It’s hard to understand why anyone would want to bring cars back to Granville Street. I hope many people will support keeping this wonderful street the way it is!

Brent Toderian@brenttoderian.bsky.social · last wk.

Was Vancouver City Council’s decision to extend the Granville Street Pedestrian Zone beyond the World Cup a “mistake?” Despite its popularity with businesses, residents, etc, some in the media, and a city councillor, have suggested that. Here’s how I responded to a media post on the other site.

Every generation invents a new villain: yesterday it was the moga (modern girl), today it’s “selfish” career women. Calling women “too modern” has always been less about morality than policing independence. The moga debate proves these culture-war narratives aren’t new.

Unseen Japan@unseenjapan.com · 2w ago

In 1920s Japan, the moga, or "modern girl," cut her hair into a short bob and wore cloche hats and knee-length dresses. She shopped and dined in Ginza, watched the latest American films in Asakusa, and strolled the beaches of Kamakura.

Japan’s working mothers face a relentless double shift: demanding jobs and disproportionate caregiving at home. Abenomics sought to boost female labor participation, but without broader social change, families remain under strain as Japan navigates a difficult #demographic #transition.

Unseen Japan@unseenjapan.com · 2w ago

A record 81.2% of Japanese mothers in households with kids now work. But most aren't in permanent jobs. As of 2024, just 34.1% held regular full-time roles, with non-regular, lower-paid work the larger share.

Tokyo’s walkable neighbourhood streets blur the line between road and gathering place, belonging to everyone.

Finding a moment of peace and calm in the big city … Tokyo as a total space — where metropolis and village, place and landscape, territory and sanctuary become one.

Kusunose Kita oversaw the assets and properties after her samurai husband’s death. It rankled her that she had to pay taxes yet couldn’t vote. In 1878, she refused to pay them. When her local government rejected her petition, she took her grievances to the national government.

The Feminist Movement in Japan: Meiji to World War II - Unseen Japan

Learn about the early history of the feminist movement in Japan, and how women went from being "daughters in boxes" to earning suffrage and liberty.

unseen-japan.com

Sad loss of on another architectural landmark. Solar Ark in Gifu Prefecture was not designed by a well-known architect or architecture firm. Instead, it was conceived & developed as an in-house corporate project by Sanyo Electric, with engineering support from contractors and structural specialists.

@mulboyne.bsky.social · 3w ago

The Solar Ark, a local Gifu landmark, easily visible from the Tokaido shinkansen, will be demolished from September. After Panasonic sold it, there was talk of preservation but nothing came of those efforts. www.chunichi.co.jp/article/1282...

More background bit.ly/3TjMQlK

Media watch: Japan’s selective history on display again with new UNESCO World Heritage site

On July 27, the UNESCO World Heritage Committee agreed to register the Sado Island Gold Mines off the coast of Niigata Prefecture as a World Heritage Site, the 26th for Japan. Sado was at one time …

bit.ly

The Japan Times@japantimes.co.jp · 3w ago

Concluding that progress was not sufficient, the UNESCO World Heritage Committee developed a draft recommendation that urges Japan to reform exhibits at gold mines on Sado Island in Niigata Prefecture.

Humanity begins with telling the whole story. Celebrating heritage while overlooking the suffering of those who built it diminishes all. Honest remembrance isn’t about spoiling national pride—it’s about creating a future rooted in dignity, empathy, and shared humanity. v @philipbrasor.bsky.social

Media watch: Japan’s selective history on display again with new UNESCO World Heritage site

On July 27, the UNESCO World Heritage Committee agreed to register the Sado Island Gold Mines off the coast of Niigata Prefecture as a World Heritage Site, the 26th for Japan. Sado was at one time …

philipbrasor.com

Japan needs migrant workers b/c of demographic situation. But if it wants them to help shape a thriving future, it must also recognise their humanity and create pathways for genuine belonging. Integration isn’t just an economic necessity—it’s an investment in the kind of society Japan aspires to be.

A Kurdish Death in Japan

Murat Çiçek, a Kurdish actor and asylum seeker, died in Japanese police custody after a minor traffic stop, the latest victim of a detention system that has systematically denied rights and dignity to...

theamargi.com

A visual stunner from Nozomi Naoi, THE LAND OF HAPPINESS, coming out in August from @mitpress.bsky.social, on the art history of Japanese department stores with 100+ color illustrations (!!!) Can’t wait to assign parts to my #Tokyo lecture! #デパート mitpress.mit.edu/978026205442...

“Scientists should stop trying to be neutral & instead embrace their values. The neutrality myth is harming the reputation of science right when we need it most.” Had recently precisely the same kind of debate. But is that neutrality if we acquiesce to climate denial? v @brenttoderian.bsky.social

It gives me great pleasure to share the release of my decade-in-the-writing critical biography of filmmaker/activist Adachi Masao. Pink Auteur, Red Outlaw: Adachi Masao and Japan’s Cinema of Revolution is out September 1 via Awai Books. awaimedia.com/WilliamAndre...

Alison Sant's important reminder that cycling is also a gender-equity issue. #Tokyo may be walkable& mixed-use, but many women, children, and elderly residents still face barriers to cycling safely. The true measure of a cycling city is not how many people cycle, but who feels safe enough to do so.

Protecting Tokyo’s Cyclists Is a Gender Equity Issue |

Women commute through Tokyo, Japan. Women make up the majority of cyclists in Japan, despite the country ranking 118th on the Global Gender Gap Index. Photo: Alison Sant Despite a lack of dedicated bi...

thecityfix.com

Dutch tourist comes to Japan, thinks he can do the Tokyo Drift, but does it in Utsunomiya instead of Tokyo, gets caught on camera, and ends up on national news with his name attached. Guys, please behave abroad the way you’d expect overseas tourists to behave in your own country.

@mulboyne.bsky.social · last mo.

Fuji TV has footage of Dutch tourist Roy Witte doing donuts in the car park of the Oya History Museum in Utsunomiya. It got him arrested on a charge of property damage, for leaving tyre marks. www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJCa...

This isn’t rocket science, but it’s always useful to generate comparative data that reminds us how much urban form matters. I try to get 8–10k steps in on my walk to work—a benefit of living in a hyper-walkable city like #Tokyo.

The Japan Times@japantimes.co.jp · last mo.

People in Japan's most walkable municipalities log nearly twice as many daily steps as those in the least walkable ones, a study by a team of researchers at the University of Tokyo found.

Repeat after me. A habitable planet is more important than the profits of a few fossil fuel companies. Pass it on. #ActOnClimate

“Just being unsure about the enforcement creates a huge barrier to cycling.” ... riding on the sidewalks may be chaotic but ... less than 6% of crashes were caused by cyclists while more than 88% were caused by drivers. [Kosuke Miyata] says [Tokyo's] new rules address “the symptoms, not the cause."

Christian Dimmer@remmid.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Alison Sant's important reminder that cycling is also a gender-equity issue. #Tokyo may be walkable& mixed-use, but many women, children, and elderly residents still face barriers to cycling safely. The true measure of a cycling city is not how many people cycle, but who feels safe enough to do so.

Alison Sant's important reminder that cycling is also a gender-equity issue. #Tokyo may be walkable& mixed-use, but many women, children, and elderly residents still face barriers to cycling safely. The true measure of a cycling city is not how many people cycle, but who feels safe enough to do so.

Protecting Tokyo’s Cyclists Is a Gender Equity Issue |

Women commute through Tokyo, Japan. Women make up the majority of cyclists in Japan, despite the country ranking 118th on the Global Gender Gap Index. Photo: Alison Sant Despite a lack of dedicated bi...

thecityfix.com

ProPublica spoke to dozens of people who had lived in homeless encampments when cities cleared them out in “sweeps.” We distributed notecards so people could tell us about the toll in their own words. ➡️ This is what they wrote: https://propub.li/4veRIqA

Japan's inclusive zoning helped preserve mixed-use neighbourhoods& many qualities of the 15-minute city by default. While exclusive zoning elsewhere reduced walkability& mixed uses, Japan's flexibility kept them alive. Yet that same flexibility can also enable risky land-use patterns like this one.

@mulboyne.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Japan has its own version of data centre opposition. Residents of an apartment block in Inzai are unhappy that one is going up 11m away. They are even more unhappy that a real estate agent is telling them to sell, saying prices will plunge. www.yomiuri.co.jp/national/202...

Migrant populations are scapegoated worldwide. Japan’s case is distinct because a real influx of workers is arriving in cities with little experience of large-scale immigration. Japan needs migration—but even more, it needs proactive integration policies.

@mulboyne.bsky.social · 2mo ago

18-39 year olds are the most resistant (71%), and that resistance jumped more from the 2024 survey than for any other age group (up from 52%). japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/society/gene...

If you get scared of big STARTER PACKS, here’s just 25 accounts on CITIES & URBANISM that i hope you’ll follow, and share. And if you want more, check out my OTHER starter packs too. My packs are the actual examples profiled in the official “BLUESKY FOR DUMMIES” book! go.bsky.app/6fWyVZf

Photographs as Action: The All-Japan Students’ Photo Association and the Making of Eco-Critical Photography in Japan, 1960s–2020s www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

This is a common claim, but do we have solid evidence that public spaces in large Japanese cities once had significantly more waste bins? Or is it possible that the cleanliness of these cities has always been driven primarily by a cultural norm of people taking responsibility for their own trash?

Unseen Japan@unseenjapan.com · 2mo ago

Why does Tokyo have so few public trash cans? After the 1995 Aum Shinrikyo sarin attack on the subway, the government removed bins in the name of "security." Thirty years later, Shibuya is asking convenience stores to fill the gap.

On my daily commute in Tokyo, I enjoy walking through naturally traffic-calmed streets where pedestrians and motorists share public space harmoniously, guided less by regulation than by everyday courtesy and mutual respect.

#IdeasAtWork Appeciate the platform @brenttoderian.bsky.social Follow some stellar urbanist within this Starter Pack like @reneedsc.bsky.social @remmid.bsky.social @michaelemann.bsky.social @oliver-moore.bsky.social @cathytuttle.bsky.social @carlosmorenofr.bsky.social & @nondriver.bsky.social

Brent Toderian@brenttoderian.bsky.social · 2mo ago

If you get scared of big STARTER PACKS, here’s just 25 accounts on CITIES & URBANISM that i hope you’ll follow, and share. And if you want more, check out my OTHER starter packs too. My packs are the actual examples profiled in the official “BLUESKY FOR DUMMIES” book! go.bsky.app/6fWyVZf

There are a LOT of great global Bluesky urbanists and organizations that are definately worth following — this past STARTER PACK of mine is just a taste. Who is it missing? I hope a lot more are joining and participating here every day. Please help spread the word. #UrbanistShoutOut

Thanks so much for including me alongside such esteemed colleagues. I do my best to share insights on Japanese urbanism, with a focus on Tokyo, its public spaces, communities, and the many social, cultural, and political forces that shape the city. Honoured to be part of such excellent company.

Brent Toderian@brenttoderian.bsky.social · 2mo ago

If you get scared of big STARTER PACKS, here’s just 25 accounts on CITIES & URBANISM that i hope you’ll follow, and share. And if you want more, check out my OTHER starter packs too. My packs are the actual examples profiled in the official “BLUESKY FOR DUMMIES” book! go.bsky.app/6fWyVZf

I really, really think it's about time media stopped treating these people as if they were some kind of visionaries as opposed to the unethical, unimaginative, greedy dullards that they are.

Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 2mo ago

I think I speak for everyone when I ask how this will be used to sell advertisements.