Arts
The Pillow Book of Sei Shōnagon
I was musing on the small pleasures in life this morning: hot, clean water on a cold day; the scent of flowers that catches you unawares when walking through a dormant winter’s garden; the taste [more…]
Japan
20th Century
1 – Stalin won the war
Instead of diving further into the UK’s entanglement with the commies in the thirties, it’s time to take a look at what was going on over the pond. Much of the thirties antics over here [more…]
20th Century
The Oshima telegram
In May 1944 the Japanese Ambassador to Berlin was Mr Oshima. He had a face to face meeting with Adolf on May 28 1944 and sent the results to Tokyo encoded using Purple which had [more…]
20th Century
Split right down the Axis
As we all know, the Axis was an agreement between Germany, Italy and Japan to come to the assistance of each other in case of attack. What is often forgotten is that three other countries [more…]
History
The greatest General of all time
This is yet more from the story of Herr Wilhelm Flicke of the German Intercept Service. It has been mentioned before that Herr Flicke’s opinion is that Signals Intelligence is of the highest importance. Few [more…]
History
Encounter in a Tokyo park
In early December, I went to Tokyo for a week, for personal reasons. As it involved somebody who was gravely ill, I did not have the inclination for sightseeing. But I did see some old [more…]
Culture
Zainichi, Part Two
Okubo is Tokyo’s main Koreatown and one of the very few large immigrant enclaves in the entire country. It’s a downtown area around two very busy railway stations, a little world to itself where people [more…]
Culture
Zainichi, Part One
Imagine an England where race matters. Where natives come first in hiring and housing. Where foreigners are barred from certain locales, by signs in the windows. Where people openly judge you by your skin colour [more…]
Uncategorized
Postcard from Japan, No 2
No problem when ordering a meal, pick from the display