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November 24, 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
Dec 23, 2012
Beware the nuclear village as it readies to rear-end docile Japan again
If you remember the Pinto, dear reader, then you may be as old as the hills — or at least as old as I am.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Dec 16, 2012
Even more than meltdowns; this election is essentially about Japan's war-renouncing Constitution
This is the 15th general election I have witnessed since coming to live in Japan in 1967, and by any standards it is the most crucial one of those for this country.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Dec 9, 2012
Chernobyl factored in the fall of a corrupt regime — Fukushima may too
There are approximately 7,000 exhibits in Kiev's Ukrainian National Chornobyl Museum. (The location of the nuclear plant that exploded on April 26, 1986 is spelled this way in Ukrainian.) Among the documents, photographs, maps and objects at this museum that opened on the sixth anniversary of the accident...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Dec 2, 2012
Why is the potential turning point of 3/11 being allowed to slip away?
Dried Anpo persimmons from Fukushima Prefecture are famed for staying fresh and juicy. However, for the second successive autumn, 90 percent of the crop has had to be discarded due to it registering radioactive contamination levels above legally set limits.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Nov 25, 2012
First love no use when the last hope for Japan is the chance to marry
Boy meets girl. They fall in love. What happens after that ... well, it depends on the individuals, the mores of their generation and the availability of a few square meters of private space.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Nov 18, 2012
It'll take more than few fine or foreign words to make Australia Asian
Australians have always been uncomfortable with their nation's geography.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Nov 11, 2012
Heartening new film will add to rising dementia awareness in Japan
"My mother having dementia turned into a chance for us to relate to each other again and even have fun in each other's company."
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Nov 4, 2012
Beware the parallels between boom-time Japan and present-day China
Futaro Gamagori was born into a destitute household. His father was a no-good womanizing lush; his mother, unable to afford medical care, died of illness. The young Futaro sets out on a life of serious crime — thieving, raping, murdering. He eventually becomes the rich president of a big company, but...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Oct 21, 2012
So, fat cats and a blue caterpillar will save Japan from nuclear hell. OK
If you visit the Alice Pavilion at the Shika nuclear power plant in the town of Shika, Ishikawa Prefecture, you will be happily entertained by Prof. Aomushi (Blue Caterpillar), who, water pipe in mouth, sits in the sun and, together with Alice, "teaches you about radiation."
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Oct 14, 2012
For diplomacy's sake, Japan must bring its big-city dogs of war to heel
Not many would remember the name Norris Poulson.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Oct 7, 2012
For the young to get on board, Japan's irksome business ways must change
"How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying" is a satirical book by American writer Shepherd Mead that was a huge best-seller in 1952 before being made into a musical that premiered on Broadway nine years later. It tells the story of J. Pierrepont Finch, an ambitious young fellow who works his...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Sep 30, 2012
Whatever fanatics say, a nice cup of tea together beats a fight to the death
There is no doubt about it: We humans are, at best, a peculiar species. It seems that we feel obliged to display brazen hostility toward each other, to the point of engaging in violence, before we can reconcile to friendship.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Sep 23, 2012
Evolution revelation sparks MAD inspiration to sucker the (U.S.) soul
Thank god for all things virtual.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Sep 16, 2012
Beacons of hope and inspiration light even the darkest pits of despond
The renowned Polish-born film and television director and screenwriter Agnieszka Holland has created a stunning work about life and death in the Lviv ghetto during the closing months of World War II.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Sep 9, 2012
Putin's siege-mentality Russia now firmly in the grip of a 'cold civil war'
There is an old Soviet-era Russian joke about two rival groups of archeologists who cannot agree on the age of a mummy discovered in Central Asia. At their wits' end, they call in the NKVD — the name of the dreaded KGB in Stalin's time — to settle the dispute.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Sep 2, 2012
Prescient work of writer Sawako Ariyoshi begs for rediscovery
Aug. 30 marked the day, 28 years ago, that Japan and the world lost a writer of immense importance. Sawako Ariyoshi's works of fiction and nonfiction took up many social issues that came into prominence in the years after her death. To my mind, she is not only one of the greatest authors of modern Japan,...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Aug 26, 2012
Should the public trust Japan's leaders when the 'big one' hits Tokyo?
No two calamities are alike, yet the needs of victims vary only in scale, not in kind.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Aug 19, 2012
Monster parents make matters worse for their children and teachers
In the West they hover and swoop. In Japan they stalk and are known to strike. We all have them and some of us have been them. And in recent years the media, both social and antisocial, have put them under the magnifying glass of criticism.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Aug 12, 2012
New breed of single fathers should be a model for men across Japan
He is a much maligned creature at home and abroad. Some call him good for nothing; others say he is good for only one thing: bringing home the bacon ... and, in recent years, a most lean bacon it has become. On the weekends his primary pastime is gorone, to wit, snoozing in his clothes during daytime...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Aug 5, 2012
Japanese rice from Down Under forges new hope from historical links
"I think I can create a farming environment that can give hope to Fukushima farmers."
U.S. aircraft carrier returns to Japan carrying navy’s ‘most capable fighter’
U.S. 7th Fleet Commander Vice Adm. Fred Kacher speaks to reporters shortly after the arrival of aircraft carrier USS George Washington at Yokosuka naval base in Kanagawa Prefecture on Friday.
After Shohei Ohtani bump, Iwate ironware maker sees brighter future
Kaito Kikuchi's decision to send superstar Shohei Ohtani one of his company's traditional ironware tea kettles has paid off with a surge of interest from general consumers.
Japan approves ¥21.9 trillion stimulus plan
The policy chiefs of the Democratic Party for the People, Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito — Makoto Hamaguchi (left), Itsunori Onodera (center) and Mitsunari Okamoto — shake hands after reaching an agreement on an economic stimulus package on Wednesday.
Woman dies after train collides with car in Tochigi
A Moka Railway train car
Japan will spend ¥325 million in government funds on Princess Yuriko's funeral
Princess Yuriko waves during the New Year's public greeting at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo in January 2019.
133-year-old Kyushu railway station remains to be partially preserved
The remains of the original Moji Station in Kitakyushu
After Shohei Ohtani bump, Iwate ironware maker sees brighter future
Kaito Kikuchi's decision to send superstar Shohei Ohtani one of his company's traditional ironware tea kettles has paid off with a surge of interest from general consumers.
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.

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