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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
Jul 12, 2009
Crimes happen, but are the criminals 'one of us' or 'one of them'?
Crime may not pay like it used to, but the way it is described in the media has not changed much throughout the millennia.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jul 5, 2009
Double standards fly high when it comes to bombing of civilians
Sad to say, every generation for the past century has known its own war — wars that have touched so many millions through the loss or traumatization of relatives, friends or fellow citizens.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jun 28, 2009
Jokichi Takamine: a man with fire in his belly whatever the odds
When I had tummy ache as a child, my mother would say, "Take a diastase." So, I naturally thought — as did my mother — that what I was putting into my mouth was a "diastase."
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jun 21, 2009
Tokyo spurned in the 'ultra miracle' of new film's linguistic embrace
On June 8, the evening edition of the Asahi Shimbun newspaper reported on a fascinating phenomenon — one that may be a harbinger of a broad cultural and social movement in Japan.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jun 14, 2009
To make an Israeli omelet is it necessary to break so many eggs?
"Between a high, solid wall and an egg that breaks against it, I will always stand on the side of the egg. . . . Bombers and tanks and rockets and white phosphorus shells are that high, solid wall. The eggs are the unarmed civilians who are crushed and burned and shot by them. . . . Think of it this...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jun 7, 2009
What price heroism for indoctrinated fighters in unjust wars?
What makes a hero in war? If that war is unjust, do the soldiers involved deserve to be treated as heroes? And what is the civilian role in these heroics?
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Jun 5, 2009
Ireland, Japan unite for festival
Ireland and Japan are two countries with rich traditional and contemporary cultures, yet there has been only limited cultural exchange between them over the years. Yet both are island countries that have created a unique culture that has had an immense influence on the cultural development of other countries...
Japan Times
LIFE
May 31, 2009
The Missing Vermeer
In this short story by Roger Pulvers, new and distant horizons open up to put a spring in your step as summer approaches. Illustrations by Alice Pulvers
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
May 24, 2009
Was Japan's first Western screen star shameful to his homeland?
The Japanese have a term for certain types of movies made outside the country featuring Japanese actors who play Japanese characters. It is kokujoku eiga. Eiga means "movies," and kokujoku, derived from the words for "country" and "insult," means "disgrace" or "denigration." In other words, kokujoku...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
May 17, 2009
1989: A year of hopes turned sour that we all must live with today
Anniversaries do sometimes matter, but it's not often that the anniversary of an entire year deserves noting and celebrating. However, the year 1989, now 20 years past, marks a crucial turning point in history.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
May 10, 2009
Manchukuo tragedy finally gets a film its spurned victims deserve
There are many heroes, both Japanese and Chinese, in Sumiko Haneda's deeply moving documentary, "Aa Manmo Kaitakudan (A Story of Manchurian Settler Communities)."
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
May 3, 2009
It's tough times for type — but too soon to write off newspapers yet
Back in the early 1990s, my wife, children and I were visiting my in-laws when one of my daughters, then aged 6, pointed to something on the table and exclaimed, "Daddy, what's that?"
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Apr 26, 2009
Like it or not, becoming bilingual involves being bicultural, too
Several weeks ago in this column, I wrote about some of the nonlinguistic aspects of raising a bilingual child. These can be social, financial and marital, involving the milieu the child grows up in, the necessity to move back and forth between countries, and even the periodic separation of husband and...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Apr 19, 2009
Soviet-era trove shows that photos never lie, except when they do
"I have not taken a single step, spoken a single word, written a single line, or had a single thought which I need conceal from the party, the central committee, and you personally . . . I implore you to believe my word of honor. I am shaken to the depths of my being."
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Apr 5, 2009
London trauma points with relief to a convenient truth about Japan
Sometimes Japan is just different from everywhere else.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Mar 29, 2009
Japan shows how a good's no good unless it's a character good
"Novels you can eat" was the title of an article in the Asahi Shimbun on March 16. It drew on the initiative displayed by a confectionery-maker in Hirosaki, Aomori Prefecture, to commemorate this year's 100th anniversary of the birth of bohemian author Osamu Dazai. That initiative involves a box of 18...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Mar 22, 2009
Raising bilingual children takes time, huge effort — and lotsa money
An American friend recently asked me a difficult question: How do you bring up a bilingual child?
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Mar 15, 2009
Now that the Celtic tiger's turned tail, whither the Emerald Isle?
Irish patriot, poet and eminent surgeon Oliver St. John Gogarty (1878-1957) once played a wily prank on a drunken acquaintance. He stuffed the poor chap, who was catatonic, into a sack and sold him to The Royal College of Surgeons strictly, one would assume, in the interests of medical science. His friend...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Mar 8, 2009
As prospects darken, Japan's voters need that vision thing again
When James Carville, a political consultant to Bill Clinton, coined the phrase "It's the economy, stupid" for the candidate's 1992 presidential campaign, little did he know that he was speaking for the general election in Japan in 2009 as well.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Mar 1, 2009
Obama please note: Those who fail to 'master the past' are guilty, too
In "Guilt About the Past," based on guest lectures that Bernhard Schlink gave at Oxford University last year, the University of Berlin law professor describes the "long shadow" cast by the perpetrators of war crimes on their descendants.
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.

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