Michael Röllinghoff

Poster and abstract for Atsuko Shigesawa (Kobe City University of Foreign Studies) presentation in the MIT History Asia in Dialogue seminar series on 2/19/2026 at 5pm in E51-285: "Reframing the Japanese Mind on the Atomic Bomb: The US Strategic Bombing Survey and its Counterfactual Conclusion." Abstract: "In July 1946, the US Strategic Bombing Survey—a group of analysts led by a civilian board of directors appointed by the Secretary of War—concluded that: “…Japan would have surrendered even if the atomic bombs had not been dropped, even if Russia had not entered the war, and even if no invasion had been planned or contemplated” (hereinafter, “counterfactual conclusion”). Since then, it has been cited by critics of the US administration’s decision to use the new weapon. In 1995, two historians challenged this conclusion by scrutinizing evidence: interrogations of Japanese leaders. Examining the counterfactual narrative only within the framework of the interrogations, however, misses the significance of the Survey’s studies in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Five of its 15 study divisions devoted substantial time and resources to studying the effects of the atomic bomb. How do the results of these studies intertwine with the conclusion? Did they contribute in any way to its formation? This presentation scrutinizes the transition of the Morale Division's manuscripts and final report in an attempt to answer these questions."

***Next Week at MIT!***
Atsuko Shigesawa (Kobe City University of Foreign Studies) in the MIT History Asia in Dialogue seminar series on 2/19/2026 at 5pm in E51-285: "Reframing the Japanese Mind on the Atomic Bomb: The US Strategic Bombing Survey and its Counterfactual Conclusion."

Cambridge University museum set to return Benin bronzes to Nigeria A Cambridge University museum  will shortly return around 100 Benin bronzes to Nigeria as part of a major restitution initiative, the UK's weekly newspaper the Observer has reported.

Excellent choice!

It’s rough! I’m tempted to add an oral exam component at this point.

I had this too, but I had the feeling that students got half way through, ran out of things to say, and then used AI from there.

I read this in a Bruce McCulloch voice.

Israel used weapons in Gaza that made thousands of Palestinians evaporate US-made thermal weapons burning at 3,500C caused 2,842 people to "evaporate" in Gaza, Al Jazeera investigation finds.

“Four of my children just evaporated,” Badran said, holding back tears. “I looked for them a million times. Not a piece was left. Where did they go?”

There are no words to adequately describe the evil here.

As far as I can see this is now actually shipping via Cornell...

Black Radical Thought in Japan A revelatory map of Afro-Asian solidarityThis groundbreaking study traces the resonances of Black radicalism in postwar Japan, charting the surprising and co...

I just noticed this book that’s coming out in July. I’ll need to check it out, definitely!

Black Radical Thought in Japan: An Afro-Asian Intellectual History by Yuichiro Onishi

uwapress.uw.edu/book/9780295...

Peut-être, mais est-ce suffisant pour expliquer cela?

These are obviously far from the worst quotes from the article— but it’s a great reminder that more than a few “leftist” academics really are extremely conservative and just have a leftist “theoretical framework.”

“‘Agree. Would love to connect,‘ he wrote back, before saying his brother lived in Tucson, Arizona, where Chomsky had started working as a university professor.”

😒

I appreciate the sentiment, but it's a Scottish surname.

Thanks, Daniel! Much appreciated.

Charity After Empire Cambridge Core - Global History - Charity After Empire

Published next month in our Modern British Histories series (though available earlier online via Cambridge Core), Matthew Hilton's Charity after Empire: British Humanitarianism, Decolonisation and Development. Essential reading for our times. #Skystorians

I keep getting stuck on this child's name: Liam Conejo Ramos.

Conejo. Rabbit. I have to imagine that at some point, someone who loves him has called him Bunny. This poor little boy.

Agreed. I used to laugh in Kyushu when people’d ask “Canada… that’s *north* of the US, right?”

When I was in Indonesia years ago, our tour guide was incredibly suspicious of me when I said I’m Canadian because so many Yanks had apparently lied to him about it.

My latest article on Okinawan activism from the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Asian History.
oxfordre.com/.../acrefore....
Above everything else, I'm glad to see the historical struggles in/from Okinawa increasingly gaining recognition overseas, socially, culturally, and academically.

My pleasure. Thanks for the kind words!

And now presenting…https://www.ucpress.edu/books/bibliotactics/paper (available open access free globally) (photo from the in person premier at the Vietnamese American refugee model curriculum conference!)

Lots to say about this, but it's main intervention is applying the "colonialism as a social determinant of Indigenous health" public health paradigm to historical research and challenging historical narratives of biological or cultural determinism (eg. that the Ainu "lacked immunity" to disease).

Much appreciated!

The Necessities of Life: Japanese Colonial Policy as a Social Determinant of Ainu Health, 1876–1887 Summary. In this paper, I reassess the Meiji period (1868–1912) Japanese public health and Indigenous management policies, focussing on the Karafuto Ainu i

My article is finally in print! I detail the impact of Japanese colonial policy on Ainu health during the early-mid Meiji period, focusing on the village of Tsuishikari. The article's subtext is the broader question of Indigenous health in historical research.

“The past was alterable. The past never had been altered. Oceania was at war with Eastasia. Oceania had always been at war with Eastasia.”

If you asked a month ago I might‘ve said Canada‘s different because Trump’s threats were widely interpreted as a *tacit* military threat. It’s much worse with Greenland, but the EU also has a lot more weight to throw around, too.

North Minneapolis ICE shooting: Children hospitalized after flash bang, tear gas hits van A family was caught in clashes between protesters and law enforcement during protests in north Minneapolis, leading to three of their six children, including a 6-month-old baby, being hospitalized.

A father says he was with his six children when they were hit by munitions deployed by law enforcement in response to demonstrations that turned violent in Minneapolis.
Three of the children went to the hospital, including a 6-month-old baby, who stopped breathing after being hit by tear gas

An ICE officer pictured wearing a cap with a little skull on it.

“Second Nazi: Have you noticed that our caps actually have little pictures of skulls on them?
Hans: I don't... er-
Second Nazi: Hans... are we the baddies?”

No, they're right. Did Biden abolish ICE? This is a larger structural problem that needs radical change. Americans clinging to the idea of "checks and balances" is very dangerous. You now have a "regime" and not a "administration", but a lot of liberals haven't figured it out yet, to their peril.

a woman in a red sweater is saying maybe while sitting at a table . Alt: a woman in a red sweater is saying maybe while sitting at a table .

Homan:

As an Indigenous person, watching Trump make plans to invade an Indigenous territory is fucking terrifying. Everyone is making this about Denmark, but it will be Inuit facing this new wave of violent colonization.