This is my first blog post (how unoriginal). I'm newly laid-off, from Informio, so I'm going to be putting a lot more time into my home page (where this will eventually reside). I'm just back from Japan - stay tuned for the travelogue. One book that clarified a lot of the recent history before the visit was
Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan by Herbert Bix.

A book I got just after I got back, and am enjoying a lot, is In the Footsteps of Mr. Kurtz, a history of Congo under Mobutu.