Roger H. Brown | Lightnews

Roger Brown

@rbjapan.bsky.social

1.3K followers 620 following 310 posts

Marine & Historian. Research modern Japanese political & intellectual history, also interested in military history & US-Japan relations. 専門は日本近現代政治思想史、軍事史と日米関係史にも興味がある。　　
researchmap.jp/Roger_Brown

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Roger H. Brown is an American businessman, philanthropist, and academic administrator and former president of Berklee College of Music. Brown is also the co-founder of Bright Horizons and founder and chairman of the Salt Lick Incubator. .. more

Political science 38%

Engineering 28%

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Roger Brown @rbjapan.bsky.social · Nov 25

Intro: I’ve written on the importance of Confucian concepts to Japanese nationalism & politics, culminating in a book (Yasuoka Masahiro and the Confucian Path Through Twentieth-Century Japan; under review); now working w/two colleagues translating & annotating Hirohito’s 1946 "monologue" on the war.

Roger Brown @rbjapan.bsky.social · 9d

I've likely heard it since then, too, but it's very much associated with those years, particularly when paired with that album cover (my brother probably still has it along with all our other ones). Thanks for jogging the memory.

Roger Brown @rbjapan.bsky.social · 9d

Haven't heard that in a really long time, perhaps since the '70s. I remember that 3D album cover.

Roger Brown @rbjapan.bsky.social · 9d

Cool.

Roger Brown @rbjapan.bsky.social · 9d

Interesting book; the author presented at our kenkyukai last October, along with Murai Ryota, who discussed his recent book on the parties and "normal constitutional government" (『「憲政常道」の近代日本ー戦前の民主化を問う』NHKブックス2025年).

Reposted by Roger H. Brown

B. A. Friedman @bafriedman.bsky.social · 10d

Ok here it is, with enough of the weekend left for people to read it. Kill the Corps V: The Battle of the Potomac.
bafriedman.substack.com/p/kill-the-c...

Reposted by Roger H. Brown

Modern Japan History Association @modernjapanhist.bsky.social · 11d

MJHA is delighted to announce that the 2026 Modern Japan History Association Book Prize has been awarded to Simon Partner (Duke University) for "Koume's World: The Life and Work of a Samurai Woman Before and After the Meiji Restoration" (Columbia University Press, 2024)!

Reposted by Roger H. Brown

David Fedman @dfeds.bsky.social · 17d

Here's footage of Alex Pretti honoring a veteran after they pass away at the ICU

THIS is who our own government has branded a domestic terrorist. This is the patriot on whose grave Pete Hegseth has already pissed.

Makes my blood fucking boil

www.reddit.com/r/law/commen...

From the law community on Reddit: Alex Pretti - who DHS labeled a domestic terrorist - honoring a veteran that passed away in the ICU.

Explore this post and more from the law community

www.reddit.com

Reposted by Roger H. Brown

David Fedman @dfeds.bsky.social · 20d

An interesting new paper from Japan's National Institute of Population and Social Security Research suggesting that Japan's WWII death toll has been underestimated

Incorporating population records from colonies, it raises the toll from 3.1 million to 3,764,549

ipss.repo.nii.ac.jp/records/2000...

国立社会保障・人口問題研究所リポジトリ

CMS,Netcommons,Maple

ipss.repo.nii.ac.jp

Reposted by Mark D. White, Mark Rice, Roger H. Brown , and 1 more Mark D. White, Mark Rice, Roger H. Brown, Tim Stephens

Tom Nichols @radiofreetom.bsky.social · 22d

American officers know what Trump is planning, and their minds will rebel at directives to take everything they’ve prepared to do for years and apply it backwards, against the allies they have trained to work with and protect.

www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

The Military Is Being Forced to Plan for an Unthinkable Betrayal

Attacking an ally would be a perversion of everything the armed forces have been trained to do.

www.theatlantic.com

Reposted by Roger H. Brown

Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 23d

“The collapse of the AI bubble is going to be ugly…AI is the asbestos in the walls of our technological society, stuffed there with wild abandon by a finance sector & tech monopolists run amok.“

Read this article by @pluralistic.net.web.brid.gy. Whether you agree with it all or not, it’s important.

AI companies will fail. We can salvage something from the wreckage | Cory Doctorow

AI is asbestos in the walls of our tech society, stuffed there by monopolists run amok. A serious fight against it must strike at its roots

www.theguardian.com

Reposted by Roger H. Brown

Christopher McKnight Nichols @cmcknichols.bsky.social · 25d

What was best, worst, and why? What was over-or-under-rated, and why? What was missed?! Check out the launch panel on the top 10 best & worst decisions in US foreign policy history🗃️ (Council on Foreign Relations survey, rated by members of @shafrhistorians.bsky.social) youtu.be/rQB4dZgDdlg?...

America at 250: The Best and Worst Decisions in U.S. Foreign Policy

YouTube video by Council on Foreign Relations

youtu.be

Roger Brown @rbjapan.bsky.social · 26d

Sheldon Garon's review of Richard Overy's Rain of Ruin (open access).

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

www.tandfonline.com

Reposted by Elizabeth Saunders, Patrick A. Jansen, Jussi T. Eronen , and 2 more Elizabeth Saunders, Patrick A. Jansen, Jussi T. Eronen, David R. Miller, Roger H. Brown

Tom Nichols @radiofreetom.bsky.social · 27d

Danish and Greenland ministers just left the White House. It did not go well.
I have a long discussion here of Trump's attempt to get Greenland and why it could lead to World War III.

(Gifted.)

www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

Trump’s Most Dangerous Gambit

His irrational obsession with Greenland could lead to global conflict.

www.theatlantic.com

Reposted by Roger H. Brown

Dr. Sven Kramer @kuramasuben.bsky.social · 27d

私の勤務先の愛知県立大学日本文化学部は日本古代・中世史の専任教員（任期なし）を1名募集しております。採用時期は2027年4月1日です。応募締切は2026年3月27日（金）です。詳しくは以下ご覧ください。
jrecin.jst.go.jp/seek/SeekJor...
#AcademicSky

JREC-IN | 愛知県立大学日本文化学部歴史文化学科専任教員（日本古代・中世史）の公募

イノベーション創出を担う研究人材のためのキャリア支援ポータルサイト

jrecin.jst.go.jp

Roger Brown @rbjapan.bsky.social · 28d

Sorry to hear that. Good luck finding the best place for your needs.

Roger Brown @rbjapan.bsky.social · 28d

You might want to check out the アルカディア市ケ谷私学会館. Ever since hotel prices shot up, I usually try to book there. The rates seem more reasonable than other places I've checked; rooms are clean & more spacious than the average business hotel. There's also a decent breakfast buffet. Good central location.

Reposted by Margot C. Finn, Roger H. Brown

Amy Stanley @astanley711.bsky.social · 29d

They fixed it! My article is now open access. academic.oup.com/ahr/article/...

Revisiting the “Comfort Girls” of Report 49: Race, Sex, and Information in Asia’s War for Empire

Abstract. In 1944, a Japanese American intelligence officer stationed in Ledo, India, unwittingly composed a famous historical document: “Japanese Prisoner

academic.oup.com

Roger Brown @rbjapan.bsky.social · Jan 8

An expanded and revised edition of Furukawa Takahisa's 2011 biography of Emperor Hirohito has been published.

www.chuko.co.jp/shinsho/2025...

昭和天皇　増補版「理性の君主」の孤独 -古川隆久著｜中公新書｜中央公論新社

新時代の風を一身に浴び、民主的な立憲君主になろうとした昭和天皇。しかし、時代はそれを許さなかった――。本書は今まであまりふれられることのなかった青年期に至るまでの教育課程に注目し、政治的にどのような思想信念をもっていたかを実証的に探る。そしてそれは天皇の実際の振る舞いや政治的判断にいかなる影響を与えたか。旧版に、その後の約15年で新たに発見・公開された重要史料や史実を増補。

www.chuko.co.jp

Reposted by Roger H. Brown

Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures @sainsbury-institute.org · Jan 5

Third Thursday Lecture - Samurai, Knights, and Nationalisms: The Middle Ages in Modern Japan
Thu 15 Jan 2026 with @olegb.bsky.social (@york.ac.uk)
6:00pm GMT, In-person in Norwich (venue TBC) & online via Zoom
🎟 Free and open to all – booking essential us06web.zoom.us/webi...

Roger Brown @rbjapan.bsky.social · Jan 2

Speaking of connections, the Japanese were also counting heavily on the "superior" Germans to keep winning the war in Europe. D'oh!

Roger Brown @rbjapan.bsky.social · Jan 1

As a doctoral student who struck out with the big-ticket dissertation fellowships like those of the Fulbright Program and Japan Foundation, FLAS Fellowships were a real lifeline (I used to joke I was The Man From F.L.A.S.); I feel for anyone in a similar position today.

Mark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · Jan 1

We just cancelled all federal funding for foreign language & area studies at America’s universities to “save”…$86,000,000:

bsky.app/profile/mcop...

justdeirdre.bsky.social @justdeirdre.bsky.social · Jan 1

Trump golfed 1/4 of the days he was president in 2025. Costing US taxpayers to pay his Golf clubs $110,600,000.

Reposted by Alan Richardson, John Marston, Stacy D. VanDeveer , and 2 more Alan Richardson, John Marston, Stacy D. VanDeveer, Brian Keegan, Roger H. Brown

Mark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · Jan 1

We just cancelled all federal funding for foreign language & area studies at America’s universities to “save”…$86,000,000:

bsky.app/profile/mcop...

justdeirdre.bsky.social @justdeirdre.bsky.social · Jan 1

Trump golfed 1/4 of the days he was president in 2025. Costing US taxpayers to pay his Golf clubs $110,600,000.