“The hour of the barbarian is at hand. The modern barbarian. The American hour. Violence, excess, waste, mercantilism, bluff, conformism, stupidity, vulgarity, disorder.”—Aimé Césaire, 1950

Three busy days of shooting in Hakone and Odawara after weeks of planning. Staff were lovely, weather turned out just fine, Hakone… actually even better than I remember! And now… sleeeeeep

Nailed.

A certain critic—for such men, I regret to say, do exist—made the nasty remark about my last novel that it contained 'all the old Wodehouse characters under different names.' He has probably now been eaten by bears, like the children who made mock of the prophet Elisha: but if he

I have to say I'm about to disappear down a very deep rabbit hole comprised of Japanese traditional Irish music and I'm absolutely loving it.

Abandon all Japan stereotypes, ye who enter here: Shabby beauty: Inside Japan's oldest, defiant student dorm f24.my/BnES.X

"The people who seem least interested in introspection are also those whose work is most profoundly shaping our collective reality. These are the supposed visionaries whose insatiable demand for data has disenchanted the world. They are the funders of opaque new forms of

Beautiful day of sakura reporting in Hiroshima 🌸

Michael Orthodox ☦ There are many examples of classical art that evoke disgust. For instance, Goya’s "Saturn Devouring His Son," Rubens’s "Massacre of the Innocents," and Géricault’s "Anatomical Pieces." I suspect you would know this if you were better educated in the subject you talk about. In

“If the spread of reading represented the greatest transfer of knowledge to ordinary men and women in history, the smartphone revolution represents the greatest theft of knowledge from ordinary people in history.” I compress James Marriott’s superb new book into a quote tweet.

One of the small number of people to actually receive refugee status in Japan subsequently tried to apply for nationality three times and was rejected. After the third time he brought a lawsuit challenging the rejection. The outcome of the trial is still pending but is getting

"a corrupt world in its latter days... but cherry blossoms!" Issa Kobayashi (images: Yoshitoshi Tsukioka / Matazo Kayama)

Today in Kenrokuen

Raymond Chandler...what a writer!

See you in hell, candy boys!

Fortifications are congealed violence . I rather like them . My new column for The Lamp :,thelampmagazine.com/blog/a-pifflin…

Imagínate ir caminando por la estación de trenes en Kyoto y así de la nada te encontrás al ex emperador de Japón caminando y saludando 😳 Con su edad y aún no pierde la sonrisa

This is the first cherry blossom season that I’ve been too busy to post a lot of pics - maybe I’ll do a big monster thread when it’s all over. For now, here’s Hirosaki Park in Aomori, last day of best viewing

When I’m walking in the woods and a little giggling gnome runs past

Today in Hakodate