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July 16, 2024
 

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Mark Schreiber

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Mark Schreiber
Mark Schreiber worked as a salaryman in travel, consumer electronics, computer software, advertising and market research before turning to translation and writing full time. A native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, he has lived in Tokyo since 1966.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Dec 15, 2010
Marketers bask in the glow of the year's successes
If you can generate profits during a 不景気 (fukeiki, a business recession), you must be doing something right. If you can generate a ヒット (hitto, hit) and sustain it in the face of deflation, imitators and low-cost imports, then you're to be heartily congratulated for your business acumen.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Dec 14, 2010
Mail-order buyer, be aware
In retrospect, I didn't really need a new baseball cap. But this one, advertised by the publisher of a nationally circulated magazine, had a humorous logo in Japanese that tickled my fancy, making it — like much of the merchandise sold via mail order — a novelty item not sold in stores.
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Dec 12, 2010
Can Nissan start weaning the auto industry off petroleum?
On Dec. 3, BBC News reported that the prices of petroleum on both sides of the Atlantic hit their highest levels since the financial crisis, with Goldman Sachs forecasting an increase to $100 per barrel in 2011.
CULTURE / Books
Nov 21, 2010
Beijing conspiracy, New York villainy
CURE, by Robin Cook. Putnam, 2010,
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Nov 14, 2010
A tale of one city (but two airports)
For the last three decades, air travelers on the Tokyo-Taipei route have utilized Narita International Airport and Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport.
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Oct 31, 2010
Hearing China's take on Senkakus
The most recent territorial dispute over the Senkaku (Japanese name)/Diaoyutai (Chinese name) Islands, located southwest of Okinawa (or north of Taiwan if you prefer), was triggered on Sept. 7 when a Chinese trawler attempted to ram two Japanese Coast Guard vessels. The blurry details of the collision...
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Oct 27, 2010
Learning to live without Japanese pronouns
While I was managing a gift shop at Expo '70 in Osaka, a friend arranged the loan of a Daihatsu Hijet mini pickup. It was probably a mid-1960s model, so small that the only way I could squeeze into the cab was to remove the seat and use a folded beach towel as a cushion.
CULTURE / Books
Oct 24, 2010
Mysteries through the eons
While traveling alone on horseback through a gloomy forest near Lake Biwa, northeast of Kyoto, Justice Ministry official Sugawara Akitada suddenly comes upon a filthy, shivering urchin who appears to be deaf and mute.
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Oct 17, 2010
Balloon bombs, poisons all in a day's work at Noborito
"Balloon bombs aimed at North America were released by the thousands," says Meiji University professor Akira Yamada, running his hand in an up-and-down motion across a diagram of the Pacific Ocean. He first points to the spots on the coast of Honshu from where these explosive devices were launched, and...
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Oct 10, 2010
Weeklies, tabloids hawkish over China
On Saturday, Oct. 2, over 2,670 demonstrators carrying Hinomaru Japanese flags marched in Tokyo's Yoyogi Park to protest the Kan government's soft handling of a long-running territorial dispute with China over the Senkaku Islands (known in Chinese as Diaoyutai), which was rekindled on Sept. 7 when the...
CULTURE / Books
Sep 26, 2010
Nightmares from N. Korea
LOVE SONGS FROM A SHALLOW GRAVE, by Colin Cotterill. SOHO Crime, 2010, 326 pp., $25 (hardcover)
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Sep 22, 2010
A call to end confusion over foreign names
A problem newspaper readers in Japan confront on a daily basis is that no definitive rule exists for writing foreigners' names.
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Sep 12, 2010
Budget cuts dooming diners to plumpness
"The destiny of a nation depends on the manner in which it feeds itself," wrote French epicure Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin (1755-1826) in his famous treatise, "The Physiology of Taste: Or Meditations on Transcendental Gastronomy."
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Aug 29, 2010
Tightened credit rules threaten to spawn 'loan refugees'
Japan may be in the midst of a silent epidemic of kinketsu-byo ("lack of money disease"). The source of the infection is a new statute that bans many borrowers from obtaining unsecured loans.
CULTURE / Books
Aug 22, 2010
Indonesia intrigue, Tokyo high-tech high jinx
While such enduring bad guys as Nazis, KGB agents, Cosa Nostra gangsters, sinister Asiatics and the occasional vampire still receive top billing in U.S. popular fiction and cinema, the events of 9/11 have not surprisingly inspired a stream of works featuring villains of Middle Eastern and/or jihadist...
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Aug 8, 2010
Japan's dismal dearth of new heroic figures
"Created in response to deep popular needs, the legendary hero survives long after his death. . . . While the positive aspects of the hero's life and character come to be emphasized (or even created out of whole cloth), less attractive features are passed over in silence and remain forgotten until they...
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jul 28, 2010
A linguistic guide to the dog days of summer
With the exception of Hokkaido, Japan heralds the arrival of summer when the 気象庁 (Kishocho, or Japan Meteorological Agency) declares 梅雨明け (tsuyu ake, end of the rainy season).
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Jul 25, 2010
Computer addiction dulls wits at work
Differences in familiarity with computers are creating ever-wider gaps within the ranks of Japan's salarymen. Evening tabloid Nikkan Gendai (July 17) reports on the emergence of a new type of person at companies who never stops typing on his PC, even while being spoken to by a colleague.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jul 25, 2010
On the hunt for snakes and dragons in Chinatown
Two years back I reviewed "Year of the Dog," about the exploits of detective Jack Yu, the creation of Chinese-American author Henry Chang, who portrayed New York's Chinatown as a frightfully sordid place. Yu, besides being forced to endure the slings and arrows of a race- baiting police department, suffered...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Jun 27, 2010
What's in a name? Politics as usual
When the Democratic Party of Japan indicated in its political manifesto that it favored voting rights for foreign permanent residents, the reaction from some quarters of the media was visceral. In early April, publisher Takarajima-sha produced a 96-page "emergency publication" titled "Gaikokujin Sanseiken...
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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