Greetings from the other side of something. Lots of changes these last months, and so here is what they are. I have retired from one position, begun another informal position, and moved from Japan to the US.
As a professor at the Hiroshima Peace Institute, which is part of Hiroshima City University, I was a civil servant working for the city government of Hiroshima. As such, I had to retire when I turned 65, which was this last winter. So I retired from my position there at the end of March and have since been appointed professor emeritus at the Hiroshima Peace Institute and Hiroshima City University.
At the Hiroshima Peace Institute with my friend Togzhan Kassenova's book Atomic Steppe
As we lived in faculty housing, we also had to be out of our home at the end of March 2025. Since we had long planned to return to the US and not to retire in Japan, the time was upon us. So we left our wonderful home in Hiroshima, where both Carol and I each lived the longest of any house in our lives, and are now back in America.
Our home in Hiroshima
Also, as of April 2025 I have begun an appointment as a visiting professorial fellow in the School of Humanities and Languages at the University of New South Wales. The appointment is for three years, and it is non-residential and non-paid. I am happy to be engaged in a number of projects with colleagues at UNSW and look forward to sharing that work with you here.
We have moved to Portland, Oregon, Carol’s hometown. Portland is just lovely, especially in the spring. It is strange to be back in America after two decades but it also feels important to be in America right now. We remain deeply tied to Hiroshima, our second home.
I have several book chapters coming out in the next months, and also several online and in person talks. Now that the formalities of retirement and moving are behind me, I will be much more attentive here to posting and discussing things. The first of the talks will be on June 11 for the Atomic Photographers Guild. I’ll post about that soon.
With Carol at my retirement Final Lecture at Hiroshima City University (6 Feb 2025)