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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 Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Mar 23, 2019
Are democratic principles at risk of being undermined?
Is democracy dying? Certainly authoritarianism is rising. A generation ago, it was the opposite — authoritarianism seemed moribund, democracy on the cusp of new life. Sekai magazine (April) sums up the gloomier mood now gaining ground. "We cannot," it says, "take democracy for granted."
Japan Times
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Mar 16, 2019
Culture bred in the midst of famine and war
'We may even be tempted to conclude that no man in the history of Japan had a greater influence on the formation of Japanese taste,' wrote Japanologist Donald Keene. But still, he continues, 'Yoshimasa may have been the worst shogun ever to rule Japan.'
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Mar 9, 2019
China's detention system offers a few lessons for Japan
Shukan Gendai magazine last month sounded a warning: "Students, if you're arrested in China it's a very serious matter."
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Feb 23, 2019
Artificial intelligence debate raises more questions than answers
"The human race, version 2" — a thought to inspire hope or fear, maybe a little (or a lot) of both. "We today," says Komazawa University economist Tomohiro Inoue, whose thought it is, "will soon be 'the former human race.'"
Japan Times
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Feb 16, 2019
There are many sides to a great warrior
Almost nothing is known of Toyotomi Hideyoshi's early years with warlord Oda Nobunaga, but by 1570 we see him commanding a detachment, 3,000 strong, in battle against a Nobunaga rival. The peasant boy has come a long way.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Feb 9, 2019
Heisei Era hindsight gives new meaning to established terms
The ubiquitous word "productivity" last summer acquired a new meaning — or at least a new twist. Members of the LGBT community, wrote Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker Mio Sugita, "do not reproduce. In other words, they are unproductive. I wonder if it is appropriate to spend taxpayer money on them."...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Jan 26, 2019
End of an era gives Japan a chance to hit the reset button
Maybe we're immortal. It's not a new idea. Christianity's appeal over 2,000 years rests largely on its promise of eternal life. In Japanese Buddhism, the soul passes from life to life — a dreadful prospect, it was held, which only the enlightened escaped.
Japan Times
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Jan 19, 2019
Toyotomi Hideyoshi: The brutality of victory
In 1590, having already subdued Kyushu and northeast Japan, Toyotomi Hideyoshi successfully took Osaka Castle after a three-month siege. But with opposition defeated, what happened next?
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Jan 12, 2019
Perceived dearth of freedom in Japan's schools reflects wider woes
What a strange place a school is — a world within a world, a society within a society. Kids grow up in it asking themselves, "Is the real world like this?"
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Dec 29, 2018
Year of the Dog fails to answer the tough questions
Sodanē.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Dec 22, 2018
Doors to foreign workers no longer slammed shut
There's no such place as Imizustan. Warabistan is equally fictitious. "Stan" means "homeland" in ancient Persian — hence Pakistan, Afghanistan and so on. A substantial Pakistani community in Imizu, Toyama Prefecture, spawned the nickname Imizustan. Warabi, Saitama Prefecture, hosts a growing community...
Japan Times
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Dec 15, 2018
The war that spawned the way of the warrior
Spectacular battle scenes, honorable deaths and tragic pathos, 'The Tale of Heike' is like Japan's very own 'Iliad.'
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Dec 8, 2018
Second opinion: Should you trust your doctor?
Do I really need this operation? Is this medication really good for me? Does my doctor really know what ails me?
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Nov 24, 2018
The Jomon Period: Modern Japanese art with ancient beginnings
Japanese art has a quality all its own. The ancient and the avant-garde merge. Prehistoric figurines seem 10,000 years deep rather than 10,000 years old. And modern art takes us back even as it propels us forward. Manga, for instance, predates its name by centuries — millennia even, you might suppose,...
Japan Times
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Nov 17, 2018
'The Tale of the Heike' delivers a path for salvation
Some wars spawn myths. Some spawn epics. Some spawn both; others, neither. The 13th-century Mongol invasions of Japan spawned a myth — the "divine wind" that repulsed the invading fleet — but no epic. The 12th-century Genpei War spawned an epic — the "Heike Monogatari" ("The Tale of the Heike")...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Nov 10, 2018
Japan struggles to keep loneliness at arm's length
Society is crumbling into its component elements.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Oct 27, 2018
Moral education may not reflect the realities of life in Japan
What's wrong with the following story?
Japan Times
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Oct 20, 2018
Life lessons from the master of noh Zeami
Stately, stylized noh arose from primitive, rollicking ancestors — sarugaku (monkey music) and dengaku (rural music). Two qualities in particular define it: yu016bgen (mystery) and monomane (imitation).
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Oct 13, 2018
Natural disasters shake the nation to attention in 2018
You wake to pitch blackness, the house shaking crazily. Nightmare? Yes — a waking one. "Where are my glasses?" You're helpless without your glasses. The shaking gets worse.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Sep 29, 2018
Few question the death penalty for heinous crimes
Should murderers be put to death? Yes, says Japan. No, says (increasingly) much of the rest of the world. Japan swims against the current.
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

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