Author | Lightnews

Reposted by Joseph Seeley

NCC (北米日本研究資料調整協議会) @nccjapaninfo.bsky.social · 4d

It’s Halloween! 🎃 Time to let your skeleton shine! 💀🦴 Are you a dancing skeleton? Celebratory skeleton? This spooky season enjoy these possibilities from the late 19th century by Kawanabe Kyōsai. #ハロウィン Held by the University of California San Francisco Library: calisphere.org/item/ark:/13...

3 9

Joseph Seeley @josephaseeley.bsky.social · 4d

I've taught Tsuchimoto's documentary on Minamata Disease victims before in my class on Industiral Pollution in East Asia, which is a powerful indictment of unfettered corporate greed. Apparently Yale has many of his materials and offers a research gran to use them: macmillan.yale.edu/eastasia/nor...

Noriaki Tsuchimoto Research Grant

macmillan.yale.edu

2

Joseph Seeley @josephaseeley.bsky.social · 4d

Fun interlibrary-loan surprise. From Yale I got this interesting 1980s memoir of a Zainichi Korean describing North Korea's agricultural struggles. It was obviously marked up, and on the cover page I saw it was ex libris of Noriaki Tsuchimoto, the famed Japanese documentarian.

1 11

Reposted by Joseph Seeley

Hannah Shepherd @hannahjshepherd.bsky.social · 18d

This is happening!!!! December 2: just in time for Christmas present season. I am still in the anxiety stage, not yet in the Saoirse Ronan as Jo March watching her book get published scene-stage, but I'm glad other people are excited already!

David Fedman @dfeds.bsky.social · 18d

Excited to dig into Hannah Shepherd's new book, out in December from UC Press:

www.ucpress.edu/books/the-na...

3 6 16

Joseph Seeley @josephaseeley.bsky.social · 21d

Not even an unusually heavy rain could dim my excitement at returning to my alma mater today! 6년만에 스탠포드. 懐かしすぎる.

5

Joseph Seeley @josephaseeley.bsky.social · 25d

Haha I love that

2

Joseph Seeley @josephaseeley.bsky.social · 25d

Highly idiosyncratic Hangul spelling of the word "조선" (Korea) on the cover of a 1930 colonial Korean magazine. Almost looks like a completely different script.

1 9

Reposted by Joseph Seeley

Daniella M. @farsouthhistory.bsky.social · 26d

I am please to announce that this is the 1000th review that I have facilitated for H-Environment! Thank you so much to all of the reviewers who make this position such a pleasure! #envhist #envhum #ecrocrit #envphil #aghist #oceanhist #conservation #sustainability #plantstudies #animalhist #energy 🏞️

Daniella M. @farsouthhistory.bsky.social · 26d

Check out Jack Bouchard's review of "Oceanic Japan: The Archipelago in Pacific and Global History," edited by Stefan Huebner, Nadin Heé, Ian J. Miller, and William M. Tsutsui, published in 2024 by University of Hawai'i Press; now available @hnetreviews.bsky.social
www.h-net.org/reviews/show...

www.h-net.org

7 10 55

Reposted by Joseph Seeley

John P. DiMoia @jdimoia.bsky.social · Oct 5

3 2

Joseph Seeley @josephaseeley.bsky.social · Sep 29

Needed some happy news, so I was thrilled to see that both of my panels had been accepted for next year's @asianstudies.org conference! Look forward to seeing Asian Studies friends and colleagues in Vancouver!

2 15

Reposted by Joseph Seeley

David Fedman @dfeds.bsky.social · Sep 26

job alert:

My department is now running a search to fill a newly inaugurated endowed chair in the History of Technology. Please consider applying/share widely. I'm not on the committee, but happy to answer questions or connect you with those who are.

Details here: recruit.ap.uci.edu/JPF09897

18 21

Joseph Seeley @josephaseeley.bsky.social · Sep 24

Excited to be returning to my PhD alma mater (first time since graduation) for a book talk in a few weeks!

ceas.stanford.edu/events/borde...

8

Joseph Seeley @josephaseeley.bsky.social · Sep 13

An important topic! It's fully possible to critique US massacres in Korea while also not romanticizing Soviet influence. If you read Moon's piece, she is very critical of both big powers' role in Korean history.

Joseph Seeley @josephaseeley.bsky.social · Sep 13

An influential Koreanist once described Soviet-occupied North Korea as an "isle of tranquility," but the stories of those who fled South after Korea's 1945 division suggest otherwise. Yumi Moon’s chapter in this great new volume helpfully elucidates this refugee experience.

1 1 8

Reposted by Joseph Seeley

David Fedman @dfeds.bsky.social · Sep 2

A new essay from me synthesizing the rich body of media criticism in Japanese focused on the practice of "August journalism" (八月ジャーナリズム): the tendency for rehearsed, compressed, and hollowed-out coverage of war memory each August.

apjjf.org/2025/9/fedman

“August Journalism” Studies: Lessons in World War II Reporting from Japan’s Season of Remembrance - Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus

[…]

apjjf.org

1 20 34

Reposted by Joseph Seeley

Modern Japan History Association @modernjapanhist.bsky.social · Sep 1

On Monday!

Angus Lockyer (Rhode Island School of Design) on his new book “Exhibitionist Japan: The Spectacle of Modern Development”, in conversation with Jordan Sand (Georgetown University) and Joseph Seeley (University of Virginia).

Register for Zoom here: mjha.org/event-6239996

A screenshot of the event and related details featuring a brightly colored red and green book cover.

2 4

Reposted by Joseph Seeley

Maura Elizabeth Cunningham @mauracunningham.bsky.social · Aug 28

My review of BREAKNECK, by Dan Wang, an insightful and balanced look at the Chinese engineering state—both its strengths and shortcomings—that offers a much-needed contrast to fear-mongering China books.

Bookshelf: Breakneck

The first copy of Breakneck I received looked like the quintessential fear-mongering China book. Against an inky black background a red graphic appeared—somewhat difficult to identify, but it seeme…

mauracunningham.org

5 14

Reposted by Joseph Seeley

Andrew McTominey @mctom.bsky.social · Aug 28

So I've written a book! Waterscapes is about how impactful our need for water is on the environment and people. It's also about the ways in which infrastructure projects can impact place for good or bad.

Royal Historical Society @royalhistsoc.org · Aug 28

Published today: 'Waterscapes: Reservoirs, Environment and Identity in Modern England and Wales', by Andrew McTominey bit.ly/4n4LkxB

'Waterscapes' is the 23rd title in the Society's New Historical perspectives book series, published @uolpress.bsky.social. Available free Open Access and in print 1/2

Cover for: Waterscapes: Reservoirs, Environment and Identity in Modern England and Wales, by Andrew McTominey

4 18 41

Joseph Seeley @josephaseeley.bsky.social · Aug 26

As the Osaka Expo remains ongoing, for those interested in the deeper history of exhibitions in Japan, please check out this online book talk event I am moderating in less than two weeks!

mjha.org/event-6239996

2 5

Joseph Seeley @josephaseeley.bsky.social · Aug 19

Excited to be presenting at this conference as well! I will be sharing new work on North Korean animal history for those interested.

3 11

Reposted by Joseph Seeley

Dolly Jørgensen @dollyjorgensen.bsky.social · Aug 18

I have gotten our @greenhouseuis.net #envhum book talks for September & October posted!

Always on Mondays at 16:00 (4pm) Central European time.

For details see: newnatures.org/greenhouse/

2 33 64

Reposted by Joseph Seeley

David Fedman @dfeds.bsky.social · Aug 18

Looking forward to participating (virtually, alas) in this event at SNU later this week, for anyone interested:

www.snu.ac.kr/snunow/event...

I'll be sharing a new essay that uses the life and letters of Conrad Totman, pioneer of East Asian environmental history, to map out the state of the field

6 10

Reposted by Joseph Seeley

Jack Ashby @jackdashby.bsky.social · Aug 15

The last known Rodrigues parakeet died exactly 150 years ago. This story ticks a lot of natural history museum bingo boxes:
✔️Sex bias in natural history
✔️Colonial legacies
✔️Dodos
But also, how museum specimens act as irreplaceable records of lost biodiversity:
theconversation.com/the-rodrigue...

The Rodrigues parakeet’s last day: what one extinct bird tells us about the role of museums

Two specimens at a museum in Cambridge are the only physical evidence this bird ever existed.

theconversation.com

1 19 34

Reposted by Joseph Seeley

David Fedman @dfeds.bsky.social · Aug 16

Herewith a thread of some of the more interesting reactions to the Emperor's August 15 surrender announcement I've collected over the years:

First up, a personal favorite (and teaser for an essay I have forthcoming on gardening in the ashes of Japan's urban wastelands in 1945):

1 11 33

Reposted by Joseph Seeley

The Japan Times @japantimes.co.jp · Aug 15

In a dusty box, a Nagano man finds proof his father served in Nanjing, China, with Unit 1644, part of Japan’s covert biological weapons network during World War II. www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2...

16 30