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November 22, 2024
 

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Stephen Mansfield

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Stephen Mansfield
Photojournalist and author Stephen Mansfield's work has appeared in over 70 publications worldwide, on subjects ranging from conflict in the Middle East to cultural analysis, interviews and book reviews. A longtime Japan Times contributor, his latest book is "Japan's Master Gardens: Lessons in Space & Environment."
LIFE / Travel / ON THE ARCHIPELA-GO
Feb 5, 2002
Where past and present tracks cross
Stepping off the shinkansen at Okayama Station and crossing over to the iron rails and worn stone of the city's aged streetcar system, you experience an abrupt transition in time and space.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Feb 5, 2002
Faith in a tropical Gethsemane
When the Spanish arrived in the Philippines in the 16th century, they found a lush tropical garden ripe for replanting. King Philip II had commanded his soldiers, administrators and religious zealots that there were to be no repetitions of the atrocities committed in the name of the cross throughout...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / ON THE ARCHIPELA-GO
Jan 1, 2002
Discovering the traditional spirit of Arima
Peel away the suppurating clutter, the shabby, postwar surface of construction that is often passed off as modernity, and there is at the center of most Japanese towns a historical kernel, a core essence waiting to be discovered. Finding these places is a quest of sorts, requiring patience and a cultivated...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / ON THE ARCHIPELA-GO
Dec 25, 2001
Marketplace of religion and commerce
Where there are shrines, temples and other places of worship in Asia, invariably there are markets. Japan is no different. Commerce flows in through the temple gates and then back out -- a cordial division of profits ensuing, generally to everyone's satisfaction.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Nov 18, 2001
Revealing the soul of an ancient land
MOTHER'S BELOVED: Stories from Laos, by Outhine Bounyavong. Hong Kong University Press, 1999, 163 pp., $14.95 (paper) It's unlikely that even the most generous evaluation of Lao literature would rank it among the world's great cultural legacies. Part of the problem has been a lack of visibility: Buddhist...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Nov 18, 2001
Aiming for the heart
ONE FOOT IN LAOS, by Dervla Murphy. Overlook Press, 2001, 284 pp., $27.95 (cloth) Dervla Murphy's journeys as a travel writer, usually in the remoter, poorer parts of the world, are made, appropriately enough, in the old manner -- on foot, by donkey or mule, or on decrepit trucks or buses on their last...
LIFE / Travel
Oct 30, 2001
Where conflict meets contemplation
There is much to be said for Japan's provincial towns. As they rarely host more than a trickle of visitors, the spoils from tourism are never quite enough to disfigure them or completely vulgarize their heritage.
LIFE / Travel / ON THE ARCHIPELA-GO
Oct 8, 2001
Adventures in wine country
For many years, Hakushu village, tucked away in Yamanashi Prefecture, was the venue for a colorful international festival featuring avant-garde performances by musicians, dancers and other artists.
LIFE / Travel
Aug 28, 2001
Whither the mighty Mekong?
"The boat moves off, the river banks remain." -- Old Khmer proverb
LIFE / Travel
Aug 28, 2001
Lower-basin aquaculture: fishing in troubled waters
"Once nature is victimized, so are the people dependent upon it."
LIFE / Travel
Jul 17, 2001
Peak experiences hiking the Japan Alps
KAMIKOCHI, Nagano Prefecture -- In his novel "The House of Nire," Morio Kita writes, "In the already fading light the linked peaks of the Alps were solid and harsh, all ranged there in the early dusk like a huge folding screen."
LIFE / Travel
Jun 26, 2001
Down the Devil's Washboard
When evening falls on Miyazaki, a scarlet and indigo sky drops behind the phoenix palms that line many of the city's roads. You might think you were strolling through a middle-class quarter of Cairo or Marbella.
LIFE / Travel
Jun 12, 2001
Fujiya Hotel: At ease in a Miyanoshita time capsule
Most visits to the Hakone area of Kanagawa Prefecture begin at the heavily touristed town itself, from where numerous well-trodden routes head off through the Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park of which it is the official center.
LIFE / Travel
May 29, 2001
France's last wilderness
"No one is born in the Camargue, and no one dies in the Camargue." -- Rhone Delta saying
LIFE / Travel
May 29, 2001
Playing with bulls
T he "course Camarguese," held in local village bull rings throughout the spring and summer, are events unlikely to upset even animal-rights groups.
LIFE / Travel
May 29, 2001
Feeling festive in the company of Gypsies
Pilgrimages provide an extra dimension to the Camargue and a chance to see and participate in some of its surviving spectacles. Many of these events are more popular than religious in character, as the number of tourists attending them testifies. Christian, pagan and secular elements are the ingredients...
LIFE / Travel
Feb 28, 2001
Potholes on the road to preservation in China
China's former communist radicals and today's capitalist developers appear, in some respects, to have much in common. During the Cultural Revolution, with its almost visceral hatred of tradition, Red Guards were instructed to destroy anything "bourgeois," or tainted by the past. A decade earlier, Chairman...
LIFE / Travel
Feb 28, 2001
Asia's heritage boom
Call it nostalgia or call it a self-awakening, but Asians are rediscovering the value of their architectural heritage. From ancient police courts in Shanxi, China to forest temples in Thailand, from colonial quays in Singapore to the brick kilns and iron smithies of Mao Zedong's Great Leap Forward, the...
LIFE / Travel
Jan 3, 2001
Tickets here for Asia
By the time the lunch gong sounded in the great hall of the Heng Yang monastery, I had already placed generous votive offerings at a shrine in the Temple of the Goddess of Mercy, watched a flour-doll and knot maker at work, witnessed minor grievances being aired at the Ancient Courthouse and met a talking...
LIFE / Travel
Jan 3, 2001
Japan in miniature: Edo Period stroll gardens were the original amusement parks
The Japanese tourist, unlike the overseas visitor, may be only mildly astonished to find himself transported to the upper part of a castle donjon by means of a newly installed elevator. Convenience, the Western visitor notes with some bemusement, does not seem to detract from the enjoyment, let alone...
Two of America’s biggest debt holders are dumping Treasurys
The U.S. Treasury building in Washington. Investors in Japan and China sold a pile of U.S. debt in the last quarter, just before the U.S. presidential election.
Ishiba aggravates his own political failures with diplomatic faux pas
Prime Minster Shigeru Ishiba is greeted at the APEC summit in Lima by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday. The Japanese leader was criticized for remaining seated while meeting several world leaders at the event.
Japan's 3.31 million visitors in October set monthly record
Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto in December 2023. Famous autumn leaf colors contributed to increased tourism demand last month from many markets across Asia, Europe and North America, the Japan National Tourism Organization has said.
Japan ranks last in romance satisfaction for second straight year
In a survey of 31 countries, Japan ranked last in terms of those who felt loved, with just 51% of respondents saying so.
Ruling coalition and DPP strike last-minute deal over economic policy
DPP policy chief Makoto Mahaguchi speaks at the party's policy gathering in Tokyo on Wednesday.
Japan, U.K. and Italy discuss inviting more countries to joint fighter project
A new concept model of a next-generation fighter jet to be jointly developed by Japan, Britain and Italy is on display in Farnborough, Hampshire, in July.
Haruki Murakami's 'The City and Its Uncertain Walls' gives deep deja vu
For “The City and Its Uncertain Walls,” translated into English by Philip Gabriel, Haruki Murakami confronts the ghosts who won't leave him alone.
Japanese expats in Asia find community through rugby
The Taiwan Fivewoods celebrate their victory at the 2023 Asian Japanese Rugby Cup in December of last year.
In Fukushima, a weekend of prose, poetry and translation
Aomori-based writer JJ Carter presented on tabletop gaming as creative inspiration for building characters and narratives.
For Dr. Nakamats, aging is just experience in action
Though he didn't win the recent gubernatorial election in Tokyo, the 96-year-old Dr. Nakamats' run was seen as inspirational in Japan's aging society.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?
By Kathryn Wortley

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