Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Gilles Poitras @gillespoitras.bsky.social · 5h

There is also a DVD and Blu-ray release in Japan, with English subtitles. I bought it and it's great.

Gilles Poitras @gillespoitras.bsky.social · 6h

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

Gilles Poitras @gillespoitras.bsky.social · 6h

www.tokyoweekender.com/art_and_cult...

Ooka Tadasuke: The Story of the 'Japanese Solomon'

Discover the legendary tales of Ooka Tadasuke, the wise Edo-period magistrate whose clever judgments and civic reforms shaped Tokyo.

www.tokyoweekender.com

Gilles Poitras @gillespoitras.bsky.social · 1d

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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Gilles Poitras @gillespoitras.bsky.social · 1d

Tonight's movie was "Proof of the Man."

youtu.be/gP3L7mjqyiQ?...

Proof of the Man | Official Trailer

YouTube video by Arrow Video

youtu.be

Reposted by Gilles Poitras

George Gantsoudes @pedsortho.bsky.social · 2d

Please remember that the disgust people have over Christopher Columbus is not based on some modern, 21st century “woke” ideology, but rather on contemporaneous accounts of atrocities that make many modern genocides appear quaint in comparison.

Below, are the accounts of Bartlomé de las Casas.

But too many of the slaves died in captivity. And so Columbus, desperate to pay back dividends to those who had in-vested, had to make good his promise to fill the ships with gold. In the province of Cicao on Haiti, where he and his men imagined huge gold fields to exist, they ordered all persons fourteen years or older to collect a certain quantity of gold every three months. When they brought it, they were given copper tokens to hang around their necks. Indians found without a copper token had their hands cut off and bled to death.
The Indians had been given an impossible task. The only gold around was bits of dust garnered from the streams. So they fled, were hunted down with dogs, and were killed.

After each six or eight months' work in the mines, which was the time required of each crew to dig enough gold for melting, up to a third of the men died.
While the men were sent many miles away to the mines, the wives remained to work the soil, forced into the excruciating job of digging and making thousands of hills for cassava plants.
Thus husbands and wives were together only once every eight or ten months and when they met they were so exhausted and depressed on both sides... they ceased to pro-create. As for the newly born, they died early because their mothers, overworked and fam-ished, had no milk to nurse them, and for this reason, while I was in Cuba, 7000 children died in three months. Some mothers even drowned their babies from sheer desper-ation.... In this way, husbands died in the mines, wives died at work, and children died from lack of milk ... and in a short time this land which was so great, so powerful and fer-tile... was depopulated... My eyes have seen these acts so foreign to human nature, and now I tremble as I write....

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Gilles Poitras @gillespoitras.bsky.social · 1d

I highly recommend this manga.

Dark Horse Comics @darkhorse.com · 1d

Reminder: Oldboy, the inspiration behind the 2003 hit film, returns to print in 2 Deluxe Edition (hardcover, 7x10") format volumes, next year! Pre-order: https://bit.ly/45ixn92

By Garon Tsuchiya and Nobuaki Minegishi. #DHManga

Gilles Poitras @gillespoitras.bsky.social · 1d

With rotary phones I could dial numbers because my fingers remembered the sequence. I could not tell you what the number was.

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Gilles Poitras @gillespoitras.bsky.social · 2d

How AI and Wikipedia have sent vulnerable languages into a doom spiral

www.technologyreview.com/2025/09/25/1...

How AI and Wikipedia have sent vulnerable languages into a doom spiral

Machine translators have made it easier than ever to create error-plagued Wikipedia articles in obscure languages. What happens when AI models get trained on junk pages?

www.technologyreview.com

Reposted by Gilles Poitras

Unseen Japan @unseenjapan.com · 2d

At a time when sacrificing one’s life for the nation was considered a duty, Moulin Rouge Shinjuku star Ashita Matsuko told soldiers she prayed for their safe return.

“Before they were soldiers, they were my fans. The war stole their youth.”

Shinjuku's Moulin Rouge: The Theater That Danced Through War and Censorship - Unseen Japan

Japanese imperial authorities frequently raided it and censored its scripts. Despite this, the women at the Shinjuku Moulin Rouge danced on.

buff.ly

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Gilles Poitras @gillespoitras.bsky.social · 2d

JR East cuts idol group tune at bullet train stations after fans try to record it

mainichi.jp/english/arti...

JR East cuts idol group tune at bullet train stations after fans try to record it - The Mainichi

TOKYO -- East Japan Railway Co. (JR East) has stopped using a number by popular all-male idol group SixTONES as a melody to signal bullet train depart

mainichi.jp

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Reposted by Gilles Poitras

Ben Applegate @benapplegate.com · 3d

I<3antifapope

Bill Kristol @billkristolbulwark.bsky.social · 3d

Pope Leo quotes Hannah Arendt:

“The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the convinced Communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction and the distinction between true and false no longer exist."

www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news...

Pope Leo calls for news agencies to stand as bulwark against "post-truths," lies and manipulation

Pope Leo XIV has encouraged international news agencies to stand firm as a bulwark against the "ancient art of lying" and manipulation.

www.cbsnews.com

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Reposted by Gilles Poitras

The Asheville Blade @avlblade.bsky.social · 3d

As the Salvation Army's enabling of ICE is drawing more attention to them, read our piece on their long record of anti-queer/trans hatred, classism and abuse of the poor.

@davidforbes.bsky.social wrote this when Asheville city hall gave the SA over $1 million. ashevilleblade.com?p=4827 #avlnews

No salvation |

ashevilleblade.com

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Gilles Poitras @gillespoitras.bsky.social · 3d

mainichi.jp/english/arti...

Capsule toys evolve, captivate both kids, adults in Japan, with market size exceeding $780M - The Mainichi

TOKYO -- The capsule toy market in Japan has seen a drastic growth -- topping 120 billion yen (about $784 million) in fiscal 2024 -- roughly triple wh

mainichi.jp

Reposted by Gilles Poitras

Unseen Japan @unseenjapan.com · 3d

Takaichi Sanae may (or may not) be Japan's first female prime minister. Either way, her ascension isn't sitting well with Japanese feminists, who've taken to social media to christen her an "honorary man." Find out why below.

buff.ly/3IlVkou

“Honorary Man”: Takaichi Sanae Scorned, Shunned by Japanese Feminists - Unseen Japan

The woman who may be Japan's first prime minister is under fire for her "fossil-like thinking" on women's rights.

unseen-japan.com

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Reposted by Gilles Poitras

Matt Alt @mattalt.bsky.social · 5d

“Very few people here in America have the balls to do what anime does,” a veteran Hollywood animation director told me.

blog.pureinventionbook.com/p/why-hollyw...

Why Hollywood stars are saying “F*** anime”

And why they’re right to be scared

blog.pureinventionbook.com

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Gilles Poitras @gillespoitras.bsky.social · 4d

I'll keep this in mind on my next trip to Tokyo.

Reposted by Gilles Poitras

King of the Pumpkins Tom @finalfuryk.bsky.social · 15d

So, if you want to see more World Masterpiece Theater released in the US, you need to support Romeo's Blue Skies now. It needs help. www.mediaocd.com/product-page...

Romeo's Blue Skies - Complete Collection Blu-ray | mediaocd

Order from MediaOCD directly and get an exclusive cardboard slipcover with art on the front and back! Today only comes once in a lifetime. Don't waste it by feeling down. Romeo, a poor kid living in a...

www.mediaocd.com

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Gilles Poitras @gillespoitras.bsky.social · 4d

24 Hours Outside ICE | 4 a.m. to 8 a.m. - Live look at Portland, Oregon ICE Facility for full day

www.youtube.com/live/zNASPLj...

24 Hours Outside ICE | 4 a.m. to 8 a.m. - Live look at Portland, Oregon ICE Facility for full day

YouTube video by KATU News

www.youtube.com

Gilles Poitras @gillespoitras.bsky.social · 4d

I'm glad my preordered before the tariffs were set copy of The Resurrection Of The Golden Wolf Blu-ray Collector's Edition crossed the border just fine. This is only available from the Australian publisher
I'm adding several subbed movies that are not avail in the US to my list for when I'm in Japan

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Reposted by Gilles Poitras

K.G. Anderson @kganderson.bsky.social · 5d

Shipping to/from overseas? Be aware:

Andrea Phillips @andrea.bsky.social · 5d

Heyyyyy finally some reporting on this www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcn...

UPS is 'disposing of' U.S.-bound packages over customs paperwork problems

Shifting Trump tariffs have created a nightmare for UPS, as thousands of packages from overseas pile up at its hubs while they await customs clearance.

www.nbcnews.com

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Reposted by Gilles Poitras

Rainy Studios (٭°̧̧̧ω°̧̧̧٭) – Art🎨, BL🌈 & 📝Queer Studies @samaburime.bsky.social · 5d

🌈My peer-reviewed articles on anti-fans & anti-BL attitudes are available to read publicly for free at independent.academia.edu/SamanthaAbur...

(below screenshots are a sample from 'The influence of transphobia, homonationalism & anti-Asian prejudice: Anti-BL attitudes in English-speaking fandoms')

screenshot from 'The influence of transphobia, homonationalism and anti-Asian prejudice: Anti-BL attitudes in English-speaking fandoms' discussing homonationalism

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Gilles Poitras @gillespoitras.bsky.social · 5d

www.tokyoweekender.com/entertainmen...

Shinto References in Silent Hill F

Konami's new installment of the Silent Hill horror game series has Japanese culture and Shinto references at the core of its identity.

www.tokyoweekender.com

Gilles Poitras @gillespoitras.bsky.social · 5d

Folks need to fly some Straw Hat Pirate flags.

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Reposted by Gilles Poitras

🌈 Hailey Piper 🌈 @haileypiperfights.bsky.social · 6d

fiction is a safe space to think of unsafe things

if you feel it's messing you up, step away. don't assume it's messing everyone up and you need to eradicate it because you caught a case of the feel-bads from something. go sit with that and think about why instead of pissing in everyone else's cheerios.

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