Tag: Modern japan
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Poetry from the Field
The good news is that my visa was finally issued and I have it in hand! I can now book my flights! Initially I planned to be in Akita at the start of September. In hind sight, I am glad for the delay. I took an overload of courses in the spring, attended 2 PhD…
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An Even More “Perfect Storm:” Climate Change + Rural Depopulation
As rural populations continue to plummet, how will rural regions’ ability to respond to climate disasters be affected? It’s been 2 weeks since record rainfall in Akita caused residents to seek emergency shelter, halted shinkansen and other rail services, triggered landslides, and caused flood damage to hundreds of homes and business. According to Japan Meteorological…
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The DELUGE has come
In Writing Culture, George Marcus wrote about 2 types of ethnography: the salvage mode and the redemptive mode. He described the “salvage mode” as being ethnography conducted before the DELUGE. Well, last week that “deluge” came to Akita, but not in the metaphorical sense that Marcus meant it. Beginning around July 15 while other parts…
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41 Dances NEWLY added to UNESCO
Of course, right after I leave Akita the big news hits: the Nishimonai Bon Odori is inscribed as a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity! There are many bon-odori 盆踊り(i.e., dances performed during the time of O-bon お盆 at the end of summer) in Akita, but the one performed in the quiet rural town of…
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Accepted to EAJS!
Back in December my advisor Prof. Mark Teeuwen and I put together a panel application for the International Conference of the European Association for Japanese Studies (EAJS). One other scholar will be joining us from Japan. The conference will be hosted by the Institute of Japanese Studies at Ghent University (Belgium). The title of the…
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Research Questions
Research Questions, those bedeviling things… While writing my initial research proposal, I agonized over and over about what my research questions should be. My friends, who are seasoned academics, laughed and said, “Just write whatever—your research questions will change a hundred times between now and when you finish your dissertation!” Easy for them to say!…