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Norman Manea
For Norman Manea's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 22, 2011
Tyranny of the quest for shortcuts
It is said that Americans have a genius for simplification. Gradually, however, the quest for it has become a global trend, one that continues to conquer new territories, just as blue jeans once did.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 13, 2011
Atavistic longing years after the revolution
VIENNA — What happens after the euphoria of revolution fades? Today's Eastern Europe, some two decades after the revolutions of 1989, may offer a salutary warning for today's defiant and jubilant Arab youth that they must remain vigilant.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 26, 2009
The long journey from Kafka to Gorbachev
NEW YORK — On Aug. 2, 1914, Franz Kafka wrote in his diary: "Germany has declared war against Russia. In the afternoon, swimming." Kafka, the reclusive and visionary Central European writer, gave his name to the 20th century. Seventy-five years had to pass before Kafka's swim before Central and Eastern Europe would return to the broader European civilization. A Kafkaesque pause, some might say.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 28, 2008
Defense of an artist who had lived as a slave
NEW YORK — Next year will mark the 20th anniversary of the collapse of communism in Europe. Liberated from the complexity of knowing too much about the cruel past, the young people of Eastern Europe's postcommunist generation seem uninterested in what their parents and grandparents endured.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 21, 2007
Crime and punishment, refugee style
PRAGUE — The horrible murder of Giovanna Reggianni that took place near a Romanian refugee camp in the suburb of Tor di Quinto in Rome shocked both Italy and Romania. The case gained significance by adding fuel to the fiery public debates now under way not only in Italy but across Europe on the status of refugees and foreign residents.

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