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.

New move in academic publishing: The @ec.europa.eu is launching Open Research Europe (ORE), an open access publishing platform for research funded by all EU programmes. @academic-chatter.bsky.social research-and-innovation.ec.europa.eu/news/all-res...

The reason AI overuses noncommittal punctuation is because the authors it imitates overuse it. “Stunt punctuation” is a wonderful phrase.

I'll be speaking online about my monograph, focused on the BL parts, hosted by Gesshin, a Japan focused student group at Ca' Foscari University of Venice. April 7, 11:30 am–12:30 pm CET (Western Europe time) To join, register by April 6, 8 pm CET.: forms.gle/zw2QrridKuNT...

I feel like there is a kaken application in here somewhere.

Bring back the draft but only for men over 65.

Remake of 300 but with Houthi pirates

Rare opportunity for European postdocs to define your own research project in #envhist #envirohist Potential topics include extractivism in the electronics industry! @andrewcampana.bsky.social @mmuscolino.bsky.social @eastasiascitech.bsky.social

Over eight decades after philosopher Tosaka Jun died in prison, his writings remain helpful. Drawing upon Tosaka's work, Yunchen Tian cautions that the discourse of Japan's "foreigner problem" should be understood as more than perceived grievances against foreign residents and tourists.

Really begs the question of why we need universities anyway. Or perhaps that’s the point.

A new volume on Meditation Sickness is out from University of Hawaii Press. Features a chapter by me on demonic states from Suramgama sutra. uhpress.hawaii.edu/title/medita...

New job: Faculty - Lecturer, U.S. History Utah Valley University jobs.h-net.org/jobs/69888

**Postdoc positions** Kyoto University has opened up applications for the Hakubi Project, due May 17, 2026. This is a cream of the crop postdoc ("all fields, from basic to applied"), 5 (FIVE!) years, great research budget. Please apply or let others know! www.hakubi.kyoto-u.ac.jp/en/recruitme...

The line that I’d quote is: “Faculty with tenure should summon the same level of courage as an all-but-dissertation lecturer or untenured assistant professor to fight against attacks on academic freedom.”

公立大学法人都留文科大学の専任教員公募【国文学科　国語教育学　教授、准教授または講師】（2026年03月06日~2026年08月31日 消印有効） jrecin.jst.go.jp/seek/SeekJor...

関西大学・（URA募集）関西大学リサーチ・コーディネーター（研究IR、学術情報支援担当（OA支援、データマネジメント支援等））募集案内（2026年03月07日~2026年04月23日 必着） jrecin.jst.go.jp/seek/SeekJor...

公立大学法人都留文科大学の専任教員公募【国文学科　日本文学（中世）　教授、准教授または講師】（2026年03月06日~2026年07月24日 消印有効） jrecin.jst.go.jp/seek/SeekJor...

Henceforth, any politician who asks “how will we pay for it” shall be placed in stocks and pelted with rotten fruit.

My most clickbaity headline yet

Check out this interview by Kit Brooks with Akiko Walley and me on the nature of replicas and the Shōsōin. journals.publishing.umich.edu/ars/article/...

Every democrat should be campaigning on this issue.

Excited to attend a conference in North America while continuing to avoid entering the US.

Children should never be killed.

Leaving the US is one of the best decisions I’ve ever made in my life. Never going back.

INBOX: @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social dropped a 90s sitcom-themed video endorsement of @bradlander.bsky.social, specifically calling out AIPAC's influence:

“An enjoyable enough read about the era, the writers and (of course) the townsmen themselves.” — Tony’s Reading List on THE TEXTUAL TOWNSMAN buff.ly/XiDqCRQ #BookReview #JapaneseLiterature #HistoryBooks #JLit

I try to explain this point to my students using sports analogies: the purpose of tennis practice is not that a racket gets swung X times a day. The purpose is to improve your tennis game. They nod in agreement, then have ChatGPT write their essays.

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.