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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
Feb 8, 2020
Engelbert Kaempfer on the old roads of Japan
'Japanese travel more often than other people,' wrote Engelbert Kaempfer, the 17th-century physician, scholar, naturalist and explorer whose 'History of Japan' (1712) was the first full-length foreign-language portrait of the nation.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Jan 25, 2020
Decline of social engagement may betray democracy
Japan's three leading newspapers, disagreeing on much, agree on this: Japan's democracy is in crisis.
Japan Times
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Jan 18, 2020
Kukai: Sowing the seeds of Shingon Buddhism
'Some say that though Kobo Daishi (Kukai) left this life he did not die, that he lies uncorrupted in (his tomb on Mount Koya) under these ancient trees, awaiting the coming of the future Buddha who will signal the salvation of the world' — Oliver Statler, 'Japanese Pilgrimage' (1983)
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Jan 11, 2020
Keeping one eye open on Japan's attempts to sleep
Sleep.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Dec 28, 2019
Childhood in Japan is certainly not getting any easier
The girl was 15, the teacher in his early 30s. He recognized her ability, encouraged her, befriended her, seduced her. He took her to a love hotel and said, "This is what grown-ups do."
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Dec 14, 2019
Laughing at life's trials and tribulations in Japan
Life is tragic, life is comic; the glass is half-empty — no, half full. Point of view is all. Two magazines — President and Spa — represent the opposite poles of optimism and pessimism. For President, bad luck and good luck are all in the mind. The former is a failure of will, the latter always within reach. Just master a skill, develop a knack, adopt a winning mannerism and be a winner. Fail today, succeed tomorrow. Laugh and the world is funny. Laugh and your body is healthy — seriously, it's on record, as we'll see in a moment.
Japan Times
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Dec 14, 2019
Poetic escapism for the end of the year
If the year-end seems less festive than foreboding, escape through the poems of the 'Koshinsu,' Japan's earliest poetic anthologies.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Nov 30, 2019
A world in disarray but Japan appears to sidestep turmoil
The world is furious.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Nov 16, 2019
News outlets are uncertain about the nation's future
The BBC in October published a glowing encomium to Japanese cleanliness. "How," it asks, "does Japan stay so clean?"
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Nov 16, 2019
Gazing in wonder at the many faces of the moon
Why do the sun and the moon see so little of each other?
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Nov 2, 2019
Examining a jealousy that's a long way from the green-eyed monster
'Comparison is a very foolish attitude," said Indian mystic Chandra Mohan Jain, popularly known as Osho (1931-90), "because each person is unique and incomparable. Once this understanding settles in you, jealousy disappears."
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Oct 19, 2019
Uncontrollable rage is largely a sober phenomenon
How we hate each other.
Japan Times
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Oct 19, 2019
Be a frog and jump into Basho's pond
We must know, 'that a haiku does not express ideas but that it puts forward images reflecting intuitions.' — Daisetsu T. Suzuki
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Oct 6, 2019
When everything in life boils down to a bad smell
An 8-year-old schoolgirl having trouble making friends thought it might be because she smelled bad. She sweated heavily. There's not much you can do about it, except wash, and wash, and wash, but the smell remains — in your own mind if not in the nostrils of your classmates — and it grows on you until you hate yourself and feel you can hardly blame others for hating you. That's heavy emotional baggage for a child. It can feed a lot of complexes.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Sep 21, 2019
Getting to the bottom of what civilization means in Japan
Progress: good, or bad? Bad, thought Confucius, who for hundreds of years taught Japan to seek its ideals in the ancient past. Good, thought 19th-century modernizers, who redirected the nation's gaze to the future.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Sep 14, 2019
Can Japan's families remain relevant in contemporary times?
"Why don't they get married?" anguished parents wonder of their aging unmarried children.
Japan Times
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Sep 14, 2019
The swift rise and fall of Japanese anarchism
Sakae Osugi — born 1885, murdered 1923 — fanned the flames of the peasant Rice Riots in Japan's short-lived age of anarchy.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Aug 31, 2019
Aspiring to achieve forgiveness in the most difficult times
"To be wronged is nothing," said Confucius — "unless you continue to remember it."
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Aug 17, 2019
Dissecting the benefits of medical intervention in Japan
"Lies!" "Nonsense!"
Japan Times
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Aug 17, 2019
In the anarchy of Japan's industrial revolution
Japan's Meiji Era (1868-1921) industrial revolution set a scene of chaos for the nation's advocates of political and social change.
'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.
Kishida sets sights on energy and climate in South America trip
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will use a policy speech in Sao Paulo to set out his vision for ties between Japan and South America, almost 10 years after former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe advocated for stronger ties between the two in the same city.
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.

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

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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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