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Lost in Ukrainian translation

When he first arrived in Japan last week, I took the story of Ishinosuke Uwano at face value. He, you remember, is the 83-year old former soldier of the Japanese Imperial Army who was taken prisoner in Siberia in 1945, officially declared dead in 2001, who unexpectedly popped up in Ukraine a few months ago and flew to Japan last week for emotional reunions with his surviving siblings. You can read the story I wrote for Thursday's paper here.

But in the last couple of days I have started to think that there is something rather fishy about the whole story. I am not alone - the bulletin boards of the Japanese portal Ni-Channeru are full of speculation about Mr Uwano.

Who is he? What has he been up to for the past sixty years? And why is he so reluctant to answer questions?

Strepsils will tear us apart, again

The Republic of Tyva, in southernmost Siberia, is an obscure part of the world, even more obscure (many would argue) than the city of Manchester. But now these two underrated locales have been brought together, through the medium of throat singing.

A Tyvan throat-singing ensemble, Yat-Kha, have recorded a version of Love Will Tear Us Apart by those Mancunian warblers, Joy Division. (Strangely, it also manages to sound like Last Year's Man by Leonard Cohen.)

You think this is an April Fool, don't you? Read on.