Geeklog Site

Today's typo

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 19:12:44 -0500

Cheergul: the smile on a Nazgul's face as it's about to eat you?

Bookshelves

Wed, 25 Aug 2010 21:36:17 -0500

The latest bookshelf arrives tomorrow morning.

There is now really no more room for books once this one is full. I must either stop buying books, or move to somewhere with more room for bookshelves.

Needless to say, the former is not likely.

Pet hates

Mon, 17 May 2010 21:55:26 -0500

Today's pet hate: Unnecessary abbreviation.

I never want to see Sta. and Bldg. ever again.

Third BAJS Japan Symposium

Sun, 18 Apr 2010 22:37:08 -0500

Third BAJS Japan Symposium

Saturday May 29th, 3 pm, University of Tokyo (Hongo Campus, room number to be confirmed)

Speakers

Garren Mulloy (Security)
Andy Staples (Foreign Direct Investment)
Tam Mito (Ozawa Ichiro)

Creativity behind barbed wire

Sat, 03 Apr 2010 09:12:26 -0500

New website is up for the conference.

Lemon curd

Sun, 14 Mar 2010 06:25:09 -0500

Grate rind of 1 lemon into saucepan, add juice of lemon, about 8g sugar (3 tsp seems right), 30g butter. Warm until all dissolved. Add one egg and beat well over very low heat until thickens (takes a few minutes). Keep beating for 30 seconds or so after the mixture has thickened, remove from heat and keep beating a little longer. Put into prepared jar. Amount above makes one jar.

My grandmother's recipe was for 2 lemons, 60g butter, 30g sugar, 2 eggs. I did half, and thought that there wasn't quite enough sugar. Perhaps the lemon I used was particularly juicy.

Tastes damn good though.

Jobs in academia

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 08:15:46 -0600

Looking for jobs/research positions in history/international relations/Japan studies, use the following sites.

Create a profile on the following sites.

Academia.edu

Fancybox

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 00:25:24 -0600

Fancybox for JQuery is useful for those little pop-up image galleries, but it only works on images within links that are grouped by having the same "rel" tag. If you want to use another tag, apply this patch (to 1.3.0).

61c61,62 < var rel = $(this).attr('rel') || ''; --- > var $attributetype = options.attributeType; > var rel = $(this).attr($attributetype) || ''; 67c68 < selectedArray = $("a[rel=" + rel + "], area[rel=" + rel + "]"); --- > selectedArray = $("a[" + $attributetype +"=" + rel + "], area[" + $attributetype + "=" + rel + "]"); 999a1001,1002 > attributeType : 'rel', >

You can then use the new "attributeType" to pass the tag type when calling the script.

Akabane half marathon

Sat, 20 Feb 2010 22:06:26 -0600

Finished the Akabane half marathon in 1h44m59s. Not too bad. Improvement of over 20 minutes on the last effort.

But it was the worst-organised event I've ever seen. Seemed like a money-making event, cram them in, forget the rest. 15 minute queues for the toilets. 10 minutes for the luggage storage, which overflowed outside. No fruit or energy on the route. Only two water stops, at 10km and 15km, and they ran out of paper cups for water. I was nearer the front, so got a second-hand cup they pulled from the rubbish bin. Probably more than half the people only got one water stop at 10km. Others queued at 15km using their hands to get water at a hosepipe. In winter, it was irresponsible; in summer, it would have been deadly.

No way will I go back there again.

Creativity Behind Barbed Wire

Fri, 15 Jan 2010 18:02:54 -0600

An Interdisciplinary Conference on the Products of Prisoners of War in the 20th century
Friday 26 - Sunday 28 March 2010

Conference website

Japanese prisoners' cultural activities behind barbed wire

Euan McKay - Poster  

Title:

  Japanese prisoners' cultural activities behind barbed wire  

Abstract:

  The cultural and educational activities of prisoners of war (POWs) in POW camps is well known and increasingly well documented. However, there is one group of prisoners that is hardly known at all, and consequently their cultural activities have also escaped notice. After the conclusion of the Second World War in Asia, about 80,000 Japanese Surrendered Personnel (JSP) were interned by the British in South East Asia until the end of 1947, 13,500 by the Dutch in the Netherlands East Indies until May 1947, and 80,000 by the Americans in the Philippines until December 1946. They were used as labour on a range of works projects connected with food production, infrastructure rehabilitation and military construction and deconstruction. In contrast to POW camps under the Japanese during the war, the British camps were mostly open, although in some locations JSP were guarded for their own protection. Consequently, few or none of their activities were conducted in a clandestine fashion.  

My research focuses on the JSP held by the British, who were mostly in Malaya and Burma, but also on those held by the Dutch, who were largely in Java. I have conducted interviews with former JSP and examined both British and Japanese government and private documents, and some American and Australian documents as well. I also have a collection of materials including diaries, photos and film, and copies of newspapers and other publications produced by the JSP. During their two years under British and Dutch control, the JSP engaged in a wide range of cultural activities, many of which will be familiar to POW researchers.

  The main concerns of the JSP were food, clothing, lack of a fixed repatriation date, and desire for information about their families in Japan. Their activities were related to these concerns in various ways, although for many, they were not so much 'cultural' as a matter of improving their conditions and coming to terms with the post-war world. Some generated a small amount of income from their handicrafts and tool-making, a welcome addition as the JSP were not paid for their labour. The lack of clothing resulted in a lot of 'making and mending'. Those with agricultural experience worked to increase their own food production and supplement their camp diet. JSP with skills passed them on to others. The British refused to announce a return date for the JSP, despite a policy decision to repatriate them all by the end of 1947. As a result, many rumours circulated both in Japan and in South East Asia, and the circulation of news was a means for the JSP to maintain contact with conditions in Japan.  

Japan losing the war was unthinkable for most Japanese in general, and the military in particular, and their cultural activities demonstrate the attempts of the JSP to understand the new post-war world. Newspapers and magazines were produced and circulated information within and among the camps; translation projects gave JSP access to a wider world of ideas; JSP diaries, recollections, essays, haiku/poems and manga/cartoons, many of a satirical and emotional nature, were a forum for discussing the new post-war world; theatrical productions were staged, featuring makeshift props and costumes created entirely from what little they had to hand. Some JSP, particularly the 'student soldiers' with a university education, foresaw that English would be a valuable skill and used their time in South East Asia to acquire the language. The later careers of several of these former 'gakutohei' bear out the accuracy of their foresight, and are testament to their power to adapt and their creativity behind barbed wire. 