@drchrisharding

Historian & broadcaster @EdinburghUni Mainly now here 👉 https://xitter.cf/t.co/t96Mm6Qghq Writings/podcast/video 👉 https://xitter.cf/t.co/GULrHnYZoj

 London
Joined May 2022
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  • Followers1.1K
50Media
Ten years after the Sagamihara killings, the worst act of violence against disabled people in modern history, Japan's attitudes to disability are slowly changing. Recording Japan’s disabled lives | @drchrisharding engelsbergideas.com/notebook…

Recording Japan's disabled lives

Ten years after the Sagamihara killings, the worst act of violence against disabled people in modern history, Japan's attitudes to disability are slowly changing.

engelsbergideas.com
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For all its elevated sense of history and institutional self-worth, the modern British civil service owes its origins, in part, to China. Britain’s modern civil service: an idea borrowed from China | @drchrisharding engelsbergideas.com/notebook…

Britain’s modern civil service: an idea borrowed from China

For all its elevated sense of history and institutional self-worth, the modern British civil service owes its origins, in part, to China.

engelsbergideas.com
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How does the war in Iran look from Asia? My take:
Engelsberg Ideas
@EngelsbergIdeasMar 25
In the face of the Iran war’s impact on global oil flows, Asian capitals are reassessing energy security and the broader geopolitical map. The Iran war through Asia’s eyes | @drchrisharding engelsbergideas.com/essays/t…

The Iran war through Asia's eyes

In the face of the Iran war’s impact on global oil flows, Asian capitals are reassessing energy security and the broader geopolitical map.

engelsbergideas.com
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This was fun to do!
History Uncensored
@hist_uncensoredFeb 6
Samurai didn't vanish overnight - they were dismantled, piece by piece. Bianca Nobilo takes us on a journey through the hidden origin of the legendary warriors. Just dropped!👇 📺 youtu.be/EpKHfSOFIBM @bianca_nobilo | @drchrisharding | @CafeBrownie2 | @piersmorgan

The History of the Samurai

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Taiko drumming at the opening reception for @britishmuseum’s fantastic new Samurai exhibition. Already picked up a five-star review in The Guardian. Congrats!
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The ‘fail fast’ approach to tech innovation didn’t start with Silicon Valley. After WWII, former Imperial Japanese Navy researchers hung around in a leaky Tokyo shack, building a 35-kg tape recorder that it turned out no-one wanted. Then along came the transistor... Link in bio
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UK serving as a cautionary tale in Japan right now...
Jeffrey J. Hall 🇯🇵🇺🇸
@mrjeffuJan 21
Amid pre-election talk from opposition parties and Prime Minister Takaichi about cutting taxes, one Japanese news program noted that cutting taxes without securing new sources of funding for the government could result in a "Japanese Truss Shock."
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Enjoyed this chat with @NewStatesman. Full conversation here: youtube.com/watch?v=HmRJlzR7….

Is today’s Japan a success or a failure? | The New Society

Tokyo is that most modern of cities: a microchipped metropolis wher...

youtube.com
The New Statesman
@NewStatesmanJan 20
Can foreigners “become” Japanese? @drchrisharding says it’s an uphill climb…
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I wonder whether a spell in a Japanese prison might have yielded an interesting song or two...?
Jeffrey J. Hall 🇯🇵🇺🇸
@mrjeffuJan 16
Today is the 46th anniversary of the Japanese arrest of Paul McCartney. He arrived at Narita Airport with about half a pound of marijuana in his suitcase. He was deported without facing formal criminal charges that could've resulted in a prison sentence.
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Fun to speak to BBC History Extra about Emperor Hirohito... out now.
HistoryExtra@HistoryExtraJan 13
On the podcast | Christopher Harding explores the life story of Hirohito, the emperor who reigned over Japan during World War Two and the decades of postwar transition that followed
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If you're struggling with your new year's resolutions, take heart: philosophy and neuroscience agree that goals don't make sense Try a version of Japanese 'kaizen' instead: continuous improvement Swap your goal for a horizon and find incremental changes to match Link in Bio
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Chris Harding retweeted
The Syllabus@syllabus_tweetsJan 8
Japan’s leap from isolation to “miracle nation” is messier than nostalgia allows. Opening with Japan’s encounter with Western power, our podcast of the week surveys the long history of the nation’s modernization. With @drchrisharding on @smartcookiespod buff.ly/py4RL6g
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Happy New Year, when it arrives! Here's a piece I wrote about how Japan sees in the new year...
Engelsberg Ideas
@EngelsbergIdeas31 Dec 2025
How Japan marks the turning of the year | @drchrisharding engelsbergideas.com/notebook…

How Japan marks the turning of the year

New Year is the time when Japan’s Shinto underpinnings really reveal themselves, in rituals of forgetting, purification, and beginning again.

engelsbergideas.com
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Looking forward to this - come along if you’re nearby!
Royal Asiatic Society@RAS_Soc29 Dec 2025
Our first lecture of 2026 will take place on 8 Jan (Thu), featuring cultural historian Dr Christopher Harding @drchrisharding as he revisits the first century of encounters between Japan and Europe. Details: tinyurl.com/ras-260108
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Really enjoyed this conversation!
The Smart Cookies Podcast@smartcookiespod21 Dec 2025
From Samurai to Shinkansen - how did JAPAN become a global superpower in just a short few decades? And why is it stagnating today? Check the thrilling conversation with the eminent historian of Japan @drchrisharding HERE 👇🏻🎌 youtu.be/prqPJ4_jdaU
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Against a backdrop of North Korean nuclearisation, China's rise & Trump’s transactionalism, PM Takaichi will review Japan's three non-nuclear principles. An anonymous source inside her Office suggested Japan may need its own deterrent. Is the nuclear taboo fading? Link in bio
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How do you train an AI on a language where this sentence is perfectly normal: Because already finished, gave book. (Mō owatta kara, hon o ageta) Humans resolve the meaning instantly using context. AI doesn’t — and that turns out to matter a lot for Japan’s AI ambitions.
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Full essay 👉 link in bio
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As America prepares to commemorate Pearl Harbor this weekend, Chinese strategists are no doubt studying it: could a gambit like that work, in East Asia? Japan, China and Taiwan in 2026: this week’s Substack post. chrishardingjapan.com/p/taiw… @mhonna_kygo
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Japan is losing more than 2,000 people every day to population decline. Is automation the answer? This week's Substack post: chrishardingjapan.com/p/can-…
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