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Nathaniel M. Smith

@nathanielmsmith.bsky.social
728 followers 138 following 408 posts

Anthropologist of Japan @ Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto. 立命館大学国際関係学部准教授。Writing/research on rightwing movements/politics/culture, US-Japan relations, and urban studies.

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Nathaniel M. Smith @nathanielmsmith.bsky.social · 1h
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Nathaniel M. Smith @nathanielmsmith.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
favorite daruma in Kyoto
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Nathaniel M. Smith @nathanielmsmith.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
my Suzuki Jimmy is now three years old (just did the mandatory shaken). I recommend it highly! tiny enough for Kyoto streets and mountain trails, fun to drive, available with manual transmission, and fairly decent fuel economy for a 4x4 (about 15+ km per liter)
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Nathaniel M. Smith @nathanielmsmith.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
There’s a weird mark on the weather forecast for the next couple of days. Does anybody know what this circle surrounded by little lines thing is supposed to mean?
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Liv Coleman @livcolemanfl.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Japan’s gender gap isn’t where the rankings say it is www.japantimes.co.jp/commentary/2...
japantimes.co.jp
Japan’s gender gap isn’t where the rankings say it is
The telling number is what happens to a 29-year-old woman after her first child — and whether the door is still open when she is ready to return.
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David Fedman @dfeds.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Hi friends, happy to share a labor of love: an essay in the latest issue of Environmental History on Tokyo's war-damaged trees (戦災樹木), the more than 200 hundreds trees scattered across the city that carry scars of wartime bombing in their morphology www.journals.uchicago.edu/toc/eh/0/0
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Nathaniel M. Smith @nathanielmsmith.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
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Jessamyn Abel @jessamynabel.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
2027 Summer Institute on "Global Asias' Cold War: Cartographies of Intimacy" sites.psu.edu/vergeglobala...
sites.psu.edu
2027 Summer Institute — “Global Asias’ Cold War: Cartographies of Intimacy” – Global Asias Initiative
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Paul Christensen @takadanobaba.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
I wrote and article and now you can read it (and I'm happy to share if you don't have easy access).
tandfonline.com
Fraught Narratives, Contrived Futures: Tokyo’s Techno-Utopian Erasure of the Unhoused
Mirai – future – is ubiquitously written into Tokyo’s cityscape. Yet the promises embedded in future-oriented government initiatives like Health Japan 21, Innovation 25, Society 5.0, and the Sustai...
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Nathaniel M. Smith @nathanielmsmith.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Evil genius to release the revised visa renewal fees during the time of year when nobody wants to be in Japan anyway
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Nathaniel M. Smith @nathanielmsmith.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
(dog) whistleblower
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Nathaniel M. Smith @nathanielmsmith.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
地蔵盆あるある
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Nathaniel M. Smith @nathanielmsmith.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
Aaron is still very much missed. Glad to see this come out, Lisa!
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Nathaniel M. Smith @nathanielmsmith.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
come take a load off, my outdoor poly Amish friend
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Nathaniel M. Smith @nathanielmsmith.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
also enjoying Tucson cafe culture
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Nathaniel M. Smith @nathanielmsmith.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
Kansai academicians! looking for someone to cover my grad courses in the 2027 academic year (yay sabbatical): Public Diplomacy Intro to Japan Studies Japan in East Asia Shoot me a DM or email if you are interested. Each course is MA-level, sometimes PhD students auditing. Usually 8-15 students.
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Nathaniel M. Smith @nathanielmsmith.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
first sabbatical since 2019 has been confirmed. I'll be unfettered for a year starting April 2027. just in time for the weakest yen in 40-years 😅
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Nathaniel M. Smith @nathanielmsmith.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
unexpected but lovely that Tucson is significantly cooler than Kyoto (in addition to not being soup-thick humid) bonus: hummingbird checking out a cactus flower
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Nathaniel M. Smith @nathanielmsmith.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
nice Kyoto job down at Ryukoku. "Global Ethics" with courses expected on human rights and governance (word on the street is that they pay very well too!) www.ryukoku.ac.jp/employment/d...
ryukoku.ac.jp
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Nathaniel M. Smith @nathanielmsmith.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
Leipzig side quest: spotting East German automotive history in the form of the charming Trabant
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Nathaniel M. Smith @nathanielmsmith.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
rather enjoying Leipzig cafe life
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Nathaniel M. Smith @nathanielmsmith.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
this semester's set of graduating advisees had a cool collection of thesis topics:
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Nathaniel M. Smith @nathanielmsmith.bsky.social · 21/06/2026
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Nathaniel M. Smith @nathanielmsmith.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
the evidence suggests these pages were *intentionally* left blank
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Nathaniel M. Smith @nathanielmsmith.bsky.social · 13/06/2026
the American Anthropological Association head's response to the embarrassingly poor Vanderbilt report americananthro.org/advocacy-sta...
americananthro.org
Setting the Record Straight on Anthropology - American Anthropological Association
The Report on the State of Scholarship in the Humanities and the Humanistic Social Sciences identifies anthropology as the single most extreme case of scholarly deterioration in the humanities and soc...
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Nathaniel M. Smith @nathanielmsmith.bsky.social · 22/05/2026
i guess we’ve moved on from “eat the rich”
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Nathaniel M. Smith @nathanielmsmith.bsky.social · 17/05/2026
Another day, another stunning example of failure in science communication efforts by bamboo researchers
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Nathaniel M. Smith @nathanielmsmith.bsky.social · 14/05/2026
LINE has added an AI agent directly below the messaging text window. You can remove it, but only for 30 days at a time... intrusion that knows it is intrusive... and yet still intrudes
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Nathaniel M. Smith @nathanielmsmith.bsky.social · 06/05/2026
not a bad one tonight
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Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures @sainsbury-institute.org · 04/05/2026
📢 Transnational Japanisms: Art, Craft, Design (15-16 May) The conference programme is now live! 💻 Livestream and online access available 🔗 Register via the conference website www.sainsbury-instit...
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Nathaniel M. Smith @nathanielmsmith.bsky.social · 02/05/2026
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Nathaniel M. Smith @nathanielmsmith.bsky.social · 26/04/2026
due to some misguided fear of mispronunciation, in Japan Ronald McDonald is known as Donald McDonald. to stay consistent, the children‘s charity Ronald McDonald House is known here as (the actually quite difficult to say) Donarudo Makudonarudo Hausu
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Radley Balko @radleybalko.bsky.social · 21/04/2026
This is monstrous. Just profoundly shameful behavior by our government. www.nytimes.com/2026/04/21/w...
nytimes.com
Trump Is Said to Be in Talks to Send Afghans Who Aided U.S. Forces to Congo
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Nathaniel M. Smith @nathanielmsmith.bsky.social · 17/04/2026
deals still exist in Tokyo
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Nathaniel M. Smith @nathanielmsmith.bsky.social · 11/04/2026
this summer's gunna be hot #nohampa
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Nathaniel M. Smith @nathanielmsmith.bsky.social · 09/04/2026
if you happen to be in Kyoto later this month and want to hear my spiel in Japanese...
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Nathaniel M. Smith @nathanielmsmith.bsky.social · 06/04/2026
seems like gas prices have gone *down* here in Kyoto -- saw a few in the mid-150s today
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Nathaniel M. Smith @nathanielmsmith.bsky.social · 05/04/2026
still disappointed that The Get Up Kids schtick wasn't wearing interesting get ups
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Nathaniel M. Smith @nathanielmsmith.bsky.social · 04/04/2026
first green pheasant I’ve run into in Kyoto
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Nathaniel M. Smith @nathanielmsmith.bsky.social · 29/03/2026
y‘all hep to the new guinea pig trend?
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Nathaniel M. Smith @nathanielmsmith.bsky.social · 29/03/2026
glad they’re keeping this one though
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Nathaniel M. Smith @nathanielmsmith.bsky.social · 28/03/2026
seems like a bad thing to demolish, but what I do I know? I’m not the governor of Kagawa
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Nathaniel M. Smith @nathanielmsmith.bsky.social · 28/03/2026
speaking of which, I haven’t noticed much jump in gas prices here at all. in the U.S. a few weeks back and everywhere shot up fast
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Nathaniel M. Smith @nathanielmsmith.bsky.social · 27/03/2026
a little road-tripping before the term gears up
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lauren @lauren.rotatingsandwiches.com · 17/01/2026
neolithic guys get pissed if you tell them their cultures are organized by the type of pots and jewelry they made. "we called ourselves the blood hunters" "we conquered villages far beyond this horizon" sorry bud you're the western linear pottery culture now
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Nathaniel M. Smith @nathanielmsmith.bsky.social · 19/03/2026
who gave him an orange tie for the Takaichi chat?
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Nathaniel M. Smith @nathanielmsmith.bsky.social · 18/03/2026
Tokyo report: Haneda and the Keikyu train still grossly warm
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Karen Gregory @karengregory.bsky.social · 17/03/2026
👀 www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
theguardian.com
Trump administration to slash fee to renounce US citizenship from $2,350 to $450
White House will take a financial loss to make it easier for Americans to walk away from citizenship starting in April
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Kjell Ericson @kjelldericson.bsky.social · 17/03/2026
**Postdoc positions** Kyoto University has opened up applications for the Hakubi Project, due May 17, 2026. This is a cream of the crop postdoc ("all fields, from basic to applied"), 5 (FIVE!) years, great research budget. Please apply or let others know! www.hakubi.kyoto-u.ac.jp/en/recruitme...
hakubi.kyoto-u.ac.jp
採用情報 | Kyoto University|The Hakubi Project
次世代を担う、優秀な若手研究者の育成プロジェクト
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Nathaniel M. Smith @nathanielmsmith.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
thanks UCSB, the talk was a blast. now off (after a few short hours of sleep) to Vancouver!
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