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August 15, 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
Jul 21, 2014
Stuck in the middle with chū — one kanji's central role
In the 1981 novel "Red Dragon" — the first Thomas Harris thriller featuring archvillain Hannibal "the Cannibal" Lecter — the Sino-Japanese ideograph 中 (read naka or chū, and meaning center or middle) makes an appearance. It is composed of a rectangle with a line going through its center. Graphically...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Jul 19, 2014
Politician Nonomura weeps and the world laughs
"Laugh, and the world laughs with you; weep, and you weep alone. For the sad old earth must borrow its mirth, but has trouble enough of its own."
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Jul 5, 2014
Ongoing Obokata story seeks out scandal
The paper, titled "Stimulus-triggered fate conversion of somatic cells into pluripotency," was accepted by the British science journal Nature on Dec. 20, 2013, and published online on Jan. 29, 2014. The authors were listed as Haruko Obokata, Teruhiko Wakayama, Yoshiki Sasai, Koji Kojima, Martin P. Vacanti,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jun 28, 2014
Murder on Bamboo Lane
Since the appearance of "Summer of the Big Bachi" in 2004, Naomi Hirahara has produced five mystery novels in the ethnic detective genre, featuring Masao Arai, an elderly Japanese-American gardener (and Hiroshima A-bomb survivor) who drives around greater Los Angeles in a beat-up pickup truck.
LIFE / Language
Jun 22, 2014
Today's weird words are tomorrow's standard speech
Last month, a most peculiar word, dotakyan, popped up repeatedly in the media in reference to former Beatle Paul McCartney, who was forced to cancel his entire schedule of concerts due to health concerns.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Jun 14, 2014
Vietnam seen as a potential role model for Japan
Although tourism and trade between Japan and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam have expanded rapidly in recent years, when compared with other ASEAN countries such as Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand, Vietnam has maintained a fairly low profile in the Japanese media. But suddenly the country is being...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
May 31, 2014
Media eyes trend-setting Sony's loss of momentum
Let's travel back 62 years. On the evening of Dec. 4, 1952, after NHK radio signed off its regular AM programming, an announcer proclaimed: "Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo and NHK now commence a joint experimental stereo broadcast."
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
May 25, 2014
Learning Japanese by singing along
Several years before I was taught to read and sing the traditional song 「さくら、さくら」("Sakura, sakura") in introductory Japanese class, I recall driving my father's 1963 Ford Galaxie and humming along to the melody of Kyu Sakamoto's "Sukiyaki Song," broadcast over WFAY AM radio in North...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
May 3, 2014
Avoiding the crowds during Golden Week
Let's be sensible: During Golden Week, why on earth would any sane person choose to drive to a destination on the expressway only to spend a good part of their holiday ensnared in a 35-km-long traffic jam? Doing their part to ease the congestion, domestic magazines are offering some imaginative alternatives...
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Apr 27, 2014
Flipping kanji around for new meanings
A number of Japanese compound words can be used to form other words when the order of their kanji is reversed. Take 平和 (heiwa, peace) for example, which can be reversed to read 和平 (wahei, which also means peace, but with a slightly different usage such as in 和平交渉 (wahei kōshō, peace...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Apr 19, 2014
The media get ready for open season on Tanaka
"In the Spring," wrote Alfred, Lord Tennyson in his famous poem "Locksley Hall," "a young man's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Apr 12, 2014
The curious tale of the man who slapped Tojo
On May 3, 1946, the indictments were read at the International Military Tribunal for the Far East. Among the defendants was a gangly, bespectacled, 59-year-old civilian named Shumei Okawa, who happened to be seated directly behind the former prime minister, army Gen. Hideki Tojo.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Apr 5, 2014
Taking a walk down felony lane
As part of the commemoration of the 140th anniversary of the Metropolitan Police Department, monthly magazine Bungei Shunju polled some 50,000 active-duty policemen on the 100 most significant crimes, incidents and disasters since 1874. The magazine received approximately 45,000 responses, and published...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Mar 22, 2014
Motley crew of foreigners backing Japan's revisionists basks in media glare
In the war of words — particularly with South Korea and China — over World War II-era issues that has intensified over the past 18 months, foreigners — both Westerners and Asians — have also waded into the fray.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Mar 16, 2014
Good and bad, for better or worse
One approach to acquiring new vocabulary that I've always found effective is to seek out the 反対語 (hantai-go, antonyms) of words. To prove my point, how about looking at words that relate to "good" and "bad," which are about as opposite as you can get.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Mar 15, 2014
Portrait of the assassin as a young man
Sometime in the 1970s, as more Americans began to rally against the Vietnam War, an unknown cynic parodied the U.S. Army's promotional recruitment tagline with the slogan, "Join the Army! Travel to unusual places. Meet interesting people, and kill them."
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Mar 8, 2014
Rabid right foams at the mouth over Line's Korean connection
Internet entrepreneurism has spawned all kinds of free services and applications. Some — with names such as Yahoo, Google, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter — have emerged as wild successes and earned sizable fortunes for their founders.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Feb 22, 2014
Media await rightist ex-general's next move
"Thank you, everyone," wrote Toshio Tamogami in his weekly column in Shukan Asahi Geino (Feb. 27). "This has given me great courage toward my next move."
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Feb 16, 2014
Playing the Japanese name game
Once, when telephoning the international PR office of a major electronics manufacturer, I got lucky. Without my even asking, the young woman who picked up the phone volunteered her name, saying 私は青木と申します (Watashi wa Aoki to mōshimasu, My name is Aoki). Actually it sounded more like...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Feb 8, 2014
Promises of 'taboo' topics rarely live up to the billing
When you see the word 'tabu016b' in a headline, it's probably not really a taboo, mainly because self-censorship ensures that topics that really are taboo are treated with commensurate caution. Thus, an article claiming to expose some taboo might titillate, but probably won't reveal enough to invite litigation.
Japan to revise consumption tax exemption for overseas tourists
Tourists walk through Nakamise shopping street near Sensoji Temple in Tokyo in April
Japan's tourism industry hit by cancellations after megaquake alert
A beach closed due to a megaquake alert in Hiratsuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, from Friday to Thursday.
Focus shifts to incoming typhoon as Tropical Storm Maria dissipates
Newly formed Tropical Storm Ampil, which is forecast to approach eastern Japan this weekend, is seen on the left side of this satellite image.
Kishida to step down in September in bid to show ‘LDP has changed’
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks during a news conference Wednesday at the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo.
Publisher finds surprise audience after translating history textbooks
Yamakawa Shuppansha president Takeshi Nozawa holds the publisher's textbook on Japanese history — used in high schools across Japan — alongside the new English version in Tokyo on May 23.
Economic security is about strengthening and sustaining growth, former minister says
Former economic security minister Takayuki Kobayashi says changes in the international balance of power, along with deepening economic interdependence, have led some countries to attempt to use their economic power to impose their will on others.
Ice bandanas, convenience store breaks: Running under Japan’s summer sun
Blistering heat is becoming a fixture of summer in Japan, but a few tweaks to your routine can make your outdoor runs bearable — if not enjoyable — until cooler temperatures return.
Japan issued its first-ever megaquake alert. What does that mean?
Naoshi Hirata (center), chairman of a committee tasked with evaluating the risk of a Nankai Trough earthquake, speaks at a news conference in Tokyo on Friday.
France brings down the curtain on its Olympic party with Tom Cruise and Leon Marchand
Fireworks are set off during the closing ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics at Stade de France in Saint-Denis on Sunday.
Japan fuels U.S. LNG boom even as climate targets and impacts loom
Flaring at the Cameron LNG export terminal in Hackberry, Louisiana. Flaring, a common sight at LNG plants, is a controlled burning of gas for reasons ranging from depressurizing equipment to disposing of gas that can’t be used. The practice is a "waste of money" and negatively impacts climate change and human health, says the International Energy Agency.

Podcast

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

Longform

Sociologist Gracia Liu-Farrer argues that even though immigration doesn't figure into Japan's autobiography, it is more of a self-perception than a reality.
In search of the ‘Japanese dream’
By Thu-Huong Ha

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