When Caitlin Stronell first came to Japan in 1984 to spend a year in Tochigi Prefecture, her father gave her a subscription to the U.K. cooperatively produced monthly magazine New Internationalist. "He thought it'd keep me in touch with social and political activism in the rest of the world, while giving me something to read in English. Begun in the 1970s, it may have been lying around at home for years. But this is when I began to take serious note."

Early last year (now married to a Japanese graphic designer and based in Tokyo) she decided to approach NI with a view to acting as its distributor in Japan. But this was not enough. There's nothing like it here, she told the editorial office in Oxford, and then explained how she wanted to create a bilingual insert that might develop into a Japanese-language version of the publication in its own right.

Since taking the plunge six months ago, she has been sorting out glitches and making contact with established subscribers in Japan. She starts marketing in earnest this month, recommending the magazine to anyone interested in alternative views of -- and solutions to -- the problems of the world. NI is never anything less than mind-blowing. I even love the ads: green savings, green mortgages . . . ethical investments . . . equality, cooperation and peace (and sticky toffee . . .).