Defining Japaneseness: a miscellany
This report (with followups here) suggests that Japan is no longer a “classless society” but I wonder to what extent the concept of class simply to ...
Category: Japan
Eloquent oddities
There aren’t a lot of good Japanese-themed quizzes out there…. You Are a Sarariiman! Or “salaryman.” Whatever. Treadmill off, treadmill ...
AHC #5
Miland Brown has the latest edition of the Asian History Carnival up at his World History Blog, and it’s a very nice collection. We’re still looking...
AHC #5
Miland Brown has the latest edition of the Asian History Carnival up at his World History Blog, and it’s a very nice collection. We’re still looking...
What books sell?
Or perhaps more to the point, what books are given the chance to sell? The other day I was in a local chain bookstore and took the following photo of the “...
Carnival of Bad History #6
Welcome to the Sixth Edition of the Carnival of Bad History! I’m going to start with that most excellent material — that which is found and nominate...
Upcoming Carnivals: Bad History, Asian History
I will be hosting the next edition of the Bad History Carnival here on Mondayearly Tuesday: you have until Sunday morning to get me the worst atrocities and bes...
民団と総連の和合について
民団と総連が歴史的な和解をしたというのをご存知の方も多いと思われます。 しかし、物事を冷静に見ることのできない人たちたちによって、この和解の意味が悪い方向に転化されようとしています。 櫻井よしこという極右ジャーナリストから、日本の全国紙まで、ほとんどのメディアがこの和解の持つ意味を曲解しているわけです。 この和解のもつ...
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...
The Ethics of Book Reviews
Recently I stumbled upon an adulatory book review I wrote of Haruo Shirane’s Traces of Dreams: Landscape, Cultural Memory, and the Poetry of Bashô, a book...
A simple Miscellany
Ralph Luker‘s uncovering of the wonderful linguistic debunkings of 1421 by Bill Poser and friends (in two parts; note: Is Menzies just making up words in ...
Shades of Mori Arinori
Recently the Japanese Diet has been debating several competing bills to revise the Fundamental Education Law of 1947. One of the most contested issues is an ef...
Satire, self-parody and court jesters
I was looking for a good way to announce my new position as a member of the Carnival of Bad History team, when Geoff Wade sent this to H-Asia, and Prof. Goodman...