By Elaine Lies

TOKYO (Reuters Life!) – Ever wondered about the political uses of a kiss, the kiss’s changing status or legendary movie kisses? Do you find yourself needing to say the word in Albanian, Icelandic or even, perchance, Maori?

Fear not. “A Compendium of Kisses,” the guide to everything oscular — that’s “of or pertaining to kissing” for the unenlightened — tells all about one of the world’s most universal gestures, whether simple greeting or sublime.

By Elaine Lies

TOKYO (Reuters Life!) – When Mitsuyo Kakuta decided to write about motherhood, she chose an unusual angle: a distraught woman who impulsively kidnaps her married lover’s baby girl, then raises her for years until apprehended.

Adding a further twist, the second half of “The Eighth Day” — due to be released as a Japanese movie in April — centers on the abducted child, who was returned to her family and is now a grown woman, as her life takes on parallels to that of her kidnapper and she goes in search of her past.

TOKYO (Reuters) – A movie about a Japanese World War Two captain rallying his troops to hold out against overwhelming U.S. odds after the end of the Battle of Saipan sounds like a typical tale of guts, gore and a glorious end.

Yet “Oba: The Last Samurai,” set for release on Friday in Japan, is far from the usual war movie. It was filmed by two separate crews of actors and directors — one Japanese and one U.S. team side by side — a style not used in quite this way since “Tora, Tora, Tora” in 1970.

By Elaine Lies

TOKYO (Reuters Life!) – What would Elvis be like if he had survived the trials of middle age and was still alive today, chastened and reflective at 76? And what if he went on a road trip back to his past?

Ben Fish, the main character of Micah Nathan’s “Losing Graceland,” is 21, just out of college and jobless with an anthropology degree. Dumped by his girlfriend and grieving his late father, he answers an ad promising $10,000 in cash if he drives a mysterious old man to Memphis.

By Elaine Lies

TOKYO (Reuters Life!) – What would Elvis be like if he had survived the trials of middle age and was still alive today, chastened and reflective at 76? And what if he went on a road trip back to his past?

Ben Fish, the main character of Micah Nathan’s “Losing Graceland,” is 21, just out of college and jobless with an anthropology degree. Dumped by his girlfriend and grieving his late father, he answers an ad promising $10,000 in cash if he drives a mysterious old man to Memphis.

By Elaine Lies

TOKYO, Feb 2 (Reuters Life!) – What would Elvis be like if
he had survived the trials of middle age and was still alive
today, chastened and reflective at 76? And what if he went on a
road trip back to his past?

Ben Fish, the main character of Micah Nathan’s “Losing
Graceland,” is 21, just out of college and jobless with an
anthropology degree. Dumped by his girlfriend and grieving his
late father, he answers an ad promising $10,000 in cash if he
drives a mysterious old man to Memphis.

By Elaine Lies

TOKYO (Reuters Life!) – Tiny bats, no bigger than a car key, have been discovered roosting in carnivorous pitcher plants in Borneo — with their droppings a vital nutrient for the plants.

“It’s totally unexpected,” said Ulmar Grafe, an associate professor at the Universiti Brunei Darussalam who led the study.

By Elaine Lies

TOKYO (Reuters Life!) – Cynthia Hand was busy with life, working and raising a child, and hadn’t had any desire to write for quite some time when she began to hear a voice in her head, speaking lines.

It turned out to be Clara, the heroine of her debut novel, “Unearthly,” which Hand said “felt like a gift” the entire time she was writing the book, planned as the start of a trilogy.

By Elaine Lies

TOKYO (Reuters Life!) – Futuristic, frustrating and fascinating sum up Tokyo, a city of contrasts where narrow alleys packed with dark, smoky restaurants lie within view of extravagant buildings that would fit into a “Batman” film.

Reuters correspondents with local knowledge help visitors to the Japanese capital get the most out of a short stay.

By Elaine Lies

TOKYO, Dec 22 (Reuters Life!) – Maf, short for “Mafia
Honey,” is an opinionated, well-read, feisty Maltese terrier.
Originally a present from Frank Sinatra, he belongs to Marilyn
Monroe.

He is also the narrator of Booker nominee Andrew O’Hagan’s
latest book, “The Life and Opinions of Maf the Dog and of His
Friend Marilyn Monroe,” a romp through the United States in the
early 1960s and the last two years of Monroe’s life.