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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 / History / THE LIVING PAST
Aug 15, 2020
War ends and humanity remains resilient
Chaos, destruction u2026 humanity endures and yet, we seem stuck in repeating the same mistakes.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Aug 8, 2020
COVID-19 pandemic tests our resolve to be self-disciplined
Exercising self-control in an environment that allows more freedom is more difficult than you think.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Jul 25, 2020
Go To Travel campaign stirs anxieties outside Tokyo
in some areas, out-of-prefecture motorists have been pelted with rocks and intimidated by reckless driving.
Japan Times
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Jul 18, 2020
A thousand years of walking through Japan
The act of walking was one that Saigyo, Basho and Matsuo turned into poetry.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Jul 11, 2020
COVID-19 pulls the rug out from under workers' feet
And that may not be the worse thing that could happen to them.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Jun 27, 2020
COVID-19 pandemic has left us all feeling a little overwhelmed
When the internet sits in judgment on perceived violators of unwritten laws, its standards tend to be those of a technologized lynch mob.
Japan Times
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Jun 20, 2020
Leaving the Heian: A sexual revolution in reverse
Japan's Heian Period courtiers displayed an attitude to sex unmatched in other societies of the day.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Jun 13, 2020
What constitutes nothingness? The answer could drive you insane
If we assume that everything is something, then nothing is in fact nothing.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
May 30, 2020
COVID-19 reminds us what everyday words such as 'viral' really mean
Will the global pandemic prompt us into changing the way we speak?
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
May 16, 2020
Disasters like COVID-19 bring us together — if we let them
Communities might have rallied behind each other in the face of the calamitous earthquakes in 1995 and 2011, but the new coronavirus pandemic has spurred a response that is more about self-preservation than helping others in need.
Japan Times
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
May 16, 2020
The revolt against Japan's cultured courtiers
The Meiji Restoration changed Japanese society on a grand scale, but let's not forget another 'revolution' that turned things upside down.
Japan Times
JAPAN / History / BIG IN JAPAN
May 2, 2020
Redefining normality in a world turned upside down by COVID-19
In normal times, we seek happiness. In times of crisis, we seek normality.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Apr 18, 2020
It’s a little tough to truly feel free in a time of pestilence
Humanity is eternally vulnerable to the 'unknown' and there's not much that we know about the new coronavirus.
Japan Times
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Apr 18, 2020
The dogs have their day in old Edo
The Laws of Compassion that Tokugawa Tsunayoshi issued trickled down to the lowest rungs of Edo Period (1603-1868) Japan, which included the capital's many feral dogs.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Apr 4, 2020
Defining masculinity in a brave new world of despair
Dad works in a bank. “For a man, work is everything” — that’s his motto. It was his father’s before him. Unquestioned and undoubted, it entered his bloodstream.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Mar 28, 2020
Face masks can foster a false sense of security
What’s happening in Japan is written all over our faces — our blank, expressionless, masked faces. Never before, it seems safe to say, have so many people gone about masked.
Japan Times
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Mar 14, 2020
The Edo Period: An era of utter weirdness
The Edo Period (1603-1868) was a bizarre time that visitors to Japan could not help but comment on — the countless laws, the brutal punishments ... and the dogs.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Mar 7, 2020
Paradise lost: Japan longs for simpler times in trying days
The Japanese weren't always workaholics. Once upon a time, work had its place and knew its place. It didn't swallow life whole. Other pursuits were given their due. People worked without being consumed by work.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Feb 22, 2020
Fake news rears its ugly head amid COVID-19 outbreak
Fake news times fake news is fake news squared — which is to say, it goes viral. It multiplies like a virus, which multiplies like fake news.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Feb 8, 2020
Examining the cold hard facts of dependency
Everybody's hooked on something. What's life without its little pleasures? Mere struggle for survival. Smokers crave nicotine, coffee-drinkers caffeine, gamers games. The pursuit of happiness takes many forms. Society approves of most, frowns on others. Some it bans outright.
'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.
Number of vacant homes in Japan hits record high of 9 million
A vacant house in Tokyo is seen demolished in January 2020.
Weak yen fattens tourist wallets in Japan
People visit the Ameya Yokocho market in Tokyo's Ueno district during the Golden Week holiday on Tuesday.
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.

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

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
By Alex K.T. Martin

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