Giri / Haji: A New Kind of Anglo-Japanese Alliance
Everyone is in trouble. Everyone hurts. We are different. We are the same.
At Last – the Missing Arrow!
What went missing after the initial phase of Abenomics was the second arrow, fiscal stimulus.
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.
Galactic Japanification – What Comes Next?
Politically, most Western countries are not in the same postcode… societies are already polarizing and political systems buckling.
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.”
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.
Dancing Fools and Watching Fools: Alan Booth’s Journey
Just as the gap between the writer and reader has shrunk, so has the gap between the writer and the written about
R.I.P. Yuya Uchida: Sayonara to Japan’s Mr. Rock’n Roll
His party political broadcast, mostly in idiosyncratic English, turned out to be a classic of the genre.
First Love: The Hell Version
“You have a wife, don’t you?” “Yes, she’s as cold as ice. When she’s asleep, I often dream of setting her on fire.”