Things that make me happy as a teacher: when a student whose BA thesis I failed reaches out to tell me how grateful they are for the constructive criticisms, and asking if I have any further advice on how to improve their work. No hard feelings, just gratitude that I engaged with their work.

Unless and until some kind of compelling legal and moral argument is presented as to why this is a legitimate use of deadly force, this is just…mass murder.

Ja, ”PA-konsult och moderat gräsrotspolitiker”, just din lunch ska VERKLIGEN anmälas i ett lobbyregister. Fattar inte de här människorna hur sjukt detta låter för vanligt folk? Är man lobbyist OCH politiker så MÅSTE du kunna granskas in i minsta detalj. www.altinget.se/artikel/ska-...

Daughter of Robin Williams, Zelda Williams 💔

Är det ens någon moderat företrädare i den här härvan som rakt av sagt att nazism är dåligt, kanske något om hårdare tag, eller är det bara överslätande ord om ”vad barn gör med sina mobiltelefoner”?

This is about increasing crop yields and preserving soil quality, you hare-brained Luddites.

Icke skyldig. Nytt brev från Joakim Medin. Läs, dela, publicera. Allt stöd behövs. #FreeMedin

🙃🫡

NYT Style Magazine bravely wonders: “What if Japan studies didn’t exist?!”

A Special Advisor to Prime Minister Ishiba was interviewed about Japan's huge monetary support for US bases in their country, which is higher than other major allies. He said if they had to pay more, it would be like Japan was hiring the US military as "mercenaries." www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkhV...

The 54th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society for Spine Surgery and Related Research is currently taking place in the same convention center as the Star Wars Celebration Japan. Organizers put up a "no force here" sign to ward off lost Star Wars fans.

How to understand the stock market if you only watch Fox News

To mark the 80th anniversary of the March 10, 1945 firebombing of Tokyo, a thread introducing one of the most remarkable primary sources I've come across in the archive: Gen. Thomas Power's eye-witness report, recorded while circling over the firestorm for nearly two hours. 1/

Dutch universities go on strike - for the first time since anyone can remember. We protest the treatment and budget cuts of our extreme-right government. The strikers take turns - and Leiden university kicks off tomorrow. ✊🏼

Igår mötte jag Isak, han gillar fotboll, snus och att umgås med sina kompisar. När Isak ser barn med mörkare drag leka i en video på Tiktok så hoppas han att de utsätts för ett rasistiskt motiverat massmord. text.zolfagary.se/de-ser-barne...

Borgerliga opinionsmakare som Sofia Nerbrand och Adam Cwejman, är så förhäxade av trollarméernas förtjusning på X, och har så obefintlig demokratisk ryggrad, att de vill att Europa lägger sig platt för de amerikanska furstarna. Så fan heller.

Så har jag förstått Tidöpositionen rätt? Fackföreningar i Sverige får inte stödja ett svenskt parti ekonomiskt. Men vår skolpeng får gå som stöd till Republikanerna i USA. 🤔

Japanese Prime Minister Ishiba, gathering with other LDP leaders, coincidentally ended up seated in order of receding hairline:

I submitted a text today that was not an application, for the first time in an unreasonably long time. Now enjoying the feeling that makes writing a sometimes pleasant endeavour. Swedish article for teachers of religious studies so nothing major, but the feeling is there regardless.

I gave up on Bluesky last winter, but apparently it is now the place to be. I shall therefore try to become more active here, as I eventually say my final goodbyes to the other place. Really happy to see how many of my colleagues are active here now, though!

Lots of new followers in the last several days, so between that and the rollout of the new threading feature, this seems as good a time as any to plug a new book that I co-edited with @mcmullen.bsky.social. It’s the New Nanzan Guide to Japanese Religions. uhpress.hawaii.edu/title/the-ne...

Signs that make you consider what came before. Is this a common problem in Sarnath?

I have a new publication out in Critical Research on Religion: "The Naha Confucius Temple lawsuit and religion-making in Japan’s courts of law." This is an updated an much improved text on a topic I published on in Religions in 2022. Open access. journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

My panel on Islands, Religion, and Identity has been accepted for AAS-in-Asia in Yogyakarta. I look forward to some great discussions on the role of religion in identity-making in Sri Lanka, Indonesia, and Okinawa, with @paulakolata.bsky.social as discussant.

Shane MacGowan passed away today. While it is quite miraculous that he made it this far, I still feel the loss. I never got to see The Pogues play live, but few musicians have had as much of an impact on me as Shane has. He will be missed, but his music lives on. amp.theguardian.com/music/2023/n...

As always, @neilhimself.neilgaiman.com has excellent advice.

Received my reviewer's copy of Yamaguchi Tomomi and Saito Masami's new book on Japan's religious right and gender. Really looking forward to reading this one! My plan to not do more book reviews continues to fail, mostly due to people asking me to review books that I wanted to read anyway...

Japan: where you can find ads for popular works on Marxist theory in the subway.

The detective story I dreamed last night had no less than two Chekhov's guns, one of which turned out to be a red herring. I'm very impressed with my subconscious, it was a thrilling ride! I only wish my waking brain was as creative...

Could someone explain to me why Elon Musk at the moment seems desperate to pick a fight with Wikipedia? Have I missed something?

One thing I really enjoy about Tokyo is how much wildlife the city has. I went for an early evening run along Tama river, and the air was absolutely full of bats, probably desperate to build up their reserves before winter. Wonderful to see them against a darkening sky!

It's funny, we are so used to scam publishers sending junk mails requesting pay-for-publish manuscripts, that when an actual legit publisher reaches out to you, you get immediately suspicious. What would we have done if we didn't have Google to check people's credentials?

Paper accepted and done. I must say that Critical Research on Religion has an absolutely exemplary editing board (or perhaps, "Warren is great" is a more apt description). Very fast and efficient throughout the process. So, new paper on the Naha Confucius Temple case coming soon!

I always find it amusing that the National Diet Library in Tokyo offers no method for drying your hands after using the restroom. You would think that in a library, perhaps, it might be worth the investment...

Friends: my department, Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at Duke, has three tenured/tenure-track positions open in Japanese Studies (academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/25879), Korean Studies (academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/25886) and South Asian Studies (academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/25880)!

With all of us coming here to Bluesky, we are all essentially hitting a big reset button. Twitter promoted a lot of toxic unhealthy traits in the pursuit for clout thanks to its awful algorithm. Here, those toxic fucks don't have an algorithm to push their bullshit. This is a huge chance for us.

Please share and repost! New position, Japanese Politics at Oxford

Honestly, 1000 words is really not that much when you're reviewing a 200 page edited volume on an engaging topic. It's difficult enough when there only one author. Japan Review pays for their commissioned reviews so I'm not complaining or anything, just reflecting on my current predicament...

Finally got my hands on Ioannis Gaitanidis' exciting new book. I've been looking forward to reading it since I heard his talk at EAJS in Ghent in August. Will be reviewing the book for Nova Religio later this fall!