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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."
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jan 4, 2014
Kitsuki's double visions of delight
The guesthouse I was staying at in Kitsuki was named after the owner, a tough but warm-hearted example of Kyushu womanhood, someone who had learnt to stand her own ground on an island known for its almost theatrical levels of machismo.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Dec 28, 2013
A garden sanctuary in the city
There is a visible nod to tradition in the shaping and use of natural materials to finish off the exterior of International House, a Modernist building in one of the nicer residential areas of Tokyo's swank Roppongi district.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Dec 28, 2013
Epicenters of death
This study of the Great Kanto Earthquake by scholar Charles Schencking, begins not as you might expect, with the cataclysmic temblor of 1923, but with the Great East Japan Earthquake of March 11, 2011. In this latter event, optimism was predicated on the assumption that swift and decisive action would...
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Nov 25, 2013
Lions and dragons of Japan's islands
When I arrived at the workshop of Setsuko Oshiro in August, the sky was a clear blue and the heat like the inside of a kiln, but there were storm clouds gathering, dark thunderheads over the East China Sea.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / TELLING LIVES
Nov 22, 2013
Putting down roots with Ryukyu Underground
Keith Gordon, the English half of the Okinawan fusion duo, has found his 'spiritual home' on the southern island.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Nov 16, 2013
Fun for all on Tokyo's Oku-Tama wild side
Before I'd even set eyes on the river I heard a deep rumble from its bubbling gash of white and cobalt water rending apart the Tama Mountains.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Oct 5, 2013
Sweet times on sugar-isle Kohama
In our minds, islands should be counter worlds, autarchies unsullied by continental concerns. We should arrive spellbound, leave anointed by their beauty.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Sep 28, 2013
Stroll through 1,000 years of history in one Nikko garden
Even before seeing the great sights of Nikko, the visitor cannot fail to be impressed by the luxuriance of the area's moss. Towering cryptomeria trees, allowing filtered light to penetrate ground cover, provide ideal incubation zones and levels of exposure and protection for the flourishing of moss in...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Sep 27, 2013
Dutch banker turned writer finds a home and inspiration in Japan
The first taxi driver really didn't have a clue, going as far as to suggest that the address given him was a fabrication. The second driver, with the aid of a car navigation device, had more luck in finding the Fukuoka apartment of Dutch writer Hans Brinckmann.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Aug 10, 2013
Toba and Kashikojima: pearls of tranquillity beside Ise Bay
In places where land submerges itself beneath water, modes of transportation immediately change and, in some cases, endings become beginnings.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Aug 3, 2013
Revealing the landscaped gems of North America
North America is not a land mass one immediately associates with gardens. China, Japan, Britain and France, perhaps, lay claim to the mind's strongest landscape associations.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Jul 12, 2013
Okinawan musician, club owner keeps folk traditions going strong
The back streets of Naha were dark, making it more difficult to find Shima-Umui, a music club run by Okinawan folk singer Misako Oshiro. The torpid air and smell of papaya rinds from a nearby bin spoke of the subtropics. A small sign, barely visible from the street, directed customers to the basement...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
Jun 30, 2013
Small is beautiful in a Kanazawa garden
It is always heartwarming to come across a historical preservation area where people actually live and go about their daily lives. Such is Nagamachi, one of several older districts of Kanazawa, the capital city of Ishikawa Prefecture on the Sea of Japan coast.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jun 23, 2013
Reflections on two cities
Having written over 10 guidebooks myself, I speak from experience when I say that working on these projects is a mixed blessing. Writing a first-time guide to a little-known part of the world, with the freedom to innovate with format and content, can be a rewarding task, but where there is a rigid template,...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Jun 22, 2013
Old school potter goes native in the wilds of southeast Okinawa
It took a devil of a time before finally managing to locate the home of potter Paul Lorimer, the building tucked into a rural lane on the fringes of the Sashiki community on Okinawa Island's southeast coast.
CULTURE / Books
May 19, 2013
Ranpo's novella of a desecrated grave continues to send shivers
There has long been a taste in Japan for the bizarre and abnormal. The experimental Taisho Era was no exception. A desire for sensory experience existed even in cinema. During a funeral scene, for example, an attendant might light sticks of incense in the theater, drawing the audience into the ritual....
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
May 19, 2013
Taking it easy on stroll-size Omi-jima
Mr. Hirohisa had made it clear when I called him from the nearest mainland city to the island — Nagato in western Honshu's Yamaguchi Prefecture — that there would be no supper provided that night; nor would he be able to pick me up from the station as expected.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Apr 28, 2013
A double dose of guidance offers more than usual information
SHINTO SHRINES: A Guide to the Sacred Sites of Japan's Ancient Religion, by Joseph Cali with John Dougill. University of Hawaii Press, 2012, 328 pp., $24.99 (paperback)
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Apr 28, 2013
Daytime in Kin Town's nocturnal city
The three drunken U.S. Marines who stumbled into my motorbike headlamps were clearly combat-trained, as their agility in shifting from advanced inebriation to performing a nimble leap onto the sidewalk suggested seriously attuned reflexes.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Apr 14, 2013
An era of Tokyo art worth another look
Like Britain, Japan is subject to the polarizing forces of the orthodox and radical, the two balancing the flabby middle.
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.

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