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April 11, 2025
 

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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 / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Nov 7, 2010
Freedom, friendship and love: a recipe for true happiness
The challenge to which this installment of "Big in Japan" seeks to rise is that of happiness. Is it possible, in these grim, sad, threatening times, to write a happy story without doing violence to journalistic relevance?
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Nov 3, 2010
Rikai dekiru: understanding the past, today
"Mina-san, konban wa (皆さん今晩は, ladies and gentlemen, good evening). Thank you, I . . .
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Oct 24, 2010
Can we fix Japan's moral morass?
As a gauge of where this country is heading and what kind of mood it's in, consider this fact: Last week, almost every mainstream weekly news magazine ran at least one story on old age and/or death.
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Oct 17, 2010
Utopia means free money for everyone
Scientifically and technologically, the world is in flux bordering on chaos. Every day brings something new: a new discovery, a new device, a new technique, a new cure. The pace of change is dizzying; we scarcely know where we stand. Yesterday's novelty is today's norm, tomorrow's anachronism.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL: KEYES' POINT
Oct 6, 2010
Hiyakasu: Teasing finds easy target in first love
"Yukino! My big brother is in love with Yukino!" Little Kimika Keyes whoops with delight, which of course only throws Peter deeper into misery. Kimika is 10 and he's 14 — he should have the upper hand, but there is in her a bewildering mix of yōchi (幼稚, childishness) and seijuku (成熟, maturity)...
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Oct 3, 2010
Why not put a little fun into your funeral?
It's your funeral. What's your pleasure?
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Sep 19, 2010
No sex please, we are otaku!
Shock, gasp, horror. Aya Hirano is not a virgin.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Sep 12, 2010
Travel through time on a trip to Otaru
The Hokkaido port of Otaru is less than an hour by train from downtown Sapporo. Same neighborhood, different world.
Japan Times
LIFE
Sep 12, 2010
Aging through the ages
"If only, when one heard That Old Age was coming One could bolt the door Answer 'not at home' And refuse to meet him!" (Anonymous, "Kokinshu" Imperial poetry anthology, 10th century)
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Sep 5, 2010
Take it slow — but only if it suits you
Slow Life Japan is a sort of movement, or rather an antimovement, that sprouted here and there in the 1990s, little islands of quietude amid the ultra-fast life that had come to seem as unquestionable as modernity itself. Production, consumption, growth, activity, exhaustion — all very well, but what...
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL: KEYES' POINT
Sep 1, 2010
Believing the unbelievable causes goshin fears
The fat, ungainly kensatsukan (検察官, prosecutor) rises and, without speaking, niramu (にらむ, glares at) the hikokunin (被告人, defendant). For a fleeting instant the chinmoku (沈黙, silence) in the hōtei (法廷, courtroom) is so deep that when Reiko Keyes, one of the six saibanin (裁判員,...
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Aug 15, 2010
Does cost of peace consign the Japanese to frailty or strength?
A series of articles in the Aug. 1 edition of The Big Issue Japan, a biweekly magazine sold by homeless people, is addressed "to adults who have never known war." Few major powers, past or present, can equal Japan in that regard. Sixty-five years of peace in a bellicose world have turned war in this...
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL: KEYES' POINT
Aug 4, 2010
Ai to kiratta — love and hate in equal measure
You just what, Peter? You just what?"
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Aug 1, 2010
Depression takes hold as promises of Utopia fade away
Why isn't this Utopia? Why, given material and technological advantages beyond the wildest dreams of our most visionary ancestors, are we floundering in a sea of despair?
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL: KEYES' POINT
Jul 7, 2010
Consulting the hermit monk Ryokan reincarnated
So I'm to be a kyōju (教授, professor) again. Imagine that. Am I doing the right thing? Where's my jisonshin (自尊心, pride)? Shouldn't I have keibetsu shita 軽蔑した, spat in their faces) when they asked me back, or told them I was busy?
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Jun 20, 2010
Is Japan going loopy in a world so alien
"Loopy," "hapless," "embarrassing" — such is the world's, and Japan's, verdict on the short unhappy prime ministership of Yukio Hatoyama. In retrospect, this 21st-century Japanese Don Quixote seems to have been doomed to failure from the start. What he attempted was honorable, but impossible. What...
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL: KEYES' POINT
Jun 2, 2010
Igi ari — no leading the witness, or grandma
"My next shōnin (証人, witness)," intones the corpulent kensatsukan (検察官, prosecutor), "is Mr. Toshi Saito. Mazu (まず, first of all), please tell the court, Mr. Saito, what your kankei (関係, relationship) was with the hikokunin (被告人, defendant), Yasuo Yamazaki."
Japan Times
LIFE
May 9, 2010
Children of Japan
Childhood. We all know it, we've all been through it, we've all lost it. Memory retains traces of it. We recall facts, incidents, fragments — but not what it felt like to be a child. Childish feelings are nameable to the adult, but not recoverable. They are on the other side of an impassable boundary...
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL: KEYES' POINT
May 5, 2010
Rusuban: The family oni is left holding the fort
"Daddy, when I grow up I wanna be a kyabajō (キャバ嬢, nightclub hostess)!"
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL: KEYES' POINT
Apr 7, 2010
Bōtō chinjutsu: First volleys in courtroom battle
"Kiritsu! (起立! All rise!)" cries the court clerk. The judges — three saibankan (裁判官, professional judges) and six saibanin (裁判員, lay judges), Reiko Keyes among them — take their places. Reiko is surprised at how full the courtroom is. It's manseki (満席, a full house). The case...
Takayasu’s latest heartbreak makes sumo history
Takayasu during the one-day Annual Sumo Tournament at the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo on Feb 9, 2020
Trump's tariff gambit leaves Asia stunned and scrambling
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks as he attends the National Republican Congressional Committee dinner in Washington on Tuesday. Trump allowed new tariffs — including a 24% levy on Japan — to go into effect as scheduled on Wednesday.
Tokyo cheers Trump’s tariff U-turn with second-biggest market gain ever
U.S. President Donald Trump looks on after signing an executive order in the Oval Office of the White House on Wednesday in Washington.
Banks freeze withdrawals for foreign nationals upon expiration of visas
Foreign residents who fail to renew their residential statuses before their expiry may find that they won’t be able to withdraw cash from their bank accounts.
Japanese badminton ace Shida blasts 'stalker' Chinese fans
Chiharu Shida of Japan in action during the bronze medal match with Nami Matsuyama against Pearly Tan and Muralitharan Thinaah of Malaysia at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, France on Aug. 03, 2024
Who is Ryosei Akazawa, Japan's tariffs negotiator?
Economic revitalization minister Ryosei Akazawa, who Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has appointed Japan's tariff negotiator, is one of his closest allies and busiest ministers.
After a tumultuous buildup, a first look at the Osaka Expo
A large statue of Osaka Expo mascot Myaku Myaku sits near the east entrance of the event's venue in Yumeshima island, Osaka, on Wednesday.
Japan gets a new U.S. ambassador — and he has his work cut out for him
George Glass, U.S. President Donald Trump's pick to be ambassador to Japan, attends a Senate Foreign Relations Committee confirmation hearing in Washington on March 13.
Online art scene eager to go offline, at least for the moment
Digital artist Polygon1993 revels in the physicality of nostalgic technology, making art out of materials such as miniature CDs, holographic prints layered with plexiglass shards and a giant custom-made floppy disk.
Tottori takes a bold leap forward in the arts
The city of Kurayoshi in Tottori Prefecture celebrated the opening of its public art museum with festivities such as a parade that drew 1,000 revelers.

Podcast

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

Longform

An ongoing shortage of rice has resulted in rising prices for Japan's main food staple.
Why Japan is running out of rice — and farmers to grow it
By Alex K.T. Martin

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