Mark Schreiber - The Japan Times

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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:

COMMUNITY

Jan 26, 2003

Whether crisis or not, sumo's show must go on

Of all the crises that the institution of sumo is said to be confronting -- and there are many -- yokozuna (grand champion) Takanohana's announcement last Monday of his retirement is being regarded by some as particularly ominous.

CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF

Jan 26, 2003

Rambo rides again on the mean streets of Tokyo

RAIN FALL, by Barry Eisler. G.P. Putnam's Sons: New York, 2002, 306 pp., $24.95 (cloth) What's it like to open a book and read an account of yourself being gunned down on the streets of Akasaka?

Japan Times

COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST

Jan 21, 2003

Gadgets gnaw at polite society

A funny thing happened to me on the train home the other day. I had a conversation with a total stranger.

Japan Times

COMMUNITY

Jan 5, 2003

All aboard: a nation in motion

Monday is the first business day of the new year, so on Sunday the nation's airports, highways and rail lines will be crammed to overcapacity by a mass migration known as the "U-turn."

COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST

Dec 31, 2002

Caveats to help avoid the conmen

Not long ago, while I was out posting a letter, a salesman phoned and told my wife that we had been tabbed to receive a new water filter for our kitchen faucet, absolutely free of charge.

Japan Times

COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST

Dec 17, 2002

Putting in a bad word for Japanese

The other night, the wife and I were watching NHK's evening news when the announcer began a segment on the topic of "domestic violence." The term he used was exactly that. Well okay, not exactly: what I heard was domesuchikku baiorensu.

CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF

Dec 15, 2002

On the trail of a killer in ancient Kyoto

RASHOMON GATE, by I.J. Parker. St. Martin's Minotaur: New York, 2002, 336 pp., $24.95 (cloth) Scholars who pen historical mystery fiction must tread a fine line between being faithful to the materials they research and creating stories and characters that will appeal to contemporary readers. It's by no means an easy undertaking, but when successful, the results can be wonderfully entertaining. One outstanding example is Umberto Eco's best-selling novel "The Name of the Rose," a dark, complex mystery set in a medieval monastery.

CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF

Nov 17, 2002

Year of the dragon

DRAGON DANCE, by Peter Tasker. Kodansha International, 2002, 272 pp., $22.95 (cloth) After beating Tokyo's mean streets in "Silent Thunder" (1992) and "Buddha Kiss" (1997), Peter Tasker's Tokyo gumshoe Kazuo Mori finally hit his literary stride in 1999 with "Samurai Boogie" -- one of the most entertaining works of fiction set in contemporary Japan to appear for quite some time. "Boogie" was peppered with wisecracks and populated with a host of memorably eccentric characters, ranging from a Colombo-like, chronically impecunious private detective plagued by an annoying crow on his balcony, to a comically incompetent yakuza wannabe and a company president who based business decisions on the outcome of video games.

CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF

Nov 17, 2002

But no shortage of shocks and intrigue

Author Peter Tasker talks to Mark Schreiber about his latest novel, ``Dragon Dance,'' a thriller set against the backdrop of U.S.-East Asian relations in 2006.

COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST

Nov 15, 2002

Putting Japan's first bilingual WP to the test

In my previous installment, I noted that Toshiba launched the first dedicated Japanese-language word processor in 1979. Five years later, the Japan subsidiary of MicroPro International Corporation, publisher of WordStar, the pioneering English word processing software, was preparing to launch "WordStar 2000" for the IBM PC.

Japan Times

COMMUNITY

Nov 10, 2002

Toilet Day brings loos out of the closet

A journey of 1,000 miles begins with a single step, as the saying goes. And so it came to pass that a number of planners, researchers and designers in a self-styled group called Toiletopia embarked on a campaign to upgrade the nation's cans when they founded the Japan Toilet Association on May 15, 1985.

Japan Times

COMMUNITY

Nov 3, 2002

Bustling Chinatown's squeaky-clean world within

Even before you pass beneath one of the 10 ornamented gates marking the boundaries of Yokohama's Chinatown, you start picking up signals that you're about to cross into a different country.

COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST

Nov 1, 2002

Japan goes from clunky typewriter to waapuro

I wonder how many readers have ever experienced typing on an old-style Japanese typewriter. I tried my hand at it, just once. It was around 1973, and afterwards I was relieved that my clumsy effort was merely done out of curiosity and not necessity.

CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF

Oct 20, 2002

When romancing medieval Japan, why stop at one?

ACROSS THE NIGHTINGALE FLOOR: Tales of the Otori (Book One), by Lian Hearn. Riverhead Books, 2002, 304 pp., $24.95 (cloth) For over a century, Asia has been a rich and enduring source of inspiration for fantasy and science fiction writers. Since James Hilton created the fantastic Himalayan utopia of Shangri La in the 1933 novel "Lost Horizon" -- which emerged as a Frank Capra blockbuster film four years later -- the pace has never slackened.

CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF

Sep 15, 2002

The science of fiction: telling history as it was, and as it wasn't

DECEMBER 6, by Martin Cruz Smith (published in Britain as TOKYO STATION). Simon & Schuster: New York, 2002, 352 pp., $26 (cloth) THE MASTER OF RAIN, by Tom Bradby. Doubleday: New York, 2002, 452 pp., $24.95 (cloth) Try to imagine, for a moment, if Rick Blaine, the hardened expat cafe owner portrayed by Humphrey Bogart in "Casablanca," were to be transplanted to Tokyo on the eve of World War II. In place of Bogey and his alcoholic mistress Madeleine LeBeau are American Harry Niles and a hard-nosed Japanese babe named Michiko. Czech freedom fighter Paul Henreid, on the run from the Nazis, is nowhere to be found, but Niles buys freedom for five Chinese by winning a bet with a rabid Japanese officer who was on the verge of decapitating them.

Japan Times

COMMUNITY

Sep 15, 2002

A ride on the darker side of Tokyo's history

Temples, shrines, gardens, the Imperial Palace . . . Why, tourist guidebooks are full of places that echo the form and spirit of the Old Edo that once was. But they're only telling you a part of the story.

CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF

Aug 18, 2002

Return to Vietnam

UP COUNTRY, by Nelson Demille. Warner Books: New York, 2002, 706 pp., $26.95 (cloth) In May 1968, Nelson Demille, while serving as a "grunt" in a U.S. Army combat unit in the now-defunct Republic of Vietnam, found a letter on the body of a slain North Vietnamese soldier. Three decades later, Demille -- already one of America's top novelists -- returned to the former battlefields as a middle-aged tourist.

Japan Times

COMMUNITY

Aug 11, 2002

Chill out in Tokyo's favourite haunts

Sites of assassinations, murders and suicides; dark, dank tunnels and creepy old abandoned buildings; weird creatures, the stuff of legends whose origins are lost in the mists of time . . . Tokyo harbors dozens -- perhaps even hundreds -- of "ghost spots" where inexplicable, sinister phenomena have reputedly occurred.

COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST

Aug 8, 2002

Debunking strange Asian myths: Part II

This story began over a beer in a Kabukicho restaurant, when an adventuresome Canadian lassie named Christine, who had requested a tour of Shinjuku's sleazier hangouts, leaned suggestively across the table and asked me in a husky voice if I had ever eaten monkey brains.

COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST

Jul 25, 2002

Debunking strange myths about Asia, Part I

In 1980, I traveled through the United States just after the TV miniseries "Shogun" ended its run. Any time I mentioned to someone that I was living in Japan, he or she would invariably ask me one of two questions related to the program. One was, "Is it true that back then a samurai could chop off somebody's head just because he felt like it?" To which the answer, amazingly, was "Yes" (The word for this in Japanese is kirisute gomen).

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

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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