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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
Jun 20, 2015
Tabloids revel in South Korea's MERS misery
Schadenfreude, a word of German derivation, is defined in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary as "a feeling of enjoyment that comes from seeing or hearing about the troubles of other people." A more succinct definition would be "malicious glee."
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Jun 6, 2015
'Bottakuri' scams put the squeeze on the unwary
"On any given evening, you can see noisy quarrels between club staff and customers outside the local police box," attorney Katsuyuki Aoshima tells Asahi Geino (May 2), adding, "The police treat these as civil claims between the shop and the customer, and won't get involved, adopting the position of neutral...
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jun 1, 2015
To know bamboo is to know Asia — and a whole lot of Japanese
This fast-growing plant has found its way into much of the language of Japan, revealing a great deal about the history and culture of East Asia.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
May 30, 2015
'Cash Crash Jubilee' depicts a future Tokyo where even involuntary bodily functions are patented
Eli K. P. William's debut novel "Cash Crash Jubilee" is set in the Tokyo of the not-too-distant future, where each time you blink your eyes, a company deducts several hundred yen from your checking account. Corporations are now empowered to charge people after registering involuntary bodily functions...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
May 23, 2015
The changing face of Tokyo's 'red-light' district
"How would I describe Kabukicho? Frankly, I'm not sure," popular author Hirokatsu Azuma was quoted as saying in the now-defunct monthly Gendai magazine back in January 1999. "If you say it's a scary place, you could be right; and if you say it's a place where you can have fun, well, that's right too."...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
May 9, 2015
The golden arches lose their luster
The sharp downturn in business at McDonald's — which has thrived for most of the past 44 years in Japan — has got everybody talking. This past January alone, revenues at existing outlets, the company announced, had fallen year-on-year by a whopping 38.6 percent, with losses for the 2014 business...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Apr 25, 2015
U.S. towns pulled into Japanese politics
A recurring news story over the past several years concerns claims of the harassment of Japanese nationals residing on the East and West coasts of the United States. Most appear to have originated from municipalities where South Korean immigrants and Korean-Americans have successfully campaigned to erect...
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Apr 13, 2015
April: the season of newbies, nendo and Narita taishoku
April in Japan is a time for new beginnings, whether it be in terms of products, school or the world of work.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Apr 4, 2015
Magazines fixate on the roots of poverty
The oft-seen expression ichioku sō-chūryū translates roughly as "the perception of 'the 100 million,' i.e., the entire nation, as belonging to the middle class."
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Mar 16, 2015
Don't say you haven't been warned
I must confess, I never paid a great deal of attention to the warning messages and disclaimers that adorned packaging in Japan until 1972, when tobacco companies first got around to printing health warnings on packs of cigarettes. This was six years after the practice was adopted in the U.S., and the...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Mar 14, 2015
Seeking blame in a Kawasaki teen's death
On the morning of Feb. 20, police were summoned to the grassy, elevated bank of the Tama River, which forms the boundary between Tokyo and Kawasaki. They found the naked body of 13-year-old junior high school student Ryota Uemura, dead of multiple stab wounds. The same morning, the partly burned remnants...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Feb 28, 2015
Inflammatory articles aren't helping mags' circulation numbers
In a controversial column by 83-year-old author Ayako Sono that appeared in the Feb. 11 issue of the Sankei Shimbun under the headline "Maintain a 'suitable distance,'" Sono suggested that when and if Japan changes its immigration policies to accept more foreign workers, they should live in racially...
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Feb 16, 2015
Exercise your intuition as you untangle chaotic headlines
Being somewhat 背が高い (se ga takai, tall), I shamelessly confess my height advantage — I stand about 188 cm — has facilitated my ability to 盗み読み (nusumi-yomi, literally "theft-read," meaning to read over other people's shoulders) on public transport.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Feb 14, 2015
Media total up the targets for terrorist attacks
The 67-second video on YouTube opens with a black slate that reads, "A Message to Japan." The video then shows a kneeling journalist, Kenji Goto, clad in an orange outfit.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Jan 31, 2015
The changing motives behind juvenile crime in Japan
In a thought-provoking article in the February issue of Bungei Shunju, veteran journalist Kunio Yanagida ponders changes in the patterns of crimes committed by juveniles that have taken place since the end of World War II.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Jan 26, 2015
Japan's media grapple with free speech, faith and immigration after Charlie Hebdo attack
What does the Japanese media have to say about the recent events in France? The weeklies have got something for everyone.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jan 26, 2015
From laundry detergent to foreign tourism: The heavyweights of consumption in 2014
Toward the end of every year, the media, advertising agencies, think tanks and other organizations look back on the "hit products" whose successes helped define consumer preferences over the previous 12 months.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Jan 17, 2015
Mags go big for Kobe gang's 100th
This year will see the observance of various centennials, including the ill-fated Gallipoli campaign in the Dardanelles; the Second Battle of Ypres; and the sinking of the RMS Lusitania with the loss of 1,198 lives.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jan 10, 2015
The Iris Fan
With "The Iris Fan," Laura Joh Rowland draws to a close her long-running saga of righteous Edo Period lawman Sano Ichiro. From "Shinju" (1994), the saga has partially overlapped with the reign of fifth shogun Tokugawa Tsunayoshi — a superstitious eccentric who ruled Japan from 1680.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Jan 3, 2015
Getting a head start on wartime stories
From the "The Dirty Dozen" (1967) to "Saving Private Ryan" (1998), cinema audiences in Japan have flocked to theaters to watch Americans and Germans killing one another.
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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