Good essay. www.theatlantic.com/philosophy/2...

I have been invited to a meeting with admin to discuss restructuring of research funding. I am honored to be invited to participate in such an important discussion and look forward to a productive collaboration moving forward…

Notes from the Field | Sia X. Yang offers a poignant meditation on the role of pain in art and performance in China: "Pain in contemporary China is not merely endured. It is organized, moralized, redistributed, and ultimately naturalized as value." criticalasianstudies.org/commentary/2...

There are 64 issues of the important early Japanese socialist weekly periodical 平民新聞, 1903-1905 on the Internet Archive to read or download. This includes the first (partial) translation of the Communist Manifesto into Japanese (see issue 53). archive.org/search?query...

I want a version that takes place in the East Asian Mediterranean about Kakinomoto no Hitomaro traveling around on various imperial envoys all the while writing poetry about how he wants to see his wife again before he dies. Performed in Manyogana verse while wearing gigaku masks.

Important PSA for student debt holders.

The point is, a lot could change. Making the change too soon might come back to bite. Another point: we have a lawsuit awaiting a court decision that may intervene in the decision to gut SAVE. It's not guaranteed to work—but if it does and you moved too quick, you'll regret it.

If and when sanity returns to America, every university president, regent, and trustee needs to be removed from all educational institutions.

"You’ve read a million pearl-clutching op-eds about woke professors and cancel culture, but for my money, the real crisis facing American higher education is that colleges and universities are increasingly run by people who are hostile ... to the idea of the university itself." shorturl.at/MVe76

“This assumption is tied to a 20th-century ideology that equates one language with one nation.” It’s also based on another 20-century ideology: ethnonationalism. Japan needs workers and taxpayers. Expecting them to speak fluent Japanese, a very minor language in the world, is unrealistic.

Goat farm in the mountains. Make cheese and maybe grow hops and barley.

The flame after being relocated in another old wooden building:

East Asian Studies is being gutted at Sheffield - all staff at risk with 8.6 FTE proposed to go (a third of us). Biggest cuts in Chinese and Japanese Studies. We’ll be taking a few days to process. Solidarity to Materials and Chemistry colleagues who are also dealing with similarly bad news.

We’re hiring! 📣 The Whitney Humanities Center at Yale seeks a recent humanities PhD with experience in program-building, innovative humanities work, and higher ed service for a Postdoctoral Associate in Humanities Leadership. $70K + $3K stipend | Deadline: June 12, 2026 🔗 apply.interfolio.com/185526

If any postdoc scholars in film studies are interested in applying for a JSPS position and looking for a host institution, I’m happy to take a role of a host scholar at Kanazawa University. www.jsps.go.jp/english/e-in...

The demise of research institutions in the US and UK is a golden opportunity for Japanese universities to attract talented international students. But seems unlikely with the current rightwing government that’s determined to emulate these failing systems.

Today marks Nakba Day, an annual day of remembrance to commemorate the expulsion of more than 700,000 Palestinians between 1947 and 1949 during the creation of the State of Israel and the year that followed.   Inea is a New Yorker and a Nakba survivor. She shared her story with us.

I used to feel a little bad that The Onion is about to surpass WaPo in print subs and stopped promoting the membership as a direct foil until today they came out with “Do POOR BABIES deserve DIAPERS???” so therefore

The use of pronouns turned into a lesson in code switching with my daughter. In front of baba we use watashi not to upset her with gender neutral pronouns, but at home and with friends we can say boku.

JPP is pleased to invite paper proposals for a symposium hosted by its Premodern Japan Collaborative: "Rural Medieval: Tabihikitsuke & Sixteenth-century Japan," to be conducted bilingually in Japanese and English at UCLA on October 2–3, 2026. japanpastandpresent.org/en/news/call...

Never forget 5/13/1985

This a million times over again. One well-researched and well-written article is more valuable than 10 slop articles.

A hill I will die on: The purpose of the humanities is to study and think about what it means to be human. The decline of the humanities is the decline of humanity.

Recently, I have struggled to evaluate manuscripts. The prose are ok, but there is something off that I can't put my finger on. This thread identifies the problem. As a human, I can find the human errors in the structure or argument of a manuscript. But I can't find the logic in nonhuman texts.

If you're thinking about using gen-AI to "write" books, this 🧵 is for you. I’m a highly experienced editor who’s been in the biz a long time. Recently I’ve had manuscripts come to me where the author has used gen-AI – not for writing, I’ve been assured, but for “structuring” or "organising"

The deadline to apply to come work with us is May 15 (Japan time).

The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Each one more boring than the previous.

“The question she keeps turning over: what becomes the goal of science when AI can produce the outputs?” The reason AI is being pushed on academics is render research results meaningless.

Not just another Warren Court, an expanded Warren Court.

Last couple of days to submit abstracts for our conference on theology and trans studies (with @nicoleteburbach.bsky.social)! We'd love to hear your ideas! Go go go! 🕯️

Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò on magical thinking and elite impunity. “We are ruled by a class of people who seem either to believe or presume that war, disease, and apocalyptic destruction are things that will only ever happen to poorer and browner people.” [bostonreview.net]

Almost every professional decision I have made is based on spite. Spite is the fuel of academic production.

‘Stop sucking up to America’: Japan’s youth rises up to protect pacifist constitution www.theguardian.com/world/2026/a...

Is there an option to impeach both the president and vice president at the same time, because I assume that 37% is holding out because they know this would mean Vance becomes president.

AI is just a data phishing scam. So is social media. So is email. All of the internet, actually.

Happy Tax Day, New York. We’re taxing the rich.

And congratulations to the boomers who get to relive one of the great moments of their youth. The world really does revolve around you.

Craving more on the history of the cosmos after #Artemis II’s splashdown? Subo Wijeyeratne will be giving a hybrid talk on the Japanese space program on Monday, April 13, 12-1PM EST. Link below! #jaxa #nasa #histstm

Nothing ever happens

Kamiya is not stupid. He knows that the trope of foreigners not paying taxes or everyday expenses like tolls is a common belief among bigots in Japan, and Sanseito is leveraging such bigotry to their political advantage.

There are privacy laws?

Open lecture by Prof. Birgit Kellner “On the Place of Philosophy in the Study of Indian Buddhism” Commentator: Prof. Notomi Noburu (University of Tokyo) Date: 13:30–16:00, Sat., April 25, 2026 Venue: Conference Room 1, Bldg. 33, Toyama Campus, Waseda University. www.waseda.jp/flas/hss/new...

Every time I sit down to tackle a 500+ page academic book, I am left with the same conclusion: This would have been a good 200 page book if properly edited.

Today I participated in what is perhaps the last vestige of Japanese military culture: randoseru shopping

This coupled with forcing student loan debtors into expensive plans is going to result in a lot of pissed off broke voters. Curious to see how the democrats fuck up this once in a generation election opportunity.

Brilliant essay. This line sums up the current situation better than anything else I have read:

We publicly launched the *Oahu Rapid Response Coalition (ORRC)* today to witness and hold ICE accountable on the island ICE arrests are up over 461% during Trump’s “mass deportation” campaign of terror Join us! www.kitv.com/video/news/n...

Citizenship should be defined as the place where you pay taxes and that’s the only qualification.

“@POTUS ’ policy is simple: if you take out a loan, you must pay it back,” Because if there is one thing donald trump and linda mcmahon are known for it’s paying back loans.

Alternatively, Bluesky users could just learn to code. I suspect that a large percentage of them already know how.