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A Week of Contrasts
Well, it's been a mixed week. Let's start with the bad, then the good, then the bad again - to make whatever's the opposite of a shit sandwich.
On Tuesday, my university announced that, largely in response to falling international applications to STEM subjects, it was going to make a bonfire of the Humanities. (No, it doesn't make sense to me, ( Read more... ) -
Stone Rollers versus Moss Gatherers
I'm gradually sliding out of Facebook, ever since Mark Zuckerberg decided it would help his bottom line to make it open season on people like me. But a small haven has always been the Moss Appreciation Society, where I occasionally look at and even more occasionally upload pictures of that most calming plant - such as the one below, which I took in ( Read more... ) -
Traitors, Werewolves and the KGB
I finally started watching The Traitors last night - only two years after everyone else, as is my custom. I can definitely see the appeal of the format, cheesy and derivative as the setting and presentation are (the steam train to a Scottish castle, message-carrying owl, etc.). Anyway, the game-theory aspects are compelling. (Have you ever read nightspore's ( Read more... ) -
British Children's Literature in Japanese Culture - book launch!
On 29th January 2025 the Daiwa Foundation in London will be hosting a launch for the paperback edition of my book, British Children's Literature in Japanese Culture: Wonderlands and Looking-GlassesThe launch starts at 6pm, with a drinks reception from 7-8pm, during which discounted copies of the book will be available for signing and sale. The ( Read more... ) -
Last Squeeze of the Sudachi
I'll be leaving for the UK tomorrow, so here is the final instalment of my Japan blog for this time. There's a lot to pack in, though, so some may have to wait until I get back ( Read more... ) -
Welcome to the Hotel Kanazawa
I first visited Kanazawa seven years ago or more, in July 2017. I was looking forward to the city's famous seafood, and afterwards the Hida beef of Takayama, my next stop. Alas, I was suffering from heatstroke at the time and had no appetite. More, the Airbnb I'd booked was, while not bad, a bit more basic than I'd counted on. Nor could I find the ( Read more... ) -
Hey Joe, we're in Heian-kyō
After a couple of quiet days (spent looking at early translations of Tom Brown's Schooldays, since you ask), today I went to Kyoto to meet my old PhD supervisor and his wife, who happened to be visiting as well. They lived for a year or two in the city (and before that in Kobe) during the 1990s, rather after I'd finished my PhD and more immediately ( Read more... ) -
Upon Fujiyama
A week has passed since I last posted here. If I've remained silent that long it's not because nothing has happened, but because many things have, which tessellated so efficiently as to leave few crevices of time in which to write them up ( Read more... ) -
Awdry Yes, Tawdry Never
This has been a rather train-orientated couple of days. On Saturday I made my way to the other side of the city and the Katano branch of the Keihan line, where (following a tip from my colleague at the Prefectural Library) I had heard that there was a Thomas the Tank Engine promotion ongoing - connected tangentially, I believe, with the forthcoming ( Read more... ) -
To Osaka Then I Came
Well, I'm back in Japan. Not for a holiday, this time, but for research. I will having a few side adventures, especially at weekends, but for the most part I'm commuting from an AirBnB somewhere in Higashiosaka to the Prefectural Library, where I'm working with their superlative children's book collection ( Read more... )