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.”
Postcards From Another Planet
”Even things that didn’t happen are part of history…”
“Third” – Terayama’s last screenplay for somebody else
A Japanese “Shawshank Redemption” was never on the cards.
Skin in the Game: Lessons from the Brave Blossoms
Is there a point beyond which diversity has diminishing or even negative returns?
My Haiku for the Rugby World Cup
The word “rugby” has become one of the required “season words,” signifying winter.
Bird Sorrowing for Spring: Yoko Ran at Mandala
“Yoko Ran’s singing voice… seems to drag the listener back into the darkness of the womb.”
Sayonara to the Svengali of Boy Bands
The music industry is “a cruel and shallow money trench, where thieves and pimps run free and good men die like dogs.”
Carmen Maki’s Musical Half-Century
Both Carmen and Terayama were brought up by single mothers – who were themselves often absent – with little or no memory of their fathers.
Manga Amongst the Marbles: the Triumph of “Trashiness”
Tezuka stands in relation to Japanese manga rather as Akira Kurosawa does to Japanese film