and to recall immediately all products suspected of containing such items. Read more

Keawprapa Supaporn couldn’t understand her court-appointed interpreter’s broken Thai and had to guess at what the judge was saying. Read more

For 32 years, the housewife quietly suffered broken bones, bruises and cuts at the hands of her husband, never raising her voice, calling the police or hitting back. Read more

Just over a century ago, an enterprising villager in this little fishing town on Japan’s Pacific coast robbed Mother Nature of one of her most charming secrets–how to grow a pearl. Read more