Dave returns to the studio, and Andy relates to him a scary tale of shady mafia guys, spicy Chinese food and the perils of frequenting hole-in-the-wall restaurants in Hiroshima.

Somewhere along the way giant squid drop in, and we learn why pudgy cricket umpires are submerged in a mountain of white jumpers every summer.

Andy's band STAVKA (www.ardle.net/stavka.htm) put in an appearance with the tune 'Fortune City Breakout', before the lads turn their attentions to the horrors of PC.

Dave reviews the book 'The Retreat of Reason - Political Correctness and the Corruption of Public Debate in Britain' by Anthony Brown. Controversial historian David Irving also gets a (dis)honourable mention in this context, and Andy faces a PC test concerning some contentious and controversial issues, which he fails miserably, according to Dave.

Finally, Dave's new language series, 'Real Japanese' gets another airing in which we learn all about what the average female 'OL' can expect career-wise, and how she must watch out for the see-you-home wolf!

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In this (slighty) festive episode Andy is joined in the studio by local writer Andrew Kozelka who gets all serious about life in Japan and the world of literature, despite Andy's best attempts to derail him by dollops of the obligatory A-Bomb City crap humour.

Along the way we hear some jolly Christmas tunes from the likes of the Moscow Liturgical Choir, Osaka's Shonen Knife, and Californian punk band The Dickies, before we are treated to a reading of some of Mr.Kozelka's poetry.

Rounding out the show is an unusually classical piece from Andy.

Oh, and Dave makes some minimal but insightful contributions from time to time...

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Knee-deep in high oriental culture and tradition this week, as Dave interviews a doctor acquaintance about his musical pastime: playing the 'shakuhachi', a Japanese species of flute.

After the interview we move straight to the concert hall, where we treat you to a live recording of the good doc performing traditional music on said 'shakuhachi' backed by the 'koto' and 'shamisen', other instruments of Old Nippon. Yes, it's all that plinky-plinky stuff that evokes images of Samurai, Geisha and other people with funny hairstyles shuffling around drafty wooden palaces in the Kyoto of centuries gone by.

The antidote to all this comes in the form of 'The Eye of the Beholder', a track by Andy's electronic outfit Easter Islanders.

We conclude with another chunk of the doc's concert...

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An unusual episode in which both our regular hosts are out and about in different directions, digital recorders in hand, with Andy pasting it all together back in the studio.

Dave presents a recording of traditional Japanese songs rendered by an old  gentleman acquaintance to an audience of appreciative senior citizens.

Next, STAVKA (www.ardle.net/stavkahome.htm) introduce us to 'Anna from Havana', a pop-rock gem dating from 1999.

Andy then takes over the helm, conducting a two-part interview with his American friend Dan, a loquacious and eccentric geezer who regales us with tales from the countryside, run-ins with the yakuza, and dodgy goings-on in provincial universities, punctuated by a few old tunes from his collection of scratchy 78's. Yeah!

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Starting with another crap joke, the lads soon venture into the unlikely territory of animal noises and how they are represented in both English and Japanese. Points are awarded for their comparative realism...

Andy's musical persona STAVKA (www.ardle.net/stavkahome.htm) play the abrasive rocker "Lowest Common Denominator Blues", after which the animal theme continues as David forces Andy to translate some well-known English nursery rhymes into Japanese. Cover your ears, listeners, as some very dodgy singing ensues...

Preston Mendoza is mysteriously absent this week, so Andy gives us some more insights into the murky world of shortwave 'number' stations and plays a few examples; David can barely stay awake...

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