This is why $1 trillion isn't literally $1 trillion, it's vibes with a valuation

The haters said they couldn't do it. And they were right. Honestly, great call from the haters.

My latest piece for Tokyo Review:

Important piece by Heidi Ka-Sin Lee about Itō Shiori’s recent documentary Black Box Diaries. I have more to add to this story myself at some point because Itō’s assaulter, Yamaguchi Noriyuki, is frequently invited on Sanseitō and Kamiya Sōhei’s YouTube channel. www.tokyoreview.net/2025/11/movi...

I know I repeat this history a lot, but the milieu Kristol and neoconservatism came out of was heavily influenced by the Shachtmanite branch of socialism in the US, and so it’s not actually that weird he is taking these positions now

This is what Japan gets right, if nothing else. Just doing the chores that make the things work.

Quick-hit thoughts from a guy who's not a lawyer and slept through the SCOTUS hearing: 1) Was (pleasantly) surprised by the justices' skepticism of the administration's arguments. Doesn't mean the reciprocal tariffs are on borrowed time, but the questioning seemed wary of letting this go unchecked

@rmarcantuoni.bsky.social provides a summary of his recent research article on the far-right conspiracy party Sanseitō. Responding to the media's portrayal of the party as a catch-up moment for Japanese politics, he instead argues that its conspiracy ideology is a novel form of political action.

Chat is this good

A bittersweet announcement this morning: Rob Fahey and I have handed off editorship of Tokyo Review to a new editing team. We had, frankly, become negligent of a project that needed to thrive, so we've passed it on to four new editors who we're very confident are going to take good care of it:

The way all of these people convinced themselves that Mamdani is antisemitic is a subject far more worthy of media examination than any of the ‘groupthink on campuses!’ thinkpieces we’ve been subjected to

This race was rattling my teeth more than Graham Platner's...it's going to be a longshot to unseat Susan Collins regardless of the candidate, while hanging on to Maine's 2nd (my home district) is essential to a Dem majority in the House next year, and that goal is a lot tighter than most assume

who could have predicted www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...

Almost Half of U.S. Imports Now Have Steep Tariffs www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Today isn't just squeaky bum time for trade policy wonks, but could have a major, fundamental impact on the entire system of constitutional governance in the United States, as I wrote in the @japantimes.co.jp back in July:

Yeah I think the big secret to understanding politics is not overthinking it

DirectFile, free covid tests via USPS, child tax credit: federal programs that worked and benefited ordinary people and therefore had to be ended in case everyone got used to it

[bursts in door] never forget that Dick Van Dyke once got rescued by porpoises after he drifted out to sea on a surfboard

Just opening up BlueSky this morning...please tell we're not rehabilitating Dick Cheney here k thx

It's one of those things where I'm not invested in the race and ambivalent about Mamdani, but I just want to see his haters lose and lose badly

1) Without a doubt, there are plans for further tariffs if the Trump administration loses the case 2) They still want this *bad*

🤨

This is what I wait for every year

It actually is mind blowing to check out X and see what is essentially 4chan which is also populated with politicians, media figures, "thought leaders" etc. A dystopian horror, really. Where neo-Nazis now have equal standing with mainstream leaders. There is a reason Fuentes is now so mainstreamed.

Welcome to Tokyo, where the people who insisted that you couldn't turn the AC below 28 in the summer to save energy would now like you to keep the heat at 28 in order to [REASONS?}

Gonna take some time to readjust to the fact that people referring to "Vlady" are not talking about Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

"The documents she obtained showed the university "had negotiated directly with a foreign intelligence service to trade my academic freedom for access to the Chinese student market," she told the BBC."

The intimidation included threats that family members would lose visas, which is both in character and *friggin insane*

I can’t believe this is real—but it is. The official White House website just launched a page called “MySafeSpace” mocking Democrats, featuring racist “jokes” about Hakeem Jeffries and others. This isn’t a campaign site. It’s a .gov domain paid for with your tax dollars. youtube.com/shorts/ancDk...

This is good and correct.

Lots amidst the Democrats' whole search for the white working man paladin is the fact that FDR is just about the last person in terms of background, presentation, and vibes that you could've expected to galvanize a New Deal coalition.

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court will hear arguments on the legality of most of President Trump's tariffs — the first case to reach the justices in a series of high-stakes tests of Trump’s sweeping claims of authority.

Caliss it's too early to drink

Just to be pedantic, we have no idea what Maine is named for, whether that's "Main Land" (seen here), or in reference to the French province of Maine, or to something else.

A lot of regional support for U.S. intervention in Venezuela for regime change according to this AtlasIntel-Bloomberg poll. It's not surprising if you know about the refugee crisis (7.9/28 million), narco-backing (to EU not U.S.), support for FARC and ELN, etc.. www.atlasintel.org/poll/latam-w...

Excueeze me?

All Yoshinobu Yamamoto does is win. 2019: Premier12 2021: (2020) Tokyo Olympics, Pacific League pennant 2022: PL pennant, Japan Series 2023: World Baseball Classic, PL pennant 2024: World Series 2025 World Series + Three Sawamura Awards, three PL MVPs and two no-hitters

Yoshinobu Yamamoto won Games 2, 6 and 7 of the World Series. He threw a complete game in Game 2, six innings and 96 pitches on Friday and came back Saturday to throw 2.2 scoreless innings on 34 pitches and induce the World Series-winning double play. A legendary performance.

INCREDIBLE. An all-time great World Series featuring an incredible number of Hall of Fame-caliber players who did Hall of Fame-caliber things…. And where supporting players still managed to overshadow them in many ways. Truly spectacular.

That shot of Vlad Jr...

YOSHINOBU YAMAMOTO All Caps when you say the man’s name.

New curse: Canada doesn't get another World Series until the Expos are returned to Montreal

Me watching TRL after school in the late 90s

IT'S THE WILLENIUM

Hello welcome to bluesky. We have every kind of anti-government radical left of center, and also, baseball

Don't forget to turn your clocks back in the middle of the 16th.

I think this is the truest baseball tweet for me

I await the Section 232 investigation into baseball