Caleb Carter

Upcoming workshop on spirituality at Kyudai this Friday
For those in the area, let me know if you’d like to join us (sorry, in-person only)

First attempt at using Word's audio transcription in a while (just forgot to set it for Japanese)

Research update from the Japanese Alps (Karasawa basin, Kamikōchi, Nagano pref)

Kasane The most refined art of wearing the seasons

I've been working on this piece since last month! Please enjoy a dive into magnificent natural colours from Heian Japan, just published on #Caravanserai.
majnouna.substack.com/p/kasane

Meanwhile elsewhere, a politician accepted a $400M plane from a foreign gov't, launched a crypto coin to accept million dollar bribes, had charges of a $50K cash-in-a-bag bribe dropped for one of his officials, and on and on (not to make light of sour grapes...)

Cosmos on the autumnal equinox, Fukuoka, Japan

102-year-old fights back from heart failure to become oldest person to summit Mount Fuji Kokichi Akuzawa (Japan) has become the oldest person to climb Mount Fuji at the age of 102.

Nuts! Fuji is one of those iconic mountains that has long attracted new climbing records (I've found a range of them from the late 1800s and early 1900s). I never thought I'd read this.

www.guinnessworldrecords.com/news/2025/8/...

Opinion | I’m Not the Person You’d Expect to Oppose a Ban on Transgender Troops

“The meek compliance of military leadership with the ban sends a chilling message to all service members — namely, that our ranks are open only to those who fit a specific ideological mold, regardless of their ability to serve.”
www.nytimes.com/2025/06/30/o...

No regrets on missing this for the No Kings Boston Pride parade

Sad man!

the story today is of a profoundly low energy military parade being met with millions of americans in nationwide protests denouncing the dictatorial pretensions of the president

🚫👑🚫

Who’s that?

ICE arrested an Albuquerque man. He ended up in the hospital. Now no one knows where he is. • Source New Mexico Last Saturday around 8 a.m., as she followed her husband to a mechanic in Albuquerque’s South Valley, Daniela Marina Diaz-Ortiz says she and her 5-year-old daughter watched, terrified, as federal immi...

ICE arrested an Albuquerque man. He ended up in the hospital. Now no one knows where he is. sourcenm.com/2025/06/11/i...

Fulbright Board Quits, Accusing Trump Administration of Political Interference (Gift Article) The board of the prestigious program told the State Department it had no right to cancel scholarships for nearly 200 American professors and researchers.

Another cornerstone of American education and research severely damaged. I benefited from a Fulbright grant in 2012 that allowed me to research and later write a book about mountain religion in Japan. So much will be lost in knowledge production and international ties www.nytimes.com/2025/06/11/u...

This is a look at intersections between Shugendō and tourism, mostly contemporary but with some historical context and thinking about religion and tourism is useful. It owes to the work of Yamanaka Hiroshi, who graciously responded to the presented version.

2023年に星野靖二先生と平藤喜久子先生が私を國學院大學でのシンポジウム「見られることで何が変わるのか--ツーリズムと宗教文化」に招待下さいました。なかなか魅力的なテーマで、やはりそれぞれの発表は大変面白かったです。
今月その報告書が出ました：https://k-rain.repo.nii.ac.jp/records/2001633
その中で私は修験道の事例を上げ、どのようにツーリズムと交錯しているのかを考慮しました。⬇️
tinyurl.com/3z7v7w6m

Opinion | Did One of My Students Hate Me Enough to Lie to Get Me in Trouble?

A courageous guest essay. Intimidation of faculty and threats to academic freedom should concern all Americans.

www.nytimes.com/2025/05/07/o...

Good news! How the f*** did it get that far in the first place... And what happens next?

Good for them!

Wow. Pillaged land, pillaged relics.

Alleged relics of the Buddha up for auction at Sotheby's dating back to Asoka's era, if not earlier. These are priceless to Buddhist communities across Asia, not to mention world cultural heritage. Looted by British colonialists, now going to the highest bidder...

www.sothebys.com/en/buy/aucti...

Museums Sustain Unprecedented Assault in Trump's First 100 Days In the 100 days since president Donald Trump was inaugurated, he has launched an unprecedented assault on museums their funding structures.

We’re not going to change our history. #ScrubNothing

news.artnet.com/art-world/mu...

Harvard Will Not Comply With a List of Trump Administration Demands (Gift Article) Federal officials said Harvard must enact “merit-based reform” in hiring and admissions and report international students who broke rules, among other steps. Harvard called the demands unlawful.

Go Harvard! This is what every university needs to be doing.

www.nytimes.com/2025/04/14/u...

SAVE THE PENGUINS.
STOP TRUMP’S TARIFFS.

Arlington, MA #HandsOff

The time for only shock, dismay, and despair is over. It’s time to get out in the streets. This Saturday.

As Republicans Target Colleges, Harvard Cower Harvard, the wealthiest school in the world, sought compromise amid pressure to do more to combat antisemitism. The Trump administration is examining its funding anyway.

As we slide toward autocracy, isn’t that $50 billion endowment meant to give you a buffer of independence? Use it. Stand up not just for Harvard but for our entire university system.

www.nytimes.com/2025/04/01/u...