Virus Diary: Uses and Abuses of a Pandemic
One industry was in terminal decline before the corona crisis arrived, but subsequently made a miraculous recovery: the mass media
Empire of Masks: the World Turns Japanese Again
“The best-known mask-wearer was the late Michael Jackson, identifying the practice with eccentric hypochondria.”
Journey to Fear Mountain
He sensed the presence of a dusty, crouching, terrible god who does not often show himself in this world.
Virus Diary: Albert’s Blues
One thing is for sure – you don’t want to piss him off.
Warning from Japan: Deep Recessions Cost Lives Too
Japan emerged from its “lost decades” with its social capital intact. Many Western societies would find that a near-impossibility.
Review: The Chronicles of Lord Asanaro
His only achievement was begetting seventy children, the result of his insatiable pursuit of “horizontal pleasures.”
Michi the Questioner
“What is your favourite way to be betrayed by somebody?”
Giri / Haji: A New Kind of Anglo-Japanese Alliance
Everyone is in trouble. Everyone hurts. We are different. We are the same.
Abe’s New Word Order
The days when the typical foreigner in Japan was a tall Caucasian with a big nose are long gone
Intelligence Reforms: Time for a Japanese James Bond
Not for nothing was Japan known as “a paradise for spies.”