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May 02, 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
Sep 18, 2021
A look at the state of our intestinal health delivers a real gut punch
The perfect body — you can't escape it in the media. Some articles on the body's imperfections, particularly of the digestive sort, point out what we should be talking about more.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Sep 4, 2021
What makes a funny joke? Only time can really tell.
Humor has been used throughout history to alleviate the pain we feel in dealing with real-life calamities. However, at what point to the jokes themselves become the agents of harm?
Japan Times
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Aug 22, 2021
A tradition built on faith is put out to sea
In 1565, a temple abbot sets out on a journey at the age of 61 as is expected of him. Alone, he goes berserk and alters a tradition.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Aug 21, 2021
Staying optimistic about the state of the world can be positively challenging
Some see the glass as half empty, but do those who see it as half full really have an advantage over them? Or are they simply caught off guard when bad things happen?
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Aug 7, 2021
The Japanese don’t sleep on trains because it’s safe — they’re exhausted!
Surveying 500 businesspeople aged 20 to 69, President found that 74.2% claimed to have trouble sleeping. This puts them at risk of exhaustion, depression, cancer and dementia.
Japan Times
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Jul 18, 2021
Teach a nation to write and the classics will follow
An era of “great reform” sees Japan introduced to the wonders of Chinese literature and, not so long after, produce its own masterpiece in the “Manyoshu.”
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Jul 17, 2021
Time to ourselves is both a curse and a blessing
The wave of loneliness that afflicts modern Japan continues, but an athlete from Myanmar sends a warning not to take what we have for granted.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Jul 3, 2021
Japan’s teachers are fed up with staying after school
The Japanese education system, once the envy of the West, is no longer getting the support it used to according to teachers.
Japan Times
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Jun 20, 2021
One era’s eccentrics are another’s model citizens
Would an outcast from the Heian Period feel more at home in the Edo Period? Or are there general characteristics that unites any society's eccentrics?
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Jun 19, 2021
Read the ones about the priest, the comedian and the ostrich?
Three individuals feel they need to make a change, and laughter helps them through it.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Jun 5, 2021
Financial stress causes fission in Japan's families
The weeklies are warning older people in Japan that their families may not be around when they need them because of increasing financial problems.
Japan Times
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
May 17, 2021
When Japan's pioneers migrated north to Ezo
As Japanese discovered the vast northern part of their lands, a pioneer spirit took hold. How long would the Ainu tolerate them?
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
May 15, 2021
Can Japan say 'no' to China and 'yes' to political activism?
Japanese media reports a tense situation in the Taiwan Strait, with domestic brands dependent on Chinese money and a local populace that may not take action.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
May 1, 2021
Solitude or isolation? Whatever it is, it's spreading.
While humanity is a social species, there's something to be said about solitude. The good kind, that is.
Japan Times
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Apr 18, 2021
Driven to murder by poverty and racial prejudice?
A gifted child's talents go to waste as a result of his ethnicity. Falling into a life of despair, he lashes out in revenge. How would his situation be treated nearly 100 years later?
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Apr 17, 2021
Paralysis and calm: Two sides of Japan's inertia
COVID-19 hasn't (so far) affected Japan as badly as other Western countries, but sometimes extreme situations can push people to get up and try to improve their lots in life.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Apr 3, 2021
Humanity can't seem to escape its own web of lies
When did you last tell a fib? Go on u2026 be honest.
Japan Times
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Mar 22, 2021
Archetypes of the 'modern girl' from Japan's 'jazz age'
People thronged European-style cafes and breathed new air with new lungs. At the center of it all were the 'mobo' and 'moga': modern boys and girls, respectively.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Mar 20, 2021
Reality check: ‘We’re in a tunnel with no exit in sight’
Buddhist priest Myoyu Tamaoki describes the world in terms hard to argue with. “Calm,” she says, “is elusive.” Disaster, ruin and upheaval, if not hitting you personally at any given moment, may strike the next, as a glance at news of them hyperactive elsewhere cannot fail to remind you. “Everyone,” Tamaoki says, “is on edge.”
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Mar 6, 2021
Repressing the urge to do something might be better for us all
The ultimate relaxation, says one magazine, is not idleness but suitable activity — doing what you want, which does take courage.
'So hot you can't breathe': Extreme heat hits the Philippines
A pedestrian cools himself with a folding hand fan as he waits for a ride along a road in Manila on Wednesday, as extreme heat hit the Philippines.
Did Japan intervene to prop up the yen? Analysts think it did.
A man walks past an electronic board displaying the exchange rate for the yen against the U.S. dollar (right) in Tokyo on Tuesday.
Town to block view of Mount Fuji in response to overtourism
The town government of Fujikawaguchiko, Yamanashi Prefecture, decided to set up a 2.5-meter-high screen to prevent tourists from taking pictures of Mount Fuji looming behind a convenience store.
A peek inside the brains of ‘super-agers’
For a little more than a decade, scientists have been studying a subset of people they call "super-agers.” These individuals are age 80 and older, but they have the memory ability of a person 20 to 30 years younger.
Yellow sand allergy: A health issue made worse by climate change
A screenshot of the Meteorological Agency's satellite image of clouds and yellow sand (in pink) on Sunday.
Yellow sand allergy: A health issue made worse by climate change
A screenshot of the Meteorological Agency's satellite image of clouds and yellow sand (in pink) on Sunday.
Climate change, chalky grains and the risks for Japan’s rice farmers
A farmer plants seedlings in Satsumasendai, Kagoshima Prefecture. Japan’s self sufficiency rate for rice is nearly 100%, compared with 38% for food overall, on a calorie basis.
Japan wants you to spend more with ‘luxury tourism’
Performers play a traditional drum unique to Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, in the prefectural capital of Kanazawa on March 16 to mark the extension of the Hokuriku Shinkansen line to Tsuruga Station in Fukui Prefecture.
Theaster Gates’ ambitious ‘Afro-Mingei’ brings Black Chicago to Tokyo
Theaster Gates' “A Heavenly Chord” lines up church pews before seven speakers and a Hammond B3 organ, a type of electric organ prevalent in Black American churches.
Casa del Cibo: A thriving jewel born from Tohoku’s harsh past
When chef Ryohei Ikemi moved to Hachinohe, Aomori Prefecture, and opened Casa del Cibo in 2011, it was the first proper Italian restaurant in the city.

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