Home is where the heart is

Why does one love one’s country? In the end, it’s down to the intangibles.

TYPHOON Nangka was moving towards Japan’s Shikoku island and my mother was worried. Her sister, who is 82, lives alone in a house by the coast there.

My mother said she would call my aunt to find out how she was, but I said I didn’t think that was a good idea. Imagine the phone ringing while a storm is raging, I said. It might frighten her.