Tokyo Tower turned green on St. Patrick's Day in March to mark the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Japan and Ireland, and this anthology was specially arranged to celebrate that too. It is a remarkably varied gathering of responses by Irish poets (including a mention of myself among the 85 contributors) to the idea of Japan, or else the experience of it. Dialogues between the poems may be discovered by the more knowledgeable reader, but anyone coming to the collection will finds things to enjoy.
The greatest sign of global Irishness today is the ubiquitous Irish pub. There is one in Glenn Patterson's new novel, stumbled into by the leading character near the boozy end of a long day in Hiroshima. The drinking party of the title is one piece of the fun in the story, and sardonic repartee between two men from Northern Ireland is another. But serious matters are involved, because of where the visitors come from, and where they are.