Kjell Ericson
@kjelldericson.bsky.social
Historian teaching and researching at intersections of environment, technology, and Japan @ Kyoto University.
Nice cotton candy sunset 🌆 outside Kyoto University this evening.
November 5, 2025 at 8:51 AM
Nice cotton candy sunset 🌆 outside Kyoto University this evening.
My first trip to Ōmi Hachiman today. Nice to get a rain-soaked glimpse of some of the sites and modes of commemoration mentioned in Jun Uchida's fascinating recent book on Ōmi merchants, too.
October 26, 2025 at 11:15 AM
My first trip to Ōmi Hachiman today. Nice to get a rain-soaked glimpse of some of the sites and modes of commemoration mentioned in Jun Uchida's fascinating recent book on Ōmi merchants, too.
Off to Mie for a quick research trip.
Nothing like the Kintetsu Ise-Shima Liner's modular (and, fortunately, no longer accessible) smoking pod.
Nothing like the Kintetsu Ise-Shima Liner's modular (and, fortunately, no longer accessible) smoking pod.
August 26, 2025 at 11:27 PM
Off to Mie for a quick research trip.
Nothing like the Kintetsu Ise-Shima Liner's modular (and, fortunately, no longer accessible) smoking pod.
Nothing like the Kintetsu Ise-Shima Liner's modular (and, fortunately, no longer accessible) smoking pod.
Estimates continue to rise...
August 25, 2025 at 7:57 AM
Estimates continue to rise...
I've certainly never seen this level of predicted hourly rainfall before...
Can't say that it feels like 57mm per hour yet, but wow ☔
Can't say that it feels like 57mm per hour yet, but wow ☔
August 25, 2025 at 7:46 AM
I've certainly never seen this level of predicted hourly rainfall before...
Can't say that it feels like 57mm per hour yet, but wow ☔
Can't say that it feels like 57mm per hour yet, but wow ☔
A very snowy Kinkaku-ji this morning.
February 24, 2025 at 6:09 AM
A very snowy Kinkaku-ji this morning.
What a pleasant surprise in my campus mailbox: a copy of Mariko Iijima's new global history of Kona coffee! Can't wait to read it.
February 18, 2025 at 7:21 AM
What a pleasant surprise in my campus mailbox: a copy of Mariko Iijima's new global history of Kona coffee! Can't wait to read it.
Manuscript advice from the editors of the journal Environmental History, in the latest issue.
www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...
www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...
February 7, 2025 at 2:53 AM
Manuscript advice from the editors of the journal Environmental History, in the latest issue.
www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...
www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...
We've rescheduled the ASEH Presents panel on "Moving Aquafarms" exactly one month later to March 3rd.
My joint talk is on "Where is a Monoculture Made? Transplanting Seed Oysters from Miyagi Prefecture to Washington State and France."
Still looking forward to it!
#envhis
aseh.org/ASEH-Presents
My joint talk is on "Where is a Monoculture Made? Transplanting Seed Oysters from Miyagi Prefecture to Washington State and France."
Still looking forward to it!
#envhis
aseh.org/ASEH-Presents
January 29, 2025 at 5:35 AM
We've rescheduled the ASEH Presents panel on "Moving Aquafarms" exactly one month later to March 3rd.
My joint talk is on "Where is a Monoculture Made? Transplanting Seed Oysters from Miyagi Prefecture to Washington State and France."
Still looking forward to it!
#envhis
aseh.org/ASEH-Presents
My joint talk is on "Where is a Monoculture Made? Transplanting Seed Oysters from Miyagi Prefecture to Washington State and France."
Still looking forward to it!
#envhis
aseh.org/ASEH-Presents
Huh, TIL:
"In Japan, oblaat (オブラート, oburāto) is a thin, edible layer of starch used to wrap some candies and pharmaceuticals, similar to capsules.
...
The name comes from the Dutch word oblaat, referring to sacramental bread, in turn from Latin oblātum ("offered")."
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oblaat
January 26, 2025 at 1:31 AM
Huh, TIL:
"In Japan, oblaat (オブラート, oburāto) is a thin, edible layer of starch used to wrap some candies and pharmaceuticals, similar to capsules.
...
The name comes from the Dutch word oblaat, referring to sacramental bread, in turn from Latin oblātum ("offered")."
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oblaat
Had a great time taking the students in my environmental history seminar to the Lake Biwa Museum. As my students astutely noted, the exhibits cross several genres, from aquarium to natural history museum to folk museum, all with a focus on human-lake relations. We spent nearly five hours there...
January 22, 2025 at 11:09 AM
Had a great time taking the students in my environmental history seminar to the Lake Biwa Museum. As my students astutely noted, the exhibits cross several genres, from aquarium to natural history museum to folk museum, all with a focus on human-lake relations. We spent nearly five hours there...
Wishing you a happy year of the snake!
January 1, 2025 at 7:04 AM
Wishing you a happy year of the snake!
Once again, Santa has thoughtfully brought me a sampling of one of the most elusive flavor profiles in Japan.
December 25, 2024 at 11:39 AM
Once again, Santa has thoughtfully brought me a sampling of one of the most elusive flavor profiles in Japan.
Really enjoyed my visit over the summer to the Busan Modern & Contemporary History Museum.
Totally free, and with an upper entryway that guides you into a post-Liberation floor (set apart from a 1876-1945 floor) by slowly scrolling a post-1945 chronology along with the waves.
Totally free, and with an upper entryway that guides you into a post-Liberation floor (set apart from a 1876-1945 floor) by slowly scrolling a post-1945 chronology along with the waves.
December 13, 2024 at 3:54 AM
Really enjoyed my visit over the summer to the Busan Modern & Contemporary History Museum.
Totally free, and with an upper entryway that guides you into a post-Liberation floor (set apart from a 1876-1945 floor) by slowly scrolling a post-1945 chronology along with the waves.
Totally free, and with an upper entryway that guides you into a post-Liberation floor (set apart from a 1876-1945 floor) by slowly scrolling a post-1945 chronology along with the waves.
Some 🚅 reading on the way back to Kyoto. About a third of the way in, but enjoying so far.
December 9, 2024 at 3:17 AM
Some 🚅 reading on the way back to Kyoto. About a third of the way in, but enjoying so far.
Leaf peeping 🍁 the other day at Bishamondō 毘沙門堂 in Yamashina, southeastern Kyoto.
It was a weekday to be sure, but refreshingly uncrowded.
It was a weekday to be sure, but refreshingly uncrowded.
November 28, 2024 at 10:57 AM
Leaf peeping 🍁 the other day at Bishamondō 毘沙門堂 in Yamashina, southeastern Kyoto.
It was a weekday to be sure, but refreshingly uncrowded.
It was a weekday to be sure, but refreshingly uncrowded.
Ate from a rather good-natured rice bowl today.
November 27, 2024 at 3:07 AM
Ate from a rather good-natured rice bowl today.
Got my fill of growing, bobbing, and gliding jellyfish yesterday, although there's always room for more...
November 25, 2024 at 1:25 AM
Got my fill of growing, bobbing, and gliding jellyfish yesterday, although there's always room for more...
Preparing for an upcoming talk about "Japanese cultured" pearls for a really wide-ranging Global History of 'Made in Japan' conference at Sophia University.
November 20, 2024 at 1:41 AM
Preparing for an upcoming talk about "Japanese cultured" pearls for a really wide-ranging Global History of 'Made in Japan' conference at Sophia University.
I'll be giving a talk on a long-running joint project entitled "The Transpacific Tidelands of the Pacific Oyster" at Nichibunken in Kyoto on October 3rd (4:30pm Japan time, in-person and via Zoom, pre-registration required). Very happy to have Mariko Yoshida coming in from Hiroshima as commenter.
September 25, 2024 at 6:27 AM
I'll be giving a talk on a long-running joint project entitled "The Transpacific Tidelands of the Pacific Oyster" at Nichibunken in Kyoto on October 3rd (4:30pm Japan time, in-person and via Zoom, pre-registration required). Very happy to have Mariko Yoshida coming in from Hiroshima as commenter.
After several years of bicycling and walking through the temple grounds of Shōkoku-ji on the way to work, I've only recently noticed that the nearby kindergarten has Catbus and Totoro bushes.
February 9, 2024 at 1:22 AM
After several years of bicycling and walking through the temple grounds of Shōkoku-ji on the way to work, I've only recently noticed that the nearby kindergarten has Catbus and Totoro bushes.