Libya and Japan

Available for over a year

Alan Johnston introduces personal stories and in-depth analysis from BBC correspondents around the world. In this edition, Andrew Hosken hears some of the rumours and suspicions still dividing the residents of Tripoli, while Roland Buerk explains why self-deprecation is such a good strategy when trying to appeal to the Japanese electorate. "Where were they when our martyrs were fighting?" Libya may seem - and hope - to be a nation now utterly transformed. But its people are still trying to grasp all that the ousting of Colonel Gaddafi will mean. It's a time of soaring hope, but of much uncertainty too. How will this revolution be seen years or decades on? How will different groups in Libyan society feel about the role they played themselves - and about the role that others took? Andrew Hosken says that the debate over boasting rights has already begun. Support the loach, not the goldfish Being in charge of Japan isn't easy: its Prime Ministers are notoriously frequently ousted and replaced. And a new one's just been appointed - the sixth in five years. The task that lies before Yoshihiko Noda is daunting. Swathes of the north-east coast lie in ruins, devastated by the earthquake and tsunami. The Fukushima nuclear plant still isn't completely under control. On top of all this, the Japanese economy has been drifting through a sea of trouble for years. In Tokyo, Roland Buerk has been reflecting on the calibre and character of the man who must now confront these challenges.