文化の日 スペシャル: So how does this new KFC pick-up service at the train station work?

Sir Patrick Stewart (1940 - 2026) Rest in Peace

Image source: https://www.instagram.com/p/CQ_SuU5JWpy/?img_index=2 (1995)

Patrick Stewart taught us about "the root metaphors of our own culture" and provided us with "more familiarity with our own mythology... [to] help us to relate to [others]."

References:

Star Trek: The Next Generation, season 5, episode 2 (Darmok), 1991.

Turner, Victor. Dramas, Fields, and Metaphors: Symbolic Action in Human Society. Cornell University Press, 1974.

"Stay crazy Japan: 48 interesting pics that show why Japan is a country like no other..." from the MSN feed this morning...

The intro by author Edvinas Jovaišas: Every country boasts its unique charm, whether it’s the people, the food, the nature, or anything else, for that matter, that creates it. And while what captivates people the most differs from visitor to visitor, some places seem to leave many of them fascinated with what they’ve seen or experienced.

One of such places, likely to leave its visitors in awe, is Japan. Home to everything from bustling cities to breathtaking nature, and so much more, it also surprises travelers with some rather unexpected sights, such as fried chicken vending machines and public air showers for those suffering from pollen allergies, just to name a couple. Scroll down to find more examples and explore what other unique features add to the charm of Japan.

VAoJ commentary: This is not the worst (or best) collection of photos of Japan. I rather like that is it more than 2 or 3 photos and suggests that every person's experiences and take-ways are different. And the photos are not overly concentrated on the weird/strange. If viewers remember that even 48 photos cannot represent or explain an entire country and its cultures, don't take "crazy" in a negative or normative way and remember that all places have their own unique features/charms (be careful with over-using nihonjinron red flags like "special" and "unique" which work to imply "superior"), this collection can have some value. I think it can encourage viewers to look into the contexts of these photos to get different perspectives and better understandings.

Link: https://www.msn.com/en-us/food-and-drink/general/stay-crazy-japan-48-interesting-pics-that-show-why-japan-is-a-country-like-no-other/ar-AA1VAMh2

I must be in a good mood today...

"It's mine, or maybe it's for you" - this might be a good idea...

Japan Today's "Picture of the Day" (10/22/26) by Sabria Meghraoui.

Text: A Family Mart convenience store offers free sticky notes you can take for your snacks or bento when you have to store them in your office or if you want to offer them with a message to someone.

Source: https://japantoday.com/category/picture-of-the-day/it's-mine-or-maybe-for-you

Announcement:「Roots in a New Land: Visualizing the Lives and Cultural Continuities of Ethiopians in Japan Writer: Itsushi Kawase (National Museum of Ethnology, Japan)」

This talk reflects on the author’s years of participatory, reflexive ethnographic filmmaking in northern Ethiopia, before turning to recent film projects in Tokyo.

Japan is home to people from many cultures, yet African immigrants remain little known to the wider public. In Tokyo’s Katsushika and Sumida wards, Ethiopian immigrants have formed a close-knit community, connected through gatherings such as Ethiopian Orthodox Christian Faith, and engaging neighbours through music, dance and food.

Countering the dominant framing of immigrants as “foreign human resources” for labour shortages, the film portrays them as individuals and active community members, following the Adeyabeba Ethiopia Association. It invites reflection on Japan as a society that thrives through cultural diversity.

Itsushi Kawase is a professor at the National Museum of Ethnology and the Graduate University for Advanced Studies (SOKENDAI), Japan. Combining ethnographic filmmaking, poetry, fiction, and performance, he researches music cultures in northern Ethiopia and the Ethiopian diaspora in Tokyo. His acclaimed films include Azmari: The Feast of Voices (2023), When Spirits Ride Their Horses (2012), and Room 11, Ethiopia Hotel (2007). He has served as a guest professor at universities across Europe, Ethiopia, and China, and as a juror and selection committee member for international ethnographic film festivals. In 2025, EHESS hosted a symposium in Marseille dedicated to his film and literary work.

This event is organized by Megha Wadhwa (Assistant Professor, DES, Sophia University) for the ICC Research Unit Visual Studies and Displacement in/to Japan and for SORW 2026.

「This Year's Halloween Door」・subtitled "Well I guess I don't need to put the noren up this year..."

As always, with thoughts of, and contribtions from, dear friends...

Why no noren this year (as opposed to 2023 and 2025)?

I will let my Hanshin Tigers and Umeno supporting compatriot break the news to you (if you haven't already heard...)

Visual Anthropology, Multimodality, Creative Works, Decolonialism, Collective Graduate Students, Manifestos and Professor Dada Docot...

Recently posted by Professor Dada Docot, a great filmmaker, researcher, writer, visual anthropologist and teacher who is always willing to share. I am grateful (and so are my students!).

The ALab: https://www.the-alab.com/

Docot, Dada. 2026. “Teaching a Decolonial Visual Anthropology: An Introduction to a Collective Student Manifesto for Producing Creative Work.” American Anthropologist website, October 6. https://www.americananthropologist.org/online-content/teaching-a-decolonial-visual-anthropology

Borgelt, Taylor, Rebecca-Eli Long, Rebecca Martinez, Hanna Newell, Olivia Palepoi, Jayvaughn Peter, David Tortolini, and Juan Manuel Arévalo Viveros. 2026. “Dimensions: An Ephemeral Manifesto on Creativity.” American Anthropologist website, October 6. https://www.americananthropologist.org/online-content/dimensions-an-ephemeral-manifesto-on-creativity

Bobus! Dada Doco's website: https://dadadocot.wordpress.com/

Hanshin Tigers Clinch the 2026 NPB Central League Championship! ・ 阪神タイガースが2026年NPBセントラル・リーグ優勝を決定!

Image: https://hanshintigers.jp/

The NPB Climax Series Schedule:

「Sunday scaries!」・ I don't get to do many (socio-)linguistics posts, and this one is not about Japanese or JSL, but my Sociolinguistics students have been inspiring me this semester...

From The New York Times: The World, September 17, 2026.

For more: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/16/us/merriam-webster-new-words-looksmaxxing-yacht-rock.html

Please don't get the Silver Week Scaries...

「Africa bigger and U.S. smaller: U.N. adopts new map」

Image and text from The Japan Times, 9/5/26.

United Nations – The United Nations General Assembly voted Friday to adopt a new world map that makes the African continent bigger while shrinking North America and Europe, drawing ire from Washington.

Aimed at “a more accurate representation” of continental landmasses, the resolution was supported by 164 countries while the United States voted against it and six other states abstained.

The new map — known as the Equal Earth cartographic projection — improves “the accuracy of the cartographic representation of the world,” the resolution said.

It urges member states to use the new map in place of the traditional Mercator projection, which was designed for maritime navigation by Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator in 1569.

Foreign Minister Robert Dussey of Togo, which sponsored the resolution, said maps “guide education, nourish the imagination, and influence collective perceptions.”

“They are therefore never neutral; when they present a distorted image of our planet, they risk perpetuating inaccurate representation that is passed down through generations.”

The United States however slammed the resolution, saying such moves are “the reason this institution is losing its credibility.”

“Instead of focusing on genuine problems ... this body is debating map projects from the 16th century and their role in promoting reparations and cognitive justice,” U.S. representative Yaryna Ferencevych said ahead of the vote.

The Mercator projection focused on accurate depictions of the shapes and angles of land masses, but their relative sizes were often inaccurate — largely due to the challenge of rendering a three-dimensional globe onto a two-dimensional map.

It inflated northern regions and compressed equatorial ones, making Europe and North America appear much larger, while shrinking Africa and South America.

A group of cartographers launched the Equal Earth projection in 2018. It makes Africa, Latin America, South Asia and Oceania appear much larger.

“Equal Earth preserves the relative surface areas of continents and, as much as possible, shows their shapes as they appear on a globe,” one of the cartographers, Bojan Savric, said in 2025.

France — which co-sponsored the resolution in support of the new map — announced Friday that it would abandon the Mercator projection.

In that map, “the United States, Russia and China take on a disproportionate visual prominence compared to Africa, Latin America or southeast Asia,” while “Greenland appears almost as big as Africa,” Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said.

“Changing maps obviously doesn’t change the world,” he said. “But correcting a distorted representation is already an act of truth.”

The initiative comes as France is seeking to improve relations with Africa, particularly in former colonies with which it has prickly ties.

Source: https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2026/09/05/world/un-adopts-new-map/