Published this week in the U.S. by Harper Collins (no one in Japan has yet agreed to translate and publish the work), Hirohito and the MakingofModernJapan relies on diaries, memoirs and war-era documents that have been unearthed in Japan since the Emperor died in 1989.
In Japan, where there is no native tradition of jewel making, some modern jewellers have resurrected techniques used to decorate Samurai swords. (Historically, the links between jewellers and armourers is close in many cultures.) The distilled and uncluttered purity of new Japanese jewellery is without equal.