Nathaniel M. Smith @nathanielmsmith.bsky.social · 02/10/2026my 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) 030
Nathaniel M. Smith @nathanielmsmith.bsky.social · 29/09/2026There’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? 000
Reposted by Nathaniel M. SmithLiv Coleman @livcolemanfl.bsky.social · 24/09/2026Japan’s gender gap isn’t where the rankings say it is www.japantimes.co.jp/commentary/2...japantimes.co.jpJapan’s gender gap isn’t where the rankings say it isThe 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. 022
Reposted by Nathaniel M. SmithDavid Fedman @dfeds.bsky.social · 09/09/2026Hi 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 55532
Nathaniel M. Smith @nathanielmsmith.bsky.social · 17/09/2026low interest rate = better than being ignored completely 😥 000
Reposted by Nathaniel M. SmithJessamyn Abel @jessamynabel.bsky.social · 13/09/20262027 Summer Institute on "Global Asias' Cold War: Cartographies of Intimacy" sites.psu.edu/vergeglobala...sites.psu.edu2027 Summer Institute — “Global Asias’ Cold War: Cartographies of Intimacy” – Global Asias Initiative 011
Reposted by Nathaniel M. SmithPaul Christensen @takadanobaba.bsky.social · 13/09/2026I wrote and article and now you can read it (and I'm happy to share if you don't have easy access).tandfonline.comFraught Narratives, Contrived Futures: Tokyo’s Techno-Utopian Erasure of the UnhousedMirai – 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... 065
Nathaniel M. Smith @nathanielmsmith.bsky.social · 09/09/2026as the world is only getting hotter, gymnosophist also seems like a pretty good gig en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gymnoso...en.wikipedia.orgGymnosophists - Wikipedia 001
Nathaniel M. Smith @nathanielmsmith.bsky.social · 08/09/2026currently in a slow parade of shinkansen above your fair(ly wet) city 100
Nathaniel M. Smith @nathanielmsmith.bsky.social · 27/08/2026it's not the mediatized/incitement/indirect thing? or is someone using it to mean something else now? 000
Nathaniel M. Smith @nathanielmsmith.bsky.social · 25/08/2026Evil genius to release the revised visa renewal fees during the time of year when nobody wants to be in Japan anyway 000
Reposted by Nathaniel M. SmithNathaniel M. Smith @nathanielmsmith.bsky.social · 23/08/2026(dog) whistleblower 337310
Nathaniel M. Smith @nathanielmsmith.bsky.social · 21/08/2026similar story but slightly later arrival to Omi Hachiman’s William Vories en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merrell...en.wikipedia.orgMerrell Vories Hitotsuyanagi - Wikipedia 020
Nathaniel M. Smith @nathanielmsmith.bsky.social · 17/08/2026Aaron is still very much missed. Glad to see this come out, Lisa! 120
Nathaniel M. Smith @nathanielmsmith.bsky.social · 04/08/2026come take a load off, my outdoor poly Amish friend 000
Nathaniel M. Smith @nathanielmsmith.bsky.social · 01/08/2026Kansai 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. 034
Nathaniel M. Smith @nathanielmsmith.bsky.social · 23/07/2026first 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 😅 000
Nathaniel M. Smith @nathanielmsmith.bsky.social · 21/07/2026unexpected but lovely that Tucson is significantly cooler than Kyoto (in addition to not being soup-thick humid) bonus: hummingbird checking out a cactus flower 000
Nathaniel M. Smith @nathanielmsmith.bsky.social · 17/07/2026nice 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 011
Nathaniel M. Smith @nathanielmsmith.bsky.social · 10/07/2026for more info: www.hagerty.com/media/car-pr...hagerty.comMaligned and misunderstood, East Germany’s tiny Trabant left an outsized legacy - Hagerty MediaSymbol of Soviet tyranny, triumphant escape vehicle, U2 cover star. East Germany's Beetle has stories to tell. 000
Nathaniel M. Smith @nathanielmsmith.bsky.social · 10/07/2026Leipzig side quest: spotting East German automotive history in the form of the charming Trabant 121
Nathaniel M. Smith @nathanielmsmith.bsky.social · 02/07/2026this semester's set of graduating advisees had a cool collection of thesis topics: 030
Nathaniel M. Smith @nathanielmsmith.bsky.social · 29/06/2026that text was a pretty off description of the cartoon 120
Nathaniel M. Smith @nathanielmsmith.bsky.social · 25/06/2026Oh, you can get big ones up there too. or have to trade for mukade. If the roach was a large one, odds are it just came in from outside. If you decide to sleep outside for a while, maybe the roaches will follow you out and you can then reclaim the house 120
Nathaniel M. Smith @nathanielmsmith.bsky.social · 25/06/2026The first part of your solution seems reasonable, but there are lots of other houses locally. No need to trouble yourself moving abroad 140
Nathaniel M. Smith @nathanielmsmith.bsky.social · 16/06/2026the evidence suggests these pages were *intentionally* left blank 010
Nathaniel M. Smith @nathanielmsmith.bsky.social · 13/06/2026the American Anthropological Association head's response to the embarrassingly poor Vanderbilt report americananthro.org/advocacy-sta...americananthro.orgSetting the Record Straight on Anthropology - American Anthropological AssociationThe 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... 000
Nathaniel M. Smith @nathanielmsmith.bsky.social · 22/05/2026i guess we’ve moved on from “eat the rich” 030
Nathaniel M. Smith @nathanielmsmith.bsky.social · 17/05/2026Another day, another stunning example of failure in science communication efforts by bamboo researchers 042
Nathaniel M. Smith @nathanielmsmith.bsky.social · 14/05/2026LINE 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 010
Reposted by Nathaniel M. SmithSainsbury 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... 042
Nathaniel M. Smith @nathanielmsmith.bsky.social · 28/04/2026if you read "AI" as love, then sure 愛を込めて作っただろうね 020
Nathaniel M. Smith @nathanielmsmith.bsky.social · 26/04/2026due 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 020
Reposted by Nathaniel M. SmithRadley Balko @radleybalko.bsky.social · 21/04/2026This is monstrous. Just profoundly shameful behavior by our government. www.nytimes.com/2026/04/21/w...nytimes.comTrump Is Said to Be in Talks to Send Afghans Who Aided U.S. Forces to Congo 601751643