Japan
Eastern reflections
In his introductory remarks to the Afro–Eurasian Eclipse, one of his later suites for jazz orchestra, Duke Ellington remarked —…
Barometer
Watching brief Samsung warned users of its voice-activated televisions that what they said in front of the TV could be…
Who’s afraid of deflation?
Campaigning in Putney in 1978, Mrs Thatcher famously took out a pair of scissors and cut a pound note down…
High life
This is a good time to write about a nation’s resilience in the face of calamity. I am referring to…
Japan: Spring break
Kate Crockett wallows happily in the natural hot baths of Kyushu
Demons of deflation
The new fear haunting Europe
Cultural revolution
We have read about the remarkable opening up of China in recent years: how many people live there and how…
In praise of Japanese Bordeaux
Château Lagrange, a St Julien third growth, has the largest acreage of any Bordeaux classed growth. For much of the…
Magic bullet
Stephen Bayley explains why he has become addicted to Japan’s Shinkansen
Remaking history
What does freedom mean to you? That’s the question the BBC World Service has been asking of us through its…
An awful warning
During Japan’s lost decade in the 1990s I found myself handing out rice balls to Tokyo’s homeless on the banks…
A brainy delight
The Japanese are sometimes said to suffer from ‘outsider person shock’ (gaijin shokku) when travelling abroad. Recently in London we…
