Apropos of nothing, I discovered LAST ALLIANCE put out a new single in November after literally a decade. Most of the first bands I got to know from Japan (including LA) played this style of "melo-core" melodic hardcore and it still hits right.

There sure are a lot of car commercials running during the Hakone Ekiden broadcast. This feels ....wrong.

For the unfamiliar, this is an annual song contest broadcast on the national broadcaster NHK in Japan and it features highlights and then ncited performers from throughout the year and acts as a metacommentary on japanese popular music more broadly. Shelley Brunt is the scholar to read on this.

Its that time of year again! Time to livetweet the Kōhaku Utagassen!

One of the most successful pedestrian streets in the world, the Strøget in Copenhagen, was filled with cars until a 2 year pedestrianization pilot project in 1962. The opposition argued “no cars means no business,” but the street has been a massive retail success, the city’s busiest shopping street.

Having now been to two formal events in the span of 10 days I am coming ever more to the opinion that there needs to be A) acceptance of PhD robes as formalwear outside graduation and B) varying levels and forms of said robes (winter/summer, or a mantle of some sort?)

Over the past few years, "college/place wear" style clothing has been trendy here in Japan. Sometimes it is real, but often these pieces are just gesturing in the vicinity. Think "University of (name)" over a fake crest. Saw this one today which actually just goes ahead and talks to the meta.

404 Media is making a print zine! About the surveillance technologies used by ICE. 16 pages, riso printed. Shipping early January. Features reworked versions of our best reporting and a few new things. We're very excited! And hope to do more if people like it: www.404media.co/404-media-is...

This is an ocean mimic

Me to my two year old at a friend's wedding here in Japan: Oh, no thank you, no we don't need any pocket hamburger, no thanks.

Read this twice. “Our findings redefine SARS-CoV-2 infection as a condition of long-lasting immune compromise.” www.sciencedirect.com:5037/science/arti...

The opening to the Heikemonogatari, roughly: "The bells of Gion Monastery ring the impermanence of all things, the colors of the Sala flower reveals the truth that all who prosper shall one day fall." 祇園精舎の鐘の聲、 諸行無常の響あり。 娑羅雙樹の花の色、 盛者必衰のことわりをあらはす。

If any of you happen to be #Ghibli fans, would you please fill this survey out? It's my student's research for her final paper, and she needs more responses. Thank you. #StudioGhibli #GhibliMusic forms.gle/1SXnq9ceRyKe...

As it's Nikolausdag, the night when De Kleeschen comes, I was putting treats in my kids shoes before bed and got curious. For those who did St. Nicholas day observations as a kid, where did you put your shoes? Mine went by the fireplace - a N. Am. variation!

If you’d like to join our board, drop us a line!

Guess the couch next in this conversation with my five year old: Me: So you think Pikachu having no eyes could stop it from stealing teeth? 5YO: Yes. . . . . . (5YO has a lose tooth and are eating a pikachu donut)

you heard em 🫡

Though I never met him directly, eminent USian folklorist (among many other hats he wore) died this past week, less than a month after his final(?) academic presentation at the American Folklore Society conference in late October. americanfolkloresociety.org/bill-ivey-19...

I could try to make moral arguments about spending your Spotify fee on one Bandcamp album a month. But let's go simpler. It is *so easy* to just switch from Spotify to Tidal, Apple, or Qobuz! You won't barely notice the difference! You can move your playlists! The audio quality is better!

If it goes up, don’t cross the picket line. Collective action is the only way we ever get things done.

And the article is open access! (Couldn't make the talk from Japan but it seems interesting for thinking with archives and history in the digital age)

While visiting Osaki Hachimangu shrine today, I met a chicken. One of several, its name was either "Chako" or "Taco" but either one was fitting. This is a chicken at shrines appreciation post.

Also found the other day: FUNGRY to gratify your curiosity

Are you interested in #Kona, #coffee, #glohalhistory, #Japanese #empire? On November 6, we @modernjapanhist.bsky.social will invite Prof. Mariko Iijima (Sophia Univ.) to a book talk about those themes. We will be joined by Prof. Nadin Heé (Leipzig) as a discussant. I will moderate the talk.

Happening in one week! Alicia Volk (University of Maryland) discusses her new work, "In the Shadow of Empire: Art in Occupied Japan," as part of the MJHA's New Books on Japan series. Information and Registration: mjha.org/event-6314068

My 5-year old, without promoting whileeating dinner: I don't want to be made of flesh!

Can you help rebuild the parts of Matsumoto Castle's palace destroyed after the Meiji restoration? Families, colleges and museums in the West may have photos and drawings made by foreign visitors to the Castle. Please share widely, deadline end March 2027. More info: mainichi.jp/english/arti...

Tell me more about these punks...

Montage: 2004, Christmas morning: I open lostprophets' new CD and my Mom says 'I think they're some local band?'* *They were from Wales not Minnesota dear reader 2025: child abuser (and singer) Ian Watkins gets stabbed in prison and dies Me, across time: Wow.

📣 Germany's close to reversing its opposition to mass surveillance & private message scanning, & backing the Chat Control bill. This could end private comms-& Signal-in the EU. Time's short and they're counting on obscurity: please let German politicians know how horrifying their reversal would be.

📢Call for Papers📢 ‘Folklore on the Move’: The Folklore Society’s annual conference 2026 in collaboration with the Elphinstone Institute, University of Aberdeen. In person conference: 5-7 Jun 2026; online conference day: 10 Jun 2026. Proposal deadline 14 Dec www.folklore-society.com/event/call-f...

A great place for some folklorists I know to pitch something right here

Keep this in mind when people claim cars mean business — closing Central #Madrid to cars over holidays resulted in a 9.5% boost in retail spending on its main shopping street: STUDY. There was also a 71% drop in air pollution. Via @carltonreid.com in @forbes.com. #citymakingmath #citiesforpeople

On October 14/15, we @modernjapanhist.bsky.social invite Prof. Ko En/Gao Yuan (Komazawa Univ.) to a book talk about the #Japanese #empire, #Manchuria, and #tourism. We will be joined by two discussants, Ken Ruoff and Araragi Shinzo. Mark your calendars!

Coming up tonight US and tomorrow morning Japan time.

Bicycle space urban with the comfort a adulty could so easily be Tokyo's new bike plan motto

the community guidelines in question here include issues pertaining to adult content and LGBT+ identity, so please do fill it out and give them a BIG piece of your mind!! kick up a fuss! we're not about to be pushed out!

Guess who got some old-old-old-rice? Reiwa 3 heck yeah

Saw Animals As Leaders opening for Meshuggah in 2013. The latter remains the most overpowering stage presence I've ever seen, hands down.

It's worth noting: JP Post will stop delivering mail to the US worth more than $100 or for sale. Documents, books, and correspondence are still going to be delivered but may incur de minimis charges (not sure where that stands right now) depending on the item.

This is the drug that is a 100% effective treatment for HIV. this is the one you've been seeing in the news. I would LOVE to see an in-depth discussion of exactly what "clinical, financial, and regulatory factors" are keeping them from essentially carrying a cure to a deadly disease.

Mark your calendars! The 2025 MJHA Distinguished Annual Lecture will be given by Andrew Gordon (Harvard) on Monday, September 15, 2025, and is titled "After the Pandemic: Revising a Textbook and Rethinking History." REGISTER FOR ZOOM HERE: mjha.org/event-6201539

This is a call for application by the University of the Ryukyus to descendants of Okinawan immigrants residing in South America (only Brazil, Argentina, Peru and Bolivia) and Hawaii as auditing students or research students to study at Ryudai!

Hey Americans, if this passes you'll be uploading your ID to every social media and website to access it.

I'll bite, but full diaclosure Lollapalooza was never my crowd. 10 and 29.

Still see a lot of Japan focused folks using substack. Maybe this is enough of a reason to shift to other platforms? (see thread for suggestions)

Wow—the Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention (named after Raphael Lemkin, a Holocaust survivor who coined the term genocide) says plainly: "No more discussions, meetings, reports, sessions, summits…IF YOU HAVE THE POWER, YOU MUST USE IT." "HISTORY WILL DETERMINE THE RECTITUDE OF YOUR ACTIONS."

It really shows how poisoned this election cycle is by the Sanseitō rhetoric that when I stopped to ask a guy to move his car out of the bike lane, my immediate thought afterward was, "I sure hope he hasn't voted yet." Never know how folks will react to a seeming foreigner saying follow the rules.

Buying one t-shirt ($20) from your favorite artist nets them more than 6,500 Spotify streams

Fun fact: the phrase "train of thought" predates mechanical trains