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simon loves books📚活字中毒の左衛門 @kant.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

‘sub specie aeternitatis… The perspective of eternity is not a perspective from a certain place beyond the world, nor the point of view of a transcendent being; rather it is a certain form of thought and feeling that rational persons can adopt within the world.’ (Rawls)

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simon loves books📚活字中毒の左衛門 @kant.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

‘This is probably all one can ask of history, and of the history of ideas in particular: not to resolve issues, but to raise the level of the debate.’ (Hirschman)

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simon loves books📚活字中毒の左衛門 @kant.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

‘The pedestrian parade of factual detail which often epitomizes the published doctoral dissertation reflects the forced mating of reluctant author and uninspiring material.’ (Buchanan)

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simon loves books📚活字中毒の左衛門 @kant.bsky.social · 22/03/2026

Japan’s high-growth era was made possible by (1) global economic expansion, (2) cheap oil, (3) $1=¥360 exchange rate The dollar float and oil crisis brought this to an end Now we face a crisis of (1) tariff-led global slowdown, (2) rising oil prices, and (3) US+JP govts allowing ever weaker yen

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simon loves books📚活字中毒の左衛門 @kant.bsky.social · 22/03/2026

戦後日本の高度成長は、①世界経済の拡大、②安価な石油、③ドル=360円の為替レートという条件が揃うことで可能となったしかしニクソン・ショックと石油ショックがそれを終わらせた今日も①関税による世界経済の後退、②石油高騰、③日米政府の円安の容認によって、同規模の危機に差し当たっている

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simon loves books📚活字中毒の左衛門 @kant.bsky.social · 08/03/2026

Another day of deciphering and reprimanding my hayatochiri self My head was fixed in kuzushiji mode that when I saw the second character in the highlighted bit, all I could see was 己 as you often see in 記 But it's actually just a poorly written 区 duh 1/3

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simon loves books📚活字中毒の左衛門 @kant.bsky.social · 07/03/2026

So the key piece here turned out to be the knowledge that "outward flick at the end indicates it's a 口 at the bottom" So it certainly pays to know the shape of basic characters Gotta have the basics down

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simon loves books📚活字中毒の左衛門 @kant.bsky.social · 07/03/2026

Another adventure in deciphering I couldn't recognise the highlighted word But it has 2 characters And I was confident about the makeup of the first character so I started there It has a hitogashira 𠆢 and kidna looks like 會 But it flicks outwards not inwards at the end, so its not 日 but 口 1/4

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simon loves books📚活字中毒の左衛門 @kant.bsky.social · 21/02/2026

i say “it turned out to be” and thats probs the jp habit of turning things into the 3rd person but it was just a rethinking of assumptions i asked myself “what if its not て but an odoriji?” and that course correction is what opened up new possibilities — kimetsuke is bad, u gotta be an ironist

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simon loves books📚活字中毒の左衛門 @kant.bsky.social · 21/02/2026

today’s adventure in deciphering spent some figuring out this bit in the text was initially working under the assumption it was「◯て」 but it turned out to be「畧〻」畧 being an alternate form of 略（ほぼ）

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simon loves books📚活字中毒の左衛門 @kant.bsky.social · 19/02/2026

佐滝剛弘(2024):「さて、いわゆる「二重価格」がはたして観光公害を救い、観光立国にふさわしい施策かどうかを考えてみたい。　日本は、「観光立国」を標榜してインバウンドを積極的に誘致している。そのために、JRの運賃や高速道路の料金の割引策を実施している。JRの全線が乗り放題の「ジャパン・レール・パス」はよく知られている。〔…〕こうした優遇策が誘致の底流にあったことを考えると、外国人、あるいは地元以外の観光客の入場料や料金を高くするというのは、大きな方向転換である。〔…〕　まず、外国人にだけより高い料金を設けることは、「観光立国宣言」をした国の基本方針とは→ 1/4

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simon loves books📚活字中毒の左衛門 @kant.bsky.social · 15/02/2026

An interesting reflection by sociologist Kinosita Chigaya on the legacy of Reiwa Shinsengumi and what their near-decimation in last week's Lower House elections says about Japanese politics today

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Reposted by simon loves books📚活字中毒の左衛門

GOLIKEHELLMACHINE @golikehellmachine.com · 04/02/2026

RFK, jr. is the worst person you ever met at a party in california, patel is the worst guy you ever encountered at the gym, bondi is the worst person you ever met at church, bessent is the worst person you have ever met at a conference, all these people are the worst versions of every stereotype

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simon loves books📚活字中毒の左衛門 @kant.bsky.social · 04/02/2026

Posts with Japanese text / All Posts = 245/3,809 = 6.43% Likes of posts with Japanese text / All Likes = 572/16,466 = 3.47% (Number of observations over a 60 second period)

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simon loves books📚活字中毒の左衛門 @kant.bsky.social · 02/02/2026

In JNN’s most recent poll, published today, people were asked which party they intend to vote for in the proportion representation side of the Lower House elections Only 4% of the under-30s demographic answered with a left or centre party (CRA, Reiwa and SDP each had less than 1%; Mirai 1%; JCP 3%)

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Reposted by simon loves books📚活字中毒の左衛門

地平社 @chiheisha.bsky.social · 01/02/2026

【『地平』アーカイブ】参政党の台頭はなぜ可能になったか――解かれた極右の封印 chihei.net?p=5517 〈政治学者カス・ミュデ氏によれば、極右の国家像は「民族支配（ethnocracy）」である。要するに、「真の国民」を狭く定義し、それに沿わない人々の権利を厳しく制限するという発想である〉

chihei.net

参政党の台頭はなぜ可能になったか――解かれた極右の封印 - 月刊『地平』

「ふつうの政党」の陰で進む社会規範の弱体化

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simon loves books📚活字中毒の左衛門 @kant.bsky.social · 31/01/2026

Another interesting perspective, this time on the difference in emphasis in the campaign speeches of Takaichi and Noda/Saito

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simon loves books📚活字中毒の左衛門 @kant.bsky.social · 27/01/2026

As Mark Winchester @archerknewsmit.bsky.social has noted, “foreigner problem” and “foreigner policy” are terms that have come into currency only in the past year Nakano Kōichi ran a search on Asahi Shimbun database and saw such terms had no or only single digit hits until 2024, but 3 digits in 2025

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simon loves books📚活字中毒の左衛門 @kant.bsky.social · 27/01/2026

Gramsci casually quoting something Romain Rolland wrote eight years prior, in a book review no less gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/b...

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simon loves books📚活字中毒の左衛門 @kant.bsky.social · 27/01/2026

An illustration: A man was watching the JNPC debate between the heads of the major parties on TV with his wife At one point Tamaki grilled Takaichi over whether the sales tax cut for businesses will be by zero-rating or by exemption And the wife went “poor Ms. Takaichi, being treated like that”

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simon loves books📚活字中毒の左衛門 @kant.bsky.social · 26/01/2026

One of Sanseito’s co-founders, Watase Yūya, said yesterday that the party strategy in their first national election was to lure people who support Reiwa This was because Reiwa supporters already overlapped with Sanseito in their affinity for anti-vax, conspiracy theories, organic foods, etc.

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simon loves books📚活字中毒の左衛門 @kant.bsky.social · 26/01/2026

In one of his campaign videos, the winner of the Fukui gubernatorial race implored voters to help preserve the monoethnic nation

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simon loves books📚活字中毒の左衛門 @kant.bsky.social · 26/01/2026

My understanding is this Her appeal lies in contrast: first woman PM who looks approachable and upbeat, instead of stiff and elite ojisan Plus most people don’t actively seek political information, so they mainly know what little they’re shown on social media, showing her smiling and ganbatteru

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simon loves books📚活字中毒の左衛門 @kant.bsky.social · 25/01/2026

The Sanseito-backed candidate just won the Fukui Prefecture gubernatorial election

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simon loves books📚活字中毒の左衛門 @kant.bsky.social · 22/01/2026

I like how the map of contemporary East Asia in David Pilling’s Bending Adversity just matter-of-factly presents the reader with “Manchuria”

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simon loves books📚活字中毒の左衛門 @kant.bsky.social · 18/01/2026

An interesting perspective on Takaichi's popularity among people in their 20s

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simon loves books📚活字中毒の左衛門 @kant.bsky.social · 13/01/2026

According to the latest NHK poll, when asked which policies the Takaichi cabinet should prioritise, the under-40s age group showed the greatest concern among all age groups for the foreigner problem (green) and the least concern for the slush fund problem (yellow) news.web.nhk/senkyo/shiji...

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simon loves books📚活字中毒の左衛門 @kant.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

I read many a book over the past year, but two books left the deepest impression on me They challenged me, made me dwell and spurred me on not only to think but also to think better They are UNO Tsunehiro’s In Search of a Garden and AZUMA Hiroki’s Peace and Folly

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Reposted by simon loves books📚活字中毒の左衛門

Lillian Tsay @lilliantsay.bsky.social · 04/12/2025

Honored to have my writing appeared at @jmwwjournal.bsky.social!! I thank the editors and @kant.bsky.social’s feedback on the earlier drafts.

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simon loves books📚活字中毒の左衛門 @kant.bsky.social · 27/11/2025

Also: Kyodo has just independently verified the WSJ’s claims by interviewing people on the Japanese side with knowledge of the call According to their reporting, Trump stressed the need to “manage” the relationship with China in his call with Takaichi news.jp/i/1366746011...

news.jp

【独自】トランプ氏、日中の対立を懸念　首相に「エスカレート回避を」 | NEWSjp

トランプ米大統領が高市早苗首相との25日の電話会談で、日中両国の対立に懸念を示していたことが分かった...

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simon loves books📚活字中毒の左衛門 @kant.bsky.social · 13/11/2025

Religious studies scholar Shimada Hiromi has a new book on Sanseito out this week He details how Sanseito adopts tactics already proven effective by Komeito (which Shimada has studied for decades) And by JCP and Reiwa (Furuya Tsunehira’s book from last month is also good on the Reiwa connection)

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simon loves books📚活字中毒の左衛門 @kant.bsky.social · 30/10/2025

autumnal mazesoba with porcini and beef in mushroom cream sauce

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simon loves books📚活字中毒の左衛門 @kant.bsky.social · 29/10/2025

「私は総じて読書を好む。知性を鍛え魂を強くすることのできるようなことが見出される類いの読書は、私の最も好むものである。とりわけ私は、才気の優れた人と共に読書することに、無上の満足を見出す。こうすると、読んでいることについて刻々考え、考えたことをもとにして世にも楽しく、かつ有益な会話が成り立つからである」 (「ラ・ロシュフコー自画像」『ラ・ロシュフコー箴言集』より)

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simon loves books📚活字中毒の左衛門 @kant.bsky.social · 29/10/2025

「ちゃんとわかる人にとっては、わけのわからない人たちにわからせようとするよりも、彼らに負けておくほうが骨が折れない」 (「箴言448」『ラ・ロシュフコー箴言集』より)

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simon loves books📚活字中毒の左衛門 @kant.bsky.social · 27/10/2025

Once again, the "conspiracy parties" revealed themselves In yesterday's Miyagi governor race, the LDP-backed incumbent Murai won by 1.8% against the Sanseito-backed Wada whose supporters spread misinfo about Murai Exit polls show Sanseito, DPP and Reiwa have the highest share of Wada supporters

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simon loves books📚活字中毒の左衛門 @kant.bsky.social · 07/09/2025

Ishiba will hold a press conference at 6pm Some say he’s going to resign and retire, others that he will resign but also make a bid for re-election in a leadership election We won’t know for sure until 6pm

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simon loves books📚活字中毒の左衛門 @kant.bsky.social · 06/09/2025

Apparently the rebels have sufficient numbers to call an early leadership election Ishiba just met with Suga and Koizumi Now the options are 1) resign before the 8th; 2) call a snap general election; 3) make a bid for leadership re-election but if he loses call a snap; 4) not run but back Koizumi

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