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July 16, 2024
 

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Michael Hoffman

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Michael Hoffman
Michael Hoffman is a fiction and nonfiction writer who has lived in Hokkaido by the sea almost as long as he can remember. He has been contributing regularly to The Japan Times for 10 years. His latest novel is "The Naked Ear" (VBW/Blackcover Books, 2012).
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Nov 16, 2013
Paths to pay dirt are many and varied
Even stupid people can make money,' Spa magazine declares, in a package of articles aimed at the generation that the long-deflated Japanese economy has failed.
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Nov 16, 2013
Japan's 'world of peace' sold out to mammon
Suppose Confucianism had prevailed? We'd have "rites and music" instead of law; filial piety instead of democracy and free-market capitalism. The ruler would radiate paternal benevolence and we, his subject-children, would respond with respect and obedience. Would we be worse off?
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Nov 2, 2013
Trust no one: Japan's magazines offer a bleak message
What a bleak picture emerges from the nation's weekly and monthly periodicals: Trust is simple-minded, mistrust paranoid.
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Oct 26, 2013
Oh, to be blissfully unfree in Nippon's isles . . .
"Freedom." "Liberty." Ringing words. Better than any other, they define modern times. They sparked three early-modern revolutions — England's "Glorious Revolution" (1688), the American Revolution of 1776-83, and the French Revolution beginning around 1789.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Oct 19, 2013
Enough already: Can Japan settle for less?
The pua-ju016b philosophy in short: Poverty as Japan understands it is not real poverty and does not rule out happiness. In fact, it may even be conducive to it.
Japan Times
LIFE
Oct 12, 2013
Kanpai! Sake through the ages
'A civilization stands or falls by the degree to which drink has entered the lives of its people, and from that point of view Japan must rank very high among the civilizations of the world.'
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Oct 5, 2013
Is the honeymoon over for young, wedded bliss?
A visitor from another planet (a unisexual planet, let's say) would speedily infer that men and women are mutually hostile creatures. Marriage would puzzle her (the feminine pronoun is purely arbitrary) — all the more so if she stayed long enough to learn the language and hear how ancient and universal...
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Sep 28, 2013
Nothing is clear about court ruling on illegitimate kids
Evidently I was wrong.
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Sep 21, 2013
Ancient tales by the 'savages' of Hokkaido have lessons for today
Imagine living in a culture with none or very little of the following: politics, economics, property, history, time, agriculture, money, war ambition, heaven, hell, progress, writing ...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Sep 14, 2013
Japanese media declare 'dark times' are on us
Being good has never been easy. And it's not getting easier — unlike many things in this age of mass technological empowerment. If it were, presumably, there would be more good and less evil — unless evil is more attractive?
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Aug 31, 2013
Married or single, Japan is a desolate country
"The past century is a history of sexual distortion," social psychologist Hiroyoshi Ishikawa told Time Magazine in 1983.
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Aug 24, 2013
Only in Japan could a sword be 'life-giving'
Few countries have broken with their past as sharply as Japan did. That was the price it paid for modernity.
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Aug 17, 2013
Cyber-kids get a break during Bon holidays
You didn't need prophetic powers, back in the 1980s when the personal computer was starting to show its potential, to foresee something like Internet addiction. It should have been obvious. It was, to science-fiction writer William Gibson. Reminiscing to Time magazine in 1995, he recalled his shock,...
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Aug 3, 2013
Closet traditionalists still populate a supposedly single moms' world
Every day some 370,000 babies are born worldwide. Of those born on July 22, 2013, 369,999 went unnoticed outside their immediate circles. The exception was a royal prince, third in line to the British throne. His first photos show him blissfully unaware of the vast excitement he was causing. He'll come...
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Jul 27, 2013
What if Columbus had reached his goal, Japan?
Every school child knows that in 1492 Christopher Columbus discovered America. Every school child knows wrongly. When the Genovese explorer's three ships sailed westward from Palo de la Frontera, Spain, on Aug. 2, 1492, he was bound, he thought, for "the noble island of Cipangu" — Japan.
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Jul 20, 2013
Japan's weeklies debate modern man's burden
Pity the declining male in an age of expanding female empowerment!
Japan Times
LIFE
Jul 13, 2013
Gender bending in Japan
Do our genitals define us? Increasingly, they do not. Is sexuality more complicated than male/female? Increasingly, it is.
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Jul 6, 2013
Pity the generation that can't retire before 80
"What if my wife and I die? What if we get dementia? How will our son live?"
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Jun 30, 2013
Smartphones are killing the art of conversation
If our age is rich in anything, it is, one would think (wrongly), rich in things to talk about. How can anyone nowadays be at a loss for words? What excuse is there for awkward silence? The merest glance at a newspaper furnishes conversational fodder for a lifetime — reminding us, if anyone is in danger...
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Jun 23, 2013
The 'barbarians' were coming — like it or not
'Sonnō jōi!": "Revere the Emperor, expel the barbarians!"
Who needs AI when you have Hatsune Miku?
Over the first six months of 2024, a handful of songs using Vocaloid singer Hatsune Miku’s voice have enjoyed widespread attention, underlining a global interest in the character and the technology she represents.
Bloodied Trump survives assassination attempt at political rally
Former U.S. President Donald Trump is surrounded and evacuated by Secret Service agents at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday. Trump was rushed off stage at the rally after shots rang out.
Shooter came within inches of killing Trump, but left few clues as to why
An aerial view shows the stage where Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump had been standing during an assassination attempt the day before, and the roof of a nearby building where a gunman was shot dead by law enforcement, in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Sunday.
Yen’s woes seem too big for even a BOJ hike this month to solve
The Bank of Japan headquarters in Tokyo
How to beat Japan’s summer heat in ways better for the planet
Tenugui towels hang up to dry at a dyeing company in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture, on May 8. The durable and versatile tenugui, which many people have in their homes, can be used in many ways to cool one’s body.
The neurological disorder that 'kills culture'
Akiko Trush says her experience with the neurological disorder dystonia left her feeling like she wanted to chop her own hand off.
How to beat Japan’s summer heat in ways better for the planet
Tenugui towels hang up to dry at a dyeing company in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture, on May 8. The durable and versatile tenugui, which many people have in their homes, can be used in many ways to cool one’s body.
After Trump shooting, U.S. presidential race might take a violent turn
United States Secret Service Counter Snipers stand guard on a rooftop during a campaign rally for U.S. President Donald Trump in Avoca, Pennsylvania, in 2020.
No AC this summer? No problem (for me).
Think air conditioning is a requirement for a Tokyo summer? Think again.
She’s paying ¥1 million to help behind the scenes at the Paris Olympics
Mai Tarumi, who previously volunteered at the postponed Tokyo Olympics in 2021, has a travel budget of ¥1 million for her trip to volunteer at the Paris Games.

Podcast

You can often see generations of families enjoying performances together at Fuji Rock Festival.
Japan’s summer music festivals are feeling the heat in more ways than one

Longform

Akiko Trush says her experience with the neurological disorder dystonia left her feeling like she wanted to chop her own hand off.
The neurological disorder that 'kills culture'
By Tomoko Otake

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