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November 22, 2024
 

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Roger Pulvers

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Roger Pulvers
Roger Pulvers is an author, playwright, theater director and translator who divides his time between Tokyo and Sydney. He has published more than 40 books. His latest book in English is "The Dream of Lafcadio Hearn."
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Feb 22, 2009
Shiftless apathy to the victims makes all Japanese guilty for the past
"When we speak of guilt about the past, we are not thinking about individuals, or even organizations, but rather a guilt that infects the entire generation that lives through an era — and in a sense the era itself.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Feb 22, 2009
Shiftless apathy to the victims makes all Japanese guilty for the past
"When we speak of guilt about the past, we are not thinking about individuals, or even organizations, but rather a guilt that infects the entire generation that lives through an era — and in a sense the era itself.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Feb 15, 2009
Do Japanese yet realize that culture's acquired, not in the blood?
There's no doubt that Japanese people's attitudes toward foreigners, and the ways they relate to them, have changed markedly in the 40-odd years since I first arrived here. But is this change we can believe in?
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Feb 8, 2009
In an 'Era of Decline,' let's look to youth to quell 'panic of the mind'
"We are living in extremely hard times. . . . I have been reading news- papers for 60 years, and I can't recall any era when the local news pages have appalled me more."
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Feb 8, 2009
In an 'Era of Decline,' let's look to youth to quell 'panic of the mind'
"We are living in extremely hard times. . . . I have been reading news- papers for 60 years, and I can't recall any era when the local news pages have appalled me more."
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Feb 1, 2009
The day the music died America's apple-pie order began to crumble
A long, long time ago . . . I can still remember How that music used to make me smile. I can't remember if I cried When I read about his widowed bride, But something touched me deep inside The day the music died.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jan 25, 2009
Her poems speak sublimely of Akiko Yosano's life of many passions
Her hair at twenty Flowing long and black Through the teeth of her comb Oh beautiful spring Extravagant spring! My skin is so soft Fresh from my bath It pains me to see it covered By the fabric Of an everyday world
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jan 18, 2009
Dialing up the decider one last time before he leaves the Oval Office
With only days left in office for the 43rd president of the United States of America, George W. Bush, I decided, on a lark — or a duck, if you will — to Skype the soon to be ex-commander in chief to find out what preoccupies his thoughts as he bids us a solemn farewell. I want to share this very...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jan 11, 2009
Egg-on-face bloopers can make a yolk or worse of any translation
Many readers will be familiar with the infamous guarantee said to have been spotted on the menu of a Hong Kong restaurant: "All the water used in our soups has been personally passed by the chef." Some may also have heard of that creepy assurance printed in the catalog for an art exhibition during the...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jan 4, 2009
A nation adrift cries out for new visions fired by anger and sorrow
Every era in the life of a country begs for creators to define it and give it momentum for its society to progress. Politicians, economists and bureaucrats seem to believe that culture rides on the wave of the economy — but the opposite is true. It is on progressive waves of culture that economic achievement...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Dec 28, 2008
'The noise of time' ensures that art's unbowed spirit is heard
We live apart from our land Our words dying at 10 paces And anything put edgewise Concerns the Kremlin backwoodsman His coarse fingers are thick, like worms His statements trusty, like the weights on a scale Cockroaches smile on his upper lip And the rims of his shoes blind He is surrounded by a flock...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Dec 21, 2008
To conform at times is neither a Japanese diktat nor a sellout of self
Let's talk education.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Dec 14, 2008
Japan's prime minister isn't choosy about who his gaffes target
Way back in 1977 there was a famous war film called "A Bridge Too Far." Now, perhaps somebody should make a movie starring Prime Minister Taro Aso titled "Osugita Shitsugen (A Gaffe Too Many)."
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Dec 7, 2008
Past events' bloodstained light casts a long and lasting shadow
On Dec. 7, the day of the Pearl Harbor attack in 1941 in Hawaii, the thoughts of many turn to wars, how they begin and the course they take.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Dec 2, 2008
Bras, bros and other borrowings into Japanese
There is a misunderstanding commonly voiced around the world that languages borrow words from other languages when they lack a native word for something in their own vocabulary. This is, actually, only one reason, and not the primary one, for the existence of direct loan words.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Nov 30, 2008
Every Japanese is party to their state's 'barbaric' legal murders
The death penalty brutalizes everyone connected with it: Judges and juries who pass it down, politicians who turn an evil or a blind eye to it, jailers, executioners, and more than anyone, the person whose life is extinguished by it.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Nov 25, 2008
The long Japanese love affair with foreign words, from sake to sōpurando
I wouldn't blame some readers for assuming that an article about foreign borrowings in these times of economic crisis would delve into the subprimal world of international finance. But I write this week and next not about leverage but linguistics.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Nov 23, 2008
Judging Japanese architecture as the epitome of environmental art
"We sense the natural in things that form a happy link with their surroundings. . . . A natural architecture is architecture that creates this propitious connection."
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Nov 16, 2008
The expatriate whiner: fond of the homeland but lost abroad
E xpatriates can be the source of many positive things. They are contributors to the welfare of their host nation. They are often agents of trenchant criticism, perceiving things in their new nation that natives either do not, or refuse to, see. They educate and enrich.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Nov 9, 2008
What a world of difference that one momentous day could make
The stunning victory of Barack Obama in last Tuesday's election is a cause of great joy not only for Americans but for people all over the world.
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.
Tokyo Metro’s overseas efforts begin in earnest with London deal
Tokyo Metro will soon have a role in the running of London's Elizabeth Line, a major train route serving the U.K.’s capital city and environs.
Russia fired experimental ballistic missile at Ukraine, Putin says
Ukrainian firefighters work on a spot following an airstrike in Dnipro on Thursday.
Ex-yokozuna Kitanofuji dies at 82
Yokozuna Kitanofuji enters the ring during the May 1970 grand sumo tournament in Tokyo.
Man charged with murder allegedly made victim date other men for money
A car carrying suspect Ryotaro Masuda, who was indicted for allegedly beating his 25-year-old girlfriend to death, leaves the Shibuya Police Station in Tokyo on Thursday.
Shohei Ohtani wins National League MVP award
Shohei Ohtani celebrates after hitting a three-run home run against the Padres during the National League Division Series at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles last month.
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.

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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