Across Japan, technology companies and private investors are racing to install devices that until recently they had little interest in: solar panels. Massive solar parks are popping up as part of a rapid build-up that one developer likened to an explosion.

As I tiptoed past the sleeping dog, my heart was pounding but I remained silent.

It is so easy for over-anxious singers to squeak, to mispitch a note, or to forget the words, that the teacher must display absolute faith in his or her pupils' ability to produce something of value.

When any project dominates your life for a sizeable length of time, let alone the best part of six years, you have to accept the agathokakological nature of the beast.