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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 13, 2008
Self-praise abounds in the pages of wheeler-dealers' own obituaries
Japanese politicians are known for their perseverance and ingenuity, and the Diet may well be the last place in the country still offering lifetime employment.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jul 6, 2008
Was the Japanese language influenced by Tamil? The war goes on
For years I have been watching from the sidelines as the opponents battle it out. For the players this fight will go on and on, and the theater of war is right here.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jun 29, 2008
286 reasons to reflect on a Japan long gone, but worthy of reflection
I recently gave a talk on Japanese culture to a group of foreign students at Tokyo Institute of Technology. They hailed from a variety of places, including Scandinavia, the United States and Asian countries. I began by asking them to give me a keyword or two that they thought characterized Japanese life...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jun 22, 2008
Has Japan's dogged idealism of '68 become truly poodled?
On June 7, The New York Times' op-ed columnist Bob Herbert wrote an intriguing piece about the United States in 1968, recalling the assassination of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy exactly 40 years ago, and also referring to Sen. Barack Obama clinching the 2008 Democratic Party nomination for the presidency....
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jun 15, 2008
Nuggets of 'wisdom' can speak volumes beyond what's said
"Biting Comments, Curious Statements and Famous Misstatements" is the headline on the lead article in the June 5 issue of the popular Japanese weekly magazine Bungei Shunju. It features dramatic ejaculations of famous politicians, sports figures and entertainers, among others.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jun 8, 2008
When it comes to the crunch, remaining neutral isn't an option
When a nation is living through a crisis, whether its citizens like it or not, it becomes a crisis of conscience for every individual.
COMMENTARY / Japan / COUNTERPOINT
Jun 1, 2008
Is aging Japan really ready for all the non-Japanese carers it needs?
One of the cliches most bandied about in the Japanese business world is yareba dekiru. An English equivalent might be the title of Jamaican reggae star Jimmy Cliff's great 1972 hit, "You Can Get It If You Really Want."
LIFE / Language
May 27, 2008
Mastery of kanji takes time to build, just like Rome
If you want yuyujiteki no seikatsu wo suru, to live the life of Riley, in Japan, then you should learn as many four-kanji expresssions as you can. (Yuyujiteki implies living in unsurpassed comfort for the rest of your days, an admirable goal if there ever was one.)
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
May 25, 2008
St. Petersburg, where a morose spirituality brings forth poets
In Petersburg we will come together again As if we had buried the sun there. — Osip Mandelstam What city in the world can boast as many great poets and novelists as St. Petersburg? Pushkin, Gogol, Dostoevsky, Blok, Akhmatova, Mandelstam, the Bohemian Kharms, the satirist Zoshchenko, Brodsky (the poet...
LIFE / Language
May 20, 2008
Wielding four-kanji phrases surest way to fluency
You may give yourself heart and soul to something, being focused and determined. Yet, you fail and you have no one to blame but yourself. Well, perhaps it's no consolation, but you can at least learn how to express what happened to you in Japanese.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
May 18, 2008
Japan affords translators an elevated status not found elsewhere
Here's a little quiz for you.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
May 11, 2008
Alma mater addresses wartime treatment of its Japanese-Americans
When it comes to making amends, it's never too late. If there were a single principle to guide us in our relations with others — either on a personal or a broader scale — it would be this.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
May 4, 2008
Japan's media plays nursemaid to nation's immature democracy
A major Japanese newspaper publishes an article denouncing the prime minister. Reporters hold a rally to criticize his Cabinet. The government responds by banning sales of the edition of the newspaper that carried the article, indicting its author for violation of the Newspaper Law. Rightwing agitators...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Apr 27, 2008
Hail and farewell to the world's greatest 'Good Gringo' U.S. president
On April 1, the widely read History News Network (HNN) Web site announced the results of a survey it conducted among historians.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Apr 20, 2008
'Bone Man' bears lifelong witness to the ugly brute of war
Tell me, where is the glory in war?
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Apr 13, 2008
Landmark case spotlights 'Japanese-style nationalism'
"The most critical thing for us Japanese in the 21st century is to free ourselves from Japanese-style nationalism, both politically and culturally." So said author Kenzaburo Oe to me in the autumn of 1995, a year after he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Apr 6, 2008
Are Japanese people ready for 'change they can believe in'?
Sometimes journalists ask themselves questions that appear to border on the absurd. Here goes one of them.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Mar 30, 2008
Ireland: From the quintessence of reaction — to what?
Second of two parts
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Mar 16, 2008
Ireland wrestles with a plethora of polemics
First of two parts
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Mar 9, 2008
Surely it's time for Japanese to stop being so parochial
Second of two parts
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?
By Kathryn Wortley

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