Professor @UniOslo. Religion, heritage, environment in ๐ป๐ณ๐ฏ๐ต๐. Author of Shinto, Nature and Ideology in Contemporary Japan (2017). PI @WhoP_UiO. ๐๐ช๐บ
Aug 26, 2022 โข 38 tweets โข 19 min read
This summer, I did research in Japan on whale festivals, rituals, and graves.๐ณ
Human-whale relations in Japan are historically characterised by great diversity. Whales have been seen as divine gifts, as natural resources, as gods, and as symbols of local or national identity.
๐งต
In Japan, images of whales are everywhere. For instance here, in Yobuko, Saga prefecture (Kyushu) - a fishing town with a prominent whaling industry during the Edo period (17th-19th C). These two beautiful, brand-new whale floats are waiting for their first festival, this autumn.
Dec 8, 2021 โข 10 tweets โข 4 min read
Intriguing front cover: a shrine grove (้ฎๅฎใฎๆฃฎ) in the midst of a flood. Good visual metaphor: Shinto-derived aesthetic environmentalism doesn't help against climate change. The popular myth that Japanese traditional culture offers solutions for living sustainably is unfounded.
We all know what's needed: corporations must stop burning fossil fuels asap; national governments must stop subsidising them. #Japan is addicted to fossil fuels; its environmental track record is poor. #Shinto is aesthetically appealing, but useless in the face of climate change.
Jul 26, 2021 โข 13 tweets โข 6 min read
The World Heritage Committee of @UNESCO has its 44th meeting, hosted by Fuzhou (PRC) but taking place mostly online. It hasn't received as much media attention as previous meetings, but those of us who study the politics of heritage-making will follow it with great interest. (1)
Interesting that the WHC has decided to inscribe Amami-Oshima, Tokunoshima, Yanbaru forest (Okinawa) and Iriomote in the Ryukyu Islands (#Japan) as Natural World Heritage. A previous application was unsuccessful; the new one more convincing, apparently.(2) english.kyodonews.net/news/2021/07/fโฆ
Feb 25, 2021 โข 14 tweets โข 4 min read
If an EU/EEA government (like Norway) closes its borders and prohibits non-resident EU citizens from entering, it violates our right of free movement. The problem is not obligatory testing and quarantine; it's that people are not allowed entry EVEN IF they test and quarantine.(1)
I am shocked by the ease and eagerness with which many Norwegian politicians, journalists and ordinary citizens accept this violation of the right of free movement. "Close the borders", people on the left and right have been shouting for months, and they got what they wanted. (2)
