tim hornyak

Sir Ian McKellen performing a monologue from Shakespeare’s Sir Thomas More on the Stephen Colbert show. Never have I heard this monologue performed with such a keen sense of prescience. Nor have I ever been in this exact historical moment.TY Sir Ian, for reaching us once again.
#Pinks #ProudBlue

An American Couple Explored Japan for a Diamond in the Rough (Gift Article) With their sights set on an income-generating investment they could also live in, two Californians set out to buy a traditional home in the city of Atami.

For @nytimes I wrote about a couple's hunt for akiya: With their sights set on an income-generating investment they could also live in, two Californians set out to buy a traditional home in the city of Atami www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Exclusive: Have scientists found Leonardo da Vinci’s DNA? Inside the decadeslong quest to reveal the genes of a genius—and revolutionize art authentication

Exclusive: Have scientists found Leonardo da Vinci’s DNA? | Science | AAAS www.science.org/content/arti...

"Expressions of unbridled power don't come blunter than abducting a sitting president from his capital in the dead of night," Nick Paton Walsh writes | Analysis
https://cnn.it/3MVy0Po

Taito Ward has reached a court-sanctioned agreement with the 32 shops in Denboin St. They will leave by the end of July 2026, paying some rent for the remaining period but avoiding any backpayments for illegal occupation. www.yomiuri.co.jp/national/202...

1950（昭和25）年 東京・新橋の屋外ステージで開催された、電気通信省（現・NTT）主催のイベント「もしもしカーニバル」。大きな電話機の模型を置いた舞台で、電話腹話術、電話漫才などが行われ、普及途上だった回転ダル式電話機の使い方が宣伝された Deepl translation 1950 (Shōwa 25) The ‘Moshi Moshi Carnival’, an event organised by the Ministry of Communications (now NTT), was held on an outdoor stage in Shimbashi, Tokyo. Performances such as telephone ventriloquism and telephone comedy acts took place on a stage featuring a large model telephone. The event promoted the use of rotary dial telephones, which were then in the process of becoming widespread.

Asahi article on some postwar advertising campaigns has some good photos. In 1950, the "Moshi Moshi Carnival" in Shimbashi, promoted rotary phones, which had started to become more available. www.asahi.com/articles/ASQ...

Don’t fall for AI-generated bear videos, experts warn Japan A spate of real attacks has prompted a flood of fake online content, including a café where people and bears sip lattes together, that is confusing viewers

Don’t fall for AI-generated bear videos, experts warn Japan
A spate of real attacks has prompted a flood of fake online content, including a café where people and bears sip lattes together, that is confusing viewers www.thetimes.com/world/asia/a...

Insult China? Then say sayonara to your pandas China has gifted more than 30 pandas to Japan since 1972. Now, for the first time in five decades, Japan will have none as relations sour and the bears are returned

I wrote about panda diplomacy for @thetimes Insult China? Then say sayonara to your pandas
China has gifted more than 30 pandas to Japan since 1972. Now, for the first time in five decades, Japan will have none as relations sour and the bears are returned
www.thetimes.com/world/asia/a...

Bar chart showing cumulative Washlet sales from 2000 to 2025. The first bar is just over 10 million, and the last is above 70 million. Growth is fairly steady. Other round number landmarks are 2005 - 20 mln, 2010 - 30 mln, 2015 - 40 mln, 2018 - 50 mln, 2022 - 60 mln.

Toto says cumulative sales of the Washlet have surpassed 70 million. Launched in 1980, it took 18 years to sell 10 million Washlets. Overseas sales started kicking in from around 2010, and US demand has driven recent growth. www.yomiuri.co.jp/economy/2025...

Like Fancy Japanese Toilets? You’ll Love the Sound of This.

For @nytimes I wrote about Japan's 'Sound Princess' toilet noise-canceling tech entering men's rooms www.nytimes.com/2025/12/02/r...

大分むぎ焼酎二階堂・風のささやき　３０秒 YouTube video by 大分むぎ焼酎二階堂　公式チャンネル

A new but nostalgic TV ad for Nikaido shochu -- this is rural Japan
youtu.be/31TMkivdqQQ?...

Indonesia’s Jakarta now the world’s largest city, Tokyo falls to third: UN Nine of the top 10 mega-cities are in Asia, with Bangladesh's Dhaka projected to be the world's largest city by 2050.

Indonesia’s Jakarta now the world’s largest city, #Tokyo falls to third: UN aje.io/5qaqxh via @AJEnglish

maki-e fountain pen

Maki-e fountain pen
#fountainpens #matsuzawa

"There are still people in the United States who don't know about American history," George Takei tells
@fccjapan.bsky.social of his WWII internment, with Japanese translations of his books #StarTrek

Outage at Cloudflare Disrupts Parts of the Internet

Outage at Cloudflare Disrupts Parts of the Internet including X www.nytimes.com/2025/11/18/b...

The Penny Dies at 232: A brilliant eulogy by Victor Mather www.nytimes.com/2025/11/12/b...

Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan celebrates 80 years at the forefront of press freedom Since its founding in 1945, the club has been an important professional hub and played host to a startling array of political and cultural figures from around the world.

Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan celebrates 80 years at the forefront of press freedom @fccjapan.bsky.social www.japantimes.co.jp/community/20...

外国人観光客をターゲットに広がる北海道・ニセコ薬物汚染の現実 外国人観光客の集中で、物価が爆上がり中のニセコ。違法薬物も例外ではなく、そこに目をつけた地下組織が暗躍しているという世界が注目するスキーリゾートとして、各国からスキーやスノーボードを楽しむ人が集まる北...

Weekly Playboy says Niseko is flooded with cannabis and ecstasy, with foreigners willing to buy at multiples of prices elsewehere. Local police are largely ineffective. wpb.shueisha.co.jp/news/society...

North Korea has conducted a ballistic missile launch toward the sea off its east coast, says South Korea's military in a text message to reporters. No further details yet.

The Mainichi has an English article on the incident yesterday morning, when a bear broke into a high school gym in Yamagata, had a bit of a frolic, then left. mainichi.jp/english/arti...

Takaichi says boosting Japan-U.S. alliance ‘top priority’ in first call with Trump Potentially contentious defense and economic issues are expected to top the agenda of the prime minister’s meeting with Trump on Tuesday.

Takaichi says boosting Japan-U.S. alliance ‘top priority’ in first call with Trump
www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/10...

Photograph taken by Tokugawa Yoshinobu (the last Tokugawa shogun) of his cat, Han. It is perhaps Japan's oldest pet cat photo.

Couldn't recall why I'd saved this picture, Image search reminds me it's a photograph taken by Tokugawa Yoshinobu (the last Tokugawa shogun) of his cat, Han. It is perhaps Japan's oldest pet cat photo.

A group of us ditched our smartphones for a month. It changed us. The fliers that appeared in our D.C. neighborhoods about the challenge offered few details beyond a toll-free number.

Love this. If I weren’t a journalist, I’d give it a try…
www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/int...

Could your next pinot noir come from Japan’s snowiest region? Whisky distilling has long been a success in Hokkaido but its wines may also soon reach the highest standards

Could your next pinot noir come from Japan’s snowiest region?
Whisky distilling has long been a success in Hokkaido, the most northerly of Japan’s main islands, but its wines may also soon reach the highest standards www.thetimes.com/world/asia/a...

Twitter user tarutora17 posted this clip from Sunday of Tōru Hashimoto saying he wants more foreigners in Japan, as being surrounded on the island by only Japanese makes him uncomfortable. You can probably guess not everyone cares for that view. news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/0f2...

Retracing Basho’s steps at the mountain temple of Yamadera in Yamagata, I was surprised to come across this postbox for the monks. Every weekday, in rain or shine, a Japan Post mail carrier has to climb 1,000 stairs to reach this box for the 11 am collection.

多摩が東京府に移管される前後の地域の変遷 : 当初神奈川県だった多摩地域、なんで東京都に？…「多摩県」構想復活の動き　弱点は「２３区への強い憧れ」：写真 【読売新聞】　「都内へ行ってきます」。同僚は２３区内に取材に出かけるとき、そう言って出かける。立川も都内なのに……。立川支局に着任して数か月になるが、多摩３０市町村と２３区には大きな隔たりがあると感じる。そもそも、なんで多摩は、東京

Yomiuri has a piece on why the Tama region is part of Tokyo, how it used to be part of Kanagawa, and the local movement calling for a separate Tama prefecture. There's actually good English material on this topic. www.yomiuri.co.jp/pluralphoto/...

Could tipping culture spread in Japan as foreign visitors express desire to pay? - The Mainichi TOKYO -- To tip or not to tip -- that is the question on some people's minds as Japan welcomes a surge of tourists against the backdrop of a weak yen.

The Mainichi has an English version of last week's article asking whether a culture of tipping will take hold in Japan. The answer proferred is "Probably not". mainichi.jp/english/arti...

Super Typhoon #Ragasa: A video circulating online shows floodwaters appearing to storm the lobby of the Fullerton Ocean Park Hong Kong Hotel. Full coverage: hongkongfp.com/typhoon-raga...

Fourteen Years After Japan’s Nuclear Disaster, People With Cancer Seek Answers

Fourteen Years After Japan’s Nuclear Disaster, People With Cancer Seek Answers www.nytimes.com/2025/09/03/w...