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Andrew Rawnsley
For Andrew Rawnsley's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
May 19, 2013
Authorized life of Thatcher is clear-eyed, rich in details
It is a tricky deal being an authorized biographer. Charles Moore's big advantage over those who have previously tackled Margaret Thatcher is that he has been provided with material denied to them. Of the arrangement that he was offered by his subject, he writes: "I would have full access to herself ... and to her papers. She would assist all my requests for interviews with others, including access to members of her family." With her support, the Cabinet Office (the department of the U.K. government responsible for supporting the prime minister and his/her senior ministers), was persuaded to allow him to truffle among all the government papers of her time in power, including those documents subject to the 30-year rule, which states that the yearly Cabinet papers of a government will be released publicly 30 years after they were created.
WORLD
Apr 20, 2013
The unintended paradoxical legacy of the lady in blue
Two former prime ministers were buried this week. One was a gloriously battling heroine of freedom, Boadicea in pearls, who put the Great back into Great Britain and won the Cold War with a little assistance from U.S. President Ronald Reagan. The other was the empress of evil, Cruella de Vil in a twinset, who smashed her country to bits. Then there is a third Margaret Thatcher, the real one masked by all the myths with which she has been embalmed since her death. This woman was a much more complex personality with a much more paradoxical legacy than either the eulogists or the haters can allow.

Longform

A statue of "Dragon Ball" character Goku stands outside the offices of Bandai Namco in Tokyo. The figure is now as recognizable as such characters as Mickey Mouse and Spider-Man.
Akira Toriyama's gift to the world