Nathaniel M. Smith's Avatar

Nathaniel M. Smith

@nathanielmsmith.bsky.social

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.

646 Followers  |  127 Following  |  243 Posts  |  Joined: 14.11.2024  |  2.4186

Latest posts by nathanielmsmith.bsky.social on Bluesky

the rhetorical positioning in all these speeches of "one minute they were happy and living their best lives, the next: A-bomb" seems like a big elision of what life was already like on Aug 5 in Hiroshima

05.08.2025 23:37 — 👍 4    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

honks double-tap is a bonus. you really only have to lower your head just a bit while raising your eyebrows

31.07.2025 12:36 — 👍 2    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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that had a lot of useful bits! this part, though, was surprising to me

30.07.2025 13:51 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0
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www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20...

Kyoto in at number five 🙃

30.07.2025 06:37 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
新しい政治の哲学 国民のための政党とは | 藤井聡, 神谷宗幣 |本 | 通販 | Amazon Amazonで藤井聡, 神谷宗幣の新しい政治の哲学 国民のための政党とは。アマゾンならポイント還元本が多数。藤井聡, 神谷宗幣作品ほか、お急ぎ便対象商品は当日お届けも可能。また新しい政治の哲学 国民のための政党とはもアマゾン配送商品なら通常配送無料。

He’s a busy dude
www.amazon.co.jp/%E6%96%B0%E3...

27.07.2025 11:25 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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A house divided Thinking about the deeper roots of the Ishiba crisis

New at Observing Japan: As Japan’s politics heads into a consequential stretch, I tried to think about the deeper drivers of the conflict that is likely to drive Ishiba from office.

open.substack.com/pub/observin...

26.07.2025 03:21 — 👍 40    🔁 14    💬 2    📌 0

the “no written agreements” thing is getting pummeled on the political wide shows. most opinions are very skeptical and offer it up as another reason the LDP is flat footed in the election aftermath

26.07.2025 02:59 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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had a plan to get further on up but got enveloped by a dark and rumbling cloud at the top (Kamikochi down in the valley below)

26.07.2025 02:54 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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Nishi-Hotaka yesterday

26.07.2025 02:42 — 👍 3    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0
Amid rising starvation in the Gaza Strip, an Israeli government minister said on Thursday that Israel had no duty to alleviate hunger in the territory and was seeking to expel its population.
Amichay Eliyahu, a far-right lawmaker who leads Israel’s Heritage Ministry, said in a radio interview that “there is no nation that feeds its enemies,” adding that “the British didn’t feed the Nazis, nor did the Americans feed the Japanese, nor do the Russians feed the Ukrainians now.” He concluded that the government was “rushing toward Gaza being wiped out,” while also “driving out the population that educated its people on the ideas of ‘Mein Kampf,’” an antisemitic text written by Adolf Hitler.

Amid rising starvation in the Gaza Strip, an Israeli government minister said on Thursday that Israel had no duty to alleviate hunger in the territory and was seeking to expel its population. Amichay Eliyahu, a far-right lawmaker who leads Israel’s Heritage Ministry, said in a radio interview that “there is no nation that feeds its enemies,” adding that “the British didn’t feed the Nazis, nor did the Americans feed the Japanese, nor do the Russians feed the Ukrainians now.” He concluded that the government was “rushing toward Gaza being wiped out,” while also “driving out the population that educated its people on the ideas of ‘Mein Kampf,’” an antisemitic text written by Adolf Hitler.

pretty telling comment here. Britain and America absolutely did feed and clothe Nazi and Japanese POWs during WWII. and they provided food and supplies to occupied territories as the war was won. the Hunger Plan by contrast was a Nazi thing

24.07.2025 19:20 — 👍 3014    🔁 910    💬 97    📌 77
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in case anyone needs some refreshment during this hot hot spell

24.07.2025 02:57 — 👍 3    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

NYT’s Bret Stephens says it’s not genocide because Israel could kill much faster but instead opts to starve Palestinians to death while only mass killing the ones who try to get food. oh and that’s not his preferred definition genocide

23.07.2025 14:44 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

Sanseito also has a weird policy grab bag that (even) before it got bigger brought together an array of outsider-y constituencies

23.07.2025 11:08 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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suit yourself!

23.07.2025 11:03 — 👍 2    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

現代版のワッパ騒動

21.07.2025 00:29 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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love how the NHK takes us all the way down, deep into the rootiest of grass roots support

20.07.2025 14:42 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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さや (政治活動家) - Wikipedia

she's been around right wing circles for a long time

ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%81%...

19.07.2025 09:03 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0

Don’t worry, even though the rainy season ended here three weeks ago it’s been raining ever since

18.07.2025 11:20 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

two more lil strokes and ー becomes シ

16.07.2025 07:52 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0

Nicely done! I’ve only done a few sections here and there but would love to tackle the whole shebang one day …. after leech season tho

16.07.2025 07:50 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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I give thanks to the tourist hordes and businesses who appreciate them. Excellent udon joint Omen offers a shōjin tsuyu. Easy to do and meets needs for veggie/vegan/other visitors yet so many venerable spots go out of their way to have nothing on offer

16.07.2025 07:48 — 👍 3    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

haven't read the article, but I'm glad Americans have finally caught the namba aruki wave

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZoRG...

14.07.2025 00:34 — 👍 4    🔁 2    💬 1    📌 0
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Israeli settlers beat U.S. citizen to death in West Bank A 21-year-old Florida man was beaten to death by Israeli settlers while visiting family in the West Bank.

A 21-year-old Florida man was beaten to death by Israeli settlers while visiting family in the West Bank.

12.07.2025 18:02 — 👍 1725    🔁 881    💬 104    📌 115

pollution and being in a valley that traps it

01.07.2025 13:16 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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if any prospective tourists need another reason to not visit Kyoto — the air quality is horrendous!

01.07.2025 11:49 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0

as a resident of Kyoto, it’s rather refreshing to visit Tokyo and see so many Japanese people out and about

28.06.2025 04:13 — 👍 4    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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Israel kills 72 in latest Gaza strikes as 549 aid seekers killed in a month Gaza’s Government Media Office calls US and Israeli-backed aid distribution sites ‘death traps’ where hundreds killed.

www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblo...

27.06.2025 08:25 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
Kushimoto, with the Hashiguiiwa backlit by the sunrise.

Kushimoto, with the Hashiguiiwa backlit by the sunrise.

22.06.2025 00:19 — 👍 3    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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McCain sings "bombs" to Iran Republican 2008 presidential hopeful John McCain crooned the words "Bomb Iran" to a Beach Boys' tune in joking response to a question about any possible U.S. attack over Tehran's suspected nuclear weapons program.

www.reuters.com/article/worl...

22.06.2025 00:15 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 1
Post image 17.06.2025 13:05 — 👍 5    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

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