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Eli Kirzner
For Eli Kirzner's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Oct 19, 2013
Sado Island: Iconic birds, gold mines, magic caves and art
"The people in our town, they died without ever seeing the ocean."
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Aug 17, 2013
Eco-awareness to the rescue
The village of Shimizu in Niigata Prefecture has a long history, but in a few decades it may be gone. Located 600 meters above sea level at the foot of Mount Makihata on a pass between parts of northwestern Honshu along the Sea of Japan and the Kanto region on the Pacific side, Shimizu hosted a military checkpoint in the feudal Edo Period (1603-1867), though its several hundred residents have traditionally relied on timber, coal and silk for their livelihoods.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jun 23, 2013
North Korea occupies Fukuoka in Murakami's alternate world
Not to be confused with another famous Japanese novelist who has the same surname, Ryu Murakami is known for being an overtly political, even subversive, writer. "From the Fatherland, With Love," his latest novel to be translated into English, cements that reputation. Taking place in an alternate world in 2011, the plot centers on a North Korean invasion of Japan.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Feb 3, 2013
Tokyo's wilderness within
What did our cities' natural landscapes originally look like? In a sprawling metropolis such as Tokyo, with concrete encrusting almost every inch of earth, walling every riverbank and towering up to the skies, it is almost impossible to imagine.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Nov 18, 2012
Japan's Ogasawara Islands: one year after UNESCO
Leaning over the railing on the top deck of a five-story ferry, I watch the southern most tips of the two peninsulas that border Tokyo Bay fade into the distance of the gray-blue sea. The gargantuan vessel rocks gently beneath my feet, the steady ocean breeze a comfort on my skin I had almost forgotten existed in the concrete clog of the big city.

Longform

Later this month, author Shogo Imamura will open Honmaru, a bookstore that allows other businesses to rent its shelves. It's part of a wave of ideas Japanese booksellers are trying to compete with online spaces.
The story isn't over for Japan's bookstores