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May 17, 2024
 

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Michael Hoffman

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Michael Hoffman
Michael Hoffman is a fiction and nonfiction writer who has lived in Hokkaido by the sea almost as long as he can remember. He has been contributing regularly to The Japan Times for 10 years. His latest novel is "The Naked Ear" (VBW/Blackcover Books, 2012).
For Michael Hoffman's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Jul 15, 2017
Who is keeping an eye on Japan's surveillance power?
Utopias and dystopias have this in common: surveillance. From Thomas More's "Utopia" (1516) to George Orwell's "1984" (1949), from Plato's "Republic" (c. 380 B.C.) to Yevgeny Zamyatin's "We" (1921), the view prevails that people behave better under scrutiny. Why conceal good deeds? For no reason. Therefore...
Japan Times
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Jul 15, 2017
Harsh lessons learned from Zen meditation
The monk Dogen lived in dreadful times. A revolution culminating in 1185 had brought to power warriors who for centuries had served perhaps the most unwar-like aristocracy in world history, the effete but highly cultured ladies and gentlemen of the Heian Period (794-1185). Their day was done. They were...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Jul 1, 2017
Keep your eyes and ears open, and hands inside your pockets
It's a fake world. Alternatively: All the world's a stage.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Jun 17, 2017
Living through the golden years has lost its sheen
A man in his 80s suffering mild dementia (the story is courtesy of Shukan Gendai magazine) is cared for by his wife, also in her 80s. She's exhausted. Caregiving drains the prime of life, let alone the end of it.
Japan Times
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Jun 17, 2017
Tracing the decline of a beautiful Japan
Two irreconcilable views of patriotism were given their classic expressions by two Englishmen: Lord Byron, the poet (1788-1824), and Dr. Johnson, the lexicographer and jack-of-all-literary-trades (1709-84). Byron said, "He who loves not his country can love nothing." And Johnson: "Patriotism is the last...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Jun 3, 2017
Is Japan slipping into prewar politics?
"The recent flurry of legislation, including a proposed anti-conspiracy amendment to the organized crime law, recalls prewar Japan," Kobe University criminal law scholar Hirofumi Uchida told the Asahi Shimbun in an interview in March.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
May 20, 2017
The miserable case of unhappiness surging in Japan
This is the happiest time in the history of the world, and Japan is among the happiest of countries.
Japan Times
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
May 20, 2017
Hokkaido's ancient place in the modern world
"Even the birds do not fly to Ezo," went a popular 19th-century saying about Japan's northernmost island. "Ezo" means "land of barbarians." Settlement tamed it into "Hokkaido" — "north sea road." But it was a rough passage.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
May 6, 2017
Corporate zombies need 'rich brains'
Japan has lost something. That's a stark but uncontroversial statement. Few whose memory goes back a generation or more will disagree. Controversy arises when the talk turns to what was lost; when, how and why it was lost; whether the nation is the better or worse for having lost it; and, if the former,...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Apr 22, 2017
Could Japan become a future cultural melting pot?
Why not welcome 10 million immigrants to Japan by 2050? That's Hidenori Sakanaka's pitch, but it's a hard sell.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Apr 15, 2017
Tying the knot is unraveling in Japan
Love, marriage; marriage, love. It was so simple, once upon a time.
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Apr 15, 2017
The Japanese ego: the difference of self
"Go, my son! Fight, make your way in the world." But — the proviso is implicit — tell no one who or what you are.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Apr 8, 2017
Japan suffers from the grand illusion of prosperity
There are so many reasons to hate your job, if you're lucky enough to have one. The top four, according to Spa! magazine, are: stagnant salaries; a sense of being underappreciated and underevaluated; an overriding, unfocused anxiety; and a lost sense of purpose.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Mar 25, 2017
Radiation brings fear, and kids let it all out
Children too young, one might think, to even know the word 'radiation' have picked it up and flung it with gleeful malice at disoriented new classmates who have enough to cope with already.
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Mar 18, 2017
The evolution of the Japanese ego: the discovery of themselves
'There was no room for mercy in view of their crime." None asked, none given. "They met their end ... with ... a touching acquiescence in their fate."
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Mar 11, 2017
2017 looks more like '1984' than 1984 ever did
Goerge Orwell's '1984' is a fitting best-seller for 2017, a year of 'post-truth,' 'fake news' and 'alternative facts.'
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Feb 25, 2017
Is Abe attempting to fuse the church and state?
It was morning in the land of the gods. "The mountains and the waters serve our sovereign," wrote a seventh-century poet. "And she (Empress Jito), a goddess, is out on her pleasure-barge upon the foaming rapids."
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Feb 18, 2017
Japan tries to shed its pessimistic image
Japan ailing? Japan suffering? Nonsense. "Japan is the richest country in the world," proclaims Sapio magazine. And the best. And the happiest. The brightest future looms.
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Feb 18, 2017
The evolution of the Japanese ego: 'The Gossamer Years'
There is something morbid about selfhood in Japan. It is not native to the culture. In the West, Judaism, Christianity, philosophy, language itself all teach us to say "I." It is otherwise in Japan.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Feb 4, 2017
Does contemporary Japan need religion?
“God, Buddha — where are they?” asks Aera magazine.
Japanese stripper bids to have her porn movies taken off internet
Plaintiff Miyuki Ariga (left) speaks at a news conference along with her lawyer, Yoshitomo Morohashi, after filing a lawsuit at the Tokyo District Court on Monday.
Kishida defends planned rule to revoke foreigners' residency
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks during a meeting of the Lower House Judicial Affairs Committee on Wednesday.
Human bone-like objects found at Nippon Steel plant’s molten iron pot, with one worker missing
Police believe it’s highly possible that human bones found in a molten iron pot at Nippon Steel's Oita factory belong to a missing male employee.
Was Onosato's defeat of Terunofuji an era-defining bout?
Onosato (right) defeats Terunofuji at the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo on May 12. While nothing in sumo is guaranteed, it seems almost inevitable that Onosato is destined for the top of the sport's pyramid.
Man suspected of using smart glasses to cheat on Waseda University exams
The Waseda University campus in Tokyo. An 18-year-old male test-taker is suspected of using smart glasses to cheat during the university's entrance exam.
Japanese rap creates its mecca in Pop Yours
Tokyo-based artist Jumadiba says he forgoes the label of simply “rap” for his music because the Japanese rap scene isn’t confined to a particular sound.
Who’s toughest on China? Biden’s tariff tactic ups ante as election looms.
U.S. President Joe Biden speaks about new actions to protect American workers and businesses from China's "unfair" trade practices, in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington on Tuesday.
Was Onosato's defeat of Terunofuji an era-defining bout?
Onosato (right) defeats Terunofuji at the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo on May 12. While nothing in sumo is guaranteed, it seems almost inevitable that Onosato is destined for the top of the sport's pyramid.
Ishin struggles to set itself apart from other parties
Nippon Ishin no Kai Secretary-General Fumitake Fujita (right) speaks beside Yui Kanazawa, the party's candidate in the Tokyo 15th district by-election on April 28. Nippon Ishin lost in this by-election as well as another in Nagasaki held on the same day.
In Japan, 68,000 people over 65 projected to die alone at home this year
As Japan grapples with its population's rapid aging, supporting people who live and age alone is looming larger on the policy agenda.

Podcast

From easily navigable train stations to the helpfulness of its municipal staff, Tokyo has earned high praise for its commitment to accessibility for disabled travelers.
[Rebroadcast] Japan is doing better on accessibility than you may think

Longform

Things may look perfect to the outside world, but today's mom is fine with some imperfection at home.
How 'Reiwa moms' are reshaping motherhood in Japan
By Mai Yoshikawa

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Vol. 35: Travel in time — and stay there
Vol. 35: Travel in time — and stay there

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