Monthly Archives: December 2010
Winchester, Virginia: My First American Hometown
Fifty years ago this month, I arrived in a snow-covered city I would come to think of as my first American hometown, Winchester, Virginia. I had just spent most of my elementary school years in Kyoto, Japan, which I still … Continue reading
Benevolent Colonialism of NGOs in the Balkans
One of the people who most helped put my impressions of Ceauşescu‘s Romania in 1983-84 into coherent wider perspective was Steve Sampson, an American anthropologist from (at that time) the University of Copenhagen (now at Lund University) who had done … Continue reading
Filed under Balkans, democracy, economics, nationalism, NGOs, scholarship, U.N.
Legacies of Clara Hepburn’s Juku in Yokohama, 1863
From: American Missionaries, Christian Oyatoi, and Japan 1859–73, by Hamish Ion (UBC Press, 2009), pp. 59-60: Before he rented it out in May 1864, Hepburn had taught students Western medicine in his dispensary. Among those whom he taught was Yamanouchi … Continue reading
Legacies of Hepburn’s First Dictionary of Japanese, 1867
From: American Missionaries, Christian Oyatoi, and Japan 1859–73, by Hamish Ion (UBC Press, 2009), pp. 80-81: [In 1866] Hepburn‘s dictionary was being printed at a rate of 6 pages a day, with nearly 250 pages of the first part of … Continue reading
Filed under anglosphere, language, publishing, religion, scholarship, U.S.
Seven Years of Blogging—and Much Else
I began blogging seven years ago today (in 2003), after finishing our family Christmas letter (the Harking Herald–Jahrblatt, now in vol. 20), and having a few free moments to see how easy it might be to start my own blog … Continue reading
Filed under blogging
Interpreting Sino-Soviet Border Clashes, 1969
From: The Man on Whom Nothing Was Lost: The Grand Strategy of Charles Hill, by Molly Worthen (Mariner Books, 2007), Kindle Loc. 1202-26: It remained unclear whether Beijing was simply using the Soviet border threat to galvanize internal party unity, … Continue reading
Benefits of Strong, Silent Diplomacy (and Ego)
From: The Man on Whom Nothing Was Lost: The Grand Strategy of Charles Hill, by Molly Worthen (Mariner Books, 2007), Kindle Loc. 1227-47: In the months that followed, Kissinger became a prime mover behind a series of symbolic gestures and … Continue reading
The Loo-Choo Naval Mission, 1846–1861
From: American Missionaries, Christian Oyatoi, and Japan 1859–73, by Hamish Ion (UBC Press, 2009), pp. 9-11: Although Britain was loath to open trade relations with Japan, British naval officers were instrumental in beginning what is now considered by many (especially … Continue reading
