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Nick Kapur

@nickkapur.bsky.social
3.1K followers 167 following 1.3K posts

Historian of Japan and East Asia. I only post extremely interesting things. Author of "Japan at the Crossroads," out now from Harvard University Press. www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isb…

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Reposted by Nick Kapur
Rick Perlstein @rickperlstein.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
University of Michigan today. The most tipping-point image I've seen to exemplify our fascist descent. And the surrender was won with the weapon of false antisemitism charges against people protesting genocide--making administrations complicit in genocide. A moral nadir. This is how republics die.
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Donovan Schaefer @feelingtheory.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Never before have "marketing gimmick" and "mass psychosis" so totally converged
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Better Things Are Possible @internethippo.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
The good news is that antifascism, Reconstruction 2.0, the abolition of billionaires, and the Butlerian Jihad are all one project now
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emptywheel @emptywheel.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
WaPo reports that Trump is stealing money again, this time money appropriated for (among others) Eastern Europe and sending it to Latin America. But I think stealing $$ from Iraq is just as important. www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
Late Wednesday, the administration quietly notified Congress it was defying the hold and moving ahead, diverting to Panama, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia $52 million that had been approved for Slovakia, North Macedonia, Tunisia and Iraq, the officials said. They spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss security matters.
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Nick Kapur @nickkapur.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
NARRATOR: It wasn't actually mind-boggling.
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Modern Japan History Association @modernjapanhist.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
On Thursday, October 8! Don't miss Jordan Sand's 2026 MJHA Distinguished Annual Lecture, "The Stuff of Japanese History: Materialist Approaches". From 7:00-8:30 pm ET (Friday, 10/9, 8:00-9:30 am JST)! Register for Zoom here: mjha.org/event-6695701
A screenshot of the website with the event details for the MJHA's distinguished annual lecture, featuring a portrait photograph of Professor Jordan Sand.
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Nick Kapur @nickkapur.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
For those in Tokyo, I'll be giving a talk (in Japanese) next month at the Junkudō bookstore in Ikebukuro! The topic is the Japanese translation of my book "Japan at the Crossroads," out soon from Misuzu Shobō. Renowned historian Nakakita Kōji (Chūō University) will be the discussant.
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Nick Kapur @nickkapur.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
NARRATOR: It wasn't actually mind-boggling.
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Nick Kapur @nickkapur.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Another version of my book's cover, now with 100% more OBI
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Nick Kapur @nickkapur.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
This is from Cornell University's own report on sexual assault (p. 4). 35% is pretty staggering, and far out of line with recent figures at similar schools.
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sirosenbaum.bsky.social @sirosenbaum.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
thinking about Shakespeare's sonnets about immortality and realizing how weird it is that the AI cult believes in the idea of preserving human consciousnesses while actively destroying the only technology we currently have to do that: Art
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Sanho Tree @sanho.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Google and Apple immediately update their maps.
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Katie Martin @katie0martin.ft.com · 25/09/2026
I have blamed The agents That hacked Your website And which You probably Reasonably thought I controlled Forgive me I am rich And unaccustomed To taking responsibility
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Luke LeBrun @lukelebrun.ca · 26/09/2026
Tech companies suddenly decide they can, in fact, moderate content on their platforms after all
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Nick Kapur @nickkapur.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Japanese used bookstores are reporting a massive uptick in bulk purchases of used Japanese books by overseas buyers, seemingly without any regard to their contents. The only logical conclusion is that these books are being stripped, scanned, and discarded to train AI models.
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Nick Kapur @nickkapur.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Japanese used bookstores are reporting a massive uptick in bulk purchases of used Japanese books by overseas buyers, seemingly without any regard to their contents. The only logical conclusion is that these books are being stripped, scanned, and discarded to train AI models.
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Nick Kapur @nickkapur.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Another version of my book's cover, now with 100% more OBI
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Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
make the John Brown season of Reacher you cowards
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g0m @g0m.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
A world where a twist ending is repurposed as a video title. where a thing's climax has been removed, leaving an advertisment for the gap where it used to be. such things are commonplace in. the twilight zone
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Steven (with a PH) @sjksalisbury.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Christening a baby is nothing like christening a ship. I know that now. Once again I can only apologise.
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Murshed Zaheed @murshedz.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
🚨👀 Lot worse than we collectively imagined: The Trump regime is looking into “data center-related proposals covering at least 17,600 acres of public land across six states — Arizona, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Utah and Wyoming.”
washingtonsun.com
Trump Is Considering More Data Centers on Public Lands Than Previously Known
The data center proposals cover at least 17,600 acres of public lands across six Western states.
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Philip Bump @pbump.com · 18/09/2026
Next Trump will demand to have a plaque added to JFK’s plot at Arlington or he’ll extinguish the eternal flame.
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Kevin Gannon (now a Moo Deng fan account) @thetattooedprof.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
once you see this regime as the collective equivalent of an abuser then the whole of its rhetoric and actions makes perfect sense
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Eric Columbus @ericcolumbus.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Trump is dead serious. See this chart from March: www.politico.com/news/2026/03...
Chart showing that prior presidents including Trump’s first term grant disaster requests from blue and red states roughly equally before Trump 2 started rejecting most requests from blue states
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WOR$T GIRL IN ACADEMIA @medievaliste.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Once again, the median pay for an adjunct professor in the United States of America is $3,500 per course. Not per month, per course.
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Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
“If you don’t rename the Kennedy Center after me I will close it forever” Again living in DC is experiencing the constant humiliation of “what if Robert Moses had the most gaudy taste possible and randomly got obsessed with musical theatre”
Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump
+
The Board of The Kennedy Center today agreed, almost unanimously, to close the Building for Safety reasons, and so that it can begin the process of Reconstruction. The closing will take place immediately, however, the Renovation and Reconstruction, which is a very large and complex job, cannot begin until such time as the D.C. Circuit rules on the Board's approved name.
If the ruling is a negative one, which it should not be, and is not overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court, the Reconstruction and the Renovation of The Kennedy Center will not take place. The attorneys from the DOJ will ask for an expedited appeal. In the meantime, 17 Million Dollars, raised by President Trump, has been put into The Kennedy Center account to keep it afloat. Thank you for your attention to this matter! President
DONALD J. TRUMP
234 ReTruths 767 Likes
9/15/26, 2:54 PM
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Nick Kapur @nickkapur.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Air pollution is now legal, it seems
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Nick Kapur @nickkapur.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Air pollution is now legal, it seems
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Grudgie the Wail @grudgie.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Most of Russia’s oil comes from places nowhere near Ukraine and all of Russia put together produces just a fraction of what passes through Hormuz. It’s all such obvious bullshit.
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Bolts @boltsmag.org · 13/09/2026
Maine and Vermont, two states with the highest proportions of white residents, never disenfranchised people with felony convictions. That’s no coincidence, says an advocate for incarcerated Mainers: “The Maine model ain’t happening in Louisiana."
boltsmag.org
Maine Prisoners Organize to Protect Their Rare Right to Vote - Bolts
Maine is one of the only places in the country where prisoners keep their right to vote. But logistical barriers to voting still contribute to their larger exclusion from the political process.
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Michael Clemens @mclem.org · 12/09/2026
This new, shocking action by the US Administration just one part of a portfolio of severe taxes and restrictions on high-skill immigration to the United States. The resulting blow to our ability to attract global talent, and thus for the US economy to innovate & grow, will be terrible & permanent.
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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
A recurrent theme in this excellent story about China’s progress is that people there regard Trump as essential to their success, including his ability to drive scientific talent from the US www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
In Beijing, a think tank at Renmin University recently published an assessment titled
"Thank Trump," which wryly hailed his efforts to hasten the "twilight of an empire," by undermining America's alliances, civil service, scientific institutions, and democratic credibility. In the past two years, the international approval rating of the U.S. has dropped nearly forty points, according to a worldwide survey by the Alliance of Democracies; in multiple polls, China now rates higher than the U.S.
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steven monacelli @stevanzetti.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Texas is delaying its typical September 1 release of maternal mortality data until December 1, conveniently timed to be after the midterm election. Recent reports have shown a sharp rise in ectopic pregnancy deaths after the abortion ban went into effect. www.austinchronicle.com/news/texas-p...
austinchronicle.com
Texas’ Pregnancy Death Report Set to Release After Midterms • The Austin Chronicle
Texas’ Pregnancy Death Report Set to Release After Midterms
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Nick Kapur @nickkapur.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
The Japanese translation of my book has a cover! Coming this October from @misuzu_shobo
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洛北出版 @rakuhoku-pub.jp · 09/09/2026
ジグザグデモ! Snake Dance!
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Nick Kapur @nickkapur.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
The Japanese translation of my book has a cover! Coming this October from @misuzu_shobo
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Radley Balko @radleybalko.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
TFG is depleting our oil reserves to offset his stupid, unwinnable war, while paying renewable energy firms to stop production, while waging an equallly stupid trade war. Presidents are often unfairly blamed when the economy goes south. But we’ve never had a president *try* to ruin it.
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Democracy Now! @democracynow.org · 03/09/2026
Ahead of the November midterm elections, Republican officials in the third most populous county of Texas have voted to slash the number of polling sites by nearly one-third. Tarrant County, which includes Fort Worth, will have just 224 polling sites for 1.3 million voters.
democracynow.org
“Modern-Day Poll Tax”: Dem. Texas Commissioner Slams GOP Vote to Close 92 Polling Sites
Ahead of the November midterm elections, Republican officials in the third most populous county of Texas have voted to slash the number of polling sites by nearly one-third. Tarrant County, which incl...
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slate @pleasebegneiss.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
he got him. he finally fucking got him
real-life coyote and roadrunner encounter captured in southern california
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Paul Renfro @renfro.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
I love assigning and discussing “If Men Could Menstruate” (October 1978), particularly in my large US survey class. In some ways, it’s aged very well. In other ways, it’s aged very poorly. The same could be said for the brand of feminist politics that Steinem embodied. RIP. 🗃️
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Nick Kapur @nickkapur.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Philadelphia's natural history museum (the Academy of Natural Sciences) is closing forever Sept. 30, after nearly 200 years of operation, after Elon Musk's DOGE abruptly zeroed out its federal funding. Future generations of Philly kids won't get to see dinosaur skeletons or animal dioramas 😢💔
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Nick Kapur @nickkapur.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Trump is trying to give part of Yosemite National Park away to a real estate developer
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Nick Kapur @nickkapur.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Kinda terrifying - after a 2016 law gave the FDA more wiggle-room to approve new drugs, the average number of drug trials for approved drugs fell from 3 trials to just 1, and drug industry-funded trials surged from less than half to 80%.
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Nick Kapur @nickkapur.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
America's insurance companies are making record profits while raising rates to record heights. This eye-opening video investigates where all that money is going: www.youtube.com/watch?v=cr9T...
youtube.com
What State Farm and Liberty Mutual Don't Want You To Know
YouTube video by More Perfect Union
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Pile Of Garbage @pileofgarbage.net · 01/09/2026
I love how Werner Herzog is ALWAYS like this:
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Nick Kapur @nickkapur.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Philadelphia's natural history museum (the Academy of Natural Sciences) is closing forever Sept. 30, after nearly 200 years of operation, after Elon Musk's DOGE abruptly zeroed out its federal funding. Future generations of Philly kids won't get to see dinosaur skeletons or animal dioramas 😢💔
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Chris Geidner @chrisgeidner.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Changing the law surrounding third-country removals is a must-do change when we get to that point.
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Modern Japan History Association @modernjapanhist.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Mark your calendars!!! Jordan Sand (Georgetown) will give the Modern Japan History Association's 2026 Distinguished Annual Lecture, "The Stuff of Japanese History: Materialist Approaches," on Thursday, Oct. 8 (Oct. 9 in Japan). REGISTER FOR ZOOM HERE: mjha.org/event-6695701
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The Upshot @upshot.nytimes.com · 28/08/2026
“This is so ridiculous, it makes you sick,” said Don Neubacher, a former supervisor at Yosemite. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/28/u...
nytimes.com
Trump Administration Looks to Give a Swath of Yosemite Park to Developer (Gift Article)
The proposed land swap would allow easy access to the crown jewel of the national park system. Democrats and former Park Service officials are incensed.
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