Nathaniel M. Smith

that place is famously associated with anti-racist activism and gets regularly trolled by fans of racism

still sad that Mosquito disappeared (but also amazed at how long the clutch of ramshackle squatted bars lasted)

shocked by the sudden loss of the Atom mural at Takadanobaba, i found solace in the politely taped up notes

I mean, this was everyone’s first chance to be a Chudo voter and seems like a lot just said “nope”...

very distinct (but awesome!) thesis projects from my three graduating seniors this term

pic is up on the north side, but it’s snowing quite solidly back here midtown too — kids sledding Kamogawa etc

chilly election day in Kyoto

(1/7) Keisuke Kinoshita’s 1957 film 𝘛𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘑𝘰𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘚𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘸 (喜びも悲しみも幾歳月), also known as 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘓𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘦, was shot at ten lighthouses across Japan. Kannonzaki Lighthouse, Kanagawa below on right, and more screenshots from the film in thread…

YouTube video by Twin Cities PBS Hüsker Dü, The Fastest Band In The World | Minnesota Hardcore: Episode 2

youtu.be/_xNcxhKppFM?...

end of an era 😨

they are definitely wishy washy on a lot of things -- their default answer seems to be "let's 検討 with AI"

but they do take a significantly more positive than negative stance on separate surnames

YouTube video by yamato1192 Revolution No.8 2

some good media thoughts here too
youtu.be/msBlO-un0bI

歓楽街の帝王・森下グループ「マリン」全店閉店の怪 総工費10億円の宮殿を捨ててまで撤退する理由 - coki (公器） 1月30日午後9時、列島を縦断するソープランドチェーン『マリングループ』が、たった一通のLINEメッセージでその歴史に幕を下ろした。運営するのは、かつて新宿・歌舞伎町のあらゆる利権を飲み込み、「史上最も成功した闇紳士」と呼ばれた男が率いる森下グループだ。

Morishita Group, an absolute giant of the Japanese sex work and nightlife industry (soaplands, telekura, video boxes, Robot Restaurant etc) suddenly calls it quits (likely to avoid major legal jeopardy)
coki.jp/article/colu...

YouTube video by yamato1192 Revolution No.8 2

youtu.be/msBlO-un0bI

Iza Ding · Studying is harmful: China sits the Gaokao In a country plagued by corruption, China’s national college entrance exam, the gaokao, is remarkably clean. ‘Open...

‘China’s gaokao factories and America’s college-industrial complex are not accidents. They are the logical outcome of a global system that has mistaken education for investment and human life for capital.’

@izading.bsky.social on China’s university entrance exam.

www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

I thought it was supposed to be a local rental, but he went for what was closest to his regular ride. Didn’t imagine he‘d driven all that distance…

“The Homeland” Is War on America: The Blood-and-Soil Nationalism That Killed Renee Good and Alex Pretti In the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, Trump has clarified an inconvenient fact: The culture war is an actual war.

www.vanityfair.com/news/story/t...

Every social theory undergirding Trumpism has been broken on the steel of Minnesotan resolve. The multiracial community in Minneapolis was supposed to shatter. It did not. It held until Bovino was forced out of the Twin Cities with his long coat between his legs. The secret fear of the morally depraved is that virtue is actually common, and that they’re the ones who are alone. In Minnesota, all of the ideological cornerstones of MAGA have been proved false at once. Minnesotans, not the armed thugs of ICE and the Border Patrol, are brave. Minnesotans have shown that their community is socially cohesive—because of its diversity and not in spite of it. Minnesotans have found and loved one another in a world atomized by social media, where empty men have tried to fill their lonely soul with lies about their own inherent superiority. Minnesotans have preserved everything worthwhile about “Western civilization,” while armed brutes try to tear it down by force.

Last week in Minnesota, I watched ordinary people risk their lives to protect their neighbors. In the process, they not only won a significant—though not final—victory against authoritarianism, they proved virtually every MAGA social theory wrong. (gift link) www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

I can't vote, but this was fun

pretty informative wiki page too
ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%97%...

if you wanna go throw-back, 外国人参政権 was a biggie back in the 2000s. it didn't have the same traction then, but that currents flows to the present (on the right anyway)

YouTube video by The Late Show with Stephen Colbert Masked Secret Police Are Not Victims | The Truth About Alex Pretti | What Would The Founders Do?

glad Colbert is still on the air (for at least a little while longer)
youtu.be/ky5B7xrontY

Deploying Federal Troops to U.S. Cities Is a Second Amendment Issue But not because the founders wanted to see more guns in the hands of Americans.

www.historynewsnetwork.org/article/depl...

like elsewhere, a lot of the anti-vax stuff overlapped with more general hippie and organic circles here. some of them got pulled into the rest of Sanseito's weird assortment of internettery populism

I hope they improve. BBC from the start described Noem as lying while NYT just stenographed her. That the front page is still saying video “appears to contradict” those lies seems pretty mealy mouthed to me

I said this last time but their real position is “if you disagree with us we can kill you.”

huh, looks like Typepad finally bit the dust. I guess WordPress is still going? too late to import my long dormant blog/galleries, but I may try manually via wayback machine

nice new piece -- thanks, Paul!

Opinion | Minneapolis Reveals Where Trump’s Deportation Agenda Is Going

"...this idea of pushing for self-deportations has been popular for a really long time among people like Stephen Miller. And it was once just a fringe idea, and now it isn’t."

I recall Mitt Romney in 2012 saying it's his ideal strategy.
Good read on bad stuff tho...

www.nytimes.com/2026/01/23/o...

looks great -- congrats!
sorry to Rumi Sakamto.