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November 22, 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 / History / THE LIVING PAST
Mar 14, 2015
Nation stiffens defenses to counter invasion
Doom was closing in. It was greeted with anxiety but without surprise. Its coming had been foreseen. Two centuries earlier — in the seventh year of the Eisho Era, 1052 by the Western calendar — humanity had entered the degenerate age of Mappo, the Latter Days of the Law. So taught the Buddhist sages....
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Mar 7, 2015
Where will 'proactive pacifism' lead us?
Seventy years after World War II ended, should we be thinking about war or about peace?
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Feb 21, 2015
Goto's stories put Japan woes in perspective
"More than diamonds, I want peace."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
Feb 14, 2015
Kafu the Scribbler
"A querulous, self-righteous man, whose social criticism rarely rose above the level of personal complaining ... ."
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Feb 14, 2015
Doomsday fever spurs a religious revolution
Sometimes the world seems eternal; sometimes the end looms black and near. We moderns know the apocalyptic mood well, having survived Dec. 21, 2012, in spite of an ancient Mayan "prediction" of doom on that date, but, facing as we do numerous other portents of extinction — climate change, environmental...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Feb 7, 2015
In violent times, young Japanese just shrug
The weekly Shukan Kinyobi discerns a "new fatalism" among young people. Meaning what? A feeling that effort reaps no rewards and so is not worth making; that the world is what it is and cannot be changed — at least not by me, even if I felt like changing it, which I don't; that luck or inborn talent...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
Jan 31, 2015
For All My Walking
Poet Taneda Santoka (1882-1940) cut a pitiful, tragic figure. His mother's suicide when he was 11 seems to have unhinged him for life. After a failed marriage and a failed sake-brewing enterprise he took to drink and hit the road. Someone took pity on him and brought him to a Zen temple, where he studied...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Jan 24, 2015
Amid French crisis, Japan frets over virgins
Still in its infancy, the new year has already spawned a theme: diversity. Is it possible? Is it desirable? Is there any common ground, besides mutual, irreconcilable loathing, between those who declare "I am Charlie" and those who riposte "I am Mohammad"?
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Jan 17, 2015
Seeking independence through civilization
For the first time in 600 years Japan was threatened by foreign aggression. One among many differences between the 19th century American threat and the 13th-century Mongol invasions is this: 13th-century Japan was fiercely militarist, 19th-century Japan was impotently militarist.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Jan 10, 2015
Young adults may be going nowhere after Coming-of-Age Day
Monday is Coming-of-Age Day, in honor of those who will turn 20 this year.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Dec 27, 2014
Concern for Japan's democratic process
Elections are the lifeblood of democracy. They represent an awesome empowerment — the right of citizens to peacefully overthrow their government and choose another.
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Dec 20, 2014
Christian missionaries find Japan a tough nut to crack
My local supermarket plays Christmas music. Yours probably does too. My neighbors have Christmas trees. So do yours, no doubt. At this time of year, in the major cities if not nationwide, you might almost think you were in a Christian country.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Dec 13, 2014
Generations square off in a battle for the ages
You'd think they owned the planet. They think they do — pushing into line at supermarkets, hogging seats on trains, generally behaving as though no one but themselves existed except to provide the services they need.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Nov 29, 2014
Debating milk, names and workplace blues
Milk — liquid innocence. If milk lets you down, what won't? It looks healthy, tastes healthy — surely it is healthy? Appearances, we know, are deceiving; still, this particular illusion dies hard.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Nov 22, 2014
Is happiness worth the risk of addiction?
You'll have heard this story before, in one form or another. "Mr. B," 66, is a pachinko addict. Hard core.
Japan Times
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Nov 15, 2014
Laughter the best medicine for humanity
What a comical species we are. The proof? Laughter. We laugh. At what? Why?
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Nov 8, 2014
Determining good and evil, with the kids
What is "moral education"?
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
Nov 8, 2014
Zen and Japanese Culture
This is one of those books you read to the last page without ever finishing; you keep going back for more — and finding it.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Oct 25, 2014
The romantic notion of rural relocation
Yu Iwamoto began adult life working in the slums, refugee camps and precarious schools of Afghanistan. Had he even heard, back then, of the Oki Islands off the coast of Shimane Prefecture?
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Oct 18, 2014
From Race to Ethnicity
The first known Japanese in Hawaii were shipwrecked fishermen circa 1806, unwitting forerunners of a diaspora they can scarcely have imagined.
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.
Russia launched intercontinental ballistic missile during attack on Ukraine, Kyiv says
A Yars intercontinental ballistic missile is launched during a test from the Plesetsk cosmodrome in Northern Arkhangelsk region of Russia, in this still image captured from video released on Oct. 29.
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.
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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