World How Japan is preparing for the great flood Experts fear Tokyo’s flood defences are not enough to avoid calamity. By Joji Sakurai
Science & Tech Reshaping the human brain: a guide to finding freedom in delusion and creation in chaos By Joji Sakurai
How Rome’s new mayor Virginia Raggi is leading a normality revolution The first female Roman mayor has promised an end to posturing public figures. By Joji Sakurai
Live and let live: inside the Free Republic of Liberland A Czech politician dreams of a libertarian microstate in Europe. By Joji Sakurai
Make Croatia great again: how fascism emerged in the EU’s youngest state In the Croatian heartlands, economic decline has combined with fears over migration from the Middle East. By Joji Sakurai
A tale of three scandals: behind the headlines in Japan Shukan Bunshun magazine is a conservative weekly which has recently brought down three figures who, in different ways, represent the… By Joji Sakurai
What the saga of a boyband’s break-up (and patch-up) tells us about Japan The boyband SMAP has been an important social binder in a nation that prides itself on its sense of community… By Joji Sakurai
How a 217.1 kilometre run became a national bonding ritual in Japan The Hakone Ekiden, which ran on 2 and 3 January, has a lot to tell us about the strengths… By Joji Sakurai
Matteo Renzi, the scrapper in the swamp Italy’s prime minister – “Europe’s last Blairite” – vowed to take on vested interests and smash open the economy.… By Joji Sakurai