New book: Jon Pitt, "Botanical Imagination: Rethinking Plants in Modern Japan" (Cornell University Press). cornellpress.manifoldapp.org/projects/bot...

New book: Zhanna Grigorievna Son, "The Russian Koreans in the 1920s and 1930s: An Ethnic Community in the Face of Soviet Power" (Brill). brill.com/display/titl...

It’s pretty simple. When you do a huge armed midnight raid on an apartment building rounding up and terrorizing children and later find out there were no criminals there everyone involved resigns in shame and we have loud showy Congressional hearings.

RIP legendary Japanese actor Tatsuya Nakadai. Star of Kurosawa's Kagemusha, Ran, many other classics. He was 92. news.yahoo.co.jp/pickup/6558551

Legendary singer-songwriter Kanenobu Sachiko 金延幸子 will do a free concert with her Big Sky Band at UChicago 12/4. We were originally scheduled to do this in 2020 but then the damn virus arrived; I'm delighted we are finally able to do it! Register here: sachiko_kanenobu_performance.eventbrite.com

New book: Patrick Noonan, "Age of Disaffection: The Aesthetic Critique of Politics in 1960s Japan" (Columbia University Press). cup.columbia.edu/book/age-of-...

Never forget that a Democratic US Attorney’s decision to prosecute Aaron Swartz for downloading JSTOR PDFs contributed to his suicide but AI firms’ decision to download everything ever will be a justification for hundreds of billions of dollars of taxpayer bailouts and legal exemptions.

A voice that still carries: Aimee Mann’s greatest songs – ranked!

Norma Field delivers the 19th Annual Tetsuo Najita Distinguished Lecture in Japanese Studies, November 21, 2025 at UChicago.

Hiroshima Survivor, In Visit To Chicago, Slams Trump's Call To Resume Nuclear Weapons Testing blockclubchicago.org/2025/11/02/h...

Last chance to turn it off. On Monday, November 3rd, Microsoft will start using your LinkedIn data for AI training. And remember, you're opted in by default. To toggle it off 👉 Account - Settings & Privacy > Data privacy > Data for Generative AI Improvement.

My goodness.

New book: Jess Kruk and Wesley C. Robertson, "Peripheral Linguistic Brutality: Metal Languaging in the Asia Pacific" (University of Hawai'i Press). uhpress.hawaii.edu/title/periph...

New book: Alice Volk, "In the Shadow of Empire: Art in Occupied Japan" (University of Chicago Press). press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/bo...

Coming up next month in Chicago: former AKB48 member Iwata Karen in a solo performance with songs and stories.

Made it to the bottom of the 11th inning before bedtime arrived here in Chicago....What a game that was!

World War 2 veterans, the original antifa, took part in the nationwide protests against the fascist Trump regime. #3E #NoKings #50501Movement #indivisible #wearetheflood

An astonishingly large crowd! Chicago

Tomorrow (10/18/2025) is "Arts and Humanities Day" at UChicago. Speakers include such luminaries as Amitav Ghosh, Roxanne Gay, Nick Offerman, Gary Shteyngart--and yours truly (in agate font at the bottom of the bill), speaking on Japanese popular music. humanitiesday.uchicago.edu/presentations

Mladen Dolar on an early encounter between Freud and the rising new force of populism, "a politics that would violate a long series of unwritten laws and rules and succeed precisely on the basis of that violation—given that unwritten laws form the very fabric of society and its ethical foundation."

Chicago priest Fr. Larry Dowling describes procession to ICE facility: “No one had the courage to speak directly to us. No one from Homeland Security could stand in the presence of the Monstrance holding the Blessed Sacrament. No wonder. Evil is repelled, recoils in the presence of Christ.”

Michael Jackson reviews last week's Hyde Park Jazz Festival for "Chicago Reader", with tons of photos that give a good feel for what the event was like. chicagoreader.com/music/music-...

Great story. Can't overstate the desperation in creative industries right now. Nearly every person I know who previously had a viable, or even lucrative, career in media/entertainment is in a financial panic, leaving longtime apartments, desperately taking any work they can find. It is really bad.

“Terrible things are happening outside. Poor helpless people are being dragged out of their homes. Families are torn apart. Men, women, and children are separated. Children come home from school to find that their parents have disappeared.” Diary of Anne Frank January 13, 1943

The volume "Social Voices: The Cultural Politics of Singers Around the Globe," ed. Levi. S. Gibbs (University of Illinois Press) is available as a free download this month. It includes my essay on singer Teresa Teng's career in Japan and much other great scholarship. mailchi.mp/illinois/pf0...

New book: "Literary and Artistic Japan behind the Iron Curtain," edited by Irina Holca and George T. Sipos (Routledge). www.taylorfrancis.com/books/edit/1...

Legendary pianist Yamashita Yosuke 山下洋輔 opened today's first day of the 2025 Hyde Park Jazz Festival here in Chicago. A striking set by "Nikutai Mondo," also featuring Aoki Tatsu 青木達幸on bass and Tomatsu Takahiro 戸松美貴博 on "body movement."

Rivi Handler-Spitz (of my alma mater, Macalester College) for Inside Higher Education: "Visa Chaos: What 6 Chinese Students Say." www.insidehighered.com/opinion/view...

Jill Mapes at "Hearing Things" on the music of the Gilmore Girls: "Those Gilmore Girls Sure Do Know A Lot About Music." www.hearingthings.co/those-gilmor...

Carl Wilson with a great piece for Slate on the history and stakes of the poptimism/rockism wars: "Criticism’s Biggest Straw Man." slate.com/culture/2025...

Lecture next week at UChicago: TAKAHASHI Akinori on "Tsukinami as a Keyword in Japanese Culture" (in Japanese). Oct. 3, 2025 at 2:00 p.m. To attend IN-PERSON: www.eventbrite.com/e/takahashi-... To attend VIRTUALLY: uchicagogroup.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

Mark Jenkins reviews the new Haru Nemuri album “Ekkolaptómenos" for the Washington Post. We learn, among other things, that she's a big fan of Fugazi. wapo.st/4gCbfL4

Sonia's debut single, "Emily" is out today and available on all platforms (see the links below). Give it a listen! open.spotify.com/album/2IOWjB... tidal.com/browse/track... amazon.com/music/player... music.apple.com/us/album/emi...

🙃

Reading books is becoming an act of resistance.

What Trump's Secret Police did today.

Eventually you have to accept that no matter how many different notebooks you buy, they won’t make you a better writer. For that, you need to spend a lot of money on the right pen.

2025年9月30日 『仲介する日本』 シャオルー・マー/秋草俊一郎/今井亮一/高橋知之 (文学通信) [Book] https://sinkan.net/?ean=9784867660966&action_item=true #新刊情報 #sinkan

Joshua Minsoo Kim devotes Pitchfork's "The Sunday Review" for classic albums to Hosono Haruomi's 1975 LP "Tropical Dandy." pitchfork.com/reviews/albu...

New book: Anne Walthall, "In the Presence of Gods and Spirits: Hirata Atsutane and His Collaborators" (University of Michigan Press). press.umich.edu/Books/I/In-t...

If any of your books are in this database of works stolen by Libgen theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2025/03/search-libgen-data-set/682094/ You can fill out this form to receive updates on the ongoing class action lawsuit www.lieffcabraser.com/anthropic-author-contact/ (my agent said yes, do this)

New book: Christopher T. Nelson, "When the Bones Speak: The Living, the Dead, and the Sacrifice of Contemporary Okinawa" (Duke University Press). Online open access version available. www.dukeupress.edu/when-the-bon...

Excellent review by Katie Kitamura of Tsushima Yuko's novel "Wildcat Dome" (trans. Lisa Hofmann-Kuroda). Behind a paywall, but well worth tracking down-- harpers.org/archive/2025...

Not a good day to be a Minnesota Twins fan….

It continues to be an entertaining Nagoya Sumo Tournament. Terrific match today (Day 8) between sekiwake Wakatakakage and maegashira 3 Kinbozan. www.instagram.com/reel/DMU4GT9...

It's been an interesting Nagoya Sumo Tournament so far: the old guys are dominating for a change. Today down in juryo there was a fierce match between veteran Nishikifuji and up-and-comer Mita (so new to sumo his hair hasn't grown long enough to tie a proper knot). www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOrw...

Alex Ross on "Upheaval at NYT Arts" www.therestisnoise.com/2025/07/uphe...

New book: Kimberly Chung, "The Sensational Proletarian: Leftist Cultures in Colonial Korea" (Stanford University Press). www.sup.org/books/asian-...

Kirsti Marohn for Minnesota Public Radio: "As ‘Arrowsmith’ turns 100, Sinclair Lewis’ medical tale couldn’t be more timely" www.mprnews.org/story/2025/0...