Everything about the book, its references, its subject matter, its cast of characters, its heroes, its villains, and even its bit players, feels tired, worn out, and past its prime.

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Copyright protection provides the owner exclusive rights to use, copy and adapt the fictional characters, as well as other related rights, subject only to copyright defenses such as fair use or expiration.

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Two maverick characters, one from business (Mikitani Hiroshi, the subject of this post), one from politics (Hashimoto Toru, the focus of my next post), personify the new legitimacy being accorded to change-drivers.

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"Staging the World" also touches on the subject of cross-dressing a recurring comic device in the plays, in which female characters, like Rosalind in "As You Like It, " are in male disguise.

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