New issue of the Journal of Japanese Studies is out! Highlights include articles on kanpu masatsu, war photography, empire paranoia, Italian-Japanese children's lit, Seidensticker’s style, and a bonus piece on Black Rain and ritual. Don’t miss it!

I was thrilled to work with Archaeology Magazine to help bring this story about Ichijōdani, the palace city from 16th-century Japan that I wrote about in _Reading Medieval Ruins_, come to life for their readers. Check it out! #archaeology #japan

Alexander Murphy won the 2024 Pyle Prize for his essay on rumor and radio in interwar Japan, praised for its innovative approach and concept of "paranoid listening." Keisuke Yamada and Andrew Niess received an honorable mention for their essay on factory music and labor management in Japan.

Excited for the Centennial Meeting of the Medieval Academy of America, starting tomorrow! I present on the archeology of late medieval Kyoto on a panel titled "Moving Earth, Rivers, & Waves: Medieval Archaeology in Japan." Thanks to Jon Thumas, our organizer, & fellow presenter Michelle Damian!

For no particular reason, re-reading this article by Andrew Gordon and Michael Reich, "The Puzzle of Vaccine Hesitancy in Japan," from @jjs-jrnl.bsky.social (2021) 47 (2): 411–436: online.ucpress.edu/jjs/article-... (this is paywalled, so access through your university library if that's an option)

CFP for an edited collection: “Japanese Video Games and Critiques of the Western Aesthetic Tradition.” call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2025/02/... If interested, send abstract (300 words) & CV to DA Hall & Austin Anderson ([email protected]) by 31 March 2025. Please share!

The newest issue of @jjs-jrnl.bsky.social is live, w/ amazing articles on Zen violence & calligraphy, transnational Japanese cuisine, Genroku commercial fiction, pan-Asianism & imperialism in pop culture, fascism in Kimi no na wa, & hospitality in imperial Japan. Plus must-read book reviews!

Hey Japanese studies friends: please follow the JJS here on BlueSky. Our new issue is now live!

Here at UNC-Chapel Hill, I have recently joined the Curriculum in Archaeology, which means I am affiliated with three different academic units. (Uh oh.) I'm excited to work with my new colleagues and students on global material culture, the history of ceramics, and medieval/historical archaeology.

Grateful for the MIT News covering the ongoing exhibit I’ve had the pleasure of curating: news.mit.edu/2024/from-sa...

I implore historians #skystorians, if you’re making starter packs for historical topics or time periods, remember that most of the world exists outside of the US and Western Europe, and they don’t only exist in relation to or intersection with “the West.”

My book _Reading Medieval Ruins_ uses archaeological and archival materials to tell the story of daily life and destruction in a late medieval palace city. In Japan! I had hoped it would get more attention from European medievalists but it’s hard to reach beyond the Asian studies bubble.

The Journal of Japanese Studies is excited to announce that Coeditors Sabine Frühstück and Morgan Pitelka are now joined by Book Review Editor Jessamyn Abel from Penn State. The JJS is now published by UC Press; our new Managing Editor is David Staloch. Our new website is online.ucpress.edu/jjs/

I had the chance to talk to Marco Werman on The World about the historical accuracy of Shōgun in the wake of the show’s many Emmy awards: theworld.org/segments/202...

ok new list is here! go.bsky.app/6TE7o75

My lab had the wonderful opportunity to examine and study a late Edo-period handscroll in the collection of @AcklandArt over the past year. Our team included undergrads, PhD students, and scholars from Japan. Check out the video about our research! youtu.be/8Tq9WkyhNuA?...

Finally joining this side of social media! 👋 Special greetings to any fellow scholars in digital anthropology, Black Studies, and Japanese Studies!

My friend Hiromu Nagahara has curated a wonderful online exhibition about the first Japanese students at MIT. Check it out:

My book _Reading Medieval Ruins_ uses archaeological and archival materials to tell the story of daily life and destruction in a late medieval palace city. In Japan! I had hoped it would get more attention from European medievalists but it’s hard to reach beyond the Asian studies bubble.

I had the chance to talk to Marco Werman on The World about the historical accuracy of Shōgun in the wake of the show’s many Emmy awards: theworld.org/segments/202...

The Journal of Japanese Studies is excited to announce that Coeditors Sabine Frühstück and Morgan Pitelka are now joined by Book Review Editor Jessamyn Abel from Penn State. The JJS is now published by UC Press; our new Managing Editor is David Staloch. Our new website is online.ucpress.edu/jjs/

The Journal of Japanese Studies is pleased to announce the publication of our Summer 2024 volume with articles by Keisuke Yamada & Andrew Niess, Jonathan E. Abel, Masami Kimura, Noriko Murai, and Reinier H. Hesselink. New book reviews are also included. t.co/nEJgkLJvdu

Japan does not exist: www.medievalists.net/2024/06/sign...

I'll be giving an online talk, sponsored by the Japan Foundation Toronto office, titled "Living with Ceramics in Japan: From Edo (1603-1868) to Meiji (1868-1912)" at 6 PM Eastern today (June 13): www.youtube.com/live/l59rRiE...

Call for proposals: 30th Annual Columbia Graduate Student Conference on East Asia, October 18-19 in New York. Submit paper and panel abstracts for consideration by June 16. ealac.columbia.edu/program/grad...

Love to see that the @aasasianstudies.bsky.social member newsletter is featuring recent degrees in Asian Studies, especially those by BA and MA students who, as our students and mentees, are the next generation of the field taking it in new and exciting directions!

By brilliant colleague Robin Visser was interviewed on @NewBooksNetwork by Li-Ping Chen about her new book Questioning Borders: Ecoliteratures of China and Taiwan. Check it out: newbooksnetwork.com/questioning-...

For anyone who is interested, a video recording of the recent Modern Japan History Association roundtable discussion on "Shōgun" is now available on the MJHA YouTube channel! Here is the link: youtu.be/w9s3D4HXlU8

I was interviewed for this article, "How real is shōgun," which appeared a couple of weeks ago in Vox. Take a look: www.vox.com/culture/2411...

My colleague, Tom Conlan, tells me that for the next month, the first chapter of his new book, Kings in All but Name: The Lost History of Ōuchi Rule in Japan, can be read free of charge. It discusses the Korean origins of the Ōuchi and how they emigrated to Japan. academic.oup.com/book/55771/c...

Is academia.edu still as scammy/pyramid schemey as it used to be?

Dear @aasasianstudies.bsky.social friends and collagues, if you will be around Sunday afternoon, let's gather at the Redhook Brewlab at 3 PM. It's a 15 minute walk from the Sheraton: www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_R...

GLOBAL ANTI-ASIAN RACISM, edited by Jennifer Ho, will be out soon from AAS Publications, distributed by @columbiaup.bsky.social. The book includes 10 essays on anti-Asian racism and the fight against it.

Please join us to celebrate the JJS at the AAS! Party time!

For anyone who missed it, a video of the conversation between Morgan Pitelka and Ethan Segal on Professor Pitelka's book "Reading Medieval Ruins: Urban Life and Destruction in Sixteenth-Century Japan" is now available on the MJHA YouTube channel! youtu.be/FfbcbtAGiyA

Thrilled to be included in this lineup! Honorable mention, with colleague Lynne Farrington, for the Sumie Jones Japanese Humanities award for our collaborative project, Arthur Tress and the Japanese Illustrated Book, exhibition, website, and catalogue. Thanks to all contributors and supporters.

I am gobsmacked to have received the honorable mention for the John Whitney Hall prize in Japanese studies. It's an honor to be on the podium!

We are excited to share the news that Yasukuni Fundamentalism by Mark Mullins, the most recent publication in the Nanzan Library of Asian Religion and Culture book series with UH Press, has received an AAR Award for Excellence in the Study of Religion.

New #AsiaNow post: Jennifer Ho, Tina Chen, and Christine Yano discuss our forthcoming Asia Shorts volume, GLOBAL ANTI-ASIAN RACISM.

Sending this out into the big BlueSky ICYMI - The "first research article" writing fellowship @MPIWG is open to predoctoral students enrolled in universities situated in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Posting is 15 Feb! Please spread the word! www.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/de/job-posit...

I'm looking forward to the remake of "Shōgun" launching on FX/Hulu on Feb. 27. Time has a preview that claims it is a "revelation," with much more attention paid to Japanese society in the early 17th-c. Hoping this is at least slightly true. time.com/6692336/shog...

Launching its 50th year of publication, the winter 2024 JJS is live online (also available in print) with articles by Youjia Li, Ben Whaley, Alexander Murphy, Aaron Jasny, Małgorzata Karolina Citko-DuPlantis, & Christopher Hughes—& reviews of new books. muse.jhu.edu/issue/51346

It’s out! I’m happy to announce that the book I edited together with Mario Cams has just been published. The chapters in this book trace how maps and other artifacts circulated in Eurasia and how individuals in East Asia and western Europe engaged with the knowledge from these artifacts.

The M.A. in Asian & Middle Eastern Studies at UNC-Chapel Hill is a 2-year, interdisciplinary humanities degree. Choose between 2 tracks: the interdisciplinary track or the Chinese track. Deadline: May 14, 2024. See below for more details. asianstudies.unc.edu/ma-program/

Positions in classical and/or medieval Japanese history, film studies, and English lit available at Waseda, application deadline March 29: www.waseda.jp/fire/sils/en...

Open-access issue of Medieval Worlds focusing on oaths in Europe and Japan: medievalworlds.net/medievalworl...

Call for Applications: Sainsbury Institute Fellowships www.instagram.com/p/C02Cs1JP40...

To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Freer, I had the chance to dive back into my research on the Raku tea bowl tradition. My article "Defining Raku Ceramics: Translations, Elisions, Evolutions" is now available open access: asia.si.edu/research/pub... #ArsOrientalis

This video of the "Women in Japanese Studies Book Launch" is moving, intellectually rewarding, & a must-watch for anyone interested in Japan, area studies, and/or gender in higher ed. Alisa Freedman has accomplished something so significant in and for our field with this volume! vimeo.com/892266573

Amazing that 2 of the top films in the U.S. now--dominated in recent years by Star Wars and Marvel movies--are very special Japanese films: The Boy and the Heron (perhaps Miyazaki Hayao's last film, & certainly his most successful); and Godzilla Minus One, set immediately after WWII.