Konrad M. Lawson
@konrad.social.coop.ap.brid.gy
Historian of modern East Asia he/him
Lecturer at University of St Andrews
From Stavanger, Norway
Live in Edinburgh, Scotland
Account searchable […]
[bridged from https://social.coop/@konrad on the fediverse by https://fed.brid.gy/ ]
Lecturer at University of St Andrews
From Stavanger, Norway
Live in Edinburgh, Scotland
Account searchable […]
[bridged from https://social.coop/@konrad on the fediverse by https://fed.brid.gy/ ]
Congratulations to Valerie Cranmer for the acceptance of her PhD dissertation on the infamous 防疫給水部, “Enabling abuse: the Imperial Japanese Army’s epidemic prevention and water purification organisation and its place in global military history” […]
Original post on social.coop
social.coop
January 24, 2026 at 9:14 PM
Congratulations to Valerie Cranmer for the acceptance of her PhD dissertation on the infamous 防疫給水部, “Enabling abuse: the Imperial Japanese Army’s epidemic prevention and water purification organisation and its place in global military history” […]
For anyone who loves maps, two sources of modern East Asia related maps with amazing collections that I only recently explored:
The UN Archives in Geneva https://archives.ungeneva.org/east-asia-2
国際日本文化研究センタ https://lapis.nichibun.ac.jp/chizu/index.html
The UN Archives in Geneva https://archives.ungeneva.org/east-asia-2
国際日本文化研究センタ https://lapis.nichibun.ac.jp/chizu/index.html
January 23, 2026 at 2:41 AM
For anyone who loves maps, two sources of modern East Asia related maps with amazing collections that I only recently explored:
The UN Archives in Geneva https://archives.ungeneva.org/east-asia-2
国際日本文化研究センタ https://lapis.nichibun.ac.jp/chizu/index.html
The UN Archives in Geneva https://archives.ungeneva.org/east-asia-2
国際日本文化研究センタ https://lapis.nichibun.ac.jp/chizu/index.html
Nice historical resource put together by students at Georgetown: Japan in Korea, Korea in Japan https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/d063403b48ec4242bfb1478f5f639ea0
January 19, 2026 at 8:29 PM
Nice historical resource put together by students at Georgetown: Japan in Korea, Korea in Japan https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/d063403b48ec4242bfb1478f5f639ea0
No shortage of Japanese wartime (propaganda) periodicals available in English for students to explore as (challenging) primary sources:
Tokyo Gazette 1937-42
https://archive.org/search?query=subject%3A%22Tokyo+Gazette%22
Contemporary Japan 1941-5 […]
Tokyo Gazette 1937-42
https://archive.org/search?query=subject%3A%22Tokyo+Gazette%22
Contemporary Japan 1941-5 […]
Original post on social.coop
social.coop
December 28, 2025 at 8:15 PM
No shortage of Japanese wartime (propaganda) periodicals available in English for students to explore as (challenging) primary sources:
Tokyo Gazette 1937-42
https://archive.org/search?query=subject%3A%22Tokyo+Gazette%22
Contemporary Japan 1941-5 […]
Tokyo Gazette 1937-42
https://archive.org/search?query=subject%3A%22Tokyo+Gazette%22
Contemporary Japan 1941-5 […]
Enjoyed browsing this wonderful online exhibition:
Unpinning History: Japanese Posters in the Age of Commercialism, Imperialism, and Modernism
https://scalar.usc.edu/works/unpinning-history-japanese-posters-in-the-age-of-commercialism-imperialism-and-modernism/index
Unpinning History: Japanese Posters in the Age of Commercialism, Imperialism, and Modernism
https://scalar.usc.edu/works/unpinning-history-japanese-posters-in-the-age-of-commercialism-imperialism-and-modernism/index
December 28, 2025 at 4:57 AM
Enjoyed browsing this wonderful online exhibition:
Unpinning History: Japanese Posters in the Age of Commercialism, Imperialism, and Modernism
https://scalar.usc.edu/works/unpinning-history-japanese-posters-in-the-age-of-commercialism-imperialism-and-modernism/index
Unpinning History: Japanese Posters in the Age of Commercialism, Imperialism, and Modernism
https://scalar.usc.edu/works/unpinning-history-japanese-posters-in-the-age-of-commercialism-imperialism-and-modernism/index
Interesting mixed medium approach to this Asahi feature on opium and Japanese occupied Manchuria: https://www.asahi.com/special/manchukuo-opium/en/
December 27, 2025 at 7:23 AM
Interesting mixed medium approach to this Asahi feature on opium and Japanese occupied Manchuria: https://www.asahi.com/special/manchukuo-opium/en/
Some of the fun digital projects worked on this year:
Chinese Literature Magazine Index
https://froginawell.net/chinese-literature/
Re-design of Sino-Japanese Studies website:
https://chinajapan.org/
Chinese Periodical Translation Project
https://baokan.pages.dev/
Five Korean Colonial Period […]
Chinese Literature Magazine Index
https://froginawell.net/chinese-literature/
Re-design of Sino-Japanese Studies website:
https://chinajapan.org/
Chinese Periodical Translation Project
https://baokan.pages.dev/
Five Korean Colonial Period […]
Original post on social.coop
social.coop
December 27, 2025 at 2:15 AM
Some of the fun digital projects worked on this year:
Chinese Literature Magazine Index
https://froginawell.net/chinese-literature/
Re-design of Sino-Japanese Studies website:
https://chinajapan.org/
Chinese Periodical Translation Project
https://baokan.pages.dev/
Five Korean Colonial Period […]
Chinese Literature Magazine Index
https://froginawell.net/chinese-literature/
Re-design of Sino-Japanese Studies website:
https://chinajapan.org/
Chinese Periodical Translation Project
https://baokan.pages.dev/
Five Korean Colonial Period […]
Lot of interesting sources on NDL online collections are embedded in scanned US occupation period files. Example: the 日満支 工業年鑑 for 昭和15 is only available as part of evidence for war crimes trials here: https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/12922208/1/4 while elsewhere only up to 昭和13 ( […]
Original post on social.coop
social.coop
December 3, 2025 at 12:10 PM
Lot of interesting sources on NDL online collections are embedded in scanned US occupation period files. Example: the 日満支 工業年鑑 for 昭和15 is only available as part of evidence for war crimes trials here: https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/12922208/1/4 while elsewhere only up to 昭和13 ( […]
Senior permanent position has opened up in Chinese studies here at the University of St Andrews in Scotland. It is a very nice place. https://www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DPN980/reader-or-professor-in-chinese-studies-ac2219
November 25, 2025 at 10:13 PM
Senior permanent position has opened up in Chinese studies here at the University of St Andrews in Scotland. It is a very nice place. https://www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DPN980/reader-or-professor-in-chinese-studies-ac2219
Lots of updates to this page dedicated to the old“Chinese Literature” journal with its thousands of English translations. Over 200 issues online from 1950s-80s. Added “Search”, “Explore” and an author table with pinyin/hanzi versions of a few dozen of the over a […]
[Original post on social.coop]
[Original post on social.coop]
November 13, 2025 at 9:53 AM
Lots of updates to this page dedicated to the old“Chinese Literature” journal with its thousands of English translations. Over 200 issues online from 1950s-80s. Added “Search”, “Explore” and an author table with pinyin/hanzi versions of a few dozen of the over a […]
[Original post on social.coop]
[Original post on social.coop]
With some LLM and OCR help, I've extracted the tables of contents for over 200 issues of the old PRC journal "Chinese Literature" and put together a website to search and explore them (still proof-reading and formatting it): https://froginawell.net/chinese-literature/ #china #literature
November 1, 2025 at 10:32 PM
With some LLM and OCR help, I've extracted the tables of contents for over 200 issues of the old PRC journal "Chinese Literature" and put together a website to search and explore them (still proof-reading and formatting it): https://froginawell.net/chinese-literature/ #china #literature
I added a section to our Frog in a Well Primary Source guide to Korean History with some links to open access copies of volumes with Japanese statistics from colonial Korea - https://froginawell.net/frog/sources/primary-sources-modern-korean-history/#japanese […]
[Original post on social.coop]
[Original post on social.coop]
October 31, 2025 at 5:33 PM
I added a section to our Frog in a Well Primary Source guide to Korean History with some links to open access copies of volumes with Japanese statistics from colonial Korea - https://froginawell.net/frog/sources/primary-sources-modern-korean-history/#japanese […]
[Original post on social.coop]
[Original post on social.coop]
To think I lived my life without having deployed the fantastic excuse of “illness and misadventure” https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/oct/28/brisbane-state-high-school-wrong-caesar-year-12-exam
October 28, 2025 at 11:36 AM
To think I lived my life without having deployed the fantastic excuse of “illness and misadventure” https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/oct/28/brisbane-state-high-school-wrong-caesar-year-12-exam
Four issues of China Pictorial found on eBay just arrived with 34 more issues on their way (misc issues ‘57-60,’65-69,’76-80). Almost all are issues not already in this digital collection but can’t promise when I’ll find time to scan and post to archive.org […]
[Original post on social.coop]
[Original post on social.coop]
October 25, 2025 at 12:36 PM
Four issues of China Pictorial found on eBay just arrived with 34 more issues on their way (misc issues ‘57-60,’65-69,’76-80). Almost all are issues not already in this digital collection but can’t promise when I’ll find time to scan and post to archive.org […]
[Original post on social.coop]
[Original post on social.coop]
A UFO 🛸 spotting in Trondheim, Norway 1934. Among the treasures of A Shoebox of Norwegian Letters:
https://huginn.net/shoebox/new/index.html?letter=72 #norway
https://huginn.net/shoebox/new/index.html?letter=72 #norway
October 23, 2025 at 6:21 PM
A UFO 🛸 spotting in Trondheim, Norway 1934. Among the treasures of A Shoebox of Norwegian Letters:
https://huginn.net/shoebox/new/index.html?letter=72 #norway
https://huginn.net/shoebox/new/index.html?letter=72 #norway
Fixed a few bugs on this 2010 website I made for my mother's translations of over 200 Norwegian letters from 1911-1956 (including between US and Norway) https://huginn.net/shoebox/letters/ Some really wonderful content to browse there. #norway
October 20, 2025 at 3:48 PM
Fixed a few bugs on this 2010 website I made for my mother's translations of over 200 Norwegian letters from 1911-1956 (including between US and Norway) https://huginn.net/shoebox/letters/ Some really wonderful content to browse there. #norway
History PhD students at Scottish universities may be interested in this upcoming SGSAH Discipline+ Catalyst in person training workshop in St Andrews: Coding Literacy for Historians in the Age of AI - 17-18 Oct, 2025 https://spatialhistory.net/info/coding.html Limited places; registration by 15 […]
Original post on social.coop
social.coop
October 5, 2025 at 8:19 PM
History PhD students at Scottish universities may be interested in this upcoming SGSAH Discipline+ Catalyst in person training workshop in St Andrews: Coding Literacy for Historians in the Age of AI - 17-18 Oct, 2025 https://spatialhistory.net/info/coding.html Limited places; registration by 15 […]
Today enjoyed browsing the UBC collection of Japanese maps of the Tokugawa era: https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/tokugawa #japan #maps
September 27, 2025 at 2:25 PM
Today enjoyed browsing the UBC collection of Japanese maps of the Tokugawa era: https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/tokugawa #japan #maps
Some (out of copyright?) downloadable Japanese dictionaries of (very) different sorts from postwar at NDL:
最新時事新語辞典 1949 dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/1126434/...
最新国際問題辞典 1948 dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/1444664
ポケットスケッチ事典 dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/1338675
図解新事典 1949 dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/1169556 […]
[Original post on social.coop]
最新時事新語辞典 1949 dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/1126434/...
最新国際問題辞典 1948 dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/1444664
ポケットスケッチ事典 dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/1338675
図解新事典 1949 dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/1169556 […]
[Original post on social.coop]
September 13, 2025 at 11:43 AM
Some (out of copyright?) downloadable Japanese dictionaries of (very) different sorts from postwar at NDL:
最新時事新語辞典 1949 dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/1126434/...
最新国際問題辞典 1948 dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/1444664
ポケットスケッチ事典 dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/1338675
図解新事典 1949 dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/1169556 […]
[Original post on social.coop]
最新時事新語辞典 1949 dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/1126434/...
最新国際問題辞典 1948 dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/1444664
ポケットスケッチ事典 dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/1338675
図解新事典 1949 dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/1169556 […]
[Original post on social.coop]
Was listening to political commentary about the imminent Norwegian election on NRK radio and they used an expression I like, used by one commentator cautioning against speculation:
“ta seg en bolle” (lit. have a [bread/pastry/sweet] bun) = to chill out, relax […]
[Original post on social.coop]
“ta seg en bolle” (lit. have a [bread/pastry/sweet] bun) = to chill out, relax […]
[Original post on social.coop]
September 7, 2025 at 8:08 AM
Was listening to political commentary about the imminent Norwegian election on NRK radio and they used an expression I like, used by one commentator cautioning against speculation:
“ta seg en bolle” (lit. have a [bread/pastry/sweet] bun) = to chill out, relax […]
[Original post on social.coop]
“ta seg en bolle” (lit. have a [bread/pastry/sweet] bun) = to chill out, relax […]
[Original post on social.coop]
I did a test with a set of (hastily taken, in poor light) photographs of a few Japanese book pages, then ran them on both the ndlkotenocr-lite (which, to be fair, is designed for much older Japanese texts and likely the old form kanji) vs Google Document AI […]
[Original post on social.coop]
[Original post on social.coop]
September 6, 2025 at 4:03 PM
I did a test with a set of (hastily taken, in poor light) photographs of a few Japanese book pages, then ran them on both the ndlkotenocr-lite (which, to be fair, is designed for much older Japanese texts and likely the old form kanji) vs Google Document AI […]
[Original post on social.coop]
[Original post on social.coop]
Anyone working with Japanese texts: interested in your OCR experiences. I find usual suspects (tesseract, ABBYY, direct use of LLMs) do rubbish job with 縦書き Japanese text scans (manga-ocr works only on short text). Google Document AI works fantastic but $$. What works well for you? I remember […]
Original post on social.coop
social.coop
September 6, 2025 at 8:27 AM
Anyone working with Japanese texts: interested in your OCR experiences. I find usual suspects (tesseract, ABBYY, direct use of LLMs) do rubbish job with 縦書き Japanese text scans (manga-ocr works only on short text). Google Document AI works fantastic but $$. What works well for you? I remember […]