I came to Japan in '90 — 1890, that was — died 14 years later, and here I am again after more than a century, exploring my old haunting ground just like in the good old days.

I may be 160, but what's the big deal? I'm sure most of you will agree that age doesn't count as much these days as it used to. As we grow older we get a perspective on things. The reality may be in the statistic; but in the perspective, there is art.

I pride myself on a genuinely multicultural background. I wouldn't want you to think that such a thing was invented yesterday. Imperialism deposits multinational issue in its wake; and my father, a surgeon in the Royal Navy, was a seaman spreading significantly more than his duty required. As for me, wayward child of the British Empire, I believe that I have not only Irish and Greek blood coursing through my veins, but also that of the Maltese, the Italian, the Spaniard and the Arab — if not a touch of Romany for good measure.