Issue 15 (June 2008, Volume 3, Number 3)

During August it was just about impossible for anyone on planet earth (and possibly beyond) not to have known that the Beijing Olympics were being held.

Offering the perfect antidote to the 2008 Olympic media-onslaught, Professor Ben-Ami Shillony, one of our regular review team, has produced a fascinating review of a new book on the Olympics that never were, the forgotten 1940 Tokyo Olympics.

Sir Hugh Cortazzi, another stalwart reviewer, follows this up with a piece on Japanese diplomacy in the 1950s while Fumiko Halloran, also a member of the regular team, looks at a fascinating Japanese language book on Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi’s foreign policy written by political insider Isao Iijima, who was Koizumi’s executive secretary.

If that dazzling Troika doesn’t satisfy your thirst for reviews then we still have an excellent account of the new Donald Keene book.