Steve Forrest
@sforrest.bsky.social
Read teach eat run, bike write build. Traveller; always learning. Teaching (classical) Japanese at a public univ. in USA. Doing life and Japanese book history, etc. In diversity, strength; in equity, justice; in inclusion, an open welcome. LGBTQ+ 🏳️⚧️
Reposted by Steve Forrest
Fun with frozen soap bubbles: if it's zero F (-17.8 C) or below, soap bubbles freeze in the air. They shatter like plastic when they land, or roll around like little balls (If you search "frozen soap bubbles" on YouTube, you'll come up with way better videos, but this is mine from this morning :-)
January 30, 2026 at 3:15 PM
Fun with frozen soap bubbles: if it's zero F (-17.8 C) or below, soap bubbles freeze in the air. They shatter like plastic when they land, or roll around like little balls (If you search "frozen soap bubbles" on YouTube, you'll come up with way better videos, but this is mine from this morning :-)
Reposted by Steve Forrest
Today, on Fred Korematsu Day, we honor the man whose refusal to comply with the mass removal and confinement of Japanese Americans during World War II became one of the most significant challenges to government authority in U.S. history.
January 30, 2026 at 4:01 PM
Today, on Fred Korematsu Day, we honor the man whose refusal to comply with the mass removal and confinement of Japanese Americans during World War II became one of the most significant challenges to government authority in U.S. history.
Getting shovelled out ready for campus tomorrow and first classes on Thursday -- spring semester here we come! (no I am not ready for so much people time but will adjust somehow)
I love the rounded shape of the car when it's snow-covered, like a manga version of itself!
#Winter2026-26
I love the rounded shape of the car when it's snow-covered, like a manga version of itself!
#Winter2026-26
January 28, 2026 at 1:03 AM
Getting shovelled out ready for campus tomorrow and first classes on Thursday -- spring semester here we come! (no I am not ready for so much people time but will adjust somehow)
I love the rounded shape of the car when it's snow-covered, like a manga version of itself!
#Winter2026-26
I love the rounded shape of the car when it's snow-covered, like a manga version of itself!
#Winter2026-26
Reposted by Steve Forrest
Next week Seth Jacobowitz & Jonathan E. Abel will be launching the new book "Modern Japanese Literary Studies" at the University of Pittsburgh. Register for the virtual conversation at pitt.zoom.us/meeting/regi...
January 26, 2026 at 8:00 PM
Next week Seth Jacobowitz & Jonathan E. Abel will be launching the new book "Modern Japanese Literary Studies" at the University of Pittsburgh. Register for the virtual conversation at pitt.zoom.us/meeting/regi...
Reposted by Steve Forrest
Today is Handwriting Day, and we are celebrating it in a truly fitting manner: our new colleagues present their research in a flash talk marathon using 25 written artefacts. This marks the end of two intensive kick-off weeks in our new old cluster of excellence. More info here:
uhh.de/csmc-uwa2
uhh.de/csmc-uwa2
January 23, 2026 at 2:24 PM
Today is Handwriting Day, and we are celebrating it in a truly fitting manner: our new colleagues present their research in a flash talk marathon using 25 written artefacts. This marks the end of two intensive kick-off weeks in our new old cluster of excellence. More info here:
uhh.de/csmc-uwa2
uhh.de/csmc-uwa2
Drove to campus yesterday to pick up some books (class prep- -still way too much left to do!) It was an almost monochrome afternoon, but happily not too cold, and the roads were mostly clear.
#Winter2025-26
#Winter2025-26
January 18, 2026 at 11:15 PM
Drove to campus yesterday to pick up some books (class prep- -still way too much left to do!) It was an almost monochrome afternoon, but happily not too cold, and the roads were mostly clear.
#Winter2025-26
#Winter2025-26
Reposted by Steve Forrest
I was very fortunate to have the chance to speak at @sainsbury-institute.org in Norwich last week, and the recording is now online. I really appreciate the invitation, and all of the great questions and comments following the talk.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDGo...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDGo...
Third Thursday Lecture - Samurai, Knights, and Nationalisms: The Middle Ages in Modern Japan
YouTube video by Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures
www.youtube.com
January 18, 2026 at 2:47 PM
I was very fortunate to have the chance to speak at @sainsbury-institute.org in Norwich last week, and the recording is now online. I really appreciate the invitation, and all of the great questions and comments following the talk.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDGo...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDGo...
Reposted by Steve Forrest
Reposted by Steve Forrest
It's with profound sadness that we share this post about JAA Stockwin, who passed away on 7/1. He took part in many Daiwa Foundation events over the years & was on the Daiwa Scholarship interview panel. A fabulous academic & a kind & generous man, we'll miss him!
www.nissan.ox.ac.uk/article/arth...
www.nissan.ox.ac.uk/article/arth...
Arthur Stockwin: 28 November 1935 to 7 January 2026
Arthur Stockwin passed away on Wednesday afternoon (7 January) at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital.
www.nissan.ox.ac.uk
January 12, 2026 at 6:05 PM
It's with profound sadness that we share this post about JAA Stockwin, who passed away on 7/1. He took part in many Daiwa Foundation events over the years & was on the Daiwa Scholarship interview panel. A fabulous academic & a kind & generous man, we'll miss him!
www.nissan.ox.ac.uk/article/arth...
www.nissan.ox.ac.uk/article/arth...
a rich harvest of sportsballs gathered from woodland skirting a nearby baseball field--collected while cooling down after doing some sprint intervals there yesterday (couldn't be bothered to drive to the high school track) Good seedstock for next season?
#AmRunning
#AmRunning
January 11, 2026 at 7:03 PM
a rich harvest of sportsballs gathered from woodland skirting a nearby baseball field--collected while cooling down after doing some sprint intervals there yesterday (couldn't be bothered to drive to the high school track) Good seedstock for next season?
#AmRunning
#AmRunning
Reposted by Steve Forrest
Really looking forward to this, and to being back in Norwich!
Third Thursday Lecture - Samurai, Knights, and Nationalisms: The Middle Ages in Modern Japan
Thu 15 Jan 2026 with @olegb.bsky.social (@york.ac.uk)
6:00pm GMT, In-person in Norwich (venue TBC) & online via Zoom
🎟 Free and open to all – booking essential us06web.zoom.us/webi...
Thu 15 Jan 2026 with @olegb.bsky.social (@york.ac.uk)
6:00pm GMT, In-person in Norwich (venue TBC) & online via Zoom
🎟 Free and open to all – booking essential us06web.zoom.us/webi...
January 5, 2026 at 7:53 PM
Really looking forward to this, and to being back in Norwich!
Reposted by Steve Forrest
I recently did an interview with the New Books Network about my book, Poet-Monks. I can't stand to hear my own voice, so I won't listen to it, but in case you wanted to, here it is: newbooksnetwork.com/poet-monks. @newbooksnetwork.bsky.social
Thomas J. Mazanec, "Poet-Monks: The Invention of Buddhist Poetry in Late Medieval China" (Cornell UP, 2024) - New Books Network
newbooksnetwork.com
January 5, 2026 at 9:48 PM
I recently did an interview with the New Books Network about my book, Poet-Monks. I can't stand to hear my own voice, so I won't listen to it, but in case you wanted to, here it is: newbooksnetwork.com/poet-monks. @newbooksnetwork.bsky.social
Did some work on my #FungiJournal the other day. A work in progress. I’ll finish it one day. Music: Detectorists - Johnny Flynn. #FungiFriends
January 5, 2026 at 7:43 PM
"What's the last car you stopped to take a photo of?"
January 4, 2026 at 9:56 PM
"What's the last car you stopped to take a photo of?"
Happy New Year! 賀正！It's the year of the Horse, and I'm going into 2026 with the same energy as this Yokohama 英吉利人 (but probably not the cigar)
--1860 print by Utagawa Yoshitora, from Minneapolis Institute of Art collection)
--1860 print by Utagawa Yoshitora, from Minneapolis Institute of Art collection)
January 1, 2026 at 3:08 PM
Happy New Year! 賀正！It's the year of the Horse, and I'm going into 2026 with the same energy as this Yokohama 英吉利人 (but probably not the cigar)
--1860 print by Utagawa Yoshitora, from Minneapolis Institute of Art collection)
--1860 print by Utagawa Yoshitora, from Minneapolis Institute of Art collection)
Reposted by Steve Forrest
At 3:20pm today, I got a text from my neighbor telling me there's a snowy owl about ten minutes away from me. After driving nearly a mile over a sheet of rutted ice, I joined a crowd of fellow birders and just bathed in joy. It was everything.
December 30, 2025 at 9:46 PM
At 3:20pm today, I got a text from my neighbor telling me there's a snowy owl about ten minutes away from me. After driving nearly a mile over a sheet of rutted ice, I joined a crowd of fellow birders and just bathed in joy. It was everything.
When you're the only person in the whole building on a dark afternoon in the between-times of late December, things can start to look a bit weird...
(took that as a sign it was time to go home)
(took that as a sign it was time to go home)
December 30, 2025 at 11:56 PM
When you're the only person in the whole building on a dark afternoon in the between-times of late December, things can start to look a bit weird...
(took that as a sign it was time to go home)
(took that as a sign it was time to go home)
Reposted by Steve Forrest
Samuel Robert Ramsey 2025 The Japanese and Their Language: How the Japanese Made Their Language and It Made Them (Sino-Platonic Papers 372) @ sino-platonic.org/complete/spp...
sino-platonic.org
December 30, 2025 at 7:18 PM
Samuel Robert Ramsey 2025 The Japanese and Their Language: How the Japanese Made Their Language and It Made Them (Sino-Platonic Papers 372) @ sino-platonic.org/complete/spp...
A couple of gorgeous (if a tad worm-eaten) pages from one of today's readings for the last #ManuscriptMonday of the year. The text is by Shōtetsu 正徹 (1381-1459), & the MS is dated 1418 (Ōei 応永 25) -- these are the last pages in a short commentary Shōtetsu wrote on the poetry of _Genji monogatari_.
December 30, 2025 at 2:06 AM
A couple of gorgeous (if a tad worm-eaten) pages from one of today's readings for the last #ManuscriptMonday of the year. The text is by Shōtetsu 正徹 (1381-1459), & the MS is dated 1418 (Ōei 応永 25) -- these are the last pages in a short commentary Shōtetsu wrote on the poetry of _Genji monogatari_.
Break from spring class prep to do a library run (grateful as ever for the amazing power of I.L.L.) before the end-of-year closing. Just in time, by the look of things -- another half hour and the tower would have completely vanished!
December 29, 2025 at 11:00 PM
Break from spring class prep to do a library run (grateful as ever for the amazing power of I.L.L.) before the end-of-year closing. Just in time, by the look of things -- another half hour and the tower would have completely vanished!
Reposted by Steve Forrest
A visit to the post office with CTV Live at 5! www.ctvnews.ca/atlantic/vid...
Kate Beaton’s stamp of approval
Graphic artist Kate Beaton is honoured by Canada Post with a special stamp.
www.ctvnews.ca
December 17, 2025 at 10:17 PM
A visit to the post office with CTV Live at 5! www.ctvnews.ca/atlantic/vid...
Reposted by Steve Forrest
Where would you stand to see this view?
That is the puzzle at the heart of Drawing from the Crowd—a citizen science project exploring how Edo-period Japanese prints depicted landscapes.
We'd love your help solving it 🧵
That is the puzzle at the heart of Drawing from the Crowd—a citizen science project exploring how Edo-period Japanese prints depicted landscapes.
We'd love your help solving it 🧵
December 17, 2025 at 11:11 AM
Where would you stand to see this view?
That is the puzzle at the heart of Drawing from the Crowd—a citizen science project exploring how Edo-period Japanese prints depicted landscapes.
We'd love your help solving it 🧵
That is the puzzle at the heart of Drawing from the Crowd—a citizen science project exploring how Edo-period Japanese prints depicted landscapes.
We'd love your help solving it 🧵
Reposted by Steve Forrest
Reposted by Steve Forrest
Today in the ARB: Susan Blumberg-Kason reviews “Totto-chan: The Little Girl at the Window: The Sequel” by Tetsuko Kuroyanagi, tr from Japanese by Yuki Tejima asianreviewofbooks.com/totto-chan-t...
November 14, 2025 at 7:40 AM
Today in the ARB: Susan Blumberg-Kason reviews “Totto-chan: The Little Girl at the Window: The Sequel” by Tetsuko Kuroyanagi, tr from Japanese by Yuki Tejima asianreviewofbooks.com/totto-chan-t...
Reposted by Steve Forrest
Out now, #openaccess
Traditional Chinese Children’s Primers: A Sourcebook,
edited by Katherine Ngo and Kelly Ngo
Lever Press
#histchild #histed
doi.org/10.3998/mpub...
Traditional Chinese Children’s Primers: A Sourcebook,
edited by Katherine Ngo and Kelly Ngo
Lever Press
#histchild #histed
doi.org/10.3998/mpub...
Traditional Chinese Children’s Primers: A Sourcebook
Part of the <a href="https://www.leverpress.org/reeditions/">Re-Editions: Literary and Cultural Texts Recovered for the Classroom</a> series. First anthology of traditional Chinese children’s primers ...
doi.org
November 12, 2025 at 8:06 AM
Out now, #openaccess
Traditional Chinese Children’s Primers: A Sourcebook,
edited by Katherine Ngo and Kelly Ngo
Lever Press
#histchild #histed
doi.org/10.3998/mpub...
Traditional Chinese Children’s Primers: A Sourcebook,
edited by Katherine Ngo and Kelly Ngo
Lever Press
#histchild #histed
doi.org/10.3998/mpub...