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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.
CULTURE / Books
Mar 18, 2007
Hard-boiled in Bangkok
The Risk of Infidelity Index: A Vincent Calvino Crime Novel, by Christopher G. Moore, Bangkok: Heaven Lake Press, 2007, 324 pp., $15.95 (paper) Bangkok-based detective-for-hire Vincent Calvino has found himself in a classic predicament: After coming through with a mountain of solid evidence for his American...
LIFE / Language
Mar 6, 2007
Eek! It's White Day, so what to say to your gal?
In January 2004, members of a Japan Ground Self Defense Forces contingent headed for Iraq were shown on the news being seen off by their families. It was an emotional moment, with plenty of misty eyes in evidence; but not one of these gallant young soldiers going off to war was seen exchanging a kiss...
CULTURE / Books
Feb 18, 2007
Poet takes on the triads
A Case of Two Cities: An Inspector Chen Novel by Qiu Xiaolong. New York: St. Martin's Minotaur, 2006, 320 pp., $24.95 (cloth) In U.S. paperback fiction, the arrival of an American detective, or spy, in East Asia unleashes a predictable train of events. He will inevitably lock horns with a rich and powerful...
CULTURE / Books
Jan 28, 2007
What evil lurks in the hearts of men?
The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril: A Novel, by Paul Malmont. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2006, 371 pp., $24 (cloth) DISCO FOR THE DEPARTED by Colin Cotterill. New York: Soho Press Inc, 2006, 247 pp., $23 (cloth) I must confess a pronounced weakness for well-crafted mysteries spun around real historical...
LIFE / Language
Jan 16, 2007
Buzzword book taps into zeitgeist language
Since 1948, a huge compendium (about 1,700 pages in its 2007 edition) of words, phrases, slang, jargon and acronyms in dozens of categories titled the "Encyclopedia of Contemporary Words (Gendai Yogo no Kiso Chishiki)" has made its annual appearance.
CULTURE / Books
Dec 24, 2006
A dip into the extraordinary of the ordinary
IN THE POOL by Hideo Okuda, translated by Giles Murray. Tokyo: IBC Publishing, 2006, 224 pp., $24.95 (cloth). On the surface, Irabu General Hospital appears no different from other medium-size privately owned medical facilities in the Tokyo area. It's only when patients' conditions defy simple diagnosis...
CULTURE / Books
Nov 19, 2006
Intrigues and conflicts, a millennium apart
BLACK ARROW by I.J. Parker. New York: Penguin Books, 2006, 354 pp., $13 (paper). A WOMAN IN JERUSALEM by A.B. Yehoshua, translated from the Hebrew by Hillel Halkin. New York: Harcourt, Inc., 2006, 237 pp., $25 (cloth).
CULTURE / Books
Oct 22, 2006
It would be a crime to underestimate the gardener
This past summer I was delighted to discover a new "ethnic detective" character named Masuo "Mas" Arai, an elderly Japanese-American gardener whose credentials include a green thumb and a nose for sniffing out criminals. The creation of Los Angeles-based journalist and author Naomi Hirahara, Arai made...
CULTURE / Books
Sep 17, 2006
Take a wild ride on the Orient Express
THE OTTOMAN CAGE by Barbara Nadel. New York: Thomas Dunne Books, 2005, 312 pp., $23.95 (cloth). DRAGON FIRE by William S. Cohen. New York: Tom Doherty Associates, 2006, 383 pp., $24.95 (cloth). "One of the most frequently asked questions that I get as a British author," Barbara Nadel tells the e-zine...
CULTURE / Books
Aug 20, 2006
Summertime, and the dying is easy
RENDEZVOUS AT KAMAKURA INN by Marshall Browne. New York: Thomas Dunne Books, 2005, 288 pp., $23.95 (cloth). SAYONARA BAR by Susan Barker. London: Black Swan Books, 2006, 430 pp., £6.99 (paper). For Detective Inspector Hideo Aoki of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police, the sprinklings of misfortune have become...
CULTURE / Books
Jul 16, 2006
Vietvets come in from the cold war
THE LAST ASSASSIN by Barry Eisler. G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2006, 334 pp., $24.95 (cloth). WHITE TIGER by Michael Allen Dymmoch. St. Martin's Minotaur, 2005, 308 pp., $24.95 (cloth). THE TUNNEL RATS by Stephen Leather. Hodder and Stoughton, 2005, 501 pp., £6.99 (paper). John Rain, Barry Eisler's American-Japanese...
CULTURE / Books
Jun 18, 2006
The lore and legend of Asian lawmen
"The Calf Strung Up beneath The Cart" will cause you agony profound; "The Ass tied tightly to The Post" will make you scream and leap around; "The Phoenix drying both her Wings" to death itself will bring you near; "The Boy who Sits and Contemplates," the stoutest soul will cause to fear; And if "The...
CULTURE / Books
May 28, 2006
American intrigues disrupt quiet of Singapore and Seoul
THE AMBASSADOR'S WIFE by Jake Needham. Hong Kong: Prime Crime Press, 2006, 349 pp., £10 (paper). MORTAL ALLIES by Brian Haig. New York: Warner Vision Books, 2002, 580 pp., $6.99 (paper). When a maid finds the nude corpse of a Western female in a suite in Singapore's Marriott Hotel, all hell breaks loose....
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
May 23, 2006
Making certain of a positive I.D.
Last weekend, I visited three major retail outlets in Shinjuku, Tokyo, to inquire about the purchase of a cell phone.
LIFE / Language
May 16, 2006
Baseball scoreless in language bout with sumo
When describing efforts by foreigners to gain a foothold in Japan, author/commentator and former president of ASI Market Research (Japan), Inc., George Fields, liked to apply the analogy of pro baseball players and sumo wrestlers. The former, for reasons we shall see, were held up as outsiders who forever...
CULTURE / Books
Apr 23, 2006
Two theaters of the Asian absurd
THIRTY-THREE TEETH by Colin Cotterill. New York: Soho Press, 2005, 238 pp., $24 (cloth). FAN-TAN by Marlon Brando and Donald Cammell. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2005, 249 pp., $23.95 (cloth). Novels set in Asia that combine crime and detection with touches of humor are not especially numerous, but the...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Mar 26, 2006
Mystery and intrigue preserved in translation
MY NAME IS RED by Orhan Pamuk, translated by Erdag Goknar. London: Faber & Faber Ltd., 2002, 508 pp., £7.99 (paper). CROSSFIRE by Miyuki Miyabe, translated by Deborah Stuhr Iwabuchi and Anna Husson Isozaki. Tokyo: Kodansha International, 2005, 404 pp., 2,600 yen (cloth). "A city's intellect," soliloquizes...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Feb 26, 2006
Current events frame detective plots
MOGHUL BUFFET by Cheryl Benard. New York: Soho Crime, 1998, 264 pp., $12 (paper). THE TYPHOON LOVER by Sujata Massey. New York: HarperCollins, 2005, 306 pp., $23.95 (cloth). "I like Pakistan," writes Cheryl Benard. "I want to say that right at the outset, to avoid any misunderstandings. Its cities are...
Japan Times
Features
Feb 19, 2006
Back in time with a legend reborn
Fifty years ago this week -- when Prime Minister Ichiro Hatoyama was reopening diplomatic relations with Moscow; bullet trains or expressways had yet to be built; and a bank staffer's monthly pay was about 25,000 yen -- Tokyo publisher Shinchosha launched the weekly Shukan Shincho, priced at 30 yen....
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jan 22, 2006
When notoriety helps sell books
TOPPAMONO: Outlaw. Radical. Suspect. My Life in Japan's Underworld, by Manabu Miyazaki. Tokyo: Kotan Publishing, 2005, 460 pp., $26.95 (cloth). THE APPRENTICE by Lewis Libby. New York: St. Martin's Griffin, St. Martin edition, 2005, 265 pp., $12.95 (paper). Japan's student movement ended with a whimper...
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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