Christina Laffin

The Carney government has cut the only funding program for community archives, cut funding for access to information, and cutting 56 jobs. Harper made very similar cuts in 2012: thetyee.ca/Opinion/2012... @thetyee.ca

Open Positions | Department of Asian & Asian American Studies Department of Asian & Asian American Studies

Academic job announcement! Stony Brook University is hiring a fellow in South Asian and South Asian American Studies.

Good gig in a good department, come be my colleague. Can convert to tenure-track after two years.

www.stonybrook.edu/commcms/asia...

The Excremental Imagination: Disgust, Compassion, and Laughter in Medieval Japan
by Rajyashree Pandey｜UH Press uhpress.hawaii.edu/title/the-ex...

Nourishing Life: Cultures of Food and Health in Early Modern Japan
Joshua Schlachet｜UH Press uhpress.hawaii.edu/title/nouris...

Supernatural Japan: Izumi Kyoka and the Global Fantastic
By Pedro Thiago Ramos Bassoe | University of Michigan Press press.umich.edu/Books/S/Supe...

Territorial Natures: Imperial Japan and the Mongolian Question
Sakura Christmas｜The University of Chicago Press
press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/bo...

The Ryukyu Islands: A New History from the Stone Age to the Present
Gregory Smits｜The University of Chicago Press
press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/bo...

Canada's Air Transat to stop flights to the U.S. The Montreal-based airline removed its last three U.S. routes from its future schedule last week.

www.travelweekly.com/Travel-News/...

Graduate students in Southeast Asian Studies attending #AAS2026 are invited to a mentoring lunch hosted by GETSEA—sign up now to join them on Thursday, March 12 at the Vancouver Convention Centre!

https://get-sea.org/events/

If you are a US trans/queer person looking to move to Canada for safety, I am happy to share my experience to help you understand your options. If you are an LGBTQ+ refugee from elsewhere in the world, I may be able to refer you to a resettlement path to Canada. No guarantees, but get in touch.

NDP MP @heathermcpherson.bsky.social has a petition in the House of Commons calling on Canada to cancel subsidies, grants & public funding to Canadian companies who have contracts w #ICE, revoke permission for ICE to operate offices on Canadian soil, etc: www.ourcommons.ca/petitions/en... #cdnpoli

Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Associate Curator for Asian Art

Job Opportunity: Harvard Art Musuems are hiring for a position of Associate Curator for Asian Art, specialising in Japan. Please help us circulate widely!

careers.harvard.edu/job/abby-ald...

As BC’s Universities Struggle, Students Are Ready to Fight | The Tyee A deep drop in international students has led to a funding crisis. Cuts can’t be the answer.

Politicians love to say youth are our future, but that doesn’t seem to stop their austerity measures from threatening higher education. Solomon Yi-Kieran writes. #bced #bcpoli #canpoli

Bookshop.org Teams with Draft2Digital The online bookselling platform has partnered with the self-publishing company to allow self-published authors to sell e-books on its site.

For so long Amazon has had a monopoly on selling self-published books. Good to see that @bookshop.org is ready to compete in the space! www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/...

Google with AI buttons

Google without AI buttons

I made a filterlist for uBlock Origin to remove Generative AI features on websites. Includes blocks for
* Google AI Summaries
* YouTube Ask button & chat summaries
* GitHub Copilot
* Facebook AI chat
* X's Grok buttons
* Deviantart DreamUp
* Booru AI images
* And more

github.com/Stevoisiak/S...

The National Diet Library is exploring the possibility of extending its Digitized Transmission Service for Individuals (DCTI) to those residing outside of Japan. To understand potential demand, the NDL and CULCON have created a survey. Deadline for responses 3/31! forms.office.com/Pages/Respon...

I asked my students in a questionnaire what helps them learn and what gets in the way of their learning and I thought I'd share the responses:
Helps: prof speaking slower, examples, space to think/process, incremental assignments, interactive lessons, positive reinforcement, practice, fun, slow

“All things considered, ‘Teaching with AI’ is not without value; it is a case study in how even well-meaning educators operating in good faith can become inadvertent agents of a pedagogical de-skilling and institutional dehumanization.”

"The student becomes a suite of data points that the teacher or chatbot can nudge, track, and optimize. The university, meanwhile, is less the site of critical engagement than yet another platform for productivity enhancement."

Video Conferencing, Web Conferencing, Webinars, Screen Sharing Zoom is the leader in modern enterprise video communications, with an easy, reliable cloud platform for video and audio conferencing, chat, and webinars across mobile, desktop, and room systems. Zoom ...

Recording of last week's webinar "Palestinian student voices from Gaza" with Eid Ocal, Riman Rezq and Dr. Eman Almehdawe. uregina-ca.zoom.us/rec/play/DSA...

Recently released from University of Hawaii Press. Edited by Anne Sokolsky. A collection of mostly modern Japanese women writing on divorce. Translations and substantial introductions.

Deadline 2 weeks away! ⬇️

Minicomi is my favorite artist alley event in vancouver, so happy to see it return !

Paid research fellowships: The Image Center in Toronto. theimagecentre.ca/fellowship/

What can we learn about premodern Japan from literature, book history, & material objects? 🗾For expert insights, revisit our #NCCSpotlight by Miaoling Xue “Exploring Premodern Japan through Video: A Collaborative Project at the University of British Columbia”! guides.nccjapan.org/homepage/new...

Happy to share slides and activities like making a fukurotoji book. I combine the book making with the Sasaki video. This term we are attempting a scroll.

Replaying Japan 2026 Call for Papers

Replaying Japan 2026, the 14th International Japan Game Studies Conference, will be held August 18-21 2026 at Ritsumeikan University Osaka Ibaraki Campus.
The theme is Intersections of Popular Culture and Transmedia Entertainment.

#replayingjapan #gamestudies #japanstudies

www.replaying.jp

Donation needs and wishlist | Downtown Eastside Women's Centre Our sites do not accept these items: household items, furniture, children’s clothing, children’s toys, clothing that is stained, soiled or… Continue reading Donation needs and wishlist

Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre is in urgent need of winterwear and toiletries at multiple sites. Please consider dropping off items or donating money if you’re able: dewc.ca/donate-online/ #vanpoli #dtes

Inside an AI start-up’s plan to scan and dispose of millions of books Court filings reveal how AI companies raced to obtain more books to feed chatbots, including by buying, scanning and disposing of millions of titles.

Absolutely damning from @aaronschaffer.com, @willoremus.com, & @nitasha.bsky.social.

To get more data, Anthropic:
* "destructively scanned" millions of books
* downloaded the shadow library LibGen
* hailed another shadow library's arrival as "just in time!!!"

www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...

An Instagram post from the Assembly of First Nations reading: Important Travel Advisory The Assembly of First Nations (AFN) has heard reports that some First Nation citizens have been subjected to increased questioning and detainment by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The AFN strongly condemns these actions and reaffirms First Nations’ inherent and Jay Treaty rights to cross-border mobility. The AFN advises any First Nations members traveling to the U.S. to carry valid identification, including a Status Card or a Canadian passport. Anyone requiring assistance with Status Card applications, renewals, replacements, or urgent processing related to travel may contact Indigenous Services Canada’s Secure Certificate of Indian Status (SCIS) Program at 1-800-567-9604 or visit www.canada.ca/indigenous-services-canada. Please note that federal law enforcement may not be familiar with Tribal IDs. If an ICE agent does not accept your Tribal ID as identification, the Native American Rights Fund recommends that you request to speak to their supervisor. In emergency cases, Canadian citizens in the U.S. can contact the Canadian Consulate for assistance through 1-613-996-8885.

I’m not sure how much notice this has received but the Assembly of First Nations in Canada has issued a travel advisory for the United States after reports that Indigenous people are being increasingly questioned and detained by ICE. www.instagram.com/p/DT-_SacDEH...