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August 21, 2025
 

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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).
Japan Times
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Mar 20, 2022
A narrative forms around the 'divine country'
The seeds of modern Japanese nationalism were sown by nativist scholar Motoori Norinaga, who lauded the concept of 'mono no aware.'
Japan Times
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Feb 25, 2022
Watanabe Kazan: One scholar’s equivocal rebellion
Watanabe Kazan discovered a talent for drawing early on and became a hack artist, painting on demand for pennies. It kept starvation at bay.
Japan Times
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Jan 16, 2022
A tragic narrative for women persists even as times change
A Heian Period text reads, 'Ladies must often depend on men who are nothing to them — it is the way of the world.' In Japanese literature, not much has changed.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jan 2, 2022
Escape into the courtly Heian Period with Genji
As a new year dawns, find calm and beauty in the vanished world of Murasaki Shikibu's 'The Tale of Genji.'
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Dec 25, 2021
Yoko Ono: ‘Possibly the most famous Japanese person in the world’
John Lennon recognized her sometimes startling originality. His fans didn't. It looks like they were wrong.
Japan Times
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Dec 19, 2021
The prince and the prophet
Their paths may be different, but the devotion to God and gods that two men display in different parts of the world changes the religious landscapes of both.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Dec 11, 2021
What is happiness? These individuals appear to have found the answer.
Personal anecdotes suggest that happiness is a private pleasure, something that can be best enjoyed away from the chaos of the world outside.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Dec 4, 2021
Education ministry seeks to iron out wrinkles over school history syllabus
“Modern global history” is to be made a compulsory subject in senior high schools in Japan from 2022.
Japan Times
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Nov 21, 2021
Loyalty before love in the tales of Saikaku’s samurai
A group of travelers comes to a river and must decide whether or not to cross. Scornful of danger, the young lord among them proceeds u2026 and samurai politics soon come into play.
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Nov 20, 2021
Yukar: The timeless oral tales that are our window on Ainu life
Civilization overwhelmed Japan's indigenous population about 100 years ago.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Nov 6, 2021
Does Japan breed leaders? Does it even need to?
A panel of four men at the tops of their fields discusses what it means to be a leader and comes to the conclusion that Japan doesn't necessarily breed them.
Japan Times
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Oct 17, 2021
Saikaku pens five tales to inspire lovers in the Edo Period
Born in the mid-17th century, during the earlier days of the Edo Period, novelist Ihara Saikaku explored love in 'Five Women Who Loved Love.'
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Oct 16, 2021
When the boss starts behaving like a dictator
Like a political dictator, the corporate tyrant sets things up to stay in power, according to experts. They suppress the talented and reward those who are loyal.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Oct 2, 2021
Seeing the past two years through a child’s eyes
The decade is off to a rocky start, what kind of an effect is this having on younger children and the way they process current affairs?
Japan Times
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Sep 22, 2021
The first chapter in a long tale of Japanese romance
From the coupling of gods to form Japan to a female samurai dying on the battlefield, stories of love have always been intertwined with history.
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 / 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.
JICA to designate four Japanese cities as 'hometowns' for African nations
The Japanese flag (left) with the flag of the African Union
103-year-old remembers Soviet attack right after WWII
Shoichi Takahashi holds a photo of himself when he was younger, in Otaru, Hokkaido, on May 17.
Schools get students involved in revision of unreasonable ‘black rules’
At Yawata Junior High School in Nagoya, there are no more rules on clothing and hairstyles. Students are free to wear either the school's uniform or clothes of their own choosing.
Tokyo crowned No.1 'workation' spot
Workations were a burgeoning trend in the corporate world for years before the COVID-19 pandemic turbocharged it.
Japanese man suspected of ordering double murder in Manila
Two suspects arrested over the killing of two Japanese last week are held in restraints in Manila on Tuesday.
Tokyo crowned No.1 'workation' spot
Workations were a burgeoning trend in the corporate world for years before the COVID-19 pandemic turbocharged it.
Candidates preparing to make final pitches for Sawamura Award
Hawks pitcher Livan Moinelo has a 1.13 ERA in 19 starts this season.
Winning warship bid gives Japan confidence boost as Tokyo eyes more exports
Australia’s decision to select Japan's upgraded Mogami-class warship, seen in this computer-generated image, has been “well received across Japanese industry," a Defense Ministry official said.
In Paris, chefs Chizuko Kimura and Kei Kobayashi make their mark
Chef Kei Kobayashi is France's only Japanese chef with three Michelin stars.
In preserving Japanese hospitality, ‘details are everything’
Beniya Mukayu, a traditional "ryokan" inn located in Ishikawa Prefecture, considers itself at "the heart of onsen towns, local residents, farmers, fishermen, sake brewers and artisans" — all of which need new, sustainable methods of serving visitors to survive into the future.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Members of the nonprofit group Japan Youth Memorial Association search for the remains of dead soldiers in a cave in Okinawa Prefecture in February.
The long search for Japan’s lost soldiers
By Tomoko Otake

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