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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
Oct 14, 2007
To embrace political renewal or cling to continuity
Every four years Americans want to believe they can reinvent themselves. Elections for the presidency offer them the opportunity, as they faithfully see it, to renounce the past and "get this country moving again."
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Oct 7, 2007
Disparate values may still a democracy make
US President Lyndon B. Johnson used to say of people, "Once you've got 'em by the balls, their hearts and minds will follow."
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Sep 30, 2007
Bilingual blanks are nothing to kobosu your guchi about
Last week in this column, I addressed the trials and tribulations of bringing up a child to be bilingual — both for parents and children. As anyone who has been down that road knows, it's what Japanese people would call shinan no waza (an arduous task).
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Sep 23, 2007
Homes is where the native languages are
"My children are bilingual." How many parents would love to be able to say that — and believe it!
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Sep 16, 2007
Is it right to judge creativity by its 'correctness'?
"Brute! You brute! You beast!" Gloria exclaimed. "You haven't changed, have you? You haven't changed a bit. You're still the little Jew who sold rags and scrap metal in New York, from a sack on your back."
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Sep 9, 2007
Americans share blame for Bush's 9/11 'devil'
There is no worse tragedy than one transformed into profanity. The profanity is compounded when it is not recognized as such by the mass of people.
LIFE / Language
Sep 4, 2007
Garnish your Japanese with some 'humble pie'
Second of two parts
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Sep 2, 2007
Cultural affinity bodes well for growing ties with India
Legend has it that in ancient times a mask made its way from India to Japan. One look at today's Noh mask called Beshimi would confirm this legend: Its tea-colored complexion, large eyes and ample nostrils certainly make it look nothing like a Japanese, but like a native of India.
LIFE / Language
Aug 28, 2007
To maintain your honor, keep your pecking up
First of two parts
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Aug 26, 2007
APEC 'circus' precedes main Aussie drama
The eyes of the world will be on Sydney next month, and as that's where I am at the moment, I can tell you we are expecting the city to be under siege.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Aug 19, 2007
Can justice possibly 'flower' in Japan's new courts?
A new poster at subway stations in Tokyo shows a smiling young woman confidently clutching her handbag along with the slogan: "About the time I turn 20, the courts will change. I guess both the law and the courts will become more familiar then."
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Aug 12, 2007
Forsake not the elderly, for they bear a great bounty
They are remodeling the station near where I work in Tokyo, and I marvel at the diligence of the security guards directing pedestrians inconvenienced by the building work. Virtually all the guards are seniors, most likely retirees from other forms of employment. I usually arrive at my station by 6 a.m.,...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Aug 5, 2007
Tojo and Bush: Trumpeting delusion on their way to defeat
Writing in the New York Times on July 17, the newspaper's well-known columnist David Brooks reported on a White House press conference he attended on July 13. "[Pres.] Bush was assertive and good-humored," Brooks noted.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jul 29, 2007
Erring voyager roots for Japanese courtesy that can't be beat
Has anything like this ever happened to you?
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jul 22, 2007
Outsiders, or not; that is the question
I wish I had a yen or two for every time I've been told: "You will never be accepted in Japan."
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jul 15, 2007
Former foes find common ground in court together
The shoot of "Ashita e no Yuigon (Best Wishes for Tomorrow)" that began on June 2 has ended. The film is in the can — as they say — and is now being edited.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jul 8, 2007
'Propaganda is the soul of every struggle'
Revolutionary activist Rosa Luxemburg, writing from prison in Breslau, Germany (now Wroclaw, Poland) on Sept. 3, 1918, exhorted colleagues not to relent in their struggles. "Stand your ground," she wrote, "till we meet again at work!"
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jul 1, 2007
Food for thought — and a writ to go
Dear Reader: Today I bring you news of the most chilling and awful purport. Don't worry, it doesn't affect you — at least I hope it doesn't. It is yours truly who is getting the short end of the chopstick on this one. I tell you, I feel as if I've been reborn with a greasy spoon in my mouth — but...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jun 24, 2007
Maj. Gen. Okada: a rare leader who took the blame
How do you make an anti-war film? I don't mean those gore-driven "war is hell" spectaculars that often seem like a sub-genre of horror movies. I am referring to a work that prompts people in any country to say, "We must never allow this sort of thing to happen again — not to our own people and not...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jun 17, 2007
Stand by your language — but not as a nationalist icon
Last month, on May 21 to be exact, something caught my eye in the English-language IHT/Asahi Shimbun newspaper. In an article headlined "Holistic patriotic education still missing," Professor Nobukatsu Fujioka of Takushoku University in Tokyo made an impassioned plea for Japanese children to be imbued...
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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