So Kurosawa, with his period parables of honor defended and defeated, represented Japan to the West.

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Jesus spoke in parables, his disciples didn't - they preached about him and they told it straight.

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Seeing the desolation in places, all those things bring to mind some of the parables that come to life in the scriptures.

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Regional variations abound, but all are characterized by pithy lyrics with phrases that now permeate the everyday language of the people, melodies adapted to the story and characters, and lively parables.

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The title story, of a man who tried to hold God to a contract, had echoes of both the Book of Job and, more distinctly, of the parables of the Talmud and Midrash.

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There are references to favourite parables from the New Testament, and advice on keeping a tightly controlled diary as well as ensuring access to quality bathrooms (because constant jet travel plays havoc with the bowels).

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The characters are shrill, cartoon-like figures, and the bubblegum text is so distended with italics, capital letters, lists, diagrams, poor jokes and faux parables that you end up wanting to stick it to the underside of your chair and leave it there.

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But surely there is a direct line of descent from James Thurber (1894-1961), many of whose madcap sketches and parables draw on his childhood in Columbus, Ohio and the inherently uneasy relationship between men and women and the comparative sublimity of dogs (even those that bite).

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