IN a move straight out of a Cold War spy novel, the American and British ambassadors to Japan took a rain check on this year’s Nagasaki Peace Memorial Ceremony last Friday.

The reason? A snub to the Israeli ambassador that’s got diplomatic eyebrows raised all the way back to Washington and London. And let’s just say, the Russian and Belarusian envoys won’t be filling any seats either – persona non grata courtesy of the Japanese.