Matthew McMullen

Children should never be killed.

Leaving the US is one of the best decisions I’ve ever made in my life. Never going back.

INBOX: @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social dropped a 90s sitcom-themed video endorsement of @bradlander.bsky.social, specifically calling out AIPAC's influence:

‘The Textual Townsman’ by Thomas Gaubatz (Review) After the last couple of #JanuaryInJapan posts saw us spending time in the Heian Era, we’re skipping forward a good few centuries today for the final review post of the month, with our focus …

“An enjoyable enough read about the era, the writers and (of course) the townsmen themselves.” — Tony’s Reading List on THE TEXTUAL TOWNSMAN buff.ly/XiDqCRQ #BookReview #JapaneseLiterature #HistoryBooks #JLit

Why not send Koizumi to Yonaguni Island? By 2030 he will have served in every government post and need a new job title.

I try to explain this point to my students using sports analogies: the purpose of tennis practice is not that a racket gets swung X times a day. The purpose is to improve your tennis game. They nod in agreement, then have ChatGPT write their essays.

So WHERE in the world can you still do a fully funded PhD in Japan Studies?....

...oh yeah, right here! 👇

careers.universiteitleiden.nl/job/PhD-posi...

Some interesting points here. Glad to see the author dismiss the religious difference” argument and focus on the political moment. I’d add that the anxiety about depopulation in Japan makes people more inclined to see the practical benefits of AI and less likely to see it as a threat to their jobs.

And democrats would have won the election.

To add more detail, applicants should specialize in theology or the study of Christianity. This is a tenured or tenure-track position.

One of the many cool journal covers of the Japanese Alpine Club, this one from issue 2, 1914

I've signed a contract with Princeton University Press for my next book! Tentatively "Ascendance: Mountain Climbing and Spirituality in Modern Japan," I'll look at the passage of mountaineering from England to Japan in the early 20th c, esp. on various modern spiritualities that emerged through it.

To grasp the magnitude of this plan, Auschwitz II-Birkenau was built to hold 97000 people.

TWO DOCTORAL RESEARCH FELLOWSHIPS IN EAST ASIAN RELIGIONS (296038) | University of Oslo Job title: TWO DOCTORAL RESEARCH FELLOWSHIPS IN EAST ASIAN RELIGIONS (296038), Employer: University of Oslo, Deadline: Monday, April 6, 2026

Job alert!

We are looking for talented PhD researchers to write a dissertation on Benzaiten worship in modern Japan or Mazu pilgrimages in Taiwan, as part of the ERC project "Maritime Goddesses: Transnational Connections, Blue Environments, and Ritual Care in East- and Southeast Asia" (MARGO).

採用情報｜南山大学 南山大学の採用情報をご紹介します。

We are hiring. Follow the link for details.

Gary Dorrien Is Christian Socialism’s Greatest Champion The theologian and historian Gary Dorrien has made it his mission to chronicle and revive the tradition of Christian democratic socialism. His work reminds the American left of our project’s spiritual dimensions.

The theologian and historian Gary Dorrien has made it his mission to chronicle and revive the tradition of Christian democratic socialism.

His work reminds the American left of our project’s spiritual dimensions.

Congrats on the book

Come see me speak on the “Mining Pasts of the Nintendo Game Boy” at Harvard on Monday, February 23rd! Grateful to my hosts @eastasiascitech.bsky.social and @harvardusjapan.bsky.social.

During an interview at the private university where I now work, I was asked why would I (a foreigner with a degree from foreign university) apply to work in Japan. Private universities in Japan have no future, he said. It’ll be closed by the time you retire.

I think about those words often.

These are literally nazi policies.

I'd like at add a few things to this. (1) humanists have not been able to convince any political party that curiosity-driven humanities research is a public good that should be funded using tax dollars. Republicans don't believe this, but neither do Democrats.

Cardi 2028. Sign me up.

He did nazi that question coming.

I don’t really know what I expect in posting this, but maybe some people see it and can learn from it.

I’ll call it “lessons from an unwilling immigration attorney.”

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These should all be a part of the DNC policy platform.

House passes SAVE America Act, sending Trump-backed election bill to the Senate The legislation would overhaul federal election laws in all 50 states by imposing new voter ID and proof-of-citizenship requirements. But it faces a daunting path in the Senate.

Terrible. The bill now goes to the Senate. Make those calls. 202-224-3121
www.nbcnews.com/politics/con...

Postdoctoral Fellowship Position: Department for the Study of Religion & The Robert H.N. Ho Family Foundation Centre for Buddhist Studies 

buddhiststudies.utoronto.ca/2026/02/01/p...

New York City: The time has arrived. Finally, a chance to tell the city EXACTLY what your landlord’s been getting away with. NYC’s first Rental Ripoff Hearings are happening in all five boroughs, and we want to hear from you. Real New Yorkers. Real stories. Real policy changes. 

“Takaichi did not specify which parts of the constitution she could seek to amend.”

My guess is all the parts guaranteeing rights and protections.

Nazi concentration camp prisoner population by year

ICE is currently holding around 80,000 detainees. Nazi Germany didn't reach this number in its formal camp system until 1942, nine years after seizing power and three years into the war.