So WHERE in the world can you still do a fully funded PhD in Japan Studies?.... ...oh yeah, right here! 👇 careers.universiteitleiden.nl/job/PhD-posi...

Some interesting points here. Glad to see the author dismiss the religious difference” argument and focus on the political moment. I’d add that the anxiety about depopulation in Japan makes people more inclined to see the practical benefits of AI and less likely to see it as a threat to their jobs.

And democrats would have won the election.

To add more detail, applicants should specialize in theology or the study of Christianity. This is a tenured or tenure-track position.

I've signed a contract with Princeton University Press for my next book! Tentatively "Ascendance: Mountain Climbing and Spirituality in Modern Japan," I'll look at the passage of mountaineering from England to Japan in the early 20th c, esp. on various modern spiritualities that emerged through it.

To grasp the magnitude of this plan, Auschwitz II-Birkenau was built to hold 97000 people.

Job alert! We are looking for talented PhD researchers to write a dissertation on Benzaiten worship in modern Japan or Mazu pilgrimages in Taiwan, as part of the ERC project "Maritime Goddesses: Transnational Connections, Blue Environments, and Ritual Care in East- and Southeast Asia" (MARGO).

We are hiring. Follow the link for details.

The theologian and historian Gary Dorrien has made it his mission to chronicle and revive the tradition of Christian democratic socialism. His work reminds the American left of our project’s spiritual dimensions.

Come see me speak on the “Mining Pasts of the Nintendo Game Boy” at Harvard on Monday, February 23rd! Grateful to my hosts @eastasiascitech.bsky.social and @harvardusjapan.bsky.social.

During an interview at the private university where I now work, I was asked why would I (a foreigner with a degree from foreign university) apply to work in Japan. Private universities in Japan have no future, he said. It’ll be closed by the time you retire. I think about those words often.

These are literally nazi policies.

I'd like at add a few things to this. (1) humanists have not been able to convince any political party that curiosity-driven humanities research is a public good that should be funded using tax dollars. Republicans don't believe this, but neither do Democrats.

I don’t really know what I expect in posting this, but maybe some people see it and can learn from it. I’ll call it “lessons from an unwilling immigration attorney.” 1/

These should all be a part of the DNC policy platform.

Terrible. The bill now goes to the Senate. Make those calls. 202-224-3121 www.nbcnews.com/politics/con...

Postdoctoral Fellowship Position: Department for the Study of Religion & The Robert H.N. Ho Family Foundation Centre for Buddhist Studies  buddhiststudies.utoronto.ca/2026/02/01/p...

New York City: The time has arrived. Finally, a chance to tell the city EXACTLY what your landlord’s been getting away with. NYC’s first Rental Ripoff Hearings are happening in all five boroughs, and we want to hear from you. Real New Yorkers. Real stories. Real policy changes. 

“Takaichi did not specify which parts of the constitution she could seek to amend.” My guess is all the parts guaranteeing rights and protections.

ICE is currently holding around 80,000 detainees. Nazi Germany didn't reach this number in its formal camp system until 1942, nine years after seizing power and three years into the war.

On March 6, we’re delighted to be hosting @levimclaughlin.bsky.social at Harvard for his Japan Forum talk, sharing his expertise and insights as Japan’s political landscape rearranges post-elections. If you’re in the area, please join us! More info in the link rijs.fas.harvard.edu/events/relig...

Japan goes full MAGA. There goes my visa application.

Heavy snow now. The gods are not happy with the ruling party.

It’s hailing in Nagoya. Definitely a sign from the gods to vote out the LDP.

Tag yourself

Highlighting the speaker who stood in front of the Surprise mayor and told him to consider what the Mayor of Ohrdruf must’ve thought before he died by suicide: “He might have thought ‘how is this my fault I had no jurisdiction over this’ maybe he said ‘this site was not subject to local zoning.’”

BTNews covers the hunger strike against Israeli drones in Tokyo and skillfully highlights how terrible Takaichi is at the same time. I somehow missed the fact that she nominated Trump for the Nobel… www.instagram.com/reel/DUWWkof...

A brand new Super PAC — Elect Chicago Women — just dropped hundreds of thousands of dollars into this race. Why? Because it’s actually a front for AIPAC dark money. And they’re doing everything they can to buy my race:

The tenure system has been fucked up for years. Faculty should reform their hiring processes and contracts to ensure job security for all employees (not just tenured elites) before rightwing pols do it for them.

Takaichi = Trump If you want MAGA in Japan, vote LDP. Why isn’t the opposition party blasting this message?

I remember my parents giving us these straight out of the can as a summer treat. That was probably bad parenting.

New open-access article: "From Holy Prince to Legal Ancestor: Shōtoku in Japan’s Modern Constitutional Imagination" doi.org/10.1080/0955...

I’ll say it again: Krasner for President!

The National Diet Library is exploring the possibility of extending its Digitized Transmission Service for Individuals (DCTI) to those residing outside of Japan. To understand potential demand, the NDL and CULCON have created a survey. Deadline for responses 3/31! forms.office.com/Pages/Respon...

Whoever is running the MW account is getting really lazy posting the same post as yesterday.

Today I saw ICE gas little white kids in the streets of Portland with chemical weapons. Imagine what they're doing to brown and black kids in the detention camps

One of the most self-incriminating threads I’ve ever read on social media.

Calling all volunteers! On Friday, 2/6, join the grassroots, people-powered campaign to send me to City Council District 3 to advance Zohran's affordability agenda, keep ICE out of NY, & ensure no NYer is left behind in a city that prioritizes corporate interests over people. RSVP bit.ly/LBVOL

Academics vying for a spot in Epstein‘s world. There are so many. I feel the need to make a thread, so I don’t keep confusing them. 1/

The far-right Sanseito party got Community Noted on Twitter for posting a pledge to raise Japan's food self-sufficiency rate from 38% to 100%. The note points out that it's simply unrealistic to expect that such a pledge could be achieved.

Cowards

Worthless fucking cowards

The college at which I'm employed, which has signed a contract with the AI firm that stole books from 131 colleagues & me, paid a student to write an op-ed for the student paper promoting AI, guided the writing of it, and did not disclose this to the paper. www.thedartmouth.com/article/2026...

Throwing this out there: Krasner for President 2028

The point is obviously to get people to train AI to do their jobs so it can replace them.

Cowards

MDPI published over 18000 special issues in 2023. That’s insane.