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November 22, 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.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
May 25, 2019
Fatal traffic mishaps put drivers in the media spotlight
"Heartbreaking accidents have continued to occur although measures have been taken," Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said ruefully at a meeting of government officials on May 21.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
May 20, 2019
Matching the ins and outs of two common kanji
From April 1, the 入国管理局 (nyūkoku kanri-kyoku, Immigration Bureau), which operated under the auspices of the 法務省 (hōmushō, Justice Ministry), was upgraded from a bureau to an agency. Its Japanese name changed to 出入国在留管理庁 (shutsunyūkoku zairyū kanri-chō), which can...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
May 11, 2019
Tabloids press pause as nation celebrates dawn of the Reiwa Era
Welcome one and all to Big in Japan, the Reiwa version. During the just-ended 10-day Golden Week holiday, only one general weekly magazine — Aera (May 13) — went to press, giving it the distinction of being the first publication out of the starting gates in the new era. Aera's coverage of imperial...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Apr 27, 2019
Trains, planes and automobiles to celebrate Golden Week
If you're looking for some mundane distractions to get you through the holiday period, Shukan Taishu (May 6-13) has got just the thing. Its "Reiwa Commemorative Edition" introduces unusual rides. Okinawa, for example, sports an "Ostrich Land," where you can hop a ride on the back of one of its giant...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Apr 13, 2019
Japan searches for remedies at the dawn of the Reiwa Era
Japan's weekly magazines do not consider their primary role to be reporting cheery news. It would be more correct to say their practice is to proceed from a pessimistic perspective and then, after readying readers to rude realities, encourage searches for sustenance and survival, if not salvation.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Mar 30, 2019
When apo-den telephone scams take deadly turns
On Feb. 28, the body of Kuniko Kato, 80, was found in her ransacked apartment in Tokyo's Koto Ward. Her wrists had been bound with clear plastic wrap and her mouth and ankles bound with duct tape. While the specific cause of death has not been made public, she appeared to have suffocated. A police search...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Mar 16, 2019
Does NHK drama credit instant noodles to the right inventor?
Each morning at 8 o'clock, millions of homemakers across the country tune into a 15-minute-long segment of a serialized morning drama on NHK. The current story, titled "Manpuku," relates the saga of the man who invented instant noodles and his devoted wife, played by Hiroki Hasegawa and Sakura Ando,...
Japan Times
LIFE / Language
Mar 11, 2019
Turn an 'H' on its side and look what kanji you get
If you turn an 'H' on its side, you get something that looks like the kanji ku014d or ku, and from there you can go all sorts of places.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Mar 2, 2019
Dealing with gun issues in a nation with few guns
Japan's reputation as a country relatively free of gun crime is borne out by official statistics. In terms of individuals charged with crimes committed using firearms, the 2018 white paper issued by the National Police Agency listed eight homicides in 2017 — all of which involved members of crime syndicates...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Feb 2, 2019
Facial recognition technology: What would George Orwell say?
This coming June, British author George Orwell's dystopian novel, "Nineteen Eighty-Four," marks the 70th anniversary of its publication. In the United States, Penguin has announced plans for a special 75,000-copy reprint. According to The New York Times, the publisher noted that, sales of the novel have...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Jan 19, 2019
Tolerant attitudes make Japan a drinker's paradise
If any doubts existed that Japanese people are exceptionally tolerant toward the imbibing of alcohol, those were erased in 2014, when the Pew Center, as part of its Global Attitudes Project, surveyed people's views on drinking in 40 countries.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Jan 5, 2019
Examining the strange synergy of Heisei Era crimes in Japan
There's a tendency in some societies to associate a period of history with the crimes that occurred therein. This is why we use expressions such as "crime of the century."
Japan Times
LIFE / Language
Dec 17, 2018
'Politically Correct Bedtime Stories' and a dose of 'Murphy's Law' to make learning Japanese fun
I am still waiting for someone to publish a concise history of humor from the 30 years of the Heisei Era. Thinking back, I can recall two bestselling books that conveyed American-style humor in translation. Both appeared in the 1990s, and they demonstrate how Japanese people, much to their credit, take...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Dec 15, 2018
Namie Amuro tops Nikkei Marketing Journal's list of 2018's most popular products and services
Described in its choice for the year's yokozuna (grand champion) as dasa-kakoyosa — something that's behind the times, but cool nonetheless — entertainer Namie Amuro appeared at the top of the Nikkei Marketing Journal's 48th annual Hitto Shohin Banzuke (ranking of hit products) on Dec. 5.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Dec 8, 2018
Japan's modern crime literature: Centuries in the making
Japan boasts an impressively large and growing body of native-grown mystery fiction that dates back to the 1920s.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Dec 1, 2018
Magazines explore the inevitability of death and taxes
From this week, beneath the glitter of tinsel and glimmer of outdoor seasonal illumination, the bonenkai (year-end party) season begins in earnest.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language
Nov 26, 2018
The kanji used for 'normal' are pretty extraordinary
In May, an article in the business magazine President cited a survey of newly hired company workers in which a majority of those recruited this year indicated they were content to 'strive for the commonplace.'
Japan Times
LIFE / Language
Nov 19, 2018
'The Year Book of the Contemporary Society' celebrates the Japanese buzzwords that will lead us into the new year
What's that word, the one for when you like a person but are too shy to say so? Or how about the one you use when you visit Tokyo Disney? Well, one book has all the answers.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Nov 17, 2018
Flamboyant 'host club king' Takeshi Aida given an extravagant sendoff
An extravagant wake and funeral was held earlier this month in memory of host club Ai Honten's flamboyant founder, Takeshi Aida, who passed away on Oct. 25 at the age of 78 after a prolonged illness.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / RECENTLY PUBLISHED BOOKS ABOUT JAPAN
Nov 10, 2018
'Tinian and the Bomb': Historical details shed light on one island's overlooked role in World War II
Along with unfamiliar historical details from the U.S. side, made possible through recent declassification of archival documents, Don A. Farrell's 'Tinian and the Bomb' provides an account of how the use of atomic bombs influenced the Japanese government's decision to end the war.
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

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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