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From Our Own Correspondent: Japan and Armenia

Japan and Armenia

BBC World Service - From Our Own Correspondent, Japan and Armenia

Alan Johnston introduces wit and analysis from correspondents Mariko Oi and Alex Renton.

Alan Johnston with despatches from correspondents around the world. Today, Mariko Oi hears why young Japanese volunteers are helping tsunami evacuees; Alex Renton savours Armenia's famed Dvin brandy.

Alan Johnston presents the stories behind the headlines, brought to you by correspondents around the world. In this edition, while Mariko Oi joins the young Japanese volunteers helping tsunami evacuees, Alex Renton savours the famed Dvin brandy of Armenia - and learns how much Winston Churchill admired it.


Japan's spirit of solidarity struggles on

It's nearly four months since the earthquake and tsunami laid waste to Japan's north-east coast. The camera crews, and the world's attention have mostly moved on now. So the suffering of the survivors, and those who have to go on living amidst the rubble, goes largely unnoticed. 

But Mariko Oi has been spending time with them, reporting for the "Power of Asia" season - and she found that their plight is  in fact bringing out some of the best in Japan's younger generations.


A glass full of caramel, spice ... and history

It's no secret that Winston Churchill enjoyed a drink. Some of the great World War Two leader's finest thinking was done in the company of a bottle. And he wouldn't have dreamt of apologising for it. Of course, it had to be right kind of alcohol - no cheap tipple for him. 

As Alex Renton has been finding out, in Churchill's view, some of the best drink available came from the vineyards of Armenia.

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