なんか急にblueskyが住みやすくなってきた（日本語ポストが増えてきた）ような気がするんですが本当なんでしょうか。ここ数ヶ月でXが思ったように機能しなくなってきた印象はあるんですが。 本格的こちらに重心を置くようにしてもいいなあ、と思いつつ、それなら英語と日本語のアカウント分けた方が良いのでは？などと余計なことを考えてしまう。とりあえず日本語ポストを少し混ぜていくことにしましょうかね。

I'm getting sick of the word "deal" recently, even though I live in Japan and speak Japanese most of the time.

What is the earliest game with in which moving your own token from your player board to the main board uncovers a permanent bonus? Scythe (2016) is the earliest example I can think of, but are there any precursors? Maybe I should ask Jamey @stonemaiergames.com about its origin. Great UI, indeed.

The biggest science breakthroughs of 2025, by @science.org youtu.be/AoyIj79D9o0?...

Wow, this sounds interesting! A game about monsters around the world, from Scorpion Masqué, by Antoine Bauza, Corentin Lebrat, and Théo Rivière. I talked with a Scorpion Masqué person about Japanese monsters some time ago, which might be related to this game. I hope it helped!

IMHO, it is sometimes difficult to accept new technologies, and Sci-Fi can help by providing some narratives, even though the tech/gadgets themselves are very different. The problem is that such narratives may constrain how society embraces (and expects) the technology.

So, this is literally the Colossal Cat In The Box from Bézier Games. No. They don't say such a thing. www.nature.com/articles/d41...

昨年には、中国の仏寺・道観に数十の絶滅危惧種（そのうちいくつかは他で確認されていない種）の樹木が確認されたという論文が出ていて、そういう話も実に面白い。仏寺も道観も、特定の山と紐づけられて広大な敷地の奥にあるようなイメージがあって、そうしたこともあろうよ、と思ってしまうのだ。 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

絶滅を免れた、というと、イチョウは一時期野生種が絶滅していたと思われていたが、21世紀に入ってから野生種が確認された（ただし今もなお絶滅危惧種ではある）、という話を最近知人としていたところであった。 www.nikkei.com/article/DGXM...

I just finished The Murderbot Diaries by @marthawells.com , in Japanese. The translation is excellent, especially the protagonist's first-person pronoun, "弊機” (meaning something like "humble machine"), is quite an invention. Well done! I'm really looking forward to the upcoming sequel.

Ooo, I love this song, although I don't particularly like the animation. youtu.be/GRK_8VHrZmk?...

Yes, you can learn a lot from us, which is a shame, quite honestly. The effects of vaccine cutbacks last long, but we have to face the times we're in. www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Some dogs, "gifted word learner", can learn new words (can make associations between objects and sounds) like 18 months old humans. Interesting. I will read this more carefully later. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Congratulations, and I wish you all the best for your new challenge! I look forward to seeing the new titles from the studio. By the way, does the name of the studio have anything to do with the novel of the same name by Kazuo Ishiguro?

Not relaxing, but very beautiful. I love it. youtu.be/obaTkMiqTaA?...

I have used Windows Media Player for a long time, and this news made me sad. Thanks, WMP. I'll find another partner. www.theregister.com/2026/01/09/m...

Ladder-climbing games are quite popular, but trick-taking games are not in Japan. However, there was one popular trick-taking game among teens in the 90s that has since died out. The game was something I would call "Bang! The Trick-Taking Game," and I can't find anything similar to it.

I watched the 2025 board game industry video by @matthewdunstan.bsky.social . Very interesting. Although I'm in a different profession, I see some similarities between the board game industry and my field: basic science. Or maybe a very universal thing? www.youtube.com/watch?v=XH4o...

I was exploring a new preprint archive that embraces AIs, called aiXiv (aixiv.science ), where I found papers written by AI often have a "corresponding human". Quite an interesting role for a scientist. Maybe it's a fun place for some, but not for me.

I've watched the following video twice, and I'm quite impressed. 2010-2025 is also the golden age of TTRPG in Japan, but in a very different sense. However, there are still some things in common: narrative-oriented, rule-light, and shorter playtime. Interesting. www.youtube.com/watch?v=dm0d...

#NowListening Eleven by Gil Evans Orchestra

I asked a machine translator to translate a saying of Confucius, "君子周而不比、小人比而不周", into English: "The noble man is inclusive but not cliquish; the petty man is cliquish but not inclusive." It sounds like he is talking about social media, right?

To celebrate the Year of Horse, here are some of the horse tokens from my game collection.

A Happy New Year! The very first sunrise of 2026, from Japan. 謹賀新年　本年もよろしくお願いいたします。

And this is the way to hold a cup to avoid spilling. Caution: it can be very hot! www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

This is a bioinspired cup that holds liquid inside very efficiently. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

So I'm going to France next year, for the first time in probably 20 years!? Time flies.

贅沢は言わないから３万円持って３時間本屋を彷徨いたい。さすがにちょっと癒やしが欲しいわ……いやそこそこ贅沢言ってるなこれ。

You say that we need AIs to detect fake news with fake images and/or movies made by AIs. Interesting. I would say that we need rules for developing and using AIs so that we don't need to worry about fake news.

No, I haven't forgotten the book. It's just on the waiting list. A rather long list, perhaps.

The Japanese ver. of Matlab 2025b now translates NAME as 氏名, which means 'family name and given name'. The 2024a ver. just says 名前, which means 'name'. It's not a big deal, but it's quite uncomfortable. Why did they change it for the worse?

Japan has a strange custom that requires smartphones to make a shutter sound when taking photos. I realize that some smartphones (e.g., iPhones) automatically turn off the sound when travelling abroad. Do smartphones automatically turn the sound on when non-Japanese people visit Japan?

' “What puts lives at risk is doing research that’s incremental,” Bhattacharya said. ' Wow, that's a pretty...wild statement? www.nature.com/articles/d41...

I didn't know that Niteworks had disbanded last year. Oh... www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMba...

I am recovering from jet lag. Traveling westward feels somewhat easier to me.

I was impressed by @earlkmiller.bsky.social 's talk at #SfN25, but I'm still wondering: 1) What are the 'dials' for brainwaves? 2) When did we start using brainwaves as a source of cognitive information phylogenetically? I totally agree that spikes themselves can't explain everything, but what else?

Hello USA! #SfN25

It's been over 5 years since I started using Affinity instead of Adobe. Affinity works fine for me, but it indeed has issues with Japanese text. It doesn't support vertical writing (yes, Japanese has both vertical and horizontal writing), which is critical for some. Not much for me, though.

I'm very sorry to the authors, but I can't help seeing the figure as "a boa constrictor eating an elephant". I do think that neuroscience should be applied to a wider range of contexts, not just clinical ones. 著者には申し訳ないが、図が「象を飲み込んだうわばみ」に見えてしまって……指摘自体はもっともだと思います。私自身は応用に興味はないんですが大事だとは思っています。

I often see Japanese writers omit the space after a period or a comma in English. Japanese texts include both kanji and kana, which may help readers to understand the structure. Western alphabets are visually flat, so spacing may be more important for readability. Just a thought

Now you can read the rules for "ゆび感クレーンゲームチャンピオンシップ / Tactile Crane Championship" in English! It's a silly party game with primitive joy. Check it out at Booth H34, Tokyo Game Market. gamemarket.jp/blog/194889

Big news! It was announced today on a BGG live stream....we are excited to be able to finally share that the masterpiece classic game Tigris & Euphrates from Dr Reiner Knizia will return in 2026! The game will feature beautiful components and all new artwork from Ian O'Toole.

I realized that the latest version of MATLAB has built-in AI for programming. Maybe it's time for me to start using AI. I don't like programming, and I'm not very good at it. Many people use AIs for various purposes, but programming support is one of the better ones, I think.

これはまったくそのとおりだと思うのだが、ゲームの場合は性能評価がしやすいことと、ユーザーがデバイスを“使いこなすこと”自体がゲーム性として組み込めるので習熟コストをユーザーに転化しやすいことが、技術の進展に寄与しているのではないだろうか。入力精度が悪くてもそれはそれで成立してしまうし場合によってはそれを楽しめてしまうことすらあるので。 普段の作業でストレスなくできる精度を求めると、いろいろな意味でコストが掛かりそう。

If you're attending Tokyo Game Market this month, be sure to visit Suki Games at booth H34. They will be releasing "ゆび感クレーンゲーム チャンピョンシップ", a tactile/manual party game. The English rules will be available online soon (I translated them). gamemarket.jp/blog/194572

My uncomfortable feelings toward current AIs are very similar to the feelings I had when reading Solaris by Stanisław Lem. They are essentially alien, and we should not project our own intelligence onto them.

I learned a new English word: "sycophant." www.nature.com/articles/d41...

The Essential Patricia A. McKillip from @tachyonpub.bsky.social . Yes. Once I finish the essential Peter S. Beagle, yes. tachyonpublications.com/product/the-...

I'm excited about the new Chronicles of Crime series from @luckduckgames.bsky.social , and I'm curious about the image inserted in the trailer at 1:04. Are there chronicles of anthropomorphic animal crimes coming? www.kickstarter.com/projects/luc...

国内外を見渡して社会情勢に思うところは多々あれど、それを言葉にしてしまうと自分の内側に呪のように溜まっていくような気がして、言語化する前の状態で放置している。 それは社会に対して無責任というものではないか？うん、私もそう思うよ。