The Substance finally launched in Japan so we went to see it yesterday; between the dubious parables about eternal life backed up by body horror, and the copious amounts of wine we drank afterwards, that’s the most Catholic I’ve felt on a Sunday in quite a while.

In Osaka for a few days; didn’t even make it through baggage claim before being hit with a drive-by Myaku-Myaku.

(I’m not sure this little freak should be in charge of a vehicle.)

The abrupt post-Golden Week transition from sipping wine coolers on a boat in Tokyo Bay to sitting through a morning of Zoom meetings is giving me mental whiplash.

I just don’t think, at this age, that I’m meant to live an uncomfortable life, y’know?

Fought through crashing waves of jet-lag to see Sigourney Weaver’s last night in The Tempest - absolutely worth it! She was wonderful, of course, though the show was thoroughly stolen by the jawdropping set design and by Mason Alexander Park’s fantastically ethereal performance as Ariel.

Date-related nonsense aside, the Christmas vibes, at least, are vibing.

(And yes, that’s a ridiculously sized tree for a Tokyo apartment.)

Got out of the city for a weekend trip, nicely timed for the autumn colours! Lots of cities/wards in Japan own hot spring hotels in nearby resort areas which are steeply discounted for local residents - this is Shinjuku-ku’s ryokan in Hakone.

Drop your lockscreen

Picture I took at the Cliffs of Moher a few years ago.

(Also yes every class I teach titled <Something> Analysis ends up abbreviated like that 😓)

Post a perfect album from the '90s that isn’t Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, or Alice in Chains.

(What an odd exclusion list - they're all great, but such a small corner of what was going on musically in the 90s!)

My ward (Shinjuku) just sent out a disaster prep package - disposable chemical toilets (usable when water is stopped), freeze dried onigiri, and an information booklet with local maps of assembly points etc., plus a catalogue of goods you can order to earthquake-proof your home.

Between the Japanese election, the U.S. election, and the endless joys* of academic job hunting season, I’m not even sure why I’m still tormenting myself by buying games I’m unlikely to be able to play this side of Christmas…

* Joys not included.

I don't think there's an official tally of vote totals from single-member districts yet, but I did a back-of-the-envelope calculation of PR votes to add to this chart. This looks like by far the LDP's worst electoral performance by absolute vote numbers - 2 million below the previous low in 2012.

The Nikkei is Japan’s financial newspaper and not usually given to big, tabloid-style headlines - opting for this style for their “LDP/Komeito Lose Majority” banner conveys pretty clearly what an upheaval this election has been.

Using Ireland as a lecture example of how a non-executive presidency works, and find myself faced with a terrible dilemma; how many pictures of Michael D. Higgins' dogs is too many pictures of Michael D. Higgins' dogs?

Bright and early paper presentation at #ecprgc24 this morning - I’ll be presenting work with @seitanical.bsky.social on Sanseitō, a fringe right-wing conspiracy theory party that uses influencer media strategies to attract a ton of funding and volunteers. Drop by Newman B109 at 9am for the panel!

This month's Chuo Koron 中央公論 is a special edition on conspiracy theories, including a piece from me about survey findings on beliefs among Japanese voters. We find levels of conspiracy belief falling in 2021/22 surveys, despite concerns about the spread of conspiracy theories during the pandemic.