A very nice and detailed writeup of the British Museum Samurai exhibition in Japanese: artexhibition.jp/topics/news/...

Chris Harding kindly hosted a conversation with Rosina Buckland and I on BBC 3 about the Samurai exhibition at the British Museum. www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

I'm a bit late to this announcement but wanted to share that the newest issue of the JJS is now out! Very proud of the essays and book reviews inside. My coeditor Sabine Frühstück, the book review editor Jessamyn Abel, and our managing editors David and now Athena all did incredible work.

We are advertising 4 jobs at York for historians (1 year medieval, 2 years modern Britain and public history, 3 years modern China, and open ended modern Middle Eastern) features.york.ac.uk/history-jobs/

We attended a brilliant talk @york.ac.uk on Monday, all about the Samurai exhibition at the British Museum We’ve got copies of the accompanying book #SIGNED by authors Rosina Buckland @olegb.bsky.social … but only 2 left! Grab yours! www.foxlanebooks.co.uk/product-page... #Samurai #BookSky📚💙

Great review; great exhibition. With a sharing link for 3 non-subscribers. giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...

With the Year of the Horse approaching at a canter (sorry…), I was delighted to stumble on this excellent 1983 series of paintings of the Nine Marshals of the People's Republic of China at the brilliant Chineseposters.net. chineseposters.net/themes/nine-... #China #History #Chinesenewyear #horses

Rosina Buckland and I recently had an enjoyable chat about the Samurai book (and exhibition!) with the excellent @newbooksnetwork.bsky.social hosts Nathan Hopson and Ran Zwigenberg: newbooksnetwork.com/rosina-buckl...

NEW! The British Museum’s Samurai exhibition explores historical reality behind the legend, featuring expert insights and a collection of stunning artifacts Join experts as they discuss how the exhibition interrogates the stereotype. Samurai - 16 Feb https://ow.ly/B7fM50Y7xFV

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...

It's interesting to see what different reviewers pick up from the exhibition, from women's firefighter robes to Noguchi Tetsuya's glorious sculpture of a samurai riding a rubber duck.

Come for the history, stay for the sexy, demonic glory. www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...

Congratulations to @olegb.bsky.social on a five-star review of the new Samurai exhibition at the British Museum. Opens on 3rd Feb. www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...

If you want to hear more from our January Third Thursday Lecture speaker Professor @olegb.bsky.social, he's a guest on the latest episode of The East Angle podcast, run by Dr Ra Mason and Dr Sherzod Muminov from @uniofeastanglia.bsky.social @politicsuea.bsky.social! youtu.be/29YY-7mQvls?...

Who wore it better? The 47 Ronin or the HMS London? www.britishmuseum.org/collection/i... publicdomainreview.org/collection/d...

I was very fortunate to have the chance to speak at @sainsbury-institute.org in Norwich last week, and the recording is now online. I really appreciate the invitation, and all of the great questions and comments following the talk. www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDGo...

Really looking forward to this, and to being back in Norwich!

I'll be giving a talk at The Japan Society in London next month on “Japan, Britain, and the Globalisation of the Samurai," which will also tie into some of themes of the upcoming British Museum special exhibition. www.japansociety.org.uk/event?event=...

From 3 February 2026, the special exhibition "Samurai" will be at the British Museum. I've had a lot of fun working on this together with the brilliant Rosina Buckland. If you happen to be in London, and feel that you need more samurai in your life, do drop by! www.britishmuseum.org/exhibitions/...

Finally out now 🥳🎉 -- and in OA! 🙏 Katja Triplett / Yoshimi Orii / Pia Jolliffe (eds.) (2025): Japan in the Early Modern World: Religion, Translation, and Transnational Relations @ doi.org/10.1007/978-... Includes two contributions by yours truly on Jesuit prints from Japan. 1/

Fascinating footage.

As people have their heads in syllabi and classes, I’d like to highlight how ‘In the Land of the Lacandón: A Graphic History of Adventure and Imperialism’ (MQUP 2025) can be used in teaching. (Please repost and push this thread along.)

Unpacking. It’s finally here. Best of all: you can share the excitement for free, as the book is open access. Follow the link in the post below to download a PDF or EPUB version. Happy reading and happy strolling through Japanese garden history!

Having spent a bit of time trying to pin down what "medieval" means in Indian historiography, I sympathise with the guy who just put "(though no one agrees)" after his proposed date range

🧵 of my favourite sixteenth-century bronze statues flanking the empty tomb of Maximilian I in the Innsbruck Hofkirche

Hurrah!! Brilliant new book from my wonderful department colleague!

Inventing the Way of the Samurai by @olegb.bsky.social explores the concept of “Bushido” from genesis in 19th C Japan as an “invented tradition” in response to European concepts to its postwar rehabilitation.

This is wonderful 👇

Teachers/Profs, etc. who use video games as part of your course materials: how do you do it? You can't require everyone to own a gaming system, and lord knows your school isn't providing them to students. I see lots written about how to integrate game content, but not much on the logistics.

For anyone interested in castles, emperors, and theme parks, Ran Zwigenberg and my article on the modern history of Fushimi Momoyama Castle in Kyoto has just come out from Japan Review. www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/japa...

On the anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, we thought we'd answer a question that's often asked, "If they raised the Mary Rose, why not raise the Titanic?" Allow our scaled diagram to explain...

This looks great!

Listening now to @olegb.bsky.social's interview with Matt Lewis of Echoes of History about Azuchi Castle, and unsurprisingly it's great! Give it a listen on your podcast platform of choice!

As a lifelong comics fan, I'm excited that our discussion of "Graphic Narratives and History in the Americas" has just appeared Open Access in the latest issue of the American Historical Review from @historians.org. It's been a lot of fun with some incredible people! academic.oup.com/ahr/article/...

This table has the January 2025 foreign population breakdown by Tokyo wards. There's data for the 10 largest national groups, then all other nationalities are lumped together. Those ten groups are much changed from 25 years ago. www.toukei.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/gaikoku/2025...

East Asian Studies at Sheffield is also home to historians who contribute to joint programmes and teach for colleagues in the History department. Sheffield's is one of the largest interdisciplinary groupings of East Asia specialists in the UK and one of the most important globally.

I just came across this samurai armour that seems to have been produced in the 19th century by modifying and decorating a recent French armour. The cuirass seems to be the same type as in the colour image. The armour is held by the Royal Armouries in Leeds. royalarmouries.org/collection/o...

East Asian Studies at Sheffield University is an amazing school. We held our 2023 Martial Arts Studies Conference there - for precisely that reason. Please add your voice to fight for East Asian Studies at Sheffield Uni. The UK needs MORE schools like this! www.megaphone.org.uk/petitions/sh...

I'm thrilled about this!

A new entry alert!! Dr. Ruselle Meade has kindly contributed this translation of a Japanese scientist describing indigenous people and life in Nan'yo. I can think of many ways of using this resource in class already! japaneseempire.info/the-scientis...

I'll be back in Vancouver for the first time in far too long on Jan 30 give a talk on how samurai became a global icon and how societies around the world also searched their own supposedly medieval pasts to find similar symbols and ideals (livestream also available) asia.ubc.ca/events/event...

A Baker's Dozen of Books Wot I Liked in 2024. Honourable mentions: the Slow Horses books, Butter by Asako Yuzuki, Osamu Dazai's No Longer Human, Seichi Matsumoto's various crime fictions, Alasdair Gray's Poor Things, Times Echo, A History of the World in 47 Borders, Kim Wagner's book on Bud Daro.

This data work is a labor of love! If you want to support it you can do so starting at $2 a month on Patreon. They also recently created "gift subscription" options, in case you have students you think may want some weekly insights into the data in progress! ✌️ www.patreon.com/prcurtis

31 new job ads in East Asian Studies for 2024-2025! See the details of this week's postings below or visit the filter database to search by category/keyword. 🌏📊 Now 694 entries. prcurtis.com/projects/job...

A Christmas thread featuring Shanghai, Communists, Christmas trees, and Ded Moroz: -- I was surprised to see this heavily decorated Christmas tree in this collection of New Year posters from 1950s socialist Shanghai: chineseposters.net/posters/d85-...

“Japanese women are among those with the highest-pitched voices globally. A typical adult woman who is 160 centimeters tall should have a natural pitch of around 220-260 Hertz, but many Japanese women speak at 300-350 Hertz or even higher...essentially falsetto”. www.asahi.com/ajw/articles...

Please consider supporting the APJJF - it's a fantastic resource for research, teaching, and staying on top of developments in East Asia and beyond.

Here’s a fun episode of The Martial Arts Studies Podcast: Samurai, Scouts and Suffragettes, by @olegb.bsky.social open.spotify.com/episode/7qiH...