Daniel Morales

Just sent out the September newsletter. I looked at the very curious をかわる construction and wrote about how I learned what it means. It took having a child for it to truly sink in. newsletter.howtojapanese.com/kawaru/

I’m still chasing the high of reading @danielpinkwater.bsky.social as a preteen.

Is anyone taking any actions to secure their digital lives after this PHP stuff? Fortunately my host updated everything, so I’m set there. But are folks changing passwords, etc? I guess I should do so for any of the Japanese services that were targeted. But I don’t have shared passwords…

Newsletter and blog post are locked and loaded. Just need to find time to record the podcast and I'll send them out in the next week. Sign up here to get my monthly newsletter in your inbox: newsletter.howtojapanese.com

Are you fucking kidding me

Looks like today is one of the last warm days in Osaka. Fall temps from tomorrow.

I think I will basically not be sending anything home going forward.

I'm surprised it isn't making more waves yet, but as of October 15, all packages to the US from Japan Post have to be processed through an app called Zonos to pay tariffs. This app requires the sender to submit photos of every item, and their AI then calculates the value. Zonos collects the tariff.

Based on their public comments, NYT leaders view the kind of insider details discovered by Haberman and others as essential to understanding Trump. I don't think that's correct. Public documents (Project 2025) and events (Jan 6, DOGE) to me describe this presidency better than insider accounts.

November ‘26 will bring multiple master classes for literary translators able to get to Tokyo! Sam Malissa has a workshop at Waseda on November 11, and David Boyd and Asa Yoneda will headline a workshop held by #SCBWI #Japan on November 21: www.scbwi.org/events/scbwi...

Had 黒糖 and 昆布 ice cream at MUJI Coffee in Grand Front. Apparently the Ginza location is the only other one that roasts its own beans.

I've been immersed in research on Reconstruction in Lousiana and it's a very difficult truth to absorb that the white terrorist movement in the South was among the most successful terrorist movements in global history. Took 10 years but it won a total & complete victory through murder and atrocity.

5 months into this project and it only clicks TODAY that the "KY" term the team uses actually stands for 危険予知 (kiken yochi, hazard prediction) not 空気読む (reading the room). I shall hang my head in linguistic shame for the next 5 minutes.

There's a famous quote to the effect of "You write down your ideas to understand them yourself / to know what you think. You revise your writing so others understand them / that as well." Does anybody know me the source / original formulation?

Don Quijote parent company buys Toys R Us. I wonder if this is the eventual end for the toy store. mainichi.jp/english/arti...

Workshop opportunity (w Sam Malissa) for aspiring Japanese-English translators who can be in-person in Tokyo on Nov. 11. Deadline to apply is Oct. 9. Participation is free for those admitted 😍 www.waseda.jp/culture/wihl...

Impeach Hegseth.

Send Stephen Miller to The Hague.

"Obama tried to freeze Fox out" is a complete lie and it's incredible that Jake Tapper feels the need to both-sides this

Speaking of which, 8-4 likely to be looking for contract help soon (local). Will post about it whenever I have more info.

Some pilots are part of the furry community

“I’m Japanese!” 😂

If you're old and alone in Japan, good luck if you also rent. bit.ly/4rtY44h #老人賃貸

Extremely depressing news :/ Have to wonder if this eventually affects the price of used books here, which is generally very low.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution did a long video on the connections between the history of denim production in Georgia and Japanese selvedge denim www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JSp...

Potentially the last 30 degree day of the year in Osaka?

Weird request here, but does anyone have a copy of this lying around? I'm writing a blog piece on the history of English swearing being used in Japanese, and I really want to find out what the heck a ファックしょうん is.

The new Fire Emblem seems like an LQA/QA nightmare.

Just want to warn you guys that I'm in a state of recursive self-improvement. Given a long enough timeline, I will be extremely dangerous to everyone.

Pretty ramshackle clothing offerings at 711. Feels like a desperate attempt to out-Famima Famima. “Whoops” feels like the appropriate brand name for this accidental smorgasbord.