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Steve McCarty 🇯🇵

@SteveMcCarty@hcommons.social

hometown 4.5.14+hometown-1.2.1

Retired full Professor and Government Lecturer on Japan. Born in Boston, living between Ōsaka and Kyōto. Founded the NPO World Association for Online Education in 1998. 2024-2027: Digital Education working group for the EU-funded Indo-Pacific European Hub for Digital Partnerships. 637+ Google Scholar citations to 255 publications on Online Education, Bilingualism, Japan, and the Academic Life, nearly all (see below) open access (searchable 🦣 #fedi22) starting from https://japanned.hcommons.org

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Joined November 10, 2022

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Steve McCarty 🇯🇵 @SteveMcCarty@hcommons.social · Jul 15, 2026

Recent travels started with my wife's home city of Nagoya, going to a Buddhist temple ceremony with my mother-in-law. The first photo shows the pagoda of Nittaiji (日泰寺), which means Japan-Thailand Temple, with a giant lotus. The second photo is of Nagoya Port (名古屋港). Another trip was staying at two hotels in Kyōto, which wasn't necessary because we live nearby, but my wife and her Nagoya friend wanted to enjoy the amenities and talk. I see a possible new trend, since the last 3 hotels we've stayed at had times for various free snacks and drinks, so we didn't need to eat out after the breakfast buffet. It is surprising because the hotels were inexpensive and food and alcohol are relatively expensive. The third photo, from our hotel roof, shows the pagoda of Tōji (東寺) with Shinkansen trains running in front of it. At the Shintō shrine Imamiya Jinja (今宮神社), my wife's friends wanted to eat the sweet mochi shown in the fourth photo. #Japan #Nagoya #Kyoto #religion #hotels #photography

Steve McCarty 🇯🇵 @SteveMcCarty@hcommons.social · Mar 05, 2026

Recently I brought an Indian university teacher friend to Yodo (淀) in southeastern Kyōto Prefecture, but we were a little early for the unusual early-blossoming Kawazu-zakura (河津桜). So I just went back, and those cherry blossoms are at their finest. There was a pretty young woman, probably a cosplaying East Asian tourist, letting everyone take her photo. It seems like this spot, although little-known in Japan, is talked about in China. It's a sort of game for us local residents to figure out which women are maiko (young geisha), other Japanese (who may also be cosplaying their own tradition, often couples with a man also in traditional garb), or are they tourists who went to a kimono shop for the basics or the more expensive maiko course with white make-up down to their necks. My wife is sure she can always spot who is what, and I have unconfirmed confidence, too.

Publications on Japan: https://japanned.hcommons.org/japanology

#Japan #Kyoto #cherry #blossoms #culture #travel #photography #photos