The Bow
Via my old friend Scott Eric Kaufman I learned that President Obama’s visit to Japan was drawing criticism from the American right (I also learned that Pr...
Category: 江戸
Talks about the Tokugawa period.
Lines which make me less likely to adopt a world history textbook
So, I got a new one in the mail, and I start scanning through, with the usual particular attention to the Japan material, and right there in the “Cultural...
Books and Articles/English/Foreign Views/Gender/General/globalization/Historiography/Japan/Journalism & Mass Media/martial arts/Popular Culture/江戸
Young Samurai Book One (of at least three): Harry Potter Bushido
I almost didn’t check Chris Bradford‘s Young Samurai: The Way of the Warrior out of the library when I saw it, but some instinct told me that it was...
Productive Procrastination
The Journal of the Historical Society has put five recent articles up for free, including a four-year old essay by Herman Ooms on the state of Tokugawa intellec...
When translating, leave currency in the original units
I’m using Ivan Morris’ translation of Saikaku’s The Life of an Amorous Woman and other Writings this semester1, but one thing which is bugging...
Dutch Futurists
Alan Baumler pointed me to peacay’s recent post of Dutch images of 17th century Japan. Some of them are quite accurate — the images of samurai, in p...
Syllabus Query: 18th Century Japan
I’m teaching my Japan Since 1700 course next semester for the first time. I’ve taught Japan since 1800 and 1868; I’ve taught Japan 1600-1900 a...
A disappointment
I’ve been enjoying the textbook I’m using for World History this fall: Felipe Fernandez-Armesto’s The World: A History. It covers the entire w...
Oh Tempura, Oh Mores!
The New York Times has been on a Japanese culture kick this week which I just couldn’t let pass without note. There have been not one, but two articles in...
Academia/Books and Articles/China-Japan/Cultural/Current/Recent Events/English/General/Japan/Literature/Memory/Pedagogy/昭和/江戸
Laughter and Tears on the Charles
A book I’ve been waiting for for a long time is finally almost out [PDF]. Adam Kern, an old friend from graduate school, has been working on Edo-period hu...
Homosexuality in Japan: The Meiji Gap
The effects of Meiji reforms on women have been pretty well documented: the continued legality of prostitution, including indenture; the consolidation of male p...
Summer Reading Note: Ninja
I’ve finished Stephen Turnbull’s Ninja: the True Story of Japan’s Secret Warrior Cult, and I have good news for current and prospective gradua...