This is the most incredible footage of blue whales I’ve ever seen

I call it, "Shoveling through a second blizzard when the previous snowdrift hasn't melted yet"

biantai dot jpeg

アメリカの在住者は この俳句の通りなのだろう 物いへば唇寒し秋の風 どうぞご無事で

Crying about the 16 year old caring all alone for her 3 month old sibling who didn't eat for a day and a half, imagining how that baby must have been screaming Thinking oh God we're powerless but we aren't, the baby ate, caring for one another is a kind of power too 19thnews.org/2026/02/minn...

Hamilton's most effective piece of writing was the sleazebag letter from beyond the grave where he pretended he was going to waste his shot in the duel with Burr.

If I told you that a formerly straight-A student whose dad was detained by ICE at gunpoint, was now food insecure, housing insecure, traumatized, and not doing as well in school? That would make sense to you. There are ~100K people in ICE detention. There are ~400K people in pretrial detention.

Objectively speaking Bad Bunny’s show is better than the game rn. #superbowl

余ノ友人オリオン・クラウタウ先生、近代日本ニ於ケル鎌倉仏教ヲ「宗教改革」トシテ解釈スルヿニ就キ、迚モ興味深キ大論文ヲ公ニセリ。是数篇ヨリ成ル論考ノ端緒ニ過ギズ、今後ノ続編ヲ待望スベシト。嗚呼！実ニ慶賀ノ至リ奉存候！ www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Thanks to Bruce Winkleton for the kind review! It focused on the narrative analysis in the book, a pet passion and something an earlier version of the manuscript centered, until I pulled it back and refocused on Shugendō’s historical development (albeit via its frequent shaping through narrative).

Harumasa Abe on the decline of the New Left in Japan, arguing that the United Red Army incident and uchigeba in-fighting embody a "maximal tension" between two dynamics: centralization and fragmentation. illwill.com/uchigeba

I was taking this quiz to learn which Japanese political party I'm close to. It has a bunch of normal stuff, then suddenly asks me this: Is the purpose of a constitution A: to limit the power of the state or B: to define the foundations and ideals of the state?

may his memory be a revolution

Look for the helpers

Proof that Hutchinson was a true Bostonian: Give him a little free time and he starts developing an interest in Japanese culture

New open-access article: "Kamakura Buddhism as Japanese Reformation: Hara Katsurō's Modern Historiographical Project." doi.org/10.1080/0048...

so far tonight msnbc has interviewed two students from brown university that are also survivors of separate high school shootings. insanity.

Born this day in 1884, on Neskuchnoye estate in Ukraine, the marvelous painter Zinaida Serebriakova. After my time, but worth making an exception! Here by herself at the mirror in 1909.

SKULL OF THOMAS AQUINAS: TAKE A LEFT NOW PRIEST: No, the GPS says we have to keep going— SKULL: I KNOW A SHORTCUT PRIEST: Do you remember the last ti— SKULL: FOR THOSE WITH FAITH, NO EVIDENCE IS NECESSARY; FOR THOSE WITHOUT IT, NO EVIDENCE WILL SUFFICE

職員室を再現したという展示企画「あの職員室」って、こういう内容だったんだ。青春映画の物語みたいだ。行けば良かったなー（ただ単に職員室を再現しただけかと思ってた）（よくよく考えると、そんなわけないか……） note.com/20040831/n/n...

Dec. 3, 1775: The first flag of the 13 United Colonies is introduced in Philadelphia. The ensign that features a British Union flag in the canton (upper left) and 13 alternating red and white stripes in the field, is hoisted from the Continental Navy warship Alfred by Lt. John Paul Jones. 1/5

For anyone attending the #AARSBL in Boston, come see the Buddhas in the West Pop-Up Exhibit this Saturday at CGIS S050 at Harvard University. We look at the early European depictions of the Buddha and Buddhist monks from the 1660s to 1850s. 🗃️ 📜 #Buddhasinthewest

We're not using this photograph of a mesmerist performance in open air for the cover of 'Performing magnetism: the theatrics of persuasion in the nineteenth century' (out with Leuven UP in 2026!) but it's such a nice and evocative picture that I'll share it with you here

Academics in Assyria in the 7th c BC complain that admin is preventing them from doing research and teaching

Popular mountains in Java like Merapi (pictured), Lawu, Arjuna, Sindoro, and Salak are rich sources of haunting local folklore that urge climbers to be cautious and act respectfully. Among the most popular tales are disappearances around pasar setan, or "ghostly markets". 1/3 🧵 #WyrdWednesday 👻

The Yamanote Line first became a full loop in 1925, and November 1st next week will mark the 100th anniversary of its complete encirclement of the city centre. www.47news.jp/13346469.html

New Podcast! Japan's New Minister for Managing Foreigners (Onoda Kimi): Will She Stop Immigration? youtu.be/ey9henrAp44

October 1915: Employment crisis at the shrines! Families that formerly supplied their daughters to work as miko are now finding more profitable work for them as switchboard operators. Shrines have to hire amateurs with no knowledge of decorum!

Japan, ostensibly one of the least religious countries in the world, had its political order upended by the lay Buddhist organization Soka Gakkai. That is THE story about Friday's epochal shift in Japanese politics (thread follows):

Marie Kondo has a new book coming out and I can't wait to read it. Letter From Japan is the book I'd been hoping she would write. Tracing the connections between her ideas and Japanese culture and religion.

Young South Koreans are buying Buddhist merch. Monks and experts hope the buzz will translate into deeper engagement.

In celebration of Black History month, here is: 'Portrait of an African Woman holding a clock' (circa 1583/5). attributed to Annibale Carracci.

New translation! The movie that shocked a young Hirokazu Kore-eda and has followed him his entire career...from the director of Dream Island Girl and Utopiano, Shoichiro Sasaki, I'm happy to share English subs for the gentle masterpiece that is "The Flow of a River, the Sound of a Violin" Enjoy!!

Some terrifying monsters drawn by Lafcadio Hearn. Shinjuku Historical Museum, Tokyo

A new book on #Shinto and famous #Kokugaku scholar Hirata Atsutane 平田篤胤 (1776-1843) has just been published open access and free for download by the preeminent historian Dr. Ann Walthall! You can check it out here: www.fulcrum.org/concern/mono...

Disaster relief volunteers in Japan are helping to entrench a culture of compassion

I like it when Japanese publications randomly try out an L instead of an R to see how it looks. Feeling cute, might rhotacize later

In 1946, an American football game called the "Atomic Bowl" took place in Nagasaki, Japan, in the ruins of perhaps one of the most tragic events in human history. "A new documentary highlights one of the most surreal events of World War II: The 'Atomic Bowl,'" by @erik-english.bsky.social.

I've just heard the terrible news that my friend - and friend of many here - Andrew West, @babelstone.co.uk, the incomparably brilliant Sinologist and Tangutologist passed away suddenly but peacefully on 10th July. 1/2

People always ask me : “Cristi, how do you manage parenting a baby while going up for tenure?” It’s easy. The secret is *flow-based-scheduling*. Here are its three core strategies for new academic parents: Sleep when the baby sleeps Cry when the baby cries Publish when the baby publishes

Interesting note: the Canadian protests changed the theme from "no kings/no crowns" to "no tyrants/no clowns". It seems no one at the Tokyo protest was concerned by the overtone of republicanism, and the protest went off without a hitch

June 10, 1775: John Adams proposes to the Continental Congress that the various New England units besieging Boston be reorganized as an army representing all the colonies. He urges that this Continental Army be led by one of their own, Virginia representative George Washington. 1/4

The ancient Chinese text of the Zhuangzi teaches us to reject entrenched values – and treasure the diversity of humanity | Karyn Lai

The global recognition of Shigeru Mizuki and the absolute blind spot the US has for him is confounding and frustrating. Italy - Holds an entire Mizuki-themed film festival and art exhibition US - Has an exhibition on Asian comics with a section on war and yokai manga that never mentions MIzuki

The 12th century Ghaznavid minaret of Masud III in Ghazni, modern southeastern Afghanistan.

This map all of the projects built by the New Deal is really remarkable. Astounding how much was built in such a short time. Clicking on each dot brings up a project -- and there are so many of them, and so varied. livingnewdeal.org/map/

I'm not sure how I never heard of 天学教会 before...