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hseparker.bsky.social
Intolerant liberal, aggressive pacifist, less paradoxical Japanophile. PR now (if not sooner). Still European. 🗣️🇬🇧🇯🇵🇫🇷 🎭🧡💚🖤[歌舞伎] 🐈🎶🔶🇪🇺
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Prolific Poster

We interrupt your regularly scheduled morning plum blossom appreciation session to announce the arrival of the Kawazu sakura in Tokyo 🎉

TIL more than a few parents in late 1944/1945 Tokyo conferred on baby girls born during air raids the name Keiko (警子), the first character of which was a nod to the term for "air raid alerts"

We regret that today’s #asianstudiesseminar has had to be postponed due to unforeseen circumstances. Our apologies for the short notice - we will post information on the rescheduling in due course.

I just put up the first full blog post! Today I'm summarising the story and talking about translating job positions in the Heian court torikae.baya.moe/blog/thought...

Two sheets of early Japanese paper. The first, from 707, is the earliest dated sheet of a hemp (rag) paper. The second, from 756 is a beautiful example of paper arts - a whitened hemp, stamped with the seal of Empress Kōmyō on repeat.

Today in Japan it's #NationalCatDay! 🎨'Popular Cat Song Ball' - Utagawa Kuniyoshi. #Caturday #ukiyoe #JapaneseArt

21 February has already gone by in Asia and Australia and is quickly fading in Europe, but in the Americas we have another few hours: Today is Mother Language Day, the day for your native tongue! www.unesco.org/en/days/moth...

Ready to welcome participants to the Japan Foundation/BAJS PhD workshop 2025 #bajs #japanfoundationlondon #edinburghuniversity #llcatEdinburgh #ようこそ

Next #asianstudiesseminar Dr Ashley Thorpe, Royal Holloway, University of London:When Japanese Noh is not in Japanese: Intercultural Noh in English, French & Spanish 4pm 26/2/2025, 1.06, 50 George Square #japanesestudies #noh #interculturalnoh #english #french #spanish #inpersonseminar #allwelcome

Ok that made me laugh

Edinburgh Diocesan Synod today… and +John’s last, so Dean Frances is introducing how we will go about discerning and electing a new Bishop after +J retires in August.

Be mine, Valentine! ‘Lovestruck’. #roses #valentine 🌱

Stage musicals should embrace use of surtitles, says lyricist Tim Rice www.theguardian.com/stage/2025/f...

“This Bill is simple in its aims, to ensure that it is the people of this country – not the deep pockets of foreign billionaires, oligarchs or corporate interests – who decide our country’s future in elections” 💬 @mp4stratford.bsky.social calls for caps on donations in British politics

Kengo Kuma embellishes Kyoto hotel with timber-skeleton theatre stage https://www.dezeen.com/2025/01/16/banyan-tree-higashiyama-kyoto-hotel-kengo-kuma/ The "ethereal beauty" of classical Japanese Noh theatre informed Kengo Kuma and Associates' design for the Banyan Tree hotel in …#architecture

An Uncommon Folk: Negotiating the Survival and Revival of Japanese Traditional Puppet Theatre. Volume One of the Puppet Chronicles now available. Worth $15 of anyone's money. Pre-dose with psychodelics of your choice if you are alergic to zero editorial control! 🤣

New from the Journal of Specialised Translation: a special issue on #Translation, #Representation and #Performance guest-edited by Lisha Xu and David Johnston. #translationstudies #frompagetostage #theatreandperformance #theatretranslation JoSTrans, Issue 43, Jan. 2025 www.jostrans.org

Join us for our next #AsianStudiesSeminar: “Holding North Korea to Account? Memory, Activism and the North Korean Human Rights Movement,” with Dr Sarah Son of #sheffielduniversity. 22/2/25 at 16:00, Room G.06, 50 George Sq. #inpersonseminar #allwelcome #koreanstudies #northkorea

The moment a squirrel stops to smell a flower [📸 Dick Van Duijn]

Bitchin' review of the new Rose of Versailles movie from Matt Schley in the Japan Times last month. I almost didn't post it but both fans and detractors can decide for themselves if it's fair or not. Review: www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2025... Image: Ikeda Riyoko/ROV Production Committee

A great day out at Paignton Pier: arcades, crazy golf and even won a few prizes (team effort with Steve Darling and Jennie). Local businesses like these are the beating heart of our communities. The Liberal Democrats will always be their champions.

A nice surprise. Penguin Random House is re-issuing my translation of Uno Chiyo’s The Story of A Single Woman ある一人の女の話。I first translated this novel in 1990 for Peter Owen in the UK and it was such an honor! “All the single ladies.”

While Japanese men fought for the right to vote a century ago, 25 years ago marks the election of the country's first woman governor.

In today's debate in Parliament on Proportional Representation, MPs from different parties spoke in support of changing the voting system, including Lib Dem MP Lisa Smart (Vice Chair of the APPG for Fair Elections). We will continue to fight with our allies for better democracy.

#getPRdone #ProportionalRepresentation 🗳🗳🗳🗳🗳 Labour MPs: ‘We shouldn’t exploit broken electoral system - we need PR’ “ [..] we cannot be content with exploiting a broken system. Millions of voters found themselves almost entirely unrepresented in Parliament.” labourlist.org/2025/01/news...

"People across the country are fed up with First Past the Post," says Sarah Olney MP. Today's debate showed that support for electoral reform is growing fast, also in Westminster. Now's the time to join us and campaign for a fairer system where everyone's voice is heard.

For those who would like to sign a petition to show the level of anger against Cardiff University's ill thought out and terribly communicated cuts, please follow this link: chng.it/nBpdvmYMwJ

The campaign for a fair voting system is gaining momentum - also in Westminster. We've now got the most pro-PR Parliament in history. This Thursday, MPs will debate voting reform. Contact your MP today and ask them to be there. Let's make it huge! 💪 actionnetwork.org/letters/pr-d...

Next in our 2024-2025 Asian Studies Seminar Series: “SOCIETY WORK”: SHAKING UP PARTY-SOCIETY RELATIONS? Dr Holly Snape, University of Glasgow, 5 February from 16:00 at 50 George Square, Room 1.06 (Project Room) #asianstudiesseminars #chinesestudies #inpersonseminars #allwelcome

And here is the full programme for our Asian Studies Seminar Series this semester #asianstudiesseminars #chinesestudies #japanesestudies #koreanstudies #allwelcome

Kabuki Theater in Politics, A Definition Political posturing, also known as political grandstanding (from the notion of performing to crowds in the grandstands), political theatre, or "kabuki" I applaud Democrats, or at least some of them, for trying to shine a light on this guy, but seriously ...

Some people support a "strong man" to rule as an emperor. Our vision is a multi-party democracy where parties work together to resolve the long-term challenges we face collaboratively. This starts with implementing proportional representation.

'Cat Bathhouse' - Utagawa Kuniaki, 1885. #Caturday #ukiyoe #JapaneseArt

Dr Youngmi Kim on South Korean democracy, saved by its people #asianstudies #koreanstudies #edinburghuniversity

Amid all else yesterday: thrilled by arrival of long awaited publication . A Companion to Nõ and Kyõgen Theatre (Brill, 2025). 1079 pages, eleven years in the making. Phew! 編集者、執筆者、お疲れ様でした!

Hi, I’m God. I had nothing to do with saving that guy’s life or making him president.

Please buy books and read them. It will matter moving forward.

Apparently it is #BlueMonday, so ‘Rhapsody in Blue’ (a former Rose of the Year) seems an appropriate choice. The petals fade to a slate blue and it has a pleasing fragrance. Whatever colour your day is, hope it’s a good one, take care. #roses 🌱

This morning's sky. "Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that." Martin Luther King

While others step up to power, some of us have been here all along...

Et par le pouvoir d’un mot Je recommence ma vie www.facebook.com/share/v/1ETQ... #liberté #poetry #pauléluard #concoursdelecture #liberty

Random word of the day: 脱皮(dappi)literally means to "shed one's skin," as a snake does, but also means to "break free" of something, such as convention, or transform oneself. In the Year of the Snake, some people see a chance for reinvention. As I saw on TV this morning, Dappy New Year!

Excellent (and long overdue analysis) by the awesome Kate Morley ... what colour are the LibDems? iamkate.com/ideas/libera...

Welcome, 2025. Slithering from #dragon🐉 to #snake🐍, we wish you health and happiness in the coming year, and pray for #peace🕊️ #newyearsday #newyear2025 #あけましておめでとう🎍 #2025年🐍 #newyearathome #snakeheadfritillary #arthursseat #edinburgh #wienermusikverein #vienna #newyearsdayconcert #tabbycat

From someone very like the people who brought you “I saw three ships”?

Kotobade Asobou 言葉で遊ぼう 1071 4/12? taximanli.github.io/kotobade-aso... ⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜↕️↔️↔️ ↔️↕️🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩

When Christmas trees were multiplication tables, Gent, 1760s (via Plantin-Moretus)