From Dreaming Spies: At one stop, an ancient water wheel, dripping moss, became a museum piece with the delicate arch of blossom to frame it. Japan is a constant stream of beauty. On every corner, a piece of art is framed by a branch, a movement is a dance, a combination of colors have never…

Last week I talked about the fun time we had in doing the Dreaming Spies poster. I thought you might like to hear the view from the technical side. Friends, meet Evelyn Thompson—who, fortunately for me, found the challenge of translation “a most delicious undertaking”. Naturally my first step was a session in the library.…

From Dreaming Spies: “Tatami are quite uniform. Our houses are built around them, so they fit together to keep out drafts from below. Every year, we take each house to pieces and clean it, from attic to foundation: this is required, by our government. Even then, so sorry, you will often find fleas.” The pristine…

From Dreaming Spies: Rickshaw neophytes are readily identified by their pale faces and white knuckles. I was not new to the sensations of a flying jostle several feet above unforgiving ground. The rickshaw has by no means died away, although now the puller is mounted atop bicycle pedals rather than running on the ground. Here’s…

From Dreaming Spies: Arima was a village nestled into a fold in the hills. Cherry trees, coming into bloom near the coast, here showed but the smallest touch of pink in the buds. It was not entirely deliberate, but the trip I took to Japan in 2012 coincided with the height of the cherry blossom…

Today Random House have completed their map jigsaw-puzzle (over here) so I told the ladies there that I would post a blog about it. And who better to talk about the process of building a map than the main artist, Jean Lukens? Here she is: The process begins when I find mail in my inbox…

From Dreaming Spies: I stretched out on my deck-chair and watched the landscape roll past, studying the scores of small islands and myriad of foreign coastal craft—junks and sampans and barges, fishing boats with high prow and stern, their sails like Hokusai prints. Japan’s inland sea is spectacular, despite being one of the busiest piece…

From Dreaming Spies: A quick survey of the Thomas Carlyle gave me its layout: main deck below, promenade deck with our staterooms and First-Class dining, boat deck above us with saloon bar, smoking room, and a few more elaborate staterooms. Above that was the sun deck, from which rose the ship’s bridge, wireless rooms, and…