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April 02, 2025
 

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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 / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Dec 19, 2015
Gangs, girl power and getting old: Japan's magazines ring out 2015
A roundup of the final weekly magazines of 2015 finds many preoccupied with the split within the Yamaguchi-gumi yakuza group.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Dec 12, 2015
No tolerance at the inns for China's shoppers
Last August, Nikkei Business magazine reported the travails of a businessman from a regional city on a sales trip to Tokyo. His company's accommodation allowance covered a maximum of ¥8,000 per night, but he couldn't find a centrally located hotel room for under ¥20,000.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Dec 7, 2015
From 'faboru' to 'sanoru,' words define what people said, read and bought in 2015
A closer look at the Japanese words that have made headlines and become part of the lexicon over the past year.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Nov 23, 2015
When kanji components sound off, be sure to pay attention
Many common kanji include easily recognizable phonetic components that give a pretty good idea of how they should be read.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Nov 21, 2015
Press gets tense over possible terrorism in Tokyo
Look around, if you will, for a waste receptacle on any station platform in the Tokyo metropolitan area; you won't find one. Their disappearance, a precautionary measure against urban terrorism, can be dated to the immediate aftermath of the nerve gas attack on the city's subway system by members of...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Oct 31, 2015
U.S. sea patrols fuel war of words in print
As this column went to press, the Japanese media had their collective attention focused on a potential hot-spot in the disputed South China Sea, where the destroyer USS Lassen, in a modern-day show of "gunboat diplomacy," took an in-your-face drive-by (or sail-by if you prefer) past Chinese encamped...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Oct 31, 2015
'Allegiance' depicts the isolation and struggles of Japanese-Americans during WWII
Caswell "Cash" Harrison, the protagonist in this legal thriller set during World War II, is a fortunate young man. Fresh out of Columbia Law School, his family ties to the network of Philadelphia patricians promises him a cozy legal career. But having failed his military physical on a technicality, Harrison...
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Oct 26, 2015
Why the Hanshin Tigers play in a stadium named after rats
Exploring the weird and wonderful animal kingdom and the roots of critters' kanji.
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Oct 17, 2015
Councilors get loud on library revamps
As testimony to their characteristically low profile, Japan's public libraries seldom make the news, although two recent exceptions come to mind.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Oct 3, 2015
Japan's elderly can't live off happy memories
Around the first week in December, lifelong-learning company U-Can sponsors an event that designates the top buzzwords of the year. Almost certain to be in the running for first place this year is "karyū rōjin" (low-class elderly people), a term that has been spreading like wildfire since summer.
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Sep 19, 2015
Yakuza infighting puts nation on edge
Around the start of this year, the weekly magazines — Shukan Taishu, Asahi Geino and Shukan Jitsuwa in particular — were brimming with articles feting the centennial anniversary of the Yamaguchi-gumi, which had gone from being a small group of tough guys on the Kobe waterfront in 1915 to Japan's...
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Sep 7, 2015
The search begins: tips for tapping the Net in Japanese
If you want to have any hope of success in searching for data on the Web in Japanese, you're going to need to work at obtaining competence in keyboard input of the language.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Sep 5, 2015
Death? War? What's next for the games?
Two years to the week that Tokyo won its bid over Istanbul and Madrid to host the 2020 Olympic Games, major stumbles in planning and preparation have caused the shining promise to take a nosedive.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Aug 22, 2015
Abe catches heat from the weeklies in the dog days of summer
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe faces such a constant stream of stumbles and irritants, it's hard to identify which of them is causing his biggest headache.
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Aug 8, 2015
Weeklies' summer specials feature sports, crimefighting, frozen treats and horror
The National High School Summer Baseball Tournament this year observes its 100th anniversary, and Asahi Geino (Aug. 13) recalls 10 hard-fought games at Koshien Stadium that fans still remember. In a short follow-up, the magazine introduces the "new monster," as he's being called, 16-year-old Kotaro Kiyomiya,...
Japan Times
JAPAN / History
Aug 1, 2015
The top-secret flights that ended the war
Seventy years after the atomic bombings, time stands still on the Pacific island of Tinian.
Japan Times
JAPAN / History
Aug 1, 2015
Exploring Japan's military past
History buffs in Japan can also visit a variety of sites related to this country's military past. In addition to the enormous Yushukan Museum on the grounds of the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward (www.yasukuni.or.jp/english/yushukan), numerous spots with historical significance can be found within...
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jul 27, 2015
A crash course in wartime Japanese terminology for foreign demons
Ahead of the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II, here's a look at the words, phrases and concepts that found wide usage in the fateful years leading up to 1945.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Jul 18, 2015
History, hexes feature in criminal potpourri
In addition to their regular mixture of celebrity gossip and scandals mixed with practical advice for readers — such as how to quit smoking or winning pachinko techniques — the weeklies also treat their readers to snippets of Japanese history.
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Jul 4, 2015
Will hot-selling book bring Kobe killer in from the cold?
'June 28, 1997. I ceased being me. It was the day I was expelled forever from the world of sunshine. Up to then, I had nonchalantly spent my days unaltruistically, each passing day framed by the next as in a film, until the day when, suddenly, I began to be stigmatized as an enigmatic being.
As ‘Buy Canadian’ grows, more U.S. firms say retailers turning away products
Empty shelves with "Buy Canadian Instead" signs are seen in the American Whiskey section of the BC Liquor in Vancouver, British Columbia, on March 10.
Japan, South Korea and China vow to strengthen trade ties amid looming U.S. tariffs
Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Yoji Muto (left), South Korean Trade Industry and Energy Minister Ahn Duk-geun (center) and Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao during a trilateral meeting in Seoul on Sunday
A Canadian made a weekend trip to Costco a Japanese pastime
Under the watchful eye of Ken Theriault, Costco representative director and Japan country manager, the American membership-model wholesaler has flourished in Japan.
Nankai Trough earthquake could kill 298,000 people, government says
Residents participate in an evacuation drill held with West Japan Railway in Shirahama, Wakayama Prefecture, in January 2024 to prepare for a Nankai Trough earthquake and a possible tsunami following the quake.
Osaka Expo's Japan Pavilion completed
A ceremony is held to mark the completion of the Japan Pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka on Saturday.
On defense, Japan may avoid Trump's worst impulses — for now
Defense Minister Gen Nakatani and U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth chat after reviewing an honor guard during a welcome ceremony at the Defense Ministry in Tokyo on Sunday.
No longer a 'bridesmaid': Yuki Tsunoda prepares for the Red Bull pressure cooker
All eyes will be on Yuki Tsunoda as he makes his Red Bull debut at the Japanese Grand Prix this weekend.
A Canadian made a weekend trip to Costco a Japanese pastime
Under the watchful eye of Ken Theriault, Costco representative director and Japan country manager, the American membership-model wholesaler has flourished in Japan.
Tokyo tech failures lean into misfortune, mistakes and missteps
Tsuyoshi Domoto in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward on March 28. As an entrepreneur, Domoto experienced plenty of setbacks but maintains a positive attitude and continues to pursue his dreams.
Who among the opposition would join the ruling coalition?
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba enters his office in Tokyo on Friday.

Podcast

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

Longform

Professional cleaner Hirofumi Sakurai takes a moment to appreciate some photographs in a Gotanda apartment whose occupant died alone.
The last cleanup: Life and death in a lonely Japan
By Johan Brooks

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