Torsten Weber

Calls for Papers Calls for Papers Here you can find the call for papers for the journal issues we are currently working on. The initial pitches should be no longer than 300 words and explain the key argument of your p...

|| NEW CALL FOR PAPERS || To mark the 50th anniversary of Mao Zedong’s death, we are planning an issue on memories and lessons from the Mao era. We invite contributions revisiting overlooked experiences, questioning established interpretations, or reflecting on what Maoist China can teach us today.

Israel used weapons in Gaza that made thousands of Palestinians evaporate US-made thermal weapons burning at 3,500C caused 2,842 people to "evaporate" in Gaza, Al Jazeera investigation finds.

“Four of my children just evaporated,” Badran said, holding back tears. “I looked for them a million times. Not a piece was left. Where did they go?”

There are no words to adequately describe the evil here.

How Jeff Bezos and Amazon became instruments of authoritarianism And how to stop them

With Jeff Bezos's dismantling of the Washington Post and Amazon's extensive ICE and DoD profiteering, it's imperative to understand precisely how both have openly become instruments of authoritarianism

Important numbers that put Sunday's "landslide victory" in perspective and raise serious doubts about Japan's election system. Moderate and leftist opposition parties got more votes than Takaichi's LDP

The Donroe Doctrine and Japan’s Position in a New World Order The post-war international order, anchored in international law, the UN charter and multilateralism, is undergoing a profound transformation with the emergence of  so called ‘great power politics’ and the adoption of the ‘Donroe doctrine’ as the US’s new foreign policy under the Trump administration. Traditional security alliances and economic relations between countries are being tested, accelerating the transition away from a US-centred order. So what is Japan’s response? In this seminar, Japan’s former Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs, Hitoshi Tanaka, will explore what is driving change in the global order, as well as the impact of the ‘Donroe Doctrine’ on Japan and East Asia. He will discuss how Japan will reposition itself after the February Lower House elections, and what its diplomatic approach is likely to be.

💻Tune in for our upcoming webinar: 'The Donroe Doctrine and Japan’s Position in a New World Order', with Hitoshi Tanaka

📅Tuesday 10 March
🕙10:00am - 11:00am (UK) / 7:00pm - 8:00pm (Japan)

Learn more and book here👉 dajf.org.uk/event/the-do...

Akira Iriye, Japan-born scholar of international politics, dies at 91 - The Mainichi TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Akira Iriye, a Japan-born academic known for his deep understanding of U.S. and Japanese diplomacy as well as international politics,

mainichi.jp/english/arti...

Incredible tifo of The Beatles unveiled by Olympique de Marseille fans last night for their Champions League fixture against Liverpool.
#sportshistory #UCL

"Minnesota" - Marsh Family adaptation of "San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Some Flowers in Your Hair)" YouTube video by Marsh Family

We hope the good people of #SanFrancisco will forgive us for adapting a song about their city in 1967 to address the shocking and tragic events in #Minnesota in recent weeks. This is dedicated to Renée Good and Alex Pretti, and in solidarity. Our version is called "Minnesota" ❤️

youtu.be/BRHxXHZmVAM

Some important new government policy that Native Americans might be interested in:

Monroe Doctrine Redux: New Americanism and the Echoes of Empire in China and Japan | Made in China Journal The United States will once again consider itself a growing nation—one that increases our wealth, expands our territory, builds our cities, raises our expectations, and carries our flag into new and b...

As the Monroe Doctrine resurfaces through US military action in Venezuela, Craig Smith looks back to the 20th century to show how, in periods of imperial expansion, Pan-American and Asianist discourses flowed in both directions across the Pacific, not only echoing but also reinforcing one another.

According to the National Archives, this is the very first image of Santa Claus to appear in Japan in 1900.

His name name was too foreign sounding so the author called him 三太九郎 (さんたくろう)

dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/1168287/...

The book "Historical Authenticity" stands on a desk.

the books "Handbuch Historische Authentizität" and the translated "Historical Authenticity" next to each other in a shelf.

A box in the office. It says “books handle with care” on it.

📖Out now: "Historical Authenticity. A transdisciplinary compendium", ed. by Martin Sabrow & Achim Saupe (@zzfpotsdam.bsky.social), published by @bloomsburyacad.bsky.social. The book was published in German first in 2022 by @wallsteinverlag.bsky.social and now has been revised and translated 🎉

ドイツ日本研究所(DIJ Tokyo🇩🇪🇯🇵)のチームメンバーになりませんか？
💻 事務職員1～2名募集 （正規職員)）、フルタイム（週40時間）
📁 業務内容：イベントマネジメント、秘書業務等
👉 日本語ネイティブで、 ドイツ語・英語ビジネスレベル、類似業務経験者歓迎
勤務開始は2026年4月1日からの予定です。
📅 応募締切日：2026年1月8日
詳細 ➡️ www.dijtokyo.org/job-openings/
➡️ karriere.maxweberstiftung.de/jobposting/9...

"academic publishing is dominated by profit-oriented, multinational companies for whom scientific knowledge is a commodity to be sold back to the academic community who created it... The dominant four collectively generated... $12 billion in profits between 2019 and 2024."

The call for papers and panels to the 18th International EAJS conference is now open! The conference will be a hybrid event hosted in Poznań, Poland from 27-30 August 2026.

Please read the rules and instructions below before you submit your panel or paper.

#EAJS2026

eajs.eu/2026-call-fo...

MITI, Sumiyoshi, Japanese Empire: Join us later today for the online meeting of the #VSJF2025 History Section with three exciting papers by Jonathan Krautter (Hitotsubashi Institute for Advanced Study), Sai Kiet Niki Lau (Heidelberg Univ) & Aya Hino (Ruhr Univ Bochum). Details in the attached files

No Contract, No Coffee | Starbucks Workers United Starbucks baristas brewing change. Join the movement for fair contracts, better wages, and worker protections.

Union baristas are calling on allies to STOP BUYING STARBUCKS if we go on ULP strike. If our communities stand with us in action, we can take back power from the billionaires & CEOs.

nocontractnocoffee.org

Young lives cut short on an unimaginable scale: the 18,457 children on Gaza’s list of war dead The children’s names below appear on a list of victims of Israel’s offensive in Gaza, maintained by health authorities in the territory. As of the end of July it ran to 60,199 names, of whom 18,457 were under 18s. Far from comprehensive, the list does not include the thousands still buried under the rubble of destroyed buildings, as well as the war’s many indirect victims As of the end of July there were 18,457 children named on the long official list of Palestinian victims of Israel’s war in Gaza. Over almost two years, that is equivalent to bombs, bullets and shells killing a boy or girl every hour of every day. In reality the deaths are not spaced out so evenly. Siblings, cousins and playmates are often killed together, by an airstrike or artillery shell. Even children shot by snipers or quadcopters are sometimes brought into hospitals in groups, doctors say. Continue reading...

Young lives cut short on an unimaginable scale: the 18,457 children on Gaza’s list of war dead

高市氏の「WLB捨てる」発言　過労死遺族は驚き「影響力考えて」：朝日新聞 高市早苗氏は自民党の新総裁に選ばれた後、党所属の国会議員を前にしたあいさつで「私自身もワーク・ライフ・バランス（WLB）という言葉を捨てる。働いて、働いて、働いて、働いて、働いていく」と述べた。　こ…

高市氏の「WLB捨てる」発言　過労死遺族は驚き「影響力考えて」
www.asahi.com/articles/AST...

高市氏の「私自身もワーク・ライフ・バランスという言葉を捨てる」と発言したことに対し、夫を過労死で亡くし、日本の状況を変えようと取り組んできた女性 は「国のトップに立とうとする人の発言とは思えない」と驚きます。

2025 Annual Lecture: Andrew Gordon, "After the Pandemic: Revising a Textbook and Rethinking History" YouTube video by Modern Japan History Association

A video of this year's Distinguished Lecture, "After the Pandemic: Revising a Textbook and Rethinking History," given by Andrew Gordon is now available on the MJHA YouTube channel.

Please have a look, and feel free to share with anyone who might be interested

youtu.be/EN8tx8J8KzA

The debate about Israeli genocide in Gaza turns in large measure on the genocide-Holocaust relationship. I try to tease them out in this chapter in Cambridge History of the Holocaust cambridge.org/core/books/abs… Here are the first two pages.

Excellent work by colleagues at the University of Berne.
www.anthro.unibe.ch/about_us/lec...

🚨 Registration still open! Come to Vienna and discuss (un)democratic futures with/through the Japanese experience. All details here: vsjf2025.univie.ac.at

Poster Annual Conference 2025

📢 Register until September 10 for our Annual Conference “Colonial Pasts and Contemporary Search for Justice: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on the Politics of Restitution and Redress for Colonial Violence”! With @trace-center.de & @valuepast.bsky.social, Sep. 25–26.
👉 www.prif.org/veranstaltun...

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

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

Heute vor 80 Jahren kapitulierte das Japanische Kaiserreich & der 2. Weltkrieg endete. Warum spielt der 2. September in Japan heute im Vergleich zu den Jahrestagen der Atombombenabwürfe kaum eine Rolle? DLF-Kalenderblatt mit DIJ-Historiker @torweber.bsky.social www.deutschlandfunk.de/japan-zweite...

I'm excited to share that my first monograph, "China's Date Debate: How Manchurian Scholars Rewrote World War II," is available for preorder through the University of Michigan Press, China Understandings Today series!

China’s Date Debate press.umich.edu/Books/C/Chin...

Ostasien: Wo der Zweite Weltkrieg nicht endet In Ostasien gibt es kein gemeinsames Verständnis davon, was im Zweiten Weltkrieg geschehen ist.

Am 15. August 1945 erklärte der japanische Kaiser die bedingungslose Kapitulation Japans. 80 Jahre danach sind sich Japan und seine Nachbarn immer noch spinnefeind – wenn es um die Erinnerung an den Zweiten Weltkrieg geht. #repost

Nanjing: How the massacre still haunts China-Japan relations Eighty years after Japan was defeated, a wave of Chinese films about the occupation are fuelling memory and anger.

bbc.com/news/article...

Thanks to my collaborator @daneuhaus.bsky.social, to our colleagues @kpo.bsky.social & @jfinger.bsky.social @dhi-paris.fr for initiating the original publication in German @faznet.bsky.social and to our colleagues @maxweberstiftung.de for the timely publication on today's 80th anniversary #EndsOfWar