Interesting mixed medium approach to this Asahi feature on opium and Japanese occupied Manchuria: www.asahi.com/special/manc...

Thankful to Adam Cathcart for his thoughtful review of Border of Water and Ice in the new issue of American Historical Review. Please check out @sino-nk.bsky.social for Adam and colleagues' cutting-edge analysis on the Sino-Korean border and broader PRC-DPRK relations past and present. sinonk.com

We've added a new post to our blog, by Björn Billing on 'Visualising Icebergs in the Early Modern Period'; read it here: whitehorsepress.blog/2025/12/22/v... #envhist @eandhwhp.bsky.social #iceberg #arctic

Pleased to share the Spring 2026 schedule for the SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY IN ASIA online seminar series @ Harvard! Talks are over Zoom on Tuesdays, 10:30–11:45 am EST. REGISTRATION: seow.scholars.harvard.edu/STinAsia #histstm #histsci #histtech #histmed #envhist #envhum #sts 🧪

TIL that the animator behind the 1964 Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, which I and many others grew up with, was a former Japanese propagandist who saw WWII's end in the puppet-state of Manchukuo and later worked in China for the CCP, making his first puppet animation about Chiang Kai-shek.

What does Gen AI mean for the work of the historian and the value of historical experience, skills and craft? 'The Historian in the Age of AI' by @chriscampbell1.bsky.social. New Comment article now available in 'Transactions of the Royal Historical Society' bit.ly/4atErTB #Skystorians 1/2

Ad for hunting gear/guns that ran in the Japanese settlers' newspaper 京城日報 in colonized Korea (1925). Many elite male settlers emulated the sporting practice of White hunters (complete with dogs), while Korean access to firearms remained strictly limited.

Issue no. 4 is out! It features a 'Tracks in the Field' essay, four research articles, plus book reviews!

Another excellent issue of Animal History is now available! This issue includes an exciting article on mules as vital transport in Yunnan 🐎🐂🐂 #animalhistory online.ucpress.edu/ah/article-a...

Excited to dive into this newly published history of Pusan/Fukuoka as "imperial region" bound together by the fluid borderland of the Tsushima Strait. Many congrats to @hannahjshepherd.bsky.social , who will be hosting for a book talk @modernjapanhist.bsky.social in May! mjha.org/event-6433046

❄️ Our Winter Sale is here! Use the code 09WINTER and get 44% off from November 10 to December 5, 2025. 📚 🔗Access to US & Canada: www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/books/ 🔗Access to the rest of the world: mngbookshop.co.uk/publisher/co... Order your next favorite title now!

Critiques of Meiji-era Japanese militarism/colonialism? Icy border crossings? Even tigers? Man, the anime Golden Kamuy hits all of the right buttons for me.

@cornellupress.bsky.social is having an amazing sale atm — 44% off until 12/5, including books by @josephaseeley.bsky.social , @timothymyang.bsky.social , and myself, among others!

In twelve hours!

Was thrilled to see this newly-published review of my book in the Journal of Asian Studies. Many thanks to Ted Boyle @borderthinking.bsky.social for the critically engaged review, especially his thoughts on my book's contribution to border studies. Full Review: read.dukeupress.edu/journal-of-a...

It’s Halloween! 🎃 Time to let your skeleton shine! 💀🦴 Are you a dancing skeleton? Celebratory skeleton? This spooky season enjoy these possibilities from the late 19th century by Kawanabe Kyōsai. #ハロウィン Held by the University of California San Francisco Library: calisphere.org/item/ark:/13...

Fun interlibrary-loan surprise. From Yale I got this interesting 1980s memoir of a Zainichi Korean describing North Korea's agricultural struggles. It was obviously marked up, and on the cover page I saw it was ex libris of Noriaki Tsuchimoto, the famed Japanese documentarian.

This is happening!!!! December 2: just in time for Christmas present season. I am still in the anxiety stage, not yet in the Saoirse Ronan as Jo March watching her book get published scene-stage, but I'm glad other people are excited already!

Not even an unusually heavy rain could dim my excitement at returning to my alma mater today! 6년만에 스탠포드. 懐かしすぎる.

Highly idiosyncratic Hangul spelling of the word "조선" (Korea) on the cover of a 1930 colonial Korean magazine. Almost looks like a completely different script.

I am please to announce that this is the 1000th review that I have facilitated for H-Environment! Thank you so much to all of the reviewers who make this position such a pleasure! #envhist #envhum #ecrocrit #envphil #aghist #oceanhist #conservation #sustainability #plantstudies #animalhist #energy 🏞️

Needed some happy news, so I was thrilled to see that both of my panels had been accepted for next year's @asianstudies.org conference! Look forward to seeing Asian Studies friends and colleagues in Vancouver!

job alert: My department is now running a search to fill a newly inaugurated endowed chair in the History of Technology. Please consider applying/share widely. I'm not on the committee, but happy to answer questions or connect you with those who are. Details here: recruit.ap.uci.edu/JPF09897

Excited to be returning to my PhD alma mater (first time since graduation) for a book talk in a few weeks! ceas.stanford.edu/events/borde...

An influential Koreanist once described Soviet-occupied North Korea as an "isle of tranquility," but the stories of those who fled South after Korea's 1945 division suggest otherwise. Yumi Moon’s chapter in this great new volume helpfully elucidates this refugee experience.

A new essay from me synthesizing the rich body of media criticism in Japanese focused on the practice of "August journalism" (八月ジャーナリズム): the tendency for rehearsed, compressed, and hollowed-out coverage of war memory each August. apjjf.org/2025/9/fedman

On Monday! Angus Lockyer (Rhode Island School of Design) on his new book “Exhibitionist Japan: The Spectacle of Modern Development”, in conversation with Jordan Sand (Georgetown University) and Joseph Seeley (University of Virginia). Register for Zoom here: mjha.org/event-6239996

My review of BREAKNECK, by Dan Wang, an insightful and balanced look at the Chinese engineering state—both its strengths and shortcomings—that offers a much-needed contrast to fear-mongering China books.

So I've written a book! Waterscapes is about how impactful our need for water is on the environment and people. It's also about the ways in which infrastructure projects can impact place for good or bad.

As the Osaka Expo remains ongoing, for those interested in the deeper history of exhibitions in Japan, please check out this online book talk event I am moderating in less than two weeks! mjha.org/event-6239996

Excited to be presenting at this conference as well! I will be sharing new work on North Korean animal history for those interested.

I have gotten our @greenhouseuis.net #envhum book talks for September & October posted! Always on Mondays at 16:00 (4pm) Central European time. For details see: newnatures.org/greenhouse/

Looking forward to participating (virtually, alas) in this event at SNU later this week, for anyone interested: www.snu.ac.kr/snunow/event... I'll be sharing a new essay that uses the life and letters of Conrad Totman, pioneer of East Asian environmental history, to map out the state of the field

The last known Rodrigues parakeet died exactly 150 years ago. This story ticks a lot of natural history museum bingo boxes: ✔️Sex bias in natural history ✔️Colonial legacies ✔️Dodos But also, how museum specimens act as irreplaceable records of lost biodiversity: theconversation.com/the-rodrigue...

Herewith a thread of some of the more interesting reactions to the Emperor's August 15 surrender announcement I've collected over the years: First up, a personal favorite (and teaser for an essay I have forthcoming on gardening in the ashes of Japan's urban wastelands in 1945):

In a dusty box, a Nagano man finds proof his father served in Nanjing, China, with Unit 1644, part of Japan’s covert biological weapons network during World War II. www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2...

Advance copy of my book _Remaking the Earth, Exhausting the People_ arrived this morning! What's with the ducks on the first page? You can find out when the book is released later this month. @uwapress.bsky.social has been a pleasure to work with and did a great job with design and production.

Stories like this reminds me why I love being a historian. You can feel @tsmullaney.bsky.social 's passion for what is far more than just machines and technology, but human struggles, aspirations, and dreams. Feel so lucky to have studied with him at Stanford. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/22/n...

Historians of Bluesky! I am putting together a syllabus for a graduate/upper undergraduate seminar this fall on "Animal Histories," and would love your help putting together a chronologically/geographically/thematically diverse set of readings. Self-promotion is also very welcome!

I have yet to see the global pop-culture phenomenon that is "Kpop Demon Hunters," but as someone who has written about Korean tiger history, I love seeing images of the Korean folk art-inspired "Derpy Tiger."

Cool story of an important historical artifact being returned to South Korea from Japan. This article doesn't mention it but the main force behind this move seems to have been the head priest of Kōtokuin (the Kamakura daibutsu temple), Satō Takao... www.korea.net/NewsFocus/Cu...

@cornellupress.bsky.social has thousands of books for 50% off until midnight this Friday, June 27. Use discount code 095000 to get my first book or other books by authors like @josephaseeley.bsky.social here: www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501...

More than just an airport stop before Seoul, Incheon is such a fascinating place architecturally and historically, especially around the old treaty port area. As a historian of modern Korea I've talked about this port so many times, but embarrassingly this was my first time coming here!

JOB: Assistant Professor of Environmental History with a Focus on Water in Human History, Texas State University #envhist jobs.hr.txstate.edu/postings/53213

Out soon! It's been such a rewarding experience. Thanks to co-editors and contributors! www.routledge.com/9781032744582

First time in mainland China since the pandemic. Last week friends at Tsinghua University kindly invited me to present about my book. Audience was great and asked sharp questions. Tsinghua is also a lovely campus with a main quad that reminds me a lot of UVA.

By far my favorite part of South Korean elections: election night graphics. SBS television station kills it EVERY. TIME. They play these clips all night and they get more and more unhinged and creative as the night goes on.

First time ever at UCLA! Look forward to presenting about my book tomorrow at the Center for Korean Studies: www.international.ucla.edu/cks/event/17...