Wikipedia remains one of the most useful things online. No subscription fees, no ads, no stupid pursuit of AI, all curated by relentless nerds. Maybe remember to throw them a few bucks every now and again.
Michael K. Bourdaghs
@mbourdaghs.bsky.social
Scholar and translator, modern Japanese literature and culture; I also write fiction, music criticism, and sundry other things. Plus the occasional sumo and baseball post. Faculty at University of Chicago. www.bourdaghs.com
It's been reported that Grace Chang, Hong Kong's preeminent Mandarin screen diva of the 50s, passed away this afternoon, one day shy of her 93rd birthday. Watch Mambo Girl and The Wild, Wild Rose to see her at the height of her powers.
New book: Seicho Matsumoto, "A Quiet Place: A Novel," trans. Louise Heal Kawaii (Penguin). penguinrandomhousehighereducation.com/book/?isbn=9...
A Quiet Place | Penguin Random House Higher Education
An artfully twisty psychological mystery from Seichō Matsumoto, hailed as “Japan’s Agatha Christie” (The Sunday Times), exploring the corrosive power of jealousy, guilt, and doubt
penguinrandomhousehighereducation.com
Good story about the threat to Promontory Point here in Hyde Park, the place where I swim every day during summer. Replacing the limestone blocks with concrete steps, as the Army Corps of Engineers proposes, would destroy the feel of one of Chicago's real treasures. www.wbez.org/architecture...
What’s That Building? Promontory Point
This 40-acre, car-free peninsula feels like a self-contained sanctuary on the South Side.
wbez.org
There will be some other events in September that I'll post here soon as Yu Miri winds down her 10-month residency with us here at UChicago. (More info on the project we've been doing together at ceas.uchicago.edu/re-staging-j...).
Hyojun Kim for the BBC on the popularity of K-Pop in the DPRK: "Kim Jong Un was meant to be their only idol - then North Koreans discovered K-pop." www.bbc.com/news/article...
Kim Jong Un was meant to be their only idol - then North Koreans found K-pop
Defectors tell the BBC that despite restrictions, K-pop has cut through in the stifling dictatorship.
bbc.com
New book: Nakahara Chūya, "Angel at the Earth's Extreme: Collected Poems," ed. and trans. Jeffrey Angles (Penguin). www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/807054...
Angel at the Earth's Extreme by Nakahara Chuya: 9780143139171 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books
The intensely confessional work of Japan’s most famous modernist poet, considered the Japanese Rimbaud, whose poems have inspired cultlike devotion—especially among fans of the hit anime show...
penguinrandomhouse.com
North Central College is looking for a 1-term adjunct to teach an online section of Japanese Popular Culture this fall. I taught this course in 2020, and it was a really positive experience. Great for grad students looking for teaching experience! northcentralcollege.peopleadmin.com/postings/15857
Adjunct Instructor of Japanese
northcentralcollege.peopleadmin.com
New book: Ashton Lazarus, "Performing Transgression: Crowds and Bodies in Heian Japan" (Harvard University Asia Center). www.hup.harvard.edu/books/978067...
Performing Transgression — Harvard University Press
What happens when performance defies social and political boundaries? Performing Transgression offers a new cultural history of non-elite spectacle in Heian Japan (794–1185), uncovering how performanc...
hup.harvard.edu
Ted C. Fishman for "Newcity" on "Budi Darma’s Work Is Found in Translation, From Indonesia to Indiana." lit.newcity.com/2026/07/16/b...
Budi Darma’s Work Is Found in Translation, From Indonesia to Indiana
The renowned Indonesian writer is breaking through thanks to new English-language versions of his Bloomington, Indiana-set books translated by Tiffany Tsao.
lit.newcity.com
New book: 紅野謙介著『中里介山「大菩薩峠」とその時代——生成・受容・変換のクロニクル』（筑摩書房）。 www.chikumashobo.co.jp/product/9784...
『中里介山『大菩薩峠』とその時代』紅野 謙介|筑摩書房
筑摩書房『中里介山『大菩薩峠』とその時代』の書誌情報
chikumashobo.co.jp
New book: Anne Sokolsky, ed. "Bold Breaks: Japanese Women and Literary Narratives of Divorce" (University of Hawai’i Press). uhpress.hawaii.edu/title/bold-b...
Bold Breaks: Japanese Women and Literary Narratives of Divorce
The various words for “divorce” in Japanese—rien, enkiri, fūfu wakare, rikon—reflect how the socially constructed institutions of marriage and family, along with their dissolutions, have been under…
uhpress.hawaii.edu
New book: Leith Morton, "Avant-Garde Japanese Poetry and Poetics: Contemporary Poetry Handbook, 2000–2021" (Routledge). www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/1...
Avant-Garde Japanese Poetry and Poetics | Contemporary Poetry Handbook
This book analyzes avant-garde contemporary Japanese poetry published in the monthly poetry journal Gendai shi techō (Contemporary Poetry Handbook). Featuring
taylorfrancis.com
First swim of the season in Lake Michigan this morning: water temperature a brisk 64 degrees, forming a nice contrast with the heatwave temperatures we're having this week in Chicago. (The photo is from a few years back, though).
New book: Natalia Doan, "Civil War Samurai: The 1860 Japanese Embassy and Tateishi Onojirō in Antebellum America" (Leiden University Press). lup.nl/publications...
Civil War Samurai - Leiden University Press
This book reveals the influence of samurai on antebellum American identity formation and the incredible life of a samurai celebrity and civil war survivor.
lup.nl
Did not know people heard about Pearl Harbor while listening to the NY Phil doing Shostakovich 1 www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vsz8...
1941: Pearl Harbor Attack Interrupts New York Philharmonic | CBS Radio News Bulletins
YouTube video by Old Broadcast
youtube.com
Thomas Love Seagull on Kasagi Shizuko’s 1949 hit song, “Home Run Boogie.” open.substack.com/pub/thomaslo...
Home Run Boogie
In the middle of a rainy week with half the league rained out, a song from 1949 has been stuck in my head.
open.substack.com
美輪明宏さんが死去 91歳、「ヨイトマケの唄」や舞台「黒蜥蜴」 www.nikkei.com/article/DGXZQO...
美輪明宏さんが死去 91歳、「ヨイトマケの唄」や舞台「黒蜥蜴」 - 日本経済新聞
「ヨイトマケの唄」などのヒット曲で知られ、長年にわたって舞台でも活躍した歌手で俳優の美輪明宏（みわ・あきひろ、本名=丸山明宏=まるやま・あきひろ）さんが6月20日、老衰のため死去した。91歳だった。告別式は近親者で行った。所属事務所が公式サイトで発表した。長崎県生まれ。1952年に東京・銀座のシャンソン喫茶「銀巴里」に出演し活動を始めた。57年の「メケ・メケ」がヒットし、作詞・作曲も手
nikkei.com
Akihiro Miwa, one of #Japan’s earliest most visible LGBTQ+ icons, singers, and film stars, has died at 91. Their best known role overseas was in 1968's Black Lizard. www.sankei.com/article/2026...
Zareen Syed in the Chicago Tribune: "‘The Bear’ was a love letter to Chicago. For the final season, here’s every local restaurant that was featured." www.chicagotribune.com/2026/06/22/t...
‘The Bear’ was a love letter to Chicago. For the final season, here’s every local restaurant that was featured.
Though “The Bear,” is ending with its final chapter airing June 25, fans can find solace in that it was driven by real-life places and people.
chicagotribune.com
New book: Yuriko Furuhata, "Archives of the Anthropocene: Visual Grammars of Deep Time" (Duke University Press). dukeupress.edu/archives-of-...
Archives of the Anthropocene: Visual Grammars of Deep Time
dukeupress.edu
New book: William Andrews, "Pink Auteur, Red Outlaw: Adachi Masao and Japan's Cinema of Revolution" (Awai Books). awaimedia.com/WilliamAndre...
awai books | Pink Auteur, Red Outlaw: Adachi Masao and Japan's Cinema of Revolution
awaimedia.com
New book: Watanabe Eri, "Nakagami Kenji: Vision of the Back Alleys" (Iwanami). 渡邊英理(著)『中上健次 路地のビジョン』（岩波書店） www.iwanami.co.jp/book/b101690...
中上健次 路地のビジョン／渡邊 英理｜岩波新書 - 岩波書店
戦後生まれで初の芥川賞作家となった中上健次。「戦後」と「現代」の狭間で生み出された虚構の時空への最良の道案内。 渡邊 英理 著
iwanami.co.jp
Common's Obama Center freestyle namechecked Fred Hampton, Operation Push, Harold Washington and more icons of Chicago. blockclubchi.co/4xI0sak
Coming to UChicago's Smart Museum this fall: Tokyo-based digital art collective teamLab featured in the exhibition "teamLab: Everything Exists in Infinite Continuity." hoodline.com/2026/06/toky...
teamLab at Smart Museum Chicago - Immersive Digital Exhibition
teamLab's immersive Chicago survey opens Sept. 22 at the Smart Museum. Free admission.
hoodline.com
Daniel Robson interviews Otoboke Beaver for The Guardian: www.theguardian.com/music/2026/j...
‘We weren’t allowed to meet Oasis!’: Japanese punk band Otoboke Beaver on fun, feminism and famous fans
Dave Grohl spread the word about the ferociously funny quartet and now they’re supporting Foo Fighters in stadiums. Just make sure you switch off your phone’s flash if you go to their gigs …
theguardian.com
New book: "Beyond the Untranslatable: Theorizing Postcolonial Translation," ed. Talal Asad, Jun’ichi Isomae, Naoki Sakai, Katsuya Hirano, and Gouranga Charan Pradhan (Routledge). www.routledge.com/Beyond-the-U...
Beyond the Untranslatable: Theorizing Postcolonial Translation
This collection examines postcolonial studies through the lens of translation studies, focusing on Asian and East Asian experiences. It redefines translation as a process of negotiating Otherness with...
routledge.com
New book: Holly Stephens, "Empire by Association: Agriculture and the Reorganization of the Rural Economy in Colonial Korea" (Yale University Press). yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300...
Empire by Association
How governmental associations shaped agricultural production in Korea during Japan’s colonizationDrawing on the diaries of everyday farmers, Holly Stephens...
yalebooks.yale.edu