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…
Review: The Why, Where & When of Populism
On that score, Japan has better politicians than the UK, the US and France.
Review: Surviving the New Era of Great Power Conflict
Hard power always has the capacity to dominate soft power. Left unaddressed, might trumps right.