Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Helen McCarthy @helenmccarthy51.bsky.social · 1m

Adulting win! Well done you!

Helen McCarthy @helenmccarthy51.bsky.social · 5m

28 Nov 2025: go further and deeper into Noh with traditional plays and a new musical collaboration between Japan and Scotland at King's Place, London. #MuArts #NohReinimagined

www.kingsplace.co.uk/whats-on/noh...

Noh Reimagined • What's On • Kings Place

Noh Reimagined 2025: Bashō, Matsukaze & Song of Rona Island (world premiere) Noh Reimagined returns as part of Kings Place’s Earth Unwrapped, celebrating the transcendent artistry of Japanese Noh the...

www.kingsplace.co.uk

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Helen McCarthy @helenmccarthy51.bsky.social · 10m

A deal between US chain Hot Topic Inc. and new joint venture MAG.NET Co. brings exclusive US collectible editions from InuYasha, Ranma 1/2, Frieren and Uzumaki through 280 stores and online.
japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/culture/mang...

‘Inuyasha,’ ‘Ranma 1/2’ Among Popular Manga, Anime to Be Merchandised in U.S.; Marubeni, Shogakukan Will Use Hot Topic Store Chain to Sell Goods

<p>Two major Japanese firms, trading company Marubeni Corp. and leading publisher Shogakukan Inc., will cooperate to develop and sell merchandise related to popular manga published by Shogakukan and t...

japannews.yomiuri.co.jp

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Helen McCarthy @helenmccarthy51.bsky.social · 14m

A quiet night near the birthplace of sake and the resting-place of Japan's old nobility: Cofonia is an inn on the oldest walking trail in #Japan near the ancient capital cities Asuka and Nara, co-founded by an ethnobotanist. www.japantimes.co.jp/life/2025/10...

Nara inn offers room, board and an ancient burial mound

More than 160,000 'kofun' burial mounds dot the Japanese archipelago, but Cofunia allows guests to lay their heads directly adjacent to one.

www.japantimes.co.jp

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Reposted by Helen McCarthy

Anime News Network @animenewsnetwork.com · 7h

Evangelion's back in the box office top 10 — 28 years later!

Evangelion: Death & Rebirth Film Returns to Box Office Top 10, 28 Years Later

Film sold 72,653 tickets for 118․8 million yen over holiday weekend

www.animenewsnetwork.com

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Helen McCarthy @helenmccarthy51.bsky.social · 27m

Why you really should consider a subscription to Animation Obsessive: cool stuff like this.

Animation Obsessive @ani-obsessive.bsky.social · 6h

Design sketches for Hilda from Horus: Prince of the Sun (1968), dir. Isao Takahata, Toei Doga

Art by Yoichi Kotabe

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Helen McCarthy @helenmccarthy51.bsky.social · 30m

Get 25% off when you pre-order The Manga Bible and other selected books online at Waterstones before 23:59 on Friday 17 Oct. More info/T&Cs:
helenmccarthy.net/25-off-the-m...

25% off The Manga Bible if you pre-order by 17 October! - Helen McCarthy

The Manga Bible is part of Waterstones’ new promotion on selected 2026 titles. If you pre-order any of the selected books on the Waterstones app or website between Tuesday 14 and Friday 17 October 202...

helenmccarthy.net

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Helen McCarthy @helenmccarthy51.bsky.social · 20h

Quite a few writers have moved over to Beehiiv or Ghost. Of course that involves risk. My reach and engagement went down massively on leaving FB/Insta/TwiX, and still haven't recovered, so I understand why people might not feel financially able to dump Substack. Hard times make for hard choices.

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Helen McCarthy @helenmccarthy51.bsky.social · 21h

I know so many people who would never dream of putting their handle to an X account but are perfectly OK with Substack. Not judging, just puzzled. It's obviously a hugely popular and lucrative platform and has some great contributors who do amazing work. BUT ... it still enables Nazis and fascists.

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Helen McCarthy @helenmccarthy51.bsky.social · 23h

A small inn in the onsen town where famous dog #Hachiko was born owes its survival through the pandemic partly to the bonds built between its customers and its two beautiful #Akita Inu dogs.
www.asahi.com/ajw/articles...

How having Akita Inu dogs proved to be a game-changer | The Asahi Shimbun: Breaking News, Japan News and Analysis

ODATE, Akita Prefecture--Furusawa Onsen is a small hot spring inn with only seven guest rooms operating in the city where Hachiko, the world’s most celebrated dog, was born.

www.asahi.com

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Helen McCarthy @helenmccarthy51.bsky.social · 23h

Every autumn, Nature turns the upper slopes of Mt. Kurikoma into an autumn wonderland known in #Japan as "the carpet of god." Pictures and links to more autumn foliage in Japan:
japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/features/tra...

Fall Foliage Offers Vivid Scene on Mt. Kurikoma in Tohoku Region, View Known as ‘Carpet of God’

<p>Visitors enjoy autumn foliage on Mt. Kurikoma in the Tohoku region as the leaves on the middle and upper slopes have turned red and orange. Straddling the borders of Miyagi, Akita and Iwate prefect...

japannews.yomiuri.co.jp

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Helen McCarthy @helenmccarthy51.bsky.social · 23h

In better news, we now know a tiny bit more about the eighth century CE in Gifu after finding a bronze weight that could have been a pattern for clay weights that might have served a possible Government office in Manakoshi. That lifts my heart. #historygeek #smallthings

mainichi.jp/english/arti...

Nara-period bronze weight unearthed among ruins in Japan's Gifu Pref. - The Mainichi

KAKAMIGAHARA, Gifu -- A bronze weight from the Nara period (710-794) has been unearthed at the Manakoshi archaeological site here, the local governmen

mainichi.jp

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Helen McCarthy @helenmccarthy51.bsky.social · 23h

I suppose everyone's bloodstained fun sidesteps someone's identity. When that becomes celebrated as a victorious group's birthright, it either leads to complete erasure or extends injustice all the way down centuries.

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Helen McCarthy @helenmccarthy51.bsky.social · 23h

Is it important for an #American game set in historic #Japan to acknowledge rather than sideline the defeated population of a colonised land? Owen Ziegler's review of 'Ghost of Yotei' raises the ethics of #colonisation across multiple levels beyond the gameplay. www.japantimes.co.jp/life/2025/10...

Ghost of Yotei’s bloodstained fun sidesteps Ainu identity

Set in Ezo (modern-day Hokkaido), the highly anticipated samurai action-adventure game contains familiar thrills but subpar substance.

www.japantimes.co.jp

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Helen McCarthy @helenmccarthy51.bsky.social · 23h

two tiny moth bites
in my favourite sweater
we all have to eat

#haiku #poetry #autumn #liveandletlive

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Helen McCarthy @helenmccarthy51.bsky.social · 23h

This is going to be a terrific day of talks revelling in Gothic and horror literature. It's for everyone but the focus is on women in, and making, and impacted by those works.
Tickets: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-gothic...

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Reposted by Helen McCarthy

warriorseamstress.bsky.social @warriorseamstress.bsky.social · 1d

Most England's most flood prone constituencies vote for Farage's climate disaster party. Go figure.

Actually, DO go figure, @zackpolanski.bsky.social & Green Party folk - why are you so rubbish at talking to people outside your uni class that the constituencies most at risk prefer the flooding?

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Reposted by Helen McCarthy

warriorseamstress.bsky.social @warriorseamstress.bsky.social · 1d

Good morning. Strange to wake up in nation where people shriek at refugees in Travelodge then vote to become refugees.

Meet Boston & Skegness - where 90% of homes ALREADY likely to flood - who elected Tice: Reform's most bitter opponent of any action to stop climate change washing their homes away.

Towns may have to be abandoned due to floods with millions more homes in Great Britain at risk

Every constituency projected to be at greater risk, with many areas likely to be uninsurable, Guardian investigation finds

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Helen McCarthy

Gill James @gillj.bsky.social · 1d

Writers, do you qualify for this bursary? www.fairsubmissions.co.uk/2025/09/jerw...
and find over 900 other opportunities on our site.

Jerwood Fellowships

Full details The Jerwood Fellowships at New Writing North will be awarded to three early career published writers, currently living in...

www.fairsubmissions.co.uk

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Helen McCarthy @helenmccarthy51.bsky.social · 1d

You (and Steve) are both operating on nostalgic pricing. Even last time we were in Tokyo (pre-pandemic) many had already gone up to ¥500 and there were a few large/elaborate ones going higher, which seemed fair. The UK shops use tokens and £2 per token, 3/6 tokens a go, is a bit much.

Reposted by Helen McCarthy

kambole campbell @kambole.bsky.social · 1d

100 METERS is one of the best animated films I've seen this year. Been waiting for this since On-Gaku: Our Sound blew me away – to my friends in the US, please go see it!

Also consider reading my interview with Kenji Iwaisawa for it back in June for Variety (1/2): variety.com/2025/film/gl...

‘On-Gaku: Our Sound’ Director Kenji Iwaisawa Returns to Annecy With Rotoscoped Sprint Drama ‘100 Meters’

Kenji Iwaisawa discusses evolving rotoscope techniques, balancing indie and commercial methods and crafting '100 Meters' with a larger, skilled team.

variety.com

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Reposted by Helen McCarthy

Anime News Network @animenewsnetwork.com · 1d

The day has come for the English dub of My Hero Academia's final season on October 18!

Final My Hero Academia Season Anime's English Dub Debuts on October 18

Dub trailer streamed for final season

www.animenewsnetwork.com

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Helen McCarthy @helenmccarthy51.bsky.social · 1d

Latest update on Anime Herald's print #anime zine. I love an old-school printed #zine and I'm really looking forward to this one. If you haven't ordered a copy, there's still time.
www.animeherald.com/2025/08/10/a...

Announcement: Anime Herald Magazine's Final Article List, And A Slight Delay

It was decided that it would be most prudent to delay the launch date to November, so we can deliver a book that we can be proud to release, and that you will be excited to own.

www.animeherald.com

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Helen McCarthy @helenmccarthy51.bsky.social · 1d

I'm Helen McCarthy. I tell stories. I've been researching anime, manga and Japan since 1981. My first book was published in 1992. A dozen books since, two more in 2026, cosplay history and talks. Follow me for anime/manga titbits, snippets about Japan, recommendations, daily poems and more.

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Helen McCarthy @helenmccarthy51.bsky.social · 1d

The Manga Bible is part of Waterstones’ new UK promotion on selected 2026 titles. Pre-order selected books online at Waterstones between Tuesday 14 and Friday 17 October 2025, and quote code OCTOBER25 for 25% off RRP. More info: helenmccarthy.net/25-off-the-m... Please share!

Poster for the October 2025 Waterstones' UK promotion - 25% off for selected titles pre-ordered online at Waterstones between 14-17 October, including The Manga Bible. Image is on a pale gold background, with Waterstones' name in black type at top centre and "25% OFF RRP On Upcoming Books" in navy blue type centred below. An image of The Manga Bible's cover is below right and a maroon circle with the pre-order code to claim the offer in white is below left.

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