Michael K. Bourdaghs

For a class activity, I'm collecting versions of the famous opening to Kawabata Yasunari's _Yukiguni_ (1948).

「国境の長いトンネルを抜けると雪国であった。夜の底が白くなった。信号所に汽車が止まった。」

Critical Failures by Miyabi Goto | Hardcover | Cornell University Press Critical Failures revisits the overlooked messiness at the heart of Japan's early experiments with modern criticism. In the Meiji era, young intellectuals posited that mastering the art of critical...

New book: Miyabi Goto, "Critical Failures: Modern Japan and the Possibility of Reading Otherwise" (Cornell East Asia Series): a creative rethinking of the rise of modern literary criticism in Meiji Japan as a kind of productive failure.
www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501...

CFP: 28th Annual Japanese Studies Graduate Student Conference at UCLA (May 18–19, 2026); abstracts due March 31.

https://networks.h-net.org/group/announcements/20143435/cfp-28th-annual-japanese-studies-graduate-student-conference-ucla-may

Texts of the Heisei Era This volume with contributions on the literature of the Heisei era (1989-2019) contains analyses of contemporary Japanese literature. It presents authors such as Shimada Masahiko, Abe Kazushige, Tawad...

New book: "Texts of the Heisei Era: Readings of Contemporary Japanese Literature," ed. Lisette Gebhardt and Christian Chappelow (De Gruyter).

www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi...

‘Do what you really want to do while you’re still alive’: Masayoshi Takanaka, the Japanese guitar hero surfing a second wave in his 70s Playing a surfboard-shaped axe, Takanaka was a stadium-level artist at home but little known in the west – until YouTube brought him a huge new audience

James Balmont in the Guardian on guitar legend Takanaka Masayoshi's unexpected late-career resurgence.

www.theguardian.com/music/2026/m...

Torikaebaya Monogatari | Stanford University Press Torikaebaya monogatari is a twelfth-century Japanese tale like no other. As suggested by its title, which literally translates to "if only I could exchange them" (torikaebaya) "story" (monogatari), it...

New book (well, a reissued book in updated form) "Torikaebaya Monogatari," trans. Rosette F. Willig (Stanford University Press).

www.sup.org/books/asian-...

not once have I ever needed a text message or email summarized in my entire fucking life

俳優・渥美清｜神保町シアター 寅さん役で国民的俳優となった渥美清（1928-1996）の特集上映です。今回は、東宝で主演した珍しいラブコメや、渥美自ら製作に携わった知られざる名作、ほんの数シーンしか登場しない東映時代劇と、様々なジャンルの上映で“寅さんだけじゃない”渥美の魅力にも迫ります。

atsumi kiyoshi retrospective at the jimbocho theater commemorating the 30th anniversary of his passing
www.shogakukan.co.jp/jinbocho-the...

Animals in Premodern Japan This Open Access book is presented with an outlook on current developments in Japanese Animal Ethics and how Andō Shōeki's depictions of non-human animals.

New book (free open access): Melissa Ann Kaul, "Animals in Premodern Japan: The Encyclopaedia of Andô Shôeki 安藤昌益 (1703-1762)" (Springer).

link.springer.com/book/10.1007...

‘Wrong in 1942. Wrong now.’ Local Japanese Americans tie WWII incarceration to Trump’s immigration crackdown se American groups held a vigil at the Broadview ICE facility on the Day of Remembrance, which commemorates the 1942 order spurring mass incarceration of those of Japanese ancestry during World War…

Shareable link: www.chicagotribune.com/2026/02/22/j...

‘Wrong in 1942. Wrong now.’ Local Japanese Americans tie WWII incarceration to Trump’s immigration crackdown se American groups held a vigil at the Broadview ICE facility on the Day of Remembrance, which commemorates the 1942 order spurring mass incarceration of those of Japanese ancestry during World War…

'Wrong in 1942. Wrong now.' Local Japanese Americans tie WWII incarceration to Trump's immigration crackdown www.chicagotribune.com/2026/02/22/j...

A Nation Within | Stanford University Press The presence of hundreds of thousands ethnic Koreans in Japan, or "zainichi Koreans," is one of the visible legacies of Japanese colonialism. A surprising and influential group among zainichi Koreans ...

New book: Sayaka Chatani with KumHee Cho, "A Nation Within: North Korean Zainichi in Postimperial Japan" (Stanford University Press).
www.sup.org/books/asian-...

The critic who ruffled pop culture’s feathers In “Blank Space,” W. David Marx questions the 21st century’s creative vitality and responds to critics who say he’s too cynical.

Eric Margolis profiles David Marx and his new book “Blank Space: A Cultural History of the 21st Century" for the Japan Times (behind paywall, alack).

www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2026...

February 19, 2026 INSTRUCTIONS TO ALL PERSONS OF JAPANESE ANCESTRY As survivors and descendants of the mass removals, detention, deportation, and family separation targeting our community during WWII, we refuse to stand by idly while our friends and neighbors are violently disappeared, forcibly removed, mass incarcerated, and separated from family members. We decry the murders of community members and at least 37 people in ICE custody and enforcement in 2025. We reject false narratives that state violence is "unavoidable," a "justifiable military action," necessary for "national security"—the same arguments used as they forced our parents, grandparents, aunties, and uncles into U.S. concentration camps in 1942. On this Day of Remembrance, we call on Japanese Americans and all people who believe in "Never Again" to demand justice for those we have lost—on the streets and hidden away in ICE detention centers. To break this cycle of state violence. To rise up and resist, together. We bravely commit to being the allies our familes needed during WWII. STOP REPEATING HISTORY. #TsuruForSolidarity #FreeFamilies #FreeThemAll

84 years ago today, President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, ordering the removal and incarceration of more than 120,000 Japanese Americans, about two-thirds of whom were US citizens. The Day of Remembrance this year comes as we see DHS buying land and warehouses for more camps now.

Just a reminder that the UC system was not a party in this litigation. Faculty, staff and the @aaup.org fought on their own. UCLA, and the entire UC system, should be ashamed of themselves, and their leaders should be reminded of their submissives every day.

This is the aftermath of an ICE kidnapping a few blocks from my home in St. Paul—an hour ago. A quiet street full of broken glass and at least three wrecked cars. The target of the kidnapping was taken away by ambulance. He was on a stretcher and covered by a sheet, though a cop said he was alive.

Astonishing chart showing support for Takaichi by age.

Traditional narrative is that surfeit of old people in Japan is keeping conservatives in power, but as with Trump in 2024, young people were main driver behind Takaichi's landslide victory.

New Mozilla Firefox version to allow AI features to be blocked Mozilla will allow Firefox users to entirely block current and future generative AI features on the browser.

Mozilla will allow Firefox users to entirely block current and future generative AI features on the browser after user feedback revealed many who wanted an AI-free browser experience.

46th St & I-35w, 175 E 46th St, Minneapolis, MN 55419, USA Description: As I was leaving my home, I hear cars honking near the top the of bridge. People screaming and whistling, I got in my uber and drove out. My uber driver mentioned that they were standing on top of the bridge and doing a check point and stopping people.

46th St & I-35w, 180 E 46th St, Minneapolis, MN 55419, USA Description: 4 vehicles pulled over a man in a red van on 46th over 35. Agents in Police US border patrol vests surrounding vehicle checking papers

ICE is still doing checkpoints in Minneapolis like we are an occupied territory. Life remains really hard here thanks to Trump's thugs.

Long Take A multifaceted portrait of the great Japanese director   For years, Akira Kurosawa resisted writing about himself. “It would turn out to be nothing but t...

Long Take
Akira Kurosawa
A multifaceted portrait of the great Japanese director
translated by @annekmck.bsky.social
www.upress.umn.edu/978151790329...

Can comfirm from MN, as can anyone who lives here, that not a THING has changed except little Bovino isnt peacocking around the streets anymore. And there hasn’t been a third high-profile murder of a white person yet.

But the gestapo attacks haven’t stopped. At all! bsky.app/profile/jyse...

reminder that a small handful of Republicans in the House and Senate could end this madness today

Bruce Springsteen performs ‘Streets of Minneapolis’ for the first time in Minnesota at First Avenue 🎶

🎥: @chrisrstrib.bsky.social

"I'm coming to Boston and I'm bringing hell with me."
--Homan in February

"Do I expect violence to escalate? Absolutely."
-- Tom Homan in March

"I actually thought about getting up and throwing that man a beating right there in the middle of the room"
-- Homan in July, referring to a D congressman

If you want some clarity on how & why community organizing is working here: "Again and again, I heard people say they were not protesters but protectors—of their communities, of their values, of the Constitution. . . . At times what I saw in Minneapolis reminded of what I saw in the Arab Spring..."

Mood in minneapolis right now

Oceanic Japan | University of Hawai‘i Press - Manifold Japan’s oceans demand our attention. Violent, prolific, and changeful, they define life and death on the archipelago: pushing the shore under the rush of tsunami, charging typhoon circulation, feeding...

New book (free open access): "Oceanic Japan: The Archipelago in Pacific and Global History," edited by Stefan Huebner, Nadin Heé, Ian J. Miller, and William M. Tsutsui (University of Hawai'i Press).

manifold.uhpress.hawaii.edu/projects/oce...

Talked to a Somali man today who said his mosque last night was surrounded by neighbors ready to protect them against ICE if needed. Made me feel proud to live in this city.

Cartoon by Mike Luckovich

(7) More information about the project is available at: ceas.uchicago.edu/re-staging-j...

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