Japan is, you often feel, an improved version of the United States.

English humor resembles the Loch Ness Monster in that both are famous but there is a strong suspicion that neither exists.

Was he joking? Was he being sarcastic? Aggressive? Impertinent? Or just courteous? There was no telling from his impassive face. What a country, he thought despairingly. In Russia you always knew. If a man made a stern face he was threatening; if he was laughing uproariously, he was joking.

Rich people (in Australia) have swimming pools in their gardens but, at least, they do swim in them.

If it is gay, ribald and lascivious night-life you are after, Israel is not the place for you. The night clubs you do find are nearer in spirit to a YMCA than to dens of iniquity.

Japan is, you often feel, an improved version of the United States.

You can keep a dog: but it is the cat who keeps people, because cats find humans useful domestic animals.