The birth of the yakuza

For generations, organised crime in Japan has been overseen by the yakuza, who have had a finger in almost every criminal activity that could turn a profit. Now, though, a new kind of crime has arisen

SPIRITS MAFALDA QUINO Translated by Frank Wynne ...

Kitakami City, Japan, 1948. An elementary school student enters the school bathroom alone. Her friends are waiting for her outside; it’s a beautiful spring day, and lunch period is almost over. A row

Forty years ago, football hooliganism was at its peak, causing outrage, fear and fatalities. How did the sport recover from its darkest days, and what happened to the men who belonged to the “firms”? Rosa Silverman reports

A little one on one time By Scott McCrae

No one has ever fallen for the Basque County quite like Archduchess Maria Christina. An exquisite pianist and polyglot, she left the Austro-Hungarian aristocracy to marry King Alfonso of Spain in 1879