Anecdotes and tips about some Japanese writers and their books, Japanese woodblock prints (Ukiyo-e) and quaint subjects like Japanese silent movies before WW2, the shipping line NYK and theire ships the Kamakura Maru and the Asama Maru, which in 1942 took western diplomats to Lourenço Marques in exchange for their Japanese counterparts. Among those western diplomats were the Dutch writers F.C. Terborgh and Robert van Gulik.