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Tyler Rothmar
For Tyler Rothmar's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jul 5, 2014
A firsthand account of vice and profit in Edo
Riding the circular Yamanote Line on a Sunday in Tokyo, it is easy to daydream. Those who have found themselves at times wondering what the city might have been like in the past are likely to enjoy the aptly named "Lust, Commerce, and Corruption: An Account of What I Have Seen and Heard, by an Edo Samurai," a well-translated firsthand account of life in Japan's capital 200 years ago, when it was the burgeoning city of Edo.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
May 10, 2014
Bringing the wisdom of samurai into the modern world
The astrophysicist Carl Sagan famously called writing "perhaps the greatest of human inventions, binding together people who never knew each other, citizens of distant epochs." "Books," he said, "break the shackles of time." In that sense, reading "Hagakure: The Secret Wisdom of the Samurai" lets the reader escape into Japan's feudal past for a chat with a warrior.

Longform

When trying to trace your lineage in Japan, the "koseki" is the most important form of document you'll encounter.
Climbing the branches of a Japanese family tree