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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
Sep 7, 2013
What's the real story behind 'Emperor'?
"Emperor," a film directed by Peter Webber that takes up the subject of Emperor Showa and the postwar occupation period, has been showing at local theaters since July. The film's protagonist is Gen. Bonner Frank Fellers, who served as a subordinate to Supreme Commander Allied Forces Gen. Douglas MacArthur....
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Aug 25, 2013
When does one's native language stop being native?
A 71-year-old man in Gifu Prefecture made headlines recently when he attempted to initiate a lawsuit against broadcaster NHK. Through its excessive use of foreign derived words, the man claimed, NHK had caused him 精神的苦痛 (seishinteki kutsū, psychological pain). He demanded ¥1.41 million...
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Aug 24, 2013
Chilling tales are tops when trying to beat the heat
Perhaps stemming from the belief that hearing a scary story will send a chill down the spine and provide welcome relief from the summer heat, August is Japan's favorite season for traditional tales of horror. At local festivals and in theme parks, the obake yashiki (haunted house) is a standby for dating...
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Aug 17, 2013
Shock-and-awe art fills festival streets with fun
"Are you tourist?" asked the man seated beside me on the early afternoon flight from Tokyo's Haneda airport to Kochi in Shikoku. He spoke in hesitant English.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Aug 10, 2013
'Haiku killings' recall infamous horror story
Mitake, a tiny mountain hamlet located in eastern Yamaguchi Prefecture, is administrated as part of the city of Shunan (pop. 150,000). The area is so remote, cell phones don't always receive signals there.
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Jul 27, 2013
Tight budgets, food safety and eel inflation
The future promise of Abenomics notwithstanding, Japan's white-collar office workers are still being squeezed in terms of their discretionary spending. Results of the annual survey of salaryman kozukai (allowance), released June 28 by Shinsei Bank, noted that this year the average monthly spending money...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jul 20, 2013
Two alluring mysteries set in China
Qiu Xiaolong's police procedural novels, featuring Shanghai police inspector Chen Cao, have gradually shifted from the earlier themes dealing with the deep wounds left by the insanity of the 1960s' Cultural Revolution, and have more recently focused on social issues more relevant to present-day China....
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jul 14, 2013
Furigana: read the fine print, decode the hidden meanings
Years ago, a colleague at a company where I worked had a surname written using a character so obscure, that when handing out his business card he used to joke apologetically, 名前の漢字、ほとんど誰も読めない (namae no kanji, hotondo dare mo yomenai, hardly anybody can read the kanji in...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Jul 13, 2013
'Black' business tales cast shadow on candidate
Elections for the House of Councillors will be held a week from today. The election is being billed as historic in that candidates are permitted to appeal to voters via the Internet.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jun 24, 2013
Furigana — for when you need a little help with kanji
While watching a variety program on NTV over lunch a few weeks ago, I happened to see the word 儚い (hakanai) flash up on the screen.
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Jun 23, 2013
'Hate speech' in the media, but not the legal code
This writer, on previous occasions, has expressed irritation over the recent tendency for the vernacular media to rely heavily on English borrowings for neologisms with socially negative connotations, such as sexual harassment, stalking and domestic violence — to name three examples.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Jun 9, 2013
Sifting through the rubble of Hashimoto's political ambitions
In 1995, the late University of Illinois professor David G. Goodman observed that when serious disagreements arise between Japanese people and foreigners, the former invariably internalize the debate among themselves.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
May 26, 2013
Xenophobia stretches from the street to the dinner table
The territorial disputes between Japan and its nearest neighbors over the islands of Takeshima (Dokdo in Korean) and the Senkakus (Diaoyu in Chinese) have gradually faded from the front pages; but this does not necessarily mean there have been no repercussions.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
May 20, 2013
Product names show language creativity at work
Recently I was asked to write a blurb for a new liquid plant-nutrient. As soon as I saw the name of the product, u65e9u6839u65e9u8d77 uff08Hayane Hayaoki), I smiled at this example of linguistic creativity.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
May 19, 2013
Surviving dangerous encounters
In "The Lion's Game" (2000) and "The Lion" (2010), Nelson DeMille's character NYPD Detective John Corey battles and defeats Asad Khalil, a brilliant Libyan terrorist who infiltrates the U.S. to extract revenge for the deaths of family members killed in a U.S. air raid on Tripoli.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
May 12, 2013
Will Mount Fuji celebrate World Heritage status by blowing its top?
On May 1, Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs announced it had received notification that Mount Fuji had been recommended for World Heritage status by the UNESCO-affiliated International Council on Monuments and Sites. Formal approval is expected at the World Heritage Committee meeting in Cambodia next month.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Apr 28, 2013
An avian flu outbreak in Japan could kill 'Abenomics'
No one has ever fully explained why, in 2002-3, the virulent pathogen known as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) ran rampant in mainland China (5,328 cases, 349 deaths) but only infected four people in South Korea, with no fatalities, and none in Japan.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Apr 22, 2013
Ways to 'spell' Japanese out loud
I dial a number and ask to speak to my literary agent, Mr. Suzuki.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Apr 14, 2013
Tabloids sharpen claws for North Korea's 'X-Day'
Three months before the present crisis on the Korean peninsula, Shukan Jitsuwa (Jan. 24) ran an uncharacteristically astute article predicting that in addition to potential for armed conflict with China over the disputed Senkaku Islands, North Korea, under its inexperienced young leader Kim Jong Un, posed a serious threat to Japan.
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Mar 24, 2013
Mandatory retirement takes a leap forward
The angels that guard you / When you drive / Usually retire / At sixty-five
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.
Russia fired experimental ballistic missile at Ukraine, Putin says
Ukrainian firefighters work on a spot following an airstrike in Dnipro on Thursday.
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.
The slow-burn success of ‘A Samurai in Time’
A 19th-century warrior gets struck by lightning and wakes to find himself in 21st-century Kyoto in Junichi Yasuda’s surprise hit “A Samurai in Time.”
Around a quarter of Japan married couples in their 20s met through dating apps
A survey released by an organization promoting “Good Couples Day” shows that 24% of couples in their 20s met their marriage partner through a dating app.
'Tokyo Swindlers': Get deep into the minds of real estate con artists
In Ko Shinjo's "Tokyo Swindlers," a group of con artists manipulates real estate giants into falsified deals within the highly competitive, quick market.
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.

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?
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