The Geopolitics of Godzilla
China, Russia and North Korea could be considered three Godzillas, a large one, a medium-sized one and a small but vicious one.
New Perspectives on Kurosawa
His widow was shot as a Japanese spy after a trial that lasted 10 minutes and his daughter was sent to the gulag for 10 years
The Intelligent Ambiguity of Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer”
When a friend mentions an underground route for getting atomic secrets to Moscow, he responds “that would be treason”.
Ian Buruma’s “Collaborators”
And sometimes, there really are conspiracies — or at least crucial decisions taken far from the public eye
Chris Miller’s “Chip War”: the Geopolitics of High-tech
“Washington’s foreign policy strategists embraced complex semiconductor supply chains as a tool to bind Asia to an American-led world”
An Excremental Film Review
We are a long way from the anality taboo that underpins much Freudian psychoanalysis.
Funny Money: Edward Chancellor’s “The Price of Time”
“We have come to live in a controlled environment, with its fake money, fake interest rates, fake economy, fake jobs, and fake politicians…”
Guilty Pleasures: Tokyo Vice
Having an ex- Mormon missionary as the most formidable of the nightclub hostesses is excellent.
Rock Gods in Japan: Who’s Appropriating Who?
A famous number of theirs compares a girlfriend’s physical attributes to those of a high-performance sports car.
Herzog’s Onoda: The Twilight World
Crickets scream at the cosmos… A crocodile ate a countess…