iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

A. Cathy Nguyen @anhthu.bsky.social · 12h

und wenn ich sage dass katzen in japan mich immer angucken als wäre ich stück dreck ... nie in meinen fünf jahren habe ich in meiner nachbarschaft eine streicheln können. 😭😭

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A. Cathy Nguyen @anhthu.bsky.social · 23h

my commute has become my dedicated slot for reading, finished Ann Schlee's Die Rheinreise today, a German translation of Rhine Journey from 1981. beautifully written, of course I loved how it featured places I'm familiar with

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A. Cathy Nguyen @anhthu.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

today's class was a lot better🫡, i think the trick is to make them talk about chiikawa. maybe the solution is always chiilkawa?

icebreaker slide of todays class that includes a group activity for people to get to know each other with the goal to share a fun fact about someone in the group. my own fun fact to get things rolling is that i have a scuba diving license and that my favourite chiikawa character is usagi

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A. Cathy Nguyen @anhthu.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

had my first class today. not happy with myself but never am. bit chaotic. hybrid setup (tho i have an assistant) with like 60+ students (it's not a lecture but a seminar). the kids don't know discord. tomorrow another class with over 60 registered students. very shy, no one speaks (as expected)

static.klipy.com

Chiikawa Hachiware: Sad in the Rain

ALT: Chiikawa Hachiware: Sad in the Rain

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Reposted by A. Cathy Nguyen

cmrn knzlmn @ckunzelman.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

If you are a graduate student in the humanities (construed as broadly as possible), what is the MOST EXCITING book published in the last five years to you? Please repost if you’re not a graduate student!

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A. Cathy Nguyen @anhthu.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

received a reminder today why I hate online shopping and should have tried harder to find it, an A1 poster frame, in a store. 😔 it was light but I still felt bad for the yamato delivery guy who brought it upstairs ... he did not look happy 😭

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A. Cathy Nguyen @anhthu.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

yesterday kansai university held a welcoming ceremony for its new international students, even the president was here. it's still a little strange having an assistant professor title. I also quickly identified some German students, and eventually a whole Germany group formed around me 😆

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A. Cathy Nguyen @anhthu.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

lunch place near work has a good boy greeting guests　 alas I will be coming here more often

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A. Cathy Nguyen @anhthu.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

it's that time of the year when i get very very obsessed with a troye sivan music video youtu.be/Yvl4QSAyWR4?...

youtu.be

Troye Sivan - Party (Official Music Video)

YouTube video by TroyeSivanVEVO

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A. Cathy Nguyen @anhthu.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

I'm pretty sure my pc is dying ... not a nice time to be looking at new parts but also couldn't have been a better time to start a new job 😭

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Reposted by A. Cathy Nguyen

Luisa J. Preissler @luisapreissler.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

I think this might just be my favorite commission of all time. When Wizard of the Coast asked me to illustrate my favorite game character from Final Fantasy 10, Yuna, I was completely over the moon! So many cherished childhood memories 🥰 #finalfantasy10 #fantasyart #mtg

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A. Cathy Nguyen @anhthu.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

my partner and I are kicking off the bureaucratic process to legally marry in japan and surprise, surprise, the most difficult bureaucratic hurdle are documents I need from germany 😅 but i am ready! (still less complicated if we were to get legally married in germany..!)

static.klipy.com

Chiikawa Wielding a Spiky Weapon

ALT: Chiikawa Wielding a Spiky Weapon

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A. Cathy Nguyen @anhthu.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

maybe like once a year I suddenly crave fish and today was that day. cream pasta with salmon, shimeji mushrooms and mizuna

a purple white plate with cream pasta, topped with salmon

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A. Cathy Nguyen @anhthu.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

as i am taking over existing classes at kansai university, one of them is "understanding cross cultural communication"; i had a look at the old syllabus that i will take over and session 2 says: "What is culture?" and i looked at this question like this

static.klipy.com

Ugh No Michael Scott No

ALT: Ugh No Michael Scott No

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A. Cathy Nguyen @anhthu.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

we blindboxing keyboards now...

nuphy keyboards that come in a mystery box, screenshot is of the probability for each keyboard model

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A. Cathy Nguyen @anhthu.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

me messaging my new work to ask when i should show up on monday bc i havent been told anything

static.klipy.com

Cute Dog Wearing a Boy Hat

ALT: Cute Dog Wearing a Boy Hat

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A. Cathy Nguyen @anhthu.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

representation at new heights because i found my name in a TOEFL ibt practice test (putting together course materials for a class i'll teach)

screenshot from the TOEFL ibt (an English language exam) practice test I found online. It's supposed to be an e-mail, addressed to a "Ms Nguyen"

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A. Cathy Nguyen @anhthu.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

despite having a BA/MA in english and using english as my primary language professionally and privately, being surrounded by australian native speakers was a humble reminder that language fluency =/= cultural fluency

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A. Cathy Nguyen @anhthu.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

my plane got hold up by a japanese guy who was yelling and screaming in japanese during boarding and it was my first time seeing police come onboard to forcefully remove a passenger from a flight who actively resisted arrest

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A. Cathy Nguyen @anhthu.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

now that i am back in kyoto and have refreshed my memory of sydney,,, i must confess i sense evil in that city no matter how much i like it must have something to do with the big arasaka i mean atlassian tower, canva building their tech hub in surry hills, and the many murdoch and thiel companies..

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A. Cathy Nguyen @anhthu.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

ten years long distance relationship and saying goodbye never gets any easier 😞, packing right now and flying back to kyoto tomorrow. gonna miss sydney

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Reposted by A. Cathy Nguyen

Unseen Japan @unseenjapan.com · 13/09/2026

Gotoh Masafumi of Asian Kung-Fu Generation put ¥75.6 million in crowdfunding and donations into turning a 130-year-old tea storehouse in Shizuoka into a recording studio. It's run by an NPO that rents to struggling artists at half the normal rates so bands can afford to fail.

Screenshot of a Japanese-language colocal article about MUSIC inn Fujieda, the residential recording studio Gotoh Masafumi of Asian Kung-Fu Generation built inside a roughly 130-year-old earthen tea storehouse in Fujieda, Shizuoka. The headline says he wanted to give young musicians time to fail.

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A. Cathy Nguyen @anhthu.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

last few days in sydney. it's very hard to not like it here 😞

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Reposted by A. Cathy Nguyen

Aurelia Brandenburg @hekabeohnename.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

Der @akgwds.bsky.social hat mit einem offenen Brief Forderungen zur Sicherung digitaler Spiele als Kulturgut formuliert. Ich habe den Brief schon mitgezeichnet und wer die Forderungen ebenfalls unterstützen will, kann das ebenfalls über ein Formular tun. #Spielwissenschaft akgwds.de/2026/08/17/o...

akgwds.de

Offener Brief des AKGWDS zur Sicherung Digitaler Spiele als Kulturgut - Arbeitskreis Geisteswissenschaften und Digitale Spiele

Wissenschaft, Forschung und Lehre profitieren davon, wenn sich Theorien nicht nur abstrakt formulieren lassen, sondern auch greifbar sind. In der Spielwissenschaft braucht es dafür die Spiele selbst, ...

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A. Cathy Nguyen @anhthu.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

something I keep falling for is looking forward to calling my mum only for her to drain me within twenty minutes of "talking" to her where she goes on a monologue where all I can do is nod and agree 😞

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A. Cathy Nguyen @anhthu.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

unfortunately looking at birds (in this photo, bats) in HD through binoculars has changed my life and this was probably the best gift I could have gotten

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A. Cathy Nguyen @anhthu.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

saw this horse and said hello from like five meters away, not even at the fence. horsie was the one to come up to the fence and let me pet 🩷

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Reposted by A. Cathy Nguyen

The Verge @theverge.com · 02/09/2026

As a new Harry Potter trailer makes the rounds, it bears repeating that there’s no way to watch this show without supporting J.K. Rowling’s bigotry and the structural violence she’s inflicting on the trans community.

theverge.com

There is no ethical consumption of HBO’s Harry Potter series

You can’t without supporting Rowling’s transphobic bigotry.

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A. Cathy Nguyen @anhthu.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

all I do is watch 🦘 land news and I'm a bit envious at having a leader whose face on TV doesn't make you overcome with pure hatred ☺️

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A. Cathy Nguyen @anhthu.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

being back in sydney after two years reminds me how insular japan/kyoto is which i have gotten used to but there's just something nice being in a city with all kinds of people, languages, food. I miss cities that feel international 😭

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A. Cathy Nguyen @anhthu.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

homemade chicken pho for the house 😌

chicken pho, with spring onions, shredded chicken, coriander as toppings, hoisin and sriracha as sauces on the side, extra shredded chicken, bowl with fresh Thai basil and mint and lime

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A. Cathy Nguyen @anhthu.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

crying at how easy it is in Sydney to get ingredients to make something like chicken pho, including fresh herbs - Thai basil, mint, coriander - and dry spices 😭 with just one supermarket visit! it's really thanks to the many different immigrants here. would be impossible in japan

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A. Cathy Nguyen @anhthu.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

this year's Sydney marathon medal features important landmarks of the city but unfortunately it doesn't feature Sydney's Allianz Stadium but the Allianz Arena in Munich

medal features important landmarks of Sydney but it features the Allianz Stadium in Munich and not the one in Sydney instead

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A. Cathy Nguyen @anhthu.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

kinda on holidays and kinda not, I was kindly invited to join the Sydney Games and Play lab at USYD on Thursday and listened to some great presentations on current projects here. also learned about @ludolio.com, a project allowing libraries to lend games just like you would do with books. very cool!

photo of presentation featuring the front page of ludolio.com

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A. Cathy Nguyen @anhthu.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

cats in japan look at me like I'm disgusting, cats in australia voluntarily come to me for belly rubs. thank u australian cats

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A. Cathy Nguyen @anhthu.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

a few weeks ago i renewed my residence permit, asked for 3 years, only got 1 year and paid 5,500yen. next year when I renew I'll have to pay 27,000 yen at the very minimum - around 5 times the initial fee. it's ridiculous. how will low wage workers - needed desperately by japan - afford this?

official information by the japanese immigration services energy about the hike of fees for residence permits starting from october 2026.

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A. Cathy Nguyen @anhthu.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

every single news cycle (Germany, Australia, Japan, US) I follow is making it very clear that immigrants are not welcome anywhere right now 😃. they all want me to go home but my home calls me passport german 🤔

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A. Cathy Nguyen @anhthu.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

my PhD thesis "Ludic Tourism: Video Games, Travel, and Mediation of Place" is now available as open access via Ritsumeikan's databank: doi.org/10.34382/000... an analysis about touristic practices in play, games, design, and marketing with titles such as Ghost of Tsushima and Cyberpunk 2077📖

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A. Cathy Nguyen @anhthu.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

are compression socks really worth it if i never felt like i needed them on planes

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A. Cathy Nguyen @anhthu.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

neue birkenstocks aka deutschkartoffelmaxxing

photo of me wearing light grey sandalshoes

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A. Cathy Nguyen @anhthu.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

going through research gate's suggestions of whether im an author of X paper is always fun because there's so many anh-thu nguyens plus variants out there who are doing some excellent research that i have no idea about!

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A. Cathy Nguyen @anhthu.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

i used to say "AI this, AI that" whenever news would start talking about AI (which is always) but lately I basically convey the same sarcastic tone by saying AI in an Australian accent and it does the same job. AYEEE OAAAIIII

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A. Cathy Nguyen @anhthu.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

without formal training in Japanese studies I always found the idea of presenting at replaying japan a bit intimidating, which is why it's taken me until now to actually submit something and present. I had such a lovely time. thank you to everyone who made it so!! 💕

photo of screen of last conference day for replaying Japan, text reads "closing remarks, replaying Japan 2026, the 14th international Japan game studies conference, thank you very much for your participation! see you next year!"

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A. Cathy Nguyen @anhthu.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

replaying japan 2026 conference is shaping up to be one of my best conference experiences so far 😭 everyone's so nice. SO nice in fact i feel like my social guard rails are coming off and i'm about to say something weird😭

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A. Cathy Nguyen @anhthu.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

replaying japan conference tomorrow! my first time actually presenting. only 1hr train ride away from where i live, usually all the conferences i present at mean some kind of international travel 😅 very very excited

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A. Cathy Nguyen @anhthu.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

safe to say we reaaaally enjoyed it!

screenshot from steam platform, showing 100% completion for big walk with 20 hrs on record

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A. Cathy Nguyen @anhthu.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

a KH panel, live voice acting with sora and riku's voice actors, tetsuya nomura ON STAGE. there was a time when square was only allowed to use mickey in ONE scene due to licensing issues with disney and now he's a playable character in the game? 😭 KINGDOM HEARTS IS A REAL GAME NOW

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A. Cathy Nguyen @anhthu.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

kingdom hearts getting so much PR now it feels like a real video game franchise now just some obscure project by square

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