Sunday Papers: Bill Emmott

"[T]he vital thing to understand about Japanese people is their very normality and their humility.  At the heart of Japan’s traditional religion, Shinto, is exactly that humility: it is not like the monotheistic religions that postulate an all-powerful deity or an ordering principle for life and the universe. It is an animist religion that emphasizes ignorance in the face of the world’s mysteries and natural forces. It is an admission of what we don’t know, not a call to faith."


On the nighttable:  Haruki Murakami, "A Wild Sheep's Chase"
On the turntable:  Funkadelic, "Standing on the Verge of Getting It On"