The Nippon Foundation is coming out with a list of 100 books written in English that "help people abroad correctly understand Japan," the Yomiuri Shimbun reports. Warning, mini rant ahead: How can an organization as tainted as the Nippon Foundation in a country that can't even teach it's own people to "correctly understand Japan" be taken seriously? It's like Pat Buchanan coming out with his top 100 books on multiculturalism.

Sound of scuffle, children's cries, angry whispers: Apologies. The skeptic in me overtook the publisher. But my wife just showed me the balance in our checking account and set me straight. What I meant to say was: Please, Nippon Foundation, please, pick Kuhaku or Butterfly ...