iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

The added LLM generated file summaries and tags of people/places etc. need all the usual AI caveats (especially because they are done on the weaker large-scale OCR that isn't always that great in quality) but I think still useful since they link through to the original pages on internet archive.

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Konrad Lawson @kml.muninn.net · 12h

Created a website (using Opus 5.5, Mistral OCR and PaddleCOR) for browsing/searching OCRed pages that make up a good chunk of the the "Records of the Department of State Relating to Internal Affairs of Japan, 1930–1949" available on internet archive froginawell.net/reference/ja...

froginawell.net

Japan Internal Affairs 1930–1949

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Reposted by Konrad Lawson

Anastasia Salter @anasalter.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Thrilled to be included alongside such a great collection of authors! 😄

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Konrad Lawson @kml.muninn.net · 27/09/2026

Ran out of tokens, but will add a few more year books next week. Early experimentation with National Diet Library scans of Japanese language 年鑑 volumes suggests poorer accuracy extraction (probably due to poor scan quality and smaller text in general) but will experiment more some other day.

froginawell.net

Old Year Book Tables of East Asia

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Konrad Lawson @kml.muninn.net · 27/09/2026

Spot checked a dozen or so tables. Not perfect (especially reading numbers in skewed page gutters or faded letters, which it usually left blank rather than guess), but really not bad, especially since you can jump to the original scanned page in most cases.

froginawell.net

Old Year Book Tables of East Asia

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Konrad Lawson @kml.muninn.net · 27/09/2026

Weekend fun project: old tables. Extracted (using Opus 5.5) a few thousand statistical tables from a collection of English language year books related to East Asia. Link each table to (when possible) the relevant page of the scan of the original on Internet Archive. froginawell.net/reference/ol...

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Konrad Lawson @kml.muninn.net · 21/09/2026

Wonderful! That is exactly the reason I created this!

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Konrad Lawson @kml.muninn.net · 21/09/2026

I should mention the database fully supports Zotero - click any item and your browser Zotero connector should recognize the entry through COINs metadata protocol.

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Konrad Lawson @kml.muninn.net · 21/09/2026

Still very much a work in progress. I welcome suggestions and corrections.

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Konrad Lawson @kml.muninn.net · 21/09/2026

Started a new resource page mostly for students on Frog in a Well: Primary Sources: Modern Japanese History The main event is a searchable database of over 3,000 books and pamphlets etc. in western languages from 1850-1955 open access online. froginawell.net/reference/mo...

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Konrad Lawson @kml.muninn.net · 15/09/2026

I still find it fun to browse this mega-timeline (1904-1945) put together from the listings of Japan Year Book, Japan Magazine, Nippon Times Weekly, and Contemporary Japan (Note: from Japanese perspective of time). Many events linked to the page on Internet Archive. froginawell.net/reference/em...

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Konrad Lawson @kml.muninn.net · 13/09/2026

Except for bug fixes and fixing/updating descriptions, updates will trail off now as the semester kicks into gear, but lots more to integrate someday (more Manchuria lines, ocean liners and more ferries. Korean bus networks, more thematic maps, Chinese railways etc. froginawell.net/reference/ja...

froginawell.net

The Japanese Empire

Interactive map for revising the geography of the Japanese Empire: colonies, occupied territories, neighbouring states, cities and battles, 1853-1945.

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Konrad Lawson @kml.muninn.net · 13/09/2026

2) Incorporated a little "book" icon for a new type of "thematic" map for special maps only available for specific places that can have their own infrastructure (and eventually "slides" of changing maps. First up: a 1931 census map of Burma showing "regular" "loosely" "special" and "unadministered"

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Konrad Lawson @kml.muninn.net · 13/09/2026

Sunday updates to the interactive map of the Japanese empire. 1) First batch of Manchurian railways from a timetable of July, 1942 has been integrated (more than half the lines and all major ones). Over 600 out of 900 stations, mostly by match from timetable to station today + location.

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Konrad Lawson @kml.muninn.net · 13/09/2026

Southern Ridges sounds nice. I'll keep that in mind for next time. The other longer walk I liked it enough that I did most of a second time was the railway corridor. My gpx tracks: Punggol to Jurong route 42km: muninn.net/walks/?track... Railway Corridor Walk 23km: muninn.net/walks/?track...

muninn.net

My Tracks

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Konrad Lawson @kml.muninn.net · 12/09/2026

I haven't yet done a deep dive on what changes there may have been to Burmese districts between 1930-1941, but the Dutch East Indies admin districts reflect changes between 1930 and 1942 (but showing eve of invasion) including a merger in Sumatra and residency mergers/changes in Java.

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Konrad Lawson @kml.muninn.net · 12/09/2026

Saturday night additions to interactive map of Japanese empire: Admin boundaries for Dutch East Indies (drawing from @robertcribb.bsky.social Historical Atlas of Indonesia) & Burma divisions/districts from 1931 census w/ pop. data on info cards. froginawell.net/reference/ja...

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Konrad Lawson @kml.muninn.net · 12/09/2026

Thank you. Most of that list was created by my wonderful former student Sahil Bhagat who was recently based in Singapore but is now starting a PhD at HKU. It was great to catch up with him in Singapore in spring 2023 during a long cross city walk together from Punggol to Jurong gardens.

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Konrad Lawson @kml.muninn.net · 12/09/2026

Thanks for that tip, that state library was not on my list of places to search for maps (though the student who did the bulk of work on the Malay world resource list may have used it).

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Konrad Lawson @kml.muninn.net · 12/09/2026

The NLA is really amazing when it comes to digitized maps. Lots of our maps linked from these pages, especially (link rot is about 5% per year, alas, so they need a cleaning up): History of the Malay World froginawell.net/frog/primary... History of Burma froginawell.net/frog/sources...

froginawell.net

Primary Sources: History of the Malay World

Katak di bawah tempurung / Seperti katak dalam tempurung – Frog under the coconut shell. Let’s try to get out from under our shell.This page is a list of open access resources and prima…

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Konrad Lawson @kml.muninn.net · 12/09/2026

If you have any good sources to point me to for that, I can add to my checklist. I'm suddenly very grateful to hobbyists who collect old pamphlets and timetables and post them online.

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Konrad Lawson @kml.muninn.net · 12/09/2026

Yes, at least passenger-bearing. This morning, just finished another Korea-Japan ferry wired into the Korea 1930s timetables I had. I've been collecting the information for the ocean liners and ferries to add in batches. I'll probably work my way outward from Japan when I start that work.

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Konrad Lawson @kml.muninn.net · 12/09/2026

As in the 18c maps? That sounds like a great basis for a version of this kind of website for earlier periods. Because I've found this so overwhelming, and wanted it basically for my modules 19-20c, I've focused on two moments 1930 and 1942.12 as rough anchors so far.

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Konrad Lawson @kml.muninn.net · 12/09/2026

…after I finish the basic railway lines for Thailand/Siam 1942/1930ish and French Indochina 1942/30ish. Today will work on Dutch East Indies admin units on there building off Cribb’s historical atlas. If you have a wish list for priority things you think most useful to add/fix, please do send along!

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Konrad Lawson @kml.muninn.net · 12/09/2026

Thanks for these photos! I completed the basic burma layer tracing from a (probably 1942) Japanese map, and the rails look like they roughly fit the 1930 alternate view I offer. I was thinking of having a separate special “theme layer” for the “death rail” that this would support after…

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Konrad Lawson @kml.muninn.net · 12/09/2026

Friday night additions to the Interactive Map of the Japanese Empire: 1) administrative units for French Indochina 2) Burma railway lines (no animation or stations yet) 3) Japanese railway lines and stations (1930 and 1942) thanks to the dataset from 国土数値情報ダウンロードサイト froginawell.net/reference/ja...

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Konrad Lawson @kml.muninn.net · 09/09/2026

New update to the Interactive Map of the Japanese Empire. Explore and animate 1938 colonial Korean railways, and also the 1935 lines for Karafuto. Or browse the raw timetables. froginawell.net/reference/ja...

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Reposted by Konrad Lawson

Anastasia Salter @anasalter.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

We're up to week three of my graduate course on Humanities in the Age of AI and I'm already making dramatic changes to my original plan, including adding ChatGPT to the tools options alongside Claude and demoing both to allow for more thoughtful discussion of Astra. anastasiasalter.net/HumanitiesAI/

anastasiasalter.net

Humanities in the Age of AI

Fall 2026 - Anastasia Salter

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Konrad Lawson @kml.muninn.net · 07/09/2026

Weekend fun project: adding a feature to the restored Nagasaki Foreign Settlement website by Lane R. Earns and Brian Burke-Gaffney to allow direct browsing of the concession leaseholder lots over time thanks to the detailed leaseholder tables they created. froginawell.net/nagasaki/

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Konrad Lawson @kml.muninn.net · 02/09/2026

Coming soon or in progress: ocean liners; rail lines for Manchuria and major lines for China; train line animation for Korean lines; more stats; cleaning up of descriptions; A few historical thematic map layers; Refine performance on mobile devices.

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Konrad Lawson @kml.muninn.net · 02/09/2026

7) option click colors in legend to change it (shortcut to feature in in layer options) 8) option-click objects to highlight them in bright yellow (might be useful in lectures or teaching) 9) lots of keyboard shortcuts.

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Konrad Lawson @kml.muninn.net · 02/09/2026

2) Right click on things to get option to download geojson or copy lat/long 3) option-click legend year to get option to turn places off 4) Dark mode (auto detect + via layers panel) 5) more population stats and population tables for Japan, Korea, and Manchuria. 6) CSV exports for all tables.

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Konrad Lawson @kml.muninn.net · 02/09/2026

A few new features to the Interactive Map of Japanese empire. 1) commercial airlines with animation tools (see info "i" tab for limitations of this due to limited sources drawn from. Also still a bit buggy - working on it. froginawell.net/reference/ja...

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Konrad Lawson @kml.muninn.net · 30/08/2026

I wonder if you might try it and see what you think needs to be improved. The points can be of various icons including some tactical symbols (what else would you add?)

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Konrad Lawson @kml.muninn.net · 30/08/2026

Hey Eugen, I have added some annotation features to the map. If visit the map website on a desktop and press “create” you can draw points, arrows, lines, and polygons on the map and then either 1) share the link with annotation embedded in the link or 2) if the annotations are too many save them

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Konrad Lawson @kml.muninn.net · 30/08/2026

Another update to the Interactive Map of Japanese Empire. 1) populations stats added to 1930+1945 maps provinces+cities of Korea 2) population density map 3) occupations breakdown. 4) 1941 population stat tables for Taiwan added to 1942 map. 5) optional sugar railways froginawell.net/reference/ja...

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Konrad Lawson @kml.muninn.net · 30/08/2026

I found a dataset on Academia Sinica for some of those sugar lines (thcts.sinica.edu.tw/themes/rd15-...) but not 100% clear what they include (perhaps to 1918?). Have queued this up as an optional additional thinner layer with the railways (not in the animated version). Will release this by tmr.

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Konrad Lawson @kml.muninn.net · 30/08/2026

Frog in a Well now hosts a restored Brian Burke-Gaffney and Lane R. Earns website "Nagasaki Foreign Settlement: A History of the Foreign Settlement at Nagasaki, Japan" together with its 1993-1998 journal "Crossroads: A Journal of Nagasaki History and Culture" froginawell.net/nagasaki/

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Konrad Lawson @kml.muninn.net · 30/08/2026

Today I'm working on 1930 vs 1942 demographic statistics. Eventually will move to Manchuria/China layers/data. Japan proper last, though.

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Konrad Lawson @kml.muninn.net · 30/08/2026

It is a lot of work! Thankfully, in Korea and Taiwan cases, some really fantastic online databases that have rich data, or at least rich enough to get started. Owe a huge debt of gratitude to historians there for what they compile. Listing them in the sources page linked from about pane.

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Konrad Lawson @kml.muninn.net · 30/08/2026

Oh nice! Without lots of extra effort that is pretty much what all of us non-programmers could do before these agent coding tools came along. I still do the georeferencing myself when there isn't a good geopackage or geojson source available.

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Konrad Lawson @kml.muninn.net · 30/08/2026

If I do add them it would likely come after I finish main lines for manshū and China.

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Konrad Lawson @kml.muninn.net · 30/08/2026

I’d love to but there are a lot of them and each line takes quite a bit of time looking things up and georeferencing (clearest map is US military 1944 which marks many of them abandoned). What do you think? What would you say the main benefit would be in adding those lines?

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Konrad Lawson @kml.muninn.net · 30/08/2026

Also custom colors now possible for anyone who hates the color scheme. Lot of data fixing, checking of OCRed data, adding romanizations and checking automatically generated ones, etc. in coming months, but still building out the basic infrastructure and datasets for this platform.

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Konrad Lawson @kml.muninn.net · 30/08/2026

Interactive map updates: Added train lines and stations for 1930 vs 1942 for Korea and Taiwan (근대 철도 DB & 日治時期鐵路分布圖 as foundation) + "Train Tools" feature, currently only for Taiwan, lets you animate the rail network (according to a 1936 列車時刻表. froginawell.net/reference/ja...

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Reposted by Konrad Lawson

sakura christmas @prof-christmas.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Out in two weeks, the much anticipated MAPPING MEDICAL MODERNITY by Susan Burns from @upittpress.bsky.social on urban space and public health in Meiji Japan with case studies on cholera, syphilis, and mental disorders in Tokyo #envhist #histstm

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Konrad Lawson @kml.muninn.net · 27/08/2026

Thank you Eugen. There are thousands of fixes and additions that I'd like to make - but it will have to be done bit by bit (currently working on train lines, starting with Taiwan). Browsing it if there are cities/towns you think worth adding, or well-source small border adjustments etc. let me know!

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Konrad Lawson @kml.muninn.net · 27/08/2026

(note: first screen shot shows a feature/bug that different cities show depending on zoom and location currently based on very rough estimate of different size categories by 1930 pop. Need to revisit that eventually since it gives you deceptively empty and annoying cluttered areas at some zooms.

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Konrad Lawson @kml.muninn.net · 27/08/2026

A few new features on the interactive map of Japanese empire. 1) Optional topography layer. 2) Added 1930 admin boundaries for Taiwan (thanks to Academia Sinica GIS datasets and some tweaking) 3) Added two alternative options to the default Mercator projection. froginawell.net/reference/ja...

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