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:
An era of “great reform” sees Japan introduced to the wonders of Chinese literature and, not so long after, produce its own masterpiece in the “Manyoshu.”
The wave of loneliness that afflicts modern Japan continues, but an athlete from Myanmar sends a warning not to take what we have for granted.
The Japanese education system, once the envy of the West, is no longer getting the support it used to according to teachers.
Would an outcast from the Heian Period feel more at home in the Edo Period? Or are there general characteristics that unites any society’s eccentrics?
Three individuals feel they need to make a change, and laughter helps them through it.
The weeklies are warning older people in Japan that their families may not be around when they need them because of increasing financial problems.
As Japanese discovered the vast northern part of their lands, a pioneer spirit took hold. How long would the Ainu tolerate them?
Japanese media reports a tense situation in the Taiwan Strait, with domestic brands dependent on Chinese money and a local populace that may not take action.
While humanity is a social species, there's something to be said about solitude. The good kind, that is.
A gifted child's talents go to waste as a result of his ethnicity. Falling into a life of despair, he lashes out in revenge. How would his situation be treated nearly 100 years later?
