George O. Totten III (1922-2009)
George O. Totten III passed away at the beginning of this month; I just saw the obituary on H-Japan. Though I knew Totten mostly through his scholarship on the ...
Category: Japan
The Teahouse Fire: Painstaking
I don’t often get unsolicited books with handwritten notes from the authors, unless I worked with them in some way. What was even more surprising is that ...
Sumo and tradition
The NYTimes Lede blog [thanks, Mom!] linked Michael Phelps’ marijuana scandal to a scandal in Japanese sumo1 which has resulted in four retirements. They ...
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...
Japanology….
One of my general exam advisor/examiners has passed away: Donald Fleming who was Harvard’s preeminent intellectual historian for many years. I studied Eur...
Liveblogging, slowblogging, Mammoth Blogging?
John McKay, at Archy, is publishing excerpts from his work on the natural history and historiography of wooly mammoths. The latest installment is about China, p...
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...
December 2008 History Carnival
“In retrospect, historians are usually right.” — Der Spiegel interviewer (11-11-08). This has been a lively month for history blogging, for so...
Dig into those archives: History Carnival and Cliopatria Awards
Two deadlines are fast approaching: nominations for Cliopatria Awards for best blogging, 2008 (covering from December 2007 through November 2008) close Sunday a...
Noteworthy Archaeological Sites, Issue 2008
Walter Edwards of Tenri University reported in a message to H-Japan that the newest issue of “Noteworthy Archaeological Sites” is online. The report...
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...
Only in Japan: Yakuza Sued
The New York Times is reporting on tensions between the Dojinkai and the civilians living in the neighborhood of their headquarters. Two features of this are wo...
Another Disappointment
I always get a little nervous when a world history textbook cites details about Japanese history which I’ve never heard of before. I’m still mostly ...
New Media and Japanese Studies
WARNING: those of you interested in Japanese studies but not in internet technologies, new media, and the whole question of how digital learning does or doesn&#...
The Soul of Japan
I’m teaching a survey course on premodern Japanese history this semester. It focuses on medieval and early modern Japan, and I wanted the first paper to d...