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Florian Coulmas
For Florian Coulmas's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 13, 1999
Three views of some troubled history
In March 1942, the Japanese Imperial Army took possession of the Dutch East Indies. The occupation lasted until Japan's surrender in mid-August 1945, although the disarmament and repatriation of Japanese troops took several months more to accomplish.
CULTURE / Books
Jun 29, 1999
A century after emancipation, buraku issue still haunts Japan
AN INTRODUCTION TO THE BURAKU ISSUE: Questions and Answers, by Suehiro Kitaguchi. Translation and introduction by Alastair McLauchlan. Richmond, Surrey: Japan Library, 1999, pp. 211, 35 British pounds (cloth). This is the translation of a number of important articles by Suehiro Kitaguchi in which he deals with the problem of discrimination against Japan's historic "unclean" underclass, the "burakumin." The translator, Alastair McLauchlan, has done an excellent job in editing these papers and adding a highly informative introduction. Together with Kitaguchi's text, the introduction provides a succinct and instructive overview of Japanese anti-buraku prejudice and its social consequences. The book also includes an index and an appendix with reference materials such as government ordinances, commission reports, etc.
CULTURE / Books
Mar 9, 1999
Building a nation in time and space
REINVENTING JAPAN: Time, Space, Nation, by Tessa Morris-Suzuki. Armonk, N.Y.: M.E. Sharpe, 1998, 236 pp., $19.95. Every country exists in time and in space. This is a simple fact that is often taken for granted.
CULTURE / Books
Mar 2, 1999
BOOK BITES
THE FUTURE OF ASIA AND THE PACIFIC, by Geoffrey Hawthorn. London: Phoenix, 1998, 57 pp., 2 British pounds. This little volume is one of a series of 24 short books whose authors attempt to forecast the future across a range of social, economic and political subject areas.

Longform

Rows of irises resemble a rice field at the Peter Walker-designed Toyota Municipal Museum of Art.
The 'outsiders' creating some of Japan's greenest spaces