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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."
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Dec 22, 2010
Be careful not to samba with the midwife
My wife, Susan, gave birth to our four children in Japan, and at the time we both considered the experiences very positive ones . . . though I was only an innocent, if that is the right word, bystander. This was back in the 1980s, when new fathers were not generally allowed into the 分娩室(bunbenshitsu,...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Dec 19, 2010
To students of English, the Spanish Armada has a lot to answer for
Second of two parts
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Dec 12, 2010
Half the world's people are bilingual — but how many Japanese?
First of two parts
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Dec 5, 2010
Rape: A crime for which hush-up society ought to stand trial, too
Mika Kobayashi is a brave woman.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Nov 28, 2010
It's time Japan shook off its past and stopped toadying to the U.S.
Allow me to introduce a Japanese word to those unfamiliar with it. It is the verb kobiru, which means "to flatter"; "to curry favor with"; "to play up to"; "to toady to." In more up-to-date parlance, it may be rendered as "to suck up to."
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Nov 24, 2010
Death comes in many written forms
Poet Kenji Miyazawa (1896-1933) wrote about himself on the verge of death in his poem "Speaking with the Eyes." Unable to talk due to blood gushing from his lungs, he tried to tell his attending doctor with his eyes that, despite the suffering, he knew that he was departing to a better place. (He didn't...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Nov 21, 2010
Icon's advice on Japan's plight may not be everyone's cup of tea
One of the immutable principles of cosmology states that wherever you are in the universe, everything appears to be streaming away from you. This certainly seems to be the case with Japan.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Nov 14, 2010
When a natural selection can appear to some an offensive choice
One morning in the summer of 1967 I made what was, for me, a momentous decision.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Nov 7, 2010
Color me upbeat despite the pessimism now sweeping this land
As the year 2010 approaches its end, if I were to express the mood of today's Japanese nation in color it would be gray bordering on charcoal.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Oct 17, 2010
New Russia's political maneuvering harkens back to the U.S.S.R.
If I had to choose the event in my adult lifetime with the greatest historical import it would be, hands down, the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. In 2005, then president of Russia Vladimir Putin was not exaggerating when he called it "the greatest political catastrophe of the 20th century."
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Oct 10, 2010
Polls highlight dark times perchance prior to Japan's new dawn
Second of two parts
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Oct 3, 2010
Japanese opinion polls now reflect reality far better than of yore
First of two parts
Japan Times
LIFE
Sep 26, 2010
The return of Lafcadio Hearn
I came to Japan in '90 — 1890, that was — died 14 years later, and here I am again after more than a century, exploring my old haunting ground just like in the good old days.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Sep 19, 2010
Summer's heat is spent, the leaves are about to turn, an equinox nears
"The turning of the leaves in the American autumn is, in its own way, wonderful, but it lacks a poignancy and an elegance suggestive of the passing of time."
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Sep 12, 2010
Late P.E.N. Club president sets tone of Tokyo global writers' meet
This month, The Japan P.E.N. Club hosts the annual International PEN Congress, whose wide variety of lectures, readings and symposia will feature guests from Japan and overseas.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Sep 5, 2010
What Japan must do now to survive the coming U.S. conflagration
It is no secret that the tectonic plates of the American empire are slipping dramatically, though the vast majority of Americans are blissfully unaware or in denial of what may soon occur.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Aug 29, 2010
Twin tours de force offer insights into Japan not lost in translation
The year 2010 may come to be seen as a landmark in terms of literature written in English that draws on Japan as a setting.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Aug 22, 2010
How to stand, individually, against your nation on the warpath?
A dilemma confronts each and every citizen of a country at war: what to do if you believe that your country is in the wrong?
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Aug 15, 2010
Opposite ends in poll scrabble wildly for Aussie middle ground
This is the winter of a discontented electorate in Australia. Less than a week before Aug. 21's general election, the voters are deeply disgruntled and proving decidedly hard to please, while the main parties appear to be heading for a close finish.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Aug 8, 2010
Discerning Japan's future journey through the prisms of its past
LAST IN A THREE-PART SERIES — T he French revolution in 1789 revolutionized more things than one. It changed the very definition of the word "revolution," which until then — as can be guessed from the literal meaning of its root words, "to turn back again" — meant to revert to something that existed...
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.
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.
Ruling coalition and DPP strike last-minute deal over economic policy
DPP policy chief Makoto Mahaguchi speaks at the party's policy gathering in Tokyo on Wednesday.
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.
Japanese expats in Asia find community through rugby
The Taiwan Fivewoods celebrate their victory at the 2023 Asian Japanese Rugby Cup in December of last year.
In Fukushima, a weekend of prose, poetry and translation
Aomori-based writer JJ Carter presented on tabletop gaming as creative inspiration for building characters and narratives.
For Dr. Nakamats, aging is just experience in action
Though he didn't win the recent gubernatorial election in Tokyo, the 96-year-old Dr. Nakamats' run was seen as inspirational in Japan's aging society.

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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