As I browse through a catalogue for the Japanese Design Today exhibit, I notice a familiar face. My laptop is a near-duplicate of one that will be among the items unveiled when the show opens Thursday ...

Back in the late ’70s and early ’80s, when everyone suddenly discovered sushi and Akira Kurosawa, it was hip to be a Japanophile, and I was. And even now, when sushi bars proliferate almost as quickly ...