Tokyo National Museum, Ueno Park, Japan (via Alamy/ W6JKJ2)

Paul Lay is writing the newsletter this week and next until Iain Martin is back from holiday. Paul is senior editor at Engelsberg Ideas. He is a former editor of History Today, reviews for The Times, the Telegraph and Literary Review, and is the author of Providence Lost: The Rise and Fall of Cromwell’s Protectorate (Head of Zeus, 2020), which was shortlisted for the Cundill History Prize.

AloJapan.com