Caleb Carter

Wow! I’ll have to look that up. Sounds like an interesting project of your student’s

Ooh he looks like fine 😆. I’ll have to look into his expeditions

Now it just needs to get written... (so if you have thoughts or sources on the subject, send them my way!)

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.

The review appears in the latest issue of Japanese Religions. Congrats to guest editor Or Porath, editor Esben Petersen and all contributors on the second installment of a ‘full-bodied’ treatment of religious thought and practice in Japan. Excited to dive in. nccisjpnew.wixsite.com/nccisjp/volu...

Thanks to Bruce Winkleton for the kind review! It focused on the narrative analysis in the book, a pet passion and something an earlier version of the manuscript centered, until I pulled it back and refocused on Shugendō’s historical development (albeit via its frequent shaping through narrative).

This is an amazing resource if you’re on the academic job market, or teaching grad students, in East Asian humanities. All thanks to the voluntary efforts of @paularcurtis.bsky.social 👏👏👏

prcurtis.com/projects/job...

Day break in Itoshima, Japan

Join us for our first podcast! We talk with the amazing Alexandra Cotofana about landscape sentience in the Romanian Carpathians and the concept of xenophobic mountains.
shorturl.at/DfOrj
@calmandfearless.bsky.social @adambutterworth.bsky.social @katie-r-ives.bsky.social @annamfleming.bsky.social

His air tag eventually placed him back at the car (a few kilometers away!), though as I neared him (albeit still out of sight but with olfactory proximity?), he raced back to greet me.

Being in the company of my dog Finn heightened my awareness of sensory perceptions (discussed by Ingold)—sound and smell being most acute for him, unlike sight for us. Contemplation took a back seat as I came off the summit and realized he was gone.

After two days of immersing myself in Tim Ingold’s theories of movement through landscapes, I made an impromptu decision to move through my own for some contemplation in practice of his ideas. Mount Kaya is a dormant volcano overlooking the Genkai coast, 15 minutes from the house.

A Woman Froze to Death on an Alpine Trek. Is Her Boyfriend to Blame?

In the age of Instagram, increasing mountaineering accidents (worldwide) and in Austria, legal implications over a recent tragedy.

www.nytimes.com/2025/12/20/w...

Excited to welcome Jolyon Thomas on Monday! For those in Fukuoka…
Details here www.imapkyudai.net/events

As one calligrapher reflected at the end of the day, “above all, we need to make it fun; otherwise there’s no reason to continue.” On that note, a wonderful execution.

The day beautifully showcased Edo-based craft culture and those who carry it forward. How they will continue—and flourish—was a question raised throughout the day. It’s an anxiety that hovers over communities dedicated to traditional practices in Japan amidst an aging and rapidly changing society.

The gathering was commemorated with original woodblock prints. Calligraphers, illustrators, woodblock carvers, and printers led the event and the production of the prints. Zōshōji, a major temple whose legacy is intertwined with the Edo period and its shoguns, provided the perfect venue.

Over the weekend, I got the chance to attend a gathering of senshafuda clubs and firefighter brigades celebrating 100 years since the start of the Showa period. Called a nōsatsu ōgai 納札大會 (“great gathering [for the exchange of] votive prints”), this was apparently the first of its kind since 1921.

I’m with you there, but at the same, I think we should ask what constitutes the f***ing. Btw, I’m not taking a side here, as there’s much left out of the reporting

Sacred sites around the world have often been shaped by competing interests and plural traditions—Japan included. Cultural properties protections are meant to preserve the site, but this can pit structure against practice in unforeseen ways. Is the legal system equipped to answer these questions?

What’s considered practice; what’s considered vandalism? Should it rest on who performs the act, or on what their faith is?

Accused of Desecration, a Doctor Faces the End of His Life’s Work

A Christian doctor facing extradition from the US and years in a Japanese prison for dabbing oil on temple and shrine structures around Tokyo. Many details are left out of the article, but it does raise questions about religious practice at Japan’s sacred sites.

www.nytimes.com/2025/11/11/n...

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...