Noah Oskow
@noahoskow.bsky.social
JPN translator, Global Studies MA, former JET. 10年間以上日本に滞在。Minnesotaיהודי מ. 🇺🇸🇯🇵🇩🇪🇦🇹 Ghibli stan. EiC/writer at Unseen Japan, head of UJ Tours.
Writing/making videos on intercultural meeting points and lesser-known historical junctures in Japan.
Writing/making videos on intercultural meeting points and lesser-known historical junctures in Japan.
Just when I'd thought I'd encountered the funniest of historical British names, I discover this guy.
November 20, 2025 at 12:15 PM
Just when I'd thought I'd encountered the funniest of historical British names, I discover this guy.
Pretty special at nighttime.
November 1, 2025 at 10:19 PM
Pretty special at nighttime.
Back in Hiroshima for the second time in four days, and actually staying on the island of Miyajima for the first time. Watching the tide come in at Itsukushima Shrine is something special.
November 1, 2025 at 9:34 AM
Back in Hiroshima for the second time in four days, and actually staying on the island of Miyajima for the first time. Watching the tide come in at Itsukushima Shrine is something special.
Recently, really treasuring each time I get to go down to Osaka. Enjoying reconnecting with Japan’s great second city.
October 26, 2025 at 11:16 PM
Recently, really treasuring each time I get to go down to Osaka. Enjoying reconnecting with Japan’s great second city.
There's something about Airbnb using an (admittedly well-made) bit of art depicting, of all things, the "Shibuya Yokocho" in Miyashita Park as their representational image of Tokyo. A corporate bit of faux-Showa nostalgia that apes real yokochos, with among the more mediocre kitchens in the region.
October 9, 2025 at 5:00 AM
There's something about Airbnb using an (admittedly well-made) bit of art depicting, of all things, the "Shibuya Yokocho" in Miyashita Park as their representational image of Tokyo. A corporate bit of faux-Showa nostalgia that apes real yokochos, with among the more mediocre kitchens in the region.
Yui made an apple pie for Rosh Hashanah - real Jewish-American new year here in Japan! 😆🍎
September 23, 2025 at 10:12 AM
Yui made an apple pie for Rosh Hashanah - real Jewish-American new year here in Japan! 😆🍎
A rather, shall we say, interesting headline for an article in the free magazine found on a Shinkansen route frequented by international visitors: “The Rapid Ascent of Issues with Foreigners - Don’t Speak So Easily of ‘Multicultural Coexistence”
August 23, 2025 at 12:22 PM
A rather, shall we say, interesting headline for an article in the free magazine found on a Shinkansen route frequented by international visitors: “The Rapid Ascent of Issues with Foreigners - Don’t Speak So Easily of ‘Multicultural Coexistence”
Absolutely beautiful hand-made challot at Shabbat dinner last night courtesy of @sheepchase.net .
August 16, 2025 at 5:47 AM
Absolutely beautiful hand-made challot at Shabbat dinner last night courtesy of @sheepchase.net .
Hachiko was quite old at the time of this photo. I'd say he looked plenty dignified in his younger years, despite the floppy ear.
August 14, 2025 at 10:59 PM
Hachiko was quite old at the time of this photo. I'd say he looked plenty dignified in his younger years, despite the floppy ear.
The very newest member of our family sleeping through her first Shabbat.
August 1, 2025 at 12:21 PM
The very newest member of our family sleeping through her first Shabbat.
Dirty Harry 3 was on Japanese tv the other day, which meant I had the pleasure of hearing the legendary Yamada Yasuo (the original Lupin III) in his other most famous role: as the official dub voice of Clint Eastwood.
July 25, 2025 at 8:59 AM
Dirty Harry 3 was on Japanese tv the other day, which meant I had the pleasure of hearing the legendary Yamada Yasuo (the original Lupin III) in his other most famous role: as the official dub voice of Clint Eastwood.
As always, Japanese news media choosing only the most charismatic images of Prime Minister Ishiba from their stock photos.
July 20, 2025 at 12:15 PM
As always, Japanese news media choosing only the most charismatic images of Prime Minister Ishiba from their stock photos.
Superman was really great - the exact sort of antidote we need for these times. Goodness and kindness for the sake of itself; a stand against disinfo-driven cruelty and fear mongering. Plus, it’s just a lot of fun, like being thrown into a comic storyline halfway through its run. Gunn does it again.
July 20, 2025 at 8:38 AM
Superman was really great - the exact sort of antidote we need for these times. Goodness and kindness for the sake of itself; a stand against disinfo-driven cruelty and fear mongering. Plus, it’s just a lot of fun, like being thrown into a comic storyline halfway through its run. Gunn does it again.
Mishima Yukio in 1948, a year before he published his seminal semi-autobiographical novel, Confessions of a Mask. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him looking so early-Showa-esque. He looks ready to star in the Asakusa vaudevilles. Far cry from the purposefully macho look he’d cultivate until his death.
July 18, 2025 at 2:51 AM
Mishima Yukio in 1948, a year before he published his seminal semi-autobiographical novel, Confessions of a Mask. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him looking so early-Showa-esque. He looks ready to star in the Asakusa vaudevilles. Far cry from the purposefully macho look he’d cultivate until his death.
Good ol' St. Sebastian, from a painting of whom Mishima Yukio had his first sexual awakening and remained obsessed with into his later life.
July 14, 2025 at 7:00 AM
Good ol' St. Sebastian, from a painting of whom Mishima Yukio had his first sexual awakening and remained obsessed with into his later life.
I've been lucky enough to go twice - once in winter, and once in summer. Always have that itch to get back. Nothing like horseback riding on the steppes and spending time with the nomads.
July 14, 2025 at 4:11 AM
I've been lucky enough to go twice - once in winter, and once in summer. Always have that itch to get back. Nothing like horseback riding on the steppes and spending time with the nomads.
Updated: Yeah, it definitely didn't happen.
July 13, 2025 at 4:47 PM
Updated: Yeah, it definitely didn't happen.
Mishima wrote this in his early twenties; the novel, mostly a self-reflective treatise on his personal foibles and developing same-sex attraction as a young man, is both insightful and precocious.
July 12, 2025 at 5:21 AM
Mishima wrote this in his early twenties; the novel, mostly a self-reflective treatise on his personal foibles and developing same-sex attraction as a young man, is both insightful and precocious.
I'm reading Mishima Yukio's 1949 novel, Confessions of a Mask (仮面の告白), and was struck by this aside regarding travel planning vs. travel itself. Pretty perceptive, even if I disagree with the narrator's shortsighted need for "control."
From Meridith Weatherby's translation. Original JPN is below.
From Meridith Weatherby's translation. Original JPN is below.
July 12, 2025 at 5:18 AM
I'm reading Mishima Yukio's 1949 novel, Confessions of a Mask (仮面の告白), and was struck by this aside regarding travel planning vs. travel itself. Pretty perceptive, even if I disagree with the narrator's shortsighted need for "control."
From Meridith Weatherby's translation. Original JPN is below.
From Meridith Weatherby's translation. Original JPN is below.
Stormy night in Asakusa.
July 10, 2025 at 2:36 PM
Stormy night in Asakusa.
Cool to see @zackdavisson.com featured in the museum store at the Tokyo National Museum!
June 30, 2025 at 1:39 PM
Cool to see @zackdavisson.com featured in the museum store at the Tokyo National Museum!
I’d been feeling as though the Japanese Red Army wanted posters were becoming a little less present in Tokyo - but here they are, just posted on a random wall on Jiyugaoka Station. Guess they’re still here to stay.
May 22, 2025 at 11:36 AM
I’d been feeling as though the Japanese Red Army wanted posters were becoming a little less present in Tokyo - but here they are, just posted on a random wall on Jiyugaoka Station. Guess they’re still here to stay.
Even on the summit of Mount Takao, there he was, waiting for me.
May 6, 2025 at 10:23 PM
Even on the summit of Mount Takao, there he was, waiting for me.
Koizumi had charismatic hair, at least
May 5, 2025 at 12:10 AM
Koizumi had charismatic hair, at least
