How many would you prefer not to see?

This is a direct violation of long-standing US policy toward Taiwan. Beginning with the 1982 version, the Six Assurances to Taiwan explicitly states that the U.S. will not consult with China on arms sales to Taiwan. Nor will the U.S. set an end date of arms sales to Taiwan.

Japanese favourites (in no particular order). (66) Maki Ueda | マキ上田: あいつはインベーダー youtu.be/BSbG58DWovQ

„Rubio bekennt sich zu transatlantischer Partnerschaft“. Nein, das tut er nicht. Er bietet Europa die Hand, um an einem Projekt des White Nationalism mitzumachen, sofern Europa gewillt ist, sich in den Kulturkampf zu stürzen und die weiße/christliche „Identität“ Europas zu verteidigen. 1/x

The fact that large parts of the German media landscape “reported” on this White nationalist fever dream of a speech by Rubio as merely reaffirming the transatlantic alliance is so far removed from reality that it truly makes me speechless.

"Vor allem in totalitären Staaten finden sich auch heute noch Formen der rechtsstaatswidrigen Sippenhaftung zur Erzwingung erwünschten und Bestrafung abweichenden Verhaltens. In Deutschland […] wurde sie zuletzt unter der nationalsozialistischen Herrschaft praktiziert." www.dwds.de/wb/Sippenhaf...

Sanseito is experiencing growing pains as they don’t have enough aides for their 14 new diet members According to Gendai, the candidate pool — ex-aides to LDP candidates who lost — are reluctant to apply because they fear having to draft insane diet questions www.nikkan-gendai.com/articles/vie...

Her musical preferences are apparently of greater relevance to her position.

welp, IF she can keep her ultraconservative coalition together within the LDP, Japanese LGBT rights advances have likely been set back by another decade. siiiigh. (also, so wonderful that Tokyo has another WW2 revisionist in the seat of power cuz she's super old school like that.)

The wilfully stupid people's party. www.asahi.com/ajw/articles...

A reminder that Jackie Chan is a traitor, dictator lover, womanizer, and child beater. You should never support him: amp.scmp.com/culture/book...

Well, at least Japan hasn't invaded or threatened to invade other countries for quite a while.

Chinese journalist Liu Hu detained in Sichuan after report scrutinising local officials – SCMP: ‘In recent years, he has operated a WeChat public account as an independent journalist, where he has covered disputes between private enterprises and local government bodies.’

The ratings are in.

Apparently IMDB has blocked reviews and ratings for the #Melania documentary. www.imdb.com/title/tt3529...

Spell check included. (The Danish chapter of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification (Unification Church), Familieforbundet for Verdensfred og -enhed.) www.ffwpu.dk

From a June 1938 editorial from the NYT calling for the US to boycott the 1940 Olympiad in Tokyo: Hint, hint, nudge, nudge....

Time to abolish les Jeux olympiques.

Japanese favourites (in no particular order). (64) Perfect Mother: Dark Disco – Da. Da. Da. Da. Da. Run lightintheattic.bandcamp.com/track/dark-d...

Japanese favourites (in no particular order). (63) Jinsei (Zin-Säy!): I Am the tatami! I Am the lord! | 人生: 俺が畳だ!殿様だ! youtu.be/rgH74aPHzhI

Japanese favourites (in no particular order). (62) Miwa Akihiro in Kawashima Yūzō's Woman Unveiled (女であること) (1958) youtu.be/mdCWbav8avA

Acknowledging history is "inciting subversion of state power" in Hong Kong.

Japanese favourites (in no particular order). (61) Mad Tea Party: In a Tea Bag youtu.be/wmuOzeCuqXY

“With a single letter to Norwegian PM Jonas Gahr Støre, though, Trump has thrown out all pretence of caring about anything other than himself – or that he understands the very basics of how the Nobel is awarded, what it’s awarded for, or even how international relations are supposed to work.”

Multi-layered “look what you made me do” lie. Because Norway didn’t give a him prize (it doesn’t decide winners) for ending wars (he didn’t end) the US won’t be peaceful anymore (bombing multiple countries) and will take Greenland (part of Denmark, not Norway) to stop Russia (it’d help Russia).

That there’s not a massive, credible, instant, bipartisan impeachment/25th Amendment move over these senseless and destructive Greenland threats is a sign of how broken our politics are — and especially how broken the Republican Party is.

In close coordination with Trump's distraction campaign.

At first glance it looks like he’s holding a walking frame.

A shame there's no Japanese chapter of FEMEN. mainichi.jp/english/arti...

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt says the Danes agreed to form a working group to discuss the surrender of Greenland to Trump. "No we didn't" says the Danish foreign minister, indeed "there will be no discussion of turnover." www.berlingske.dk/indland/det-...

Just the White House referencing “which way, western man” by William gayley Simpson (published by the National Alliance, the Neo Nazi group led by white nationalist William Luther Pierce of Turner Diaries fame) AND threatening Greenland in the same tweet.

“Bundeskanzler Merz äußerte Verständnis für das Anliegen der USA” Das Anliegen: Invasion/Annektierung Grönlands. Absoluter Wahnsinn. “Merz ging nicht auf ⁠die Drohungen von US-Präsident Trump ein, die Insel auch gegen den Willen der Grönländer und Dänemarks zu kaufen oder zu annektieren.”

They fixed it! My article is now open access. academic.oup.com/ahr/article/...

Japanese favourites (in no particular order). (60) Kondō Jō | 近藤譲: Air I youtu.be/S0MKwR36VFc

Japanese favourites (in no particular order). (59) Togawa Jun Unit: Ningen gokaku | 戸川純ユニット: 人間合格 youtu.be/-8X4Gt4VESY

"Japan is embracing its role as a global champion for gender equality." Yomiuri in a not quite parallel universe. japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/editorial/ou...

Japan's ruling party just can't seem to shake that Unification Church nuisance. bit.ly/3YZnEAy #統一教会 #自民党

I’ll just note that the US didn’t do this to China, which outright bans US social media websites

Before I sign off to enjoy a few days in peace and away from the news, a word on the recent U.S. sanctions: The "global censorship-industrial complex" is a far right fantasy. Most of the DSA is about transparency and forcing platforms to provide info about how they moderate and boost content 1/

In 2020, Guan Heng embarked on a risky mission to prove the existence of Uyghur concentration camps. Now, his fate hangs in the balance as he awaits his immigration hearing on December 15th. If sent back to China, he would face drastic consequences. Read: open.substack.com/pub/hrichina...

Human rights with right-wing characteristics. “Actions that demean the nation harm the human rights of many people. Such actions cannot be justified under 'freedom of expression' when considering public welfare” (Kamiya Sōhei, Sanseito). mainichi.jp/english/arti...

"Good news"? "Member nations of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITE) […] on Dec. 5 rejected a proposal by the European Union and other countries to regulate international trade in all species of eels." www.asahi.com/ajw/articles...

#LGBTI* in russisch besetzten Gebieten. Die LGBTI*-Community wird in #Russland staatlich verfolgt. In den besetzten Gebieten der #Ukraine inhaftieren russische Soldaten queere Menschen und traktieren sie mit Folter und sexualisierter Gewalt. www.amnesty.ch/de/ueber-amn... #LSBTIQ

How do we understand Japan’s wartime past through the words and silences of its emperor? David McNeill speaks with historian Ryuichi Kitano about his new book, 側近が見た昭和天皇 (The Showa Emperor as Seen by His Close Aides). #Japan #History #APJJF apjjf.org/2025/10/mcne...

Same as it ever was.

This number has caused confusion, earlier data suggested the foreigners commit crimes less than Japanese. It's precisely because of that earlier number, that Tsutomu Ohtsu of Sanseito posed the police a different question, to get a different answer.