Dr. Sven Kramer
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kuramasuben.bsky.social
Dr. Sven Kramer
@kuramasuben.bsky.social
810 followers 690 following 160 posts
Associate professor at Aichi Prefectural University. Historian. Municipal mergers in modern Japan and more.
愛知県立大学日本文化学部准教授。専門は日本近現代史です。
https://researchmap.jp/Kurama83?lang=en
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kuramasuben.bsky.social
明日名古屋歴史科学研究会11例会で報告を行います。会場は名古屋大学とZoomです。お知らせが短いのですが、関心のある方はぜひどうぞ！
11月例会のご案内 今回は、2022年に国の重要文化財に指定された「小栗家住宅」（愛知県半田市）に死蔵されている史料の保存に係わる報告です。ぜひご参加ください。 〔報告者〕クラーマー　スベン　氏 （愛知県立大学日本文化学部） 〔題目〕 小栗家住宅所蔵史料の保存プロジェクト：新聞コレクションを中心に 【日時】2025年11月15日（土）15時〜 【会場】名古屋大学文学部　1階　第127教室 ※地下鉄名古屋大学駅1番出口から西へ徒歩2分程度 ◇報告は会場で行われますが、オンライン（Zoom）でもその模様を視聴し、討論に参加できます。ご希望の方は、事前に下のURLから実名で登録してください。 https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/pBPUs2dRQcitsmg17tnlTw ◇会場でなくても参加できます（参加費等は必要ありません）。 名古屋歴史科学研究会 rekikaken@hotmail.com
November 14, 2025 at 2:21 PM
kuramasuben.bsky.social
『九州史学』第200号刊行、おめでとうございます！
九州史学研究会の機関誌である『九州史学』第200号（2025年5月）のカバー
July 1, 2025 at 12:46 PM
kuramasuben.bsky.social
Congratulations for the publication to all colleagues involved in this vital work, a comprehensive history of the ministry of internal affairs of Imperial Japan (内務省), and thanks to those who gifted me a copy.
Cover of the book "Naimushō: Kindai Nihon ni kunrin-shita kyodai kanchō", edited by the Naimushō kenkyūkai. The cover is predominantly purple and white.
May 27, 2025 at 3:00 AM
kuramasuben.bsky.social
同僚から立派な本をいただきました。ありがとうございました。
上川通夫『民衆仏教の形成と日本中世』（思文閣、2025年）のカバー
April 1, 2025 at 1:16 AM
kuramasuben.bsky.social
Quick reminder that quite anything can be appropriated by jingoism...
Cover of "Furo to aikoku: 'Seiketsu na kokumin' wa ika ni umareta ka" (NHK shuppan shinsho, 2024) by Kawabata Miki. It examines the modern Japanese bathing culture, its premodern roots, and the influence of modern ideas of hygiene, morals, and nationalism on its development into what it is today. The cover is predominantly orange with a white rim on three sides. Writing in black and white on orange.
February 10, 2025 at 6:24 AM
kuramasuben.bsky.social
I got myself all modern history (近現代史) related volumes of the "History of Aichi Prefecture" (愛知県史) 😃
#skystorians
#academicsky
Two rows of overall 18 volumes of Aichi-ken shi on a table. The upper row has volumes 6 to 10 and 24 to 27, the lower row has volumes 28 to 36. These are all volumes that cover modern history in the sense of common Japanese periodization (近現代史).
January 30, 2025 at 7:06 AM
kuramasuben.bsky.social
Your random generator wants me to get rid of my beard 😱 . NEVER ✊🏻 😂
A screen cap showing the Japanese word for razor.
January 8, 2025 at 4:32 AM
kuramasuben.bsky.social
謹賀新年 〔蛇と富士山のイラスト〕 皆様のご健康とご多幸をお祈りいたします 本年もどうぞよろしくお願い申し上げます 令和七年　元旦 〔左：クラーマー家の写真（一部「公開不可」の加工あり）〕 〔右：三角形の柄〕
December 31, 2024 at 3:17 PM
kuramasuben.bsky.social
By the way, in the journal in question, my predecessor at Aichi Prefectural University, Nakanishi Keita, comes directly after my essay with a book review. Hmm... 🤔
Cover of no. 16 of Nenpō Kingendaishi Kenkyū, showing the table of contents in Japanese.
December 28, 2024 at 1:11 PM
kuramasuben.bsky.social
I didn't expect that this essay of mine would show up in the index of the latest issue of Shigaku Zasshi ☺️ . I deemed it insignificant enough to not even promote it myself on here when it came out in May 😅
Part of a page in the Nov. 2024 issue of the Japanese historical journal "Shigaku Zasshi" that is part of an index of recently published works on Japanese history, mostly articles and book reviews. This index includes an essay by myself which is neither an article nor a book review. クラーマー　スベン「市町村合併の15年（外国人研究者からみる近現代史研究会）」（『年報近現代史研究』第16号、2024年、27〜34頁）
December 28, 2024 at 1:01 PM
kuramasuben.bsky.social
Randomly posting this for no particular reason, at all*
#BookSky

*Actually there is a reason. Me being left-handed and still mad at all the people** who dragooned, sorry, strongly encouraged me to use my right, sorry, wrong hand when I was a toddler.

**Explicitly not my parents. They're awesome.
Covers of the French original and the Japanese translation of "histoire des gauchers" by Pierre-Michel Bertrand. This book examines the history of left-handers in Europe and Western culture.
December 24, 2024 at 11:42 PM
kuramasuben.bsky.social
The Japanese translation of Carter J. Eckert's "Park Chung Hee and Modern Korea: The Roots of Militarism, 1866-1945" will be my companion for this Christmas week 📚 😊
#AcademicSky
#Skystrorians
Cover of "韓国軍事主義の起源：青年朴正煕と日本陸軍", the Japanese translation of "Park Chung Hee and Modern Korea: The Roots of Militarism, 1866-1945" by Carter J. Eckert, translated by Matsutani Motokazu.
December 23, 2024 at 1:38 PM
kuramasuben.bsky.social
The front page of the New Year's issue of 1940, which Japanese officialdom marked up as Japan's "year 2600".
Front page of "Osaka Asahi Shinbun" from January 1st, 1940. The top of the page features a rising sun motive resembling the Japanese flag. Drawing of wavy waters on each side of the article portion.
December 23, 2024 at 2:53 AM
kuramasuben.bsky.social
Sorting old newspapers for a current project, I just stumbled across the "Osaka Asahi Shinbun" from July 1st, 1940, featuring Puyi, Konoe Fumimaro, and Hitler on the front page.
Front page of the July 1st, 1940 issue of Osaka Asahi Shinbun, featuring Puyi visiting a military hospital and Hitler visiting Paris. Article reporting on Hitler's visit to occupied Paris. This copy of this famous photo looks like a chalk drawing. Close-up of the part of the front page that shows the date.
December 23, 2024 at 2:39 AM
kuramasuben.bsky.social
This weekend's reading. The left one is a comparative study about the relocation of people around the time and especially after the collapse of the Japanese empire, the right one a monograph about education in early Meiji Japan.
#academicsky
🗃️
Covers of the books "日本帝国崩壊期「引揚げ」の比較研究：国際関係と地域の視点から" edited by Imaizumi Yumiko, Yanagizawa Asobu, and Kimura Kenji, published in 2016, and "明治前期の国家と地域教育" by Arai Akio, published last month (Nov. 2024).
December 21, 2024 at 5:54 AM
kuramasuben.bsky.social
The other day I got the latest book by my colleague Miyazaki Masumi (modern Japanese poetry) about the poet Ayukawa Nobuo and his work in the late 1940s.
Cover of the book "鮎川信夫と戦後詩：「非論理」の美学" by Miyazaki Masumi. The cover is plain white with Japanese writing in black and English writing in blue. The English writing is the translated book title with the main title ("Ayukawa Nobuo and Japanese Poetry after 1945") in cursive and the subtitle ("The Aesthetics of the Illogical") in print letters.
December 20, 2024 at 12:49 AM
kuramasuben.bsky.social
Reading some old heisei mergers stuff from the middle of the 2000s as if it's still 2010 or so.
Covers of the book "愛知・静岡・長野の市町村合併を診断する" by Fukui Mikihiko et al. and the booklet "「市町村合併」の次は「道州制」か" by Mori Kei. The cover of the former is white with a colourful map showing the old municipal boundaries of the three prefectures discussed. The cover of the latter is purple with some diagonal, rectangular, white bars. The writing is black on both covers.
December 19, 2024 at 12:59 AM
kuramasuben.bsky.social
Today's view is even better ☀️🏔️
Landscape photo with a forest in autumn colours in the foreground, a city behind the forest and a snowcapped mountain range in the background. The sky is clear blue with thin clouds over the mountains.
December 10, 2024 at 12:37 AM
kuramasuben.bsky.social
Here is one more photo with a large zoom-in
Landscape picture with snow-capped peaks in the background. The foreground is dominated by a brownish, autumn-coloured forest. A city stands between the forest and the mountains.
December 9, 2024 at 3:53 AM
kuramasuben.bsky.social
The mountain range that I can see from my office has finally started to look alpine over the weekend (i.e. is broadly snow-capped).
The landscape seen from my office window. Three large buildings (halls) in the foreground. The center is dominated by a forest in brownish autumn colours. Behind the forest is a city and behind that a mountain range, of which the higher peaks are snow-capped.
December 9, 2024 at 3:48 AM
kuramasuben.bsky.social
Well, here's something I never thought I would see. Both of my supervisors, Yamaguchi Teruomi and Ōgushi Junji, two very different personalities with very different research fields, side by side in a table of contents.
Part of the table of contents of volume 6 of "日本史の現在" (Present [State] of Japanese History), showing professors Yamaguchi Teruomi and Ōgushi Junji side by side.
November 30, 2024 at 4:18 AM
kuramasuben.bsky.social
Assignments, assignments, we've got assignments here!

*Sorry for the lame Jurassic Park reference
Covers of volumes 5 and 6 of the series "日本史の現在" (Present [State] of Japanese History), covering the modern period, edited by Suzuki Jun, Yamaguchi Teruomi, and Numajiri Akinobu, published by Yamakawa.
November 30, 2024 at 3:56 AM
kuramasuben.bsky.social
A former fellow student at Kyushu University Maeda Shūsuke has published his dissertation on state funerals in modern Japan as a monograph earlier this month. It's an interesting read.
(Furthermore, I appear in the acknowledgements 😁)
Cover of the book "近現代日本と国葬" by Maeda Shūsuke. The literal translation of the title is "Modern Japan and State Funerals" but the official English title as given in the book is "State Funerals in Modern Japan". The cover is plain white with the book title, name of the author, and name of the publisher (Yamakawa) printed on it.
November 29, 2024 at 8:42 AM
kuramasuben.bsky.social
I finished reading this book about urban planning in the colonies of the Japanese Empire by Gotō Yasushi. Gotō argues that urban planning in the colonies was "more advanced" than in the Japanese mainland, with e.g. stricter zoning laws. I'd like to read or hear other experts' thoughts about this.
Cover of the book "日本外地都市計画史" (history of urban planning in the colonies of Japan) by Gotō Yasushi. The cover is a stylised map of Keijō (present day Seoul, South Korea)
November 27, 2024 at 6:25 AM
kuramasuben.bsky.social
New place for a new project organising and indexing old newspapers (before/after)

This shows only a small fraction of the entire, privately owned collection.
An office room with a grey carpet and white walls with a window in the back. The blinds of the window are half closed. There are empty bookshelves on the left and right wall each. In the middle of the room there is a white table with two grey chairs by its left and two green chairs by its right side. Between this table and the window is a desk with an office chair, a lamp, and a landline telephone. It's dark outside and the window reflects me taking this picture. The same office room from the first picture. The window blinds are closed. The desk and another table are directly in front of the bookshelves at the right side. Two other tables are directly in front of the bookshelves on the left side, leaving a corridor in the middle of the room. The grey and green chairs are next to the tables on the left. On the tables there are numerous stacks of old Japanese newspapers from the Meiji through early Showa periods (1880s to 1930s)
November 17, 2024 at 6:43 AM