In Japan’s leafy hamlet of Karuizawa, otherworldly architecture is the expression of the uninhibited self, says Hanya Yanagihara

James Creedon, a journalist based in Paris for France 24, spent a year recording the memories of his elderly cousin, the last Irish missionary nun in Japan. As he turns the footage into a documentary, he tells her story.

The two-year wait to earn a ticket to Gleneagles will finally come to an end today for some of the world’s best golfers, just as an Irish club pro and his six-handicapper team-mate tee off at the Scottish resort in search of silverware.

A VOLCANO near Tokyo erupted yesterday, shooting up billowing smoke and showering parts of the capital with a fine ash that some residents mistook for snow.

Norio Ohga, the former president and chairman of Japanese electronics and entertainment giant Sony, is donating his 1.6 bn yen (€11.6m) in retirement pay to build a concert hall in a resort city.