Ian Rapley
@irapley.bsky.social
📤 940
📥 566
📝 1103
Historian of modern Japan, part time shepherd, clueless beekeeper, forensic cricket scorer.
Having spent two days trying to get a plane that works, and reading all this airport discourse, I'm increasingly sure the best option is to just never fly.
about 7 hours ago
1
0
0
I felt this in Tokyo, only I thought I was just tired after dealing with flight delay stuff all day, until people around me started commenting about it.
add a skeleton here at some point
about 23 hours ago
0
1
0
Hands up whose plane has functional toilets and thus isn't stuck in Tokyo for an indeterminate amount of time. *lowers hands*
1 day ago
1
0
0
I have so many random bits of plumbing
add a skeleton here at some point
3 days ago
0
0
0
100% my attitude to farming and all ancillary activities.
add a skeleton here at some point
3 days ago
0
0
0
I stumbled across an amazing sento (public bath), and then discovered it's a listed building. And there's a (associated?) hipster remote working office next door where I managed to break pretty much all the rules trying to buy a coffee.
4 days ago
1
4
0
My nephew would always get wound up if you voted for Pterodactyl/Plesiosaurus/Dimetrodon, but I think the real answer is triceratops, with a honourable mention for diplodocus.
add a skeleton here at some point
5 days ago
0
0
0
Increasingly suspect that island life might be the best life.
5 days ago
0
1
0
I can't remember if I've done this before or just imagined it, but everyone I know seems to be planning a Japan trip at the moment so I've been thinking about what advice to give them.
6 days ago
2
4
3
Update: my correspondent reports the 12th April
add a skeleton here at some point
8 days ago
0
0
0
New Yorker Radio Hour: "I don't think there's really much doubt that, in our lifetime at least, AI is going to bring changes as significant as the industrial revolution 200 years ago". Maybe I don't understand the qualification, but really? I'll take the under.
8 days ago
1
1
0
Yesterday I saw an Instagram of a tourist saying "what is this haunting evocative music?... Oh it's the sweet potato seller". Funnily enough, I used to use the yakimo seller's song in a multisensory experience as a part of a session on sensory history.
add a skeleton here at some point
12 days ago
1
0
0
reposted by
Ian Rapley
Oleg Benesch
13 days ago
This Friday and Saturday (UK time) we'll be hosting a public symposium on "Global Samurai" at SOAS University of London, as part of the programme of the British Museum exhibition "Samurai" Event page, including programme and registration information:
www.britishmuseum.org/events/globa...
0
13
8
reposted by
Ian Rapley
Borners
13 days ago
My article with
@carto-graph.bsky.social
on Japanese private railways is out. Rule of thumb, only privatise railways as much as you privatise parking.
worksinprogress.co/issue/why-ja...
loading . . .
Why Japan has such good railways - Works in Progress Magazine
Japan's railways are the finest in the world. Other countries can copy its formula.
https://worksinprogress.co/issue/why-japan-has-such-good-railways/
1
62
28
reposted by
Ian Rapley
John Walton
15 days ago
Heathrow T5 was specifically designed *not* to be efficient in terms of passenger throughput: you're not the customer, you're the product. There's a reason you have to trek northwards past all the shops before you can go down the escalators to then trek southwards past all the shops.
add a skeleton here at some point
14
150
16
I'm no expert on the efficient flow of people, but Heathrow Terminal 5 appears to have been designed as a part of a dare.
15 days ago
2
16
1
Train got cancelled, so they sent us to another train, which had no driver and so got cancelled, so I'm now on a train with three trains worth of passengers. No idea how many drivers.
16 days ago
1
4
0
One of the key things I tell my students is that writing is where half the magic takes place.
add a skeleton here at some point
16 days ago
0
1
0
Oh glorious day, etc etc.
16 days ago
0
0
0
Leg spin bowling is still the best bowling.
add a skeleton here at some point
18 days ago
0
0
0
Me: cricket takes up a lot of the weekend, I should really be more selective this summer Also me: The Wales over 50 teams you say? Sounds interesting*. College alumni game? Interesting. Midweek games with the staff team, yup yup yup. * I'm not even 50.
19 days ago
1
2
1
I listened to Tyler Cowen's recent interview about AI and education, and ultimately came to the conclusion that I do not believe that TC believes all of the things he says.
add a skeleton here at some point
21 days ago
0
1
0
I'm slightly disappointed to realise that I'm probably going to be away for the arrival of the first cuckoo of the year.
22 days ago
1
0
1
The <everyone's using it> line is such a massive tell.
add a skeleton here at some point
24 days ago
0
0
0
Third lecture on the 1860s. Is the Shogunate collapsing in a heap, or am I collapsing in a heap? Unclear.
about 1 month ago
0
1
0
I've long used the Abe Trump hand crushing handshake, and the Abe Xi awkward handshake in lectures on East Asian diplomacy. I guess this is another gif to add to the collection.
add a skeleton here at some point
about 1 month ago
0
2
0
I'm on a 28 day streak in Connections. My longest ever is 31 days. 😳
about 1 month ago
0
0
0
"might see you down the pub later"
add a skeleton here at some point
about 1 month ago
0
1
0
In a moment of weakness I signed off on the kids making eggs benedict for mother's day. "The kids". Never again.
about 1 month ago
1
1
0
It's slightly funny, as someone who last really followed it in the 90s, to catch the edge of football discourse. Spurs suck, and Arsenal win by playing boring, you say? Sounds about right.
about 1 month ago
0
0
0
Conversation about LLM use in higher education this morning involved the suggestion we need to be direct and open with students about the issues, and specifically our own use of AI. I agree, but it was clear "I don't use LLMs & I'm not remotely tempted to" was not the presumed position.
about 1 month ago
2
6
1
Cosigned However, reading the wiki page on terms usedfor money, I think someone's been having fun with the UK section.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slang_t...
add a skeleton here at some point
about 1 month ago
0
0
0
The
@questingvole.bsky.social
interview about this book made it sound awesome; I instasnap purchased a copy.
add a skeleton here at some point
about 1 month ago
0
1
0
My best effort was "you're all probably too young to remember the '97 election" to a bunch of uni students who were born comfortably in the 00s.
add a skeleton here at some point
about 1 month ago
0
3
0
Me, but with cricket bats.
add a skeleton here at some point
about 1 month ago
0
0
0
reposted by
Ian Rapley
Alexis Wolf
about 1 month ago
I say this every year, but: The uni students I'm teaching are thoughtful, intelligent, will make everything they encounter better. With a new addition for 2026: They deeply hate AI.
55
3085
432
It sounds melodramatic, but it occurred to me the other day that even under a fairly optimistic trajectory, the USA is going to remain seriously dysfunctional for a substantial fraction of the rest of my life.
add a skeleton here at some point
about 1 month ago
1
2
0
Thinking a bit more about students and LLMs. We've had calculators for decades, yet a) we still teach maths, and crucially b) a good quantitative sense is really advantageous. Even if LLMs revolutionise the production of text, I'm willing to bet writing is still going to be a useful skill.
about 1 month ago
1
2
0
reposted by
Ian Rapley
Asian Review of Books
about 1 month ago
Today in ARB:
@irapley.bsky.social
reviews “The Ryukyu islands” by Gregory Smits
@uchicagopress.bsky.social
& “The Legacy of The Ryukyu Kingdom” by Takara Kurayoshi (JPIC)
asianreviewofbooks.com/the-ryukyu-i...
loading . . .
“The Ryukyu islands” by Gregory Smits & “The Legacy of The Ryukyu Kingdom” by Takara Kurayoshi
To start: a confession. Academics often speak of imposter syndrome—the sense that we lack real expertise on the topics about which are talking or writing. Although it’s largely a psychological illu…
https://asianreviewofbooks.com/the-ryukyu-islands-by-gregory-smits-the-legacy-of-the-ryukyu-kingdom-by-takara-kurayoshi/
0
17
9
T20 cricket is just astonishing. And going out to India in the semi final, with a creditable but never quite challenging effort is the most bang on par performance imaginable.
about 2 months ago
0
0
0
Would 100% let beavers colonise the stream running down the side of our fields.
add a skeleton here at some point
about 2 months ago
0
1
0
In our family have the potato & gravy problem. You've got a roast potato left at the end of a meal so you pour a little gravy for it. Then after the potato is finished, there's some gravy left. So you need another potato to mop up the gravy... So too, the 8 year old has found, books and bookshelves
about 2 months ago
0
2
0
Trying to learn how to hit over the top. Definitely not my natural game. And I very nearly needed a new phone.
loading . . .
about 2 months ago
0
1
0
AI in everything update: pretty sure I don't need a £300 toothbrush, I don't need a toothbrush with software updates, and you know what, I think my current toothbrush is protected against cyberattacks already, tyvm.
about 2 months ago
0
2
0
Chris Bryant, in Isabel Hardman's
@thespectator1828.bsky.social
email. The queen may have taken the car, but I once recall the ticket inspector on my way home buzzing because she'd had *Hugh Grant* a few hours earlier on the train up the Rhondda to visit Bryant.
about 2 months ago
0
1
0
Still thinking about AI in Higher Ed.
@adamtooze.bsky.social
talked about the impact of JStor on his research (before my time), and coincidentally I just read this description of a prior quantum leap. (Small World by David Lodge).
about 2 months ago
1
4
0
Gooseberries. A lot depends on whether we're comparing good examples of each fruit, typical examples, or bad ones. But still, gooseberries.
add a skeleton here at some point
about 2 months ago
1
2
0
Cricket coaching is proving a nice way to end the week. The current list of things I need to work on: Front foot Back foot Balance, Judging length Judging line Top hand grip Bottom hand Waiting Shot selection Getting there!
loading . . .
about 2 months ago
0
0
0
Being any form of skeptic on LLM is leading to some increasingly awkward interactions in surprising places.
2 months ago
0
1
0
Meiji Revolution sighting.
add a skeleton here at some point
2 months ago
0
1
0
Load more
feeds!
log in