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Tobias Harris

@tobiasharris

Japanese politics analyst; author of The Iconoclast: Shinzō Abe and the New Japan; Chicago-born Cubs fan now living in DC; marathoner; RHP + IF ⚾ Substack: Observingjapan.substack.com. Business: www.japanforesight.com

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27.03.2023
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Latest posts by Tobias Harris @tobiasharris

Needless to say, elites demand blood sacrifices to Eldritch gods has a bit more versimilitude.

11.03.2026 12:17 👍 5 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

2) I think some of the best stories that play in his sandbox are those that flip things so that it is elites who call upon Eldritch horrors, not the "decadent lower orders" or primitive tribes (thinking of The Invisibles, Stross etc)

11.03.2026 12:04 👍 10 🔁 1 💬 1 📌 0

I've been revisiting Lovecraft again with my kids and two thoughts occur to me:

1) It's amazing how HPL's terrors of other races produced stories that seem better suited for the nuclear age, which began eight years after he died (the very fabric of the universe turned against human life);

11.03.2026 12:04 👍 14 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0

Well, if someone was going to make a ballgame out of it, at least it was PCA. (Extend him Rickettses)

11.03.2026 03:26 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Mexico knocking out the US - favorite against the entire field - would also be very funny.

11.03.2026 02:58 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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11.03.2026 02:54 👍 11 🔁 1 💬 1 📌 0

Italy 7, USA 0 is very funny to me.

11.03.2026 02:53 👍 19 🔁 0 💬 2 📌 0

BIS STALIN! ::flings pencils::

11.03.2026 02:40 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Also, if the US requests Japan's presence they should say, But Colby says we need to focus on security in the first island chain

11.03.2026 01:27 👍 8 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

During Trump I, S Korea got fucked up by China for deploying THAAD while the US stood pat oblivious. During Trump II, the THAAD got moved to the Middle East for a war that serves less than zero strategic purpose for US.

Is it a surprise that more people are asking what the point of the alliance is?

11.03.2026 00:47 👍 18 🔁 5 💬 0 📌 0

If the US Navy isn't doing it, I guess Japan doesn't have to worry about getting a request it's not prepared to fulfill.

10.03.2026 23:37 👍 24 🔁 2 💬 1 📌 0
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Idiot plot

10.03.2026 17:19 👍 3301 🔁 783 💬 49 📌 51
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Takaichi avoids commitments on Iran war | Japan Daily Briefing Watchful waiting as Japan brings nationals home and tries to mediate

Tokyo avoids strong positions on the war in the Middle East. Opposition parties are trying to pressure the government on debt issuance. More details on the growth strategy. Plus: a political setback and falling approval for Takaichi.

open.substack.com/pub/observin...

10.03.2026 20:38 👍 12 🔁 3 💬 0 📌 0
Preview
Takaichi avoids commitments on Iran war | Japan Daily Briefing Watchful waiting as Japan brings nationals home and tries to mediate

Tokyo avoids strong positions on the war in the Middle East. Opposition parties are trying to pressure the government on debt issuance. More details on the growth strategy. Plus: a political setback and falling approval for Takaichi.

open.substack.com/pub/observin...

10.03.2026 20:38 👍 12 🔁 3 💬 0 📌 0

I'm at the point where using "lib" as a pejorative is basically grounds for an instant block

10.03.2026 13:35 👍 4 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0

This is the first I've heard of this but just why

10.03.2026 12:30 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

That's awful and one of my nightmares.

10.03.2026 11:57 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Seriously though, it's the stepping on Legos of eating,

10.03.2026 11:28 👍 3 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Wishcasting all the way down

10.03.2026 02:13 👍 78 🔁 5 💬 3 📌 0

New elder millennial problems: when you bite into a prune that still has a pit in it.

09.03.2026 22:07 👍 15 🔁 0 💬 2 📌 0

"Only in Japan did America gain the peace our arms had won, because Douglas MacArthur-a throwback to the statesmanship of common sense-kept Washington's wise men and the Soviets at bay in Tokyo"

Tell me you know literally nothing about how the US approach to Japan unfolded without telling me.

09.03.2026 17:07 👍 31 🔁 3 💬 1 📌 0

The response rate figures for the new Kyodo poll are hilarious.

Landlines: 490 calls placed, 423 answered. 86.3% response rate
Mobile: 3892 calls placed, 631 answered. 16.2% response rate

09.03.2026 15:21 👍 10 🔁 1 💬 3 📌 0
Preview
Polling data This data will be regularly updated and accessible to all subscribers.

Takaichi government approval ratings, ten-day weighted moving average, 9 March

APPROVE 63%
DISAPPROVE 25.1%

Adjusted for pollster biases

APPROVE 63.4%
DISAPPROVE 26.5%

More information on methodology here: observingjapan.substack.com/p/tracking-t...

09.03.2026 14:26 👍 12 🔁 2 💬 1 📌 0

Trump's "back to the 1980s" time warp strikes again.

09.03.2026 02:37 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
09.03.2026 01:49 👍 237 🔁 29 💬 1 📌 3
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Now down more than JPY 4000

09.03.2026 01:47 👍 10 🔁 2 💬 2 📌 1
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a young boy is sitting in front of a group of people . ALT: a young boy is sitting in front of a group of people .

The whole world is living in that Twilight Zone, "It's a good life." More specifically, we're the villagers living in fear of the most special little boy.

09.03.2026 00:20 👍 24 🔁 1 💬 1 📌 0
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Nikkei opens down 3000

09.03.2026 00:18 👍 48 🔁 16 💬 3 📌 5

Yeah, that's true. And then they returned again.

08.03.2026 16:30 👍 4 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Shouldn't it be four? (Clinton after the Iran-Contra boys)

08.03.2026 16:22 👍 7 🔁 0 💬 2 📌 0