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May 17, 2024
 

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Mark Schreiber

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Mark Schreiber
Mark Schreiber worked as a salaryman in travel, consumer electronics, computer software, advertising and market research before turning to translation and writing full time. A native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, he has lived in Tokyo since 1966.
For Mark Schreiber's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
LIFE / Language
Jan 15, 2008
Kyushu dialect, golf prince top 2007 buzzwords
The end of every year, publishers and other media organizations love to turn out lists of people, things and words that made the news. Back in 1984, publisher Jiyu Kokumin-sha organized a poll to recognize and award the Ryukogo Taisho (Buzzwords of the Year).
LIFE / Language
Jan 3, 2008
Sights, sounds and tastes of new year in Japan
Don't be surprised if you've noticed an unusual proliferation of rodents lately. Today marks the start of a nezumi-doshi, or Year of the Rat, the first in the order of 12 celestial animals of the Chinese zodiac.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Dec 30, 2007
Need something to read in the new year?
THE SHANGHAI UNION OF INDUSTRIAL MYSTICS by Nury Vittachi (Polygon)
CULTURE / Books
Dec 23, 2007
An odious and deadly trade in antiquities
GRAVE IMPORTS by Eric Stone. Bleak House, Madison, Wis., 2007, 328 pp., $14.95, (paper) All too many thrillers in which a Western agent sets out to infiltrate some insidious Asian organization come across as vestiges of works from the 1950s and '60s, the era of Ian Fleming and his numerous spinoffs....
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Nov 27, 2007
Prints rejected, scribe accepted
T he center of the little monitor — I'd guess about 20 cm from the looks of it — flashed the word "Yokoso" (welcome). Its colored border was festooned with a collage of images near and dear to visiting tourists' hearts: "torii" gates, the shinkansen, Zen gardens, Mount Fuji . . .
CULTURE / Books
Nov 25, 2007
Saucy Plate dishes out some choice morsels
Confessions of an American Media Man: What They Don't Tell You at Journalism School by Tom Plate. Singapore: Marshall Cavendish, 2007, $16.50 (paper) One day, media maven cum academic Tom Plate — a frequent contributor to The Japan Times opinion page — arrived for an appointment at the...
LIFE / Language
Nov 20, 2007
Dial up a good impression with denwa echiketto
"Moshi-moshi. Kochira wa Japan Taimuzu no Shuraibaa to moshimasu. Itsumo wo sewa ni natte orimasu" ("Hello, this is Schreiber of the Japan Times. Thanks as always for your kind support.")
CULTURE / Books
Nov 18, 2007
Serial slayer's victims dressed to be killed
Red Mandarin Dress: An Inspector Chen Novel, by Qiu Xiaolong. New York: St. Martin's Minotaur, 2007, 320 pp., $24.95 (cloth) In the latest saga of Police Chief Inspector Chen Cao, Shanghai is abuzz over the shocking murder of a young woman, whose suffocated corpse is found in a public place clad...
CULTURE / Books
Oct 21, 2007
Sun Piao: Shanghai's answer to Dirty Harry
Citizen One by Andy Oakes. London: Dedalus, 2007, 434 pp., £9.99 (paper) Innocent young women are being horribly tortured and murdered. Next to die are the cops who investigate. Only someone with tremendous power and influence can kill with such impunity.
CULTURE / Books
Sep 16, 2007
Intrigues on Japan's own Devil's Island
Island of Exiles. Penguin Books, New York, 2007, 398 pp., $14 (paper) In "Island of Exiles," Heian Period official Sugawara Akitada finds himself ordered to Sado Island, off the coast of Niigata, to investigate the death by poisoning of the exiled Prince Okisada.
CULTURE / Books
Aug 26, 2007
Marine sniper in a modern-day retelling of the legendary 47 ronin
Author Stephen Hunter's series character Bob Lee Swagger, the ex-marine sniper who gained the nickname "Bob the Nailer" for his wartime exploits in Vietnam, has few soft spots. One is his late father, Earl, who was awarded the Presidential Medal of Honor for valor on Iwo Jima.
CULTURE / Books
Aug 12, 2007
Nothing romantic about being yakuza
Yakuza Moon: Memoirs of a Gangster's Daughter by Shoko Tendo, translated by Louise Heal. Tokyo: Kodansha International, 2007, 192 pp., $22.95 (cloth) The late author Koji Kata, a prolific chronicler of crime in contemporary Japan, once observed, "Nobody ever set out in life with the aim of becoming...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jul 27, 2007
Escape from Tokyo Part II
I've been to Nikko countless times, but really could kick myself for putting off a trip to Edo Wonderland for so long. I finally visited on June 23, and fortunately the delayed onset of the rainy season got me there on a day with perfect weather.
CULTURE / Books
Jul 22, 2007
Beijing sleuth's treasure hunt a hit and miss
The Eye of Jade: A Mei Wang Mystery. London: Picador, 2007, 227 pp., £10.99 (paper) Any study of Chinese females portrayed in English and American literature over the past century will find no lack of sources, from the works of Pearl Buck and Louise Jordan Miln to those by Han Suyin, Amy Tan and...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jul 20, 2007
A quick exit from Tokyo
In the lexicon of Japanese travel, the expression "An-Kin-Tan" — an abbreviated reading of the three kanji for yasui, chikai and mijikai — refers to journeys that are cheap, close and short.
CULTURE / Books
Jun 24, 2007
When Rain drops in, expect a downpour
REQUIEM FOR AN ASSASSIN by Barry Eisler. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2007, 356 pp., $24.95 (cloth) Freelance assassin John Rain, featured in five previous works by Barry Eisler, is running out of enemies in Japan. And friends as well. Several books back, his computer geek buddy Harry was set up by...
CULTURE / Books
May 27, 2007
Ethnic cop caught between cultures
CHINATOWN BEAT by Henry Chang. New York: SOHO Press, 2006, 214 pages, $22 (cloth) Well before Sax Rohmer created his sinister villain Dr. Fu-Manchu in 1911, Chinatowns figured prominently in British and American popular fiction. These are chronicled by such scholarly works as William Wu's "The Yellow...
COMMENTARY / World
May 3, 2007
Japan holds the line against gun violence
On the morning of April 17, I received an apprehensive telephone call from a Japanese friend, a former employee of a foreign TV news bureau here.
CULTURE / Books
Apr 15, 2007
Cop walks a tightrope in N. Korea
THE CORPSE IN THE KORYO by James Church. New York: Thomas Dunne Books, 2006, 280 pp., $23.95, (cloth) A lot of people get killed in "The Corpse in the Koryo," and nobody seems to miss them.
CULTURE / Books
Mar 18, 2007
Hard-boiled in Bangkok
The Risk of Infidelity Index: A Vincent Calvino Crime Novel, by Christopher G. Moore, Bangkok: Heaven Lake Press, 2007, 324 pp., $15.95 (paper) Bangkok-based detective-for-hire Vincent Calvino has found himself in a classic predicament: After coming through with a mountain of solid evidence for his American...
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 billionaire sues Meta over investment scams using his image
Entrepreneurs Yusaku Maezawa (second from right) and Takafumi Horie (third from right) attend a study session on fake social media ads and investment scams at the Liberal Democratic Party headquarters in Tokyo on April 10.
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.

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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