Features contributions from top scholars of Japan, including @kmcelwain.bsky.social (co-editor with Robert Pekkanen and me), Axel Klein & @levimclaughlin.bsky.social, @robfahey.net, @profvekasi.bsky.social, Ko Maeda, Kuniaki Nemoto, Masahiro Zenkyo, Masaki Taniguchi, Saori Katada, & many others.

How did #Japan respond to #COVID-19? Discover more in our Virtual Special Issue on the pandemic’s political and social impact: academic.oup.com/ssjj/pages/c...

What drives public support during global health crises? Yida Zhai compares Japan and China’s COVID-19 responses, showing how state performance and economic aid shape approval—while revealing the fragility of China’s reliance on material support. 🔗 academic.oup.com/ssjj/article...

In his new paper, Till Knaudt traces the history of The Tribes, a hippie commune on Suwanose Island, revealing its links to the Californian Beat scene, West Coast Zen, the Japanese New Left, and environmental activism in Japan: academic.oup.com/ssjj/article...

In their new article, Julia Gerster and Akihiro Shibayama of Tohoku University provide a detailed analysis of the intricate local dynamics surrounding the preservation of schools as memorial sites for the victims of the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake #OpenAccess: academic.oup.com/ssjj/article...

Takaichi wins, with Koizumi falling surprisingly short in the lawmaker votes - he didn't even win all of Hayashi's votes. Probably in part down to lawmakers not wanting to ignore the constituency votes, but also a pretty clear sign of a party running scared of populist challenges from its right.

What's the difference between @epssnet.bsky.social and the "old" EPSA, and why you should come to our conference in Belfast in June 2026: epssnet.org/uncategorize...

⏳Due Sunday! Submit your JPSA-APSA Working Group application by June 1st. Explore civic research on demographic change in Tokyo, Japan, in October 2025. #PoliSci #JPSA #APSA 🔗Apply today! buff.ly/5lbML1t #PoliSci #JPSA #APSA

As @ykshrt.bsky.social wrote, our paper (with Saki Kuzushima, now on the job market!) on how international law, backed by constitutional principles, can persuade citizens to support political reforms is now out (Open Access). A true pleasure to work with these fantastic colleagues and friends.

47 years after its publication, McKelvey’s chaos theorem is having it’s day in the House Republican Conference. The social choice theory states that majority rule decisions in a two-dimensional space are unstable. Any point in the space can be reached through a sequence of majority votes. There …

But I'm going to start with self-promotion! New paper with my wonderful colleagues K Kawata and M Nakabayashi in Political Psychology. Narrative>statistical evidence in increasing support for poverty relief spending, using info treatments & conjoint analysis. OA at doi.org/10.1111/pops...! polisky

Trained myself out of posting on the other site a ways back, so slowly getting back into the swing of things here. I'll mostly oscillate between cute animals, rugby (for the next few months at least), and new/cool research (mine and others). Happy to rejoin a cool community!