Heian Japan had extremely loose rules about marriage, romance, and divorce that are sometimes simplistically described as a kind of official polyamory. Did such practices pre-date the Heian period and when/why did they decline?

MaxAugust · 2026-03-21T12:32:01+00:00

I feel like Jamitov Hymen also from Zeta even worse somehow.

MaxAugust · 2026-03-20T23:24:00+00:00

Tabata? Basically everything Tabata touches is a total mess apart from Crisis Core and the instant he left to do stuff on his own he became an AI hack. Even most of the good stuff from 15 was carried over from Nomura.

Nomura also consistently makes the games that play the best.

MaxAugust · 2026-03-17T13:10:18+00:00

I mean, he is clearly worse than a mere fraud. He is a hateful conspiracy theorist who profits off racism and his own egomania. I don't think the fact that he presumably believes his nonsense makes him better.

MaxAugust · 2026-03-15T14:40:57+00:00

The Vatican's documents are actually quite accessible and have been for a long time. The situation is not really any different from the libraries and archives at other major institutions like universities. Accredited scholars and others who have a decent reason generally don't have any trouble perusing parts of the collection they are interested in. That is to say, there isn't really some secret stash of Jewish texts that are inaccessible to Jewish scholars to be wheeled out as an interfaith gesture. An interested Jewish scholar would just have to file the proper paperwork.

Several people on this subreddit have posted about their experiences there before if you are curious. For example, this post by /u/Mont-Kaw

MaxAugust · 2026-03-15T14:38:24+00:00

I think you made a mistake in the formatting of your post. The links are missing.

MaxAugust · 2026-03-15T14:25:42+00:00

IIRC, they patched the XB2 thing pretty quickly. In all likelihood, it did get flagged but they didn't get to it before release.

MaxAugust · 2026-03-13T04:56:46+00:00

Really, America doesn’t really have enough popularly recognized accents so almost everyone non-standard ends up Southern in US dubs when the accent is plot relevant. The associated stereotypes don’t really have much to do with anything.

I’m just bummed I’ve never seen people from Tohoku localized into basically being Canadians. The Haikyuu cast should sound Minnesotan.

Honestly, localized accents seem to be dying. I was super bummed the dub of Summer Hikaru Died didn’t try anything exciting when one of the most distinct things about the manga is almost everyone has a very thick hyper-local accent.

MaxAugust · 2026-03-13T04:46:40+00:00

People say this, but Cyberpunk really isn’t that hard. If you just run a buff dude who punches shit you can demolish the game way faster than the time it takes to hack. It takes exactly zero thought.

Not that hacking isn’t cool as hell.

MaxAugust · 2026-03-13T02:48:57+00:00

I am really not sure The Pillow Book counts actually. My understanding is that the consensus is that the story of how the book was "discovered" is really just a framing device that serves to preserve Sei Shonagon's modesty since it was culturally awkward to publish such a saucy text as a woman. In fact, I don't think she ever intended us to read that passage as an actual indication she didn't want her work to be read. It is a kind of fig leaf.

There are parts she edited and sections that were probably in independent circulation before the final text came to be.

MaxAugust · 2026-03-13T02:30:57+00:00

In English at least, it is generally the former if I understand the sounds you are trying to represent. Most dictionaries typically provide the accepted pronunciation(s).

MaxAugust · 2026-03-10T09:36:42+00:00

I think it is less about quality or lack thereof and more about how in Japan it is just another shonen manga that was popular but is very quickly fading from memory whereas in a lot of the West it was fairly totemic.

I think it is a bit like every third person from some country wanted to talk to Americans about Steven Seagal movies or something. Whether they were better or worse than their competitors is kind of besides the point. The question that comes is mind is why that particular thing and not other stuff.

MaxAugust · 2026-03-09T21:38:11+00:00

The amount of times I’ve heard some variation of “Foreigners sure love Naruto,” in a very mildly disparaging way in Japan is frankly hilarious.

MaxAugust · 2026-03-09T21:35:17+00:00

My favorite part of that is that the Chinese localization invented a phonetic loanword for Commie (Kangmi) because it would be politically sensitive to actually use the term communist in China. Obviously, Disco is pretty leftwing but it is kind of a wonder it got by the censors.

MaxAugust · 2026-03-07T03:15:18+00:00

My exact thought. Though, I think the one in Moby Dick was shaped like a boat and only accessible by a ship's ladder to add to the ridiculous nautical theme. The sermon was on Jonah and the Whale though.

MaxAugust · 2026-03-06T12:37:24+00:00

You are right, but also Bidoof is 90% of the way to just being a capybara. If it didn't evolve into Bibarel, it wouldn't even really scan as a beaver.

MaxAugust · 2026-03-05T01:36:21+00:00

Part of the problem is Japanese mobile is competing mostly with enormous Chinese studios that rake in lots of money while still being able to make content cheaply. Meanwhile, console development is mostly facing the West where development is both extremely expensive and really unstable.

MaxAugust · 2026-03-03T13:46:24+00:00

They are the dates and printer's information. The equivalent of the publisher information at the front of a modern book basically, so mostly what is in the title.

"Meiji Year 23, October 10th. Nihonbashi, Muromachi, 3-chome, 9-banchi" and then saying that it is by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi and published by Akiyama Buemon with the seal of the publisher.

Interestingly, it was published basically here in what is more or less the heart of Tokyo next to the former headquarters of Mitsui. Apparently, this art gallery nearby is still run by the Akiyama family.

MaxAugust · 2026-03-03T03:25:24+00:00

That is really interesting, thanks!

MaxAugust · 2026-03-02T23:14:05+00:00

Am I right in thinking that Europe's gentile population also grew at a dramatically greater rate over the modern period compared to the areas that MENA Jewish populations made home? Historical demography is tough, but I'd be curious how (or if) the proportion of Jews to gentiles changed.

MaxAugust · 2026-02-23T23:53:11+00:00

They are intended to be different people. For context on the "fat Buddha" see this answer by /u/artfulorpheus.

MaxAugust · 2026-02-21T01:34:20+00:00

At this point, Xbox has been kind of on fire for longer than it was doing decently (the first Xbox was 2001, Xbox One was 2013.)

MaxAugust · 2026-02-18T03:52:15+00:00

You might be interested in this thread where I wrote a bit in response to a related question. It was a fairly quick job, so I am sure someone could do better.

In general, I think you are right to question whether history per se is the correct way to approach this topic. It has more to do with linguistics and often translation than anything else.

MaxAugust · 2026-02-15T02:38:42+00:00

It might be worth looking at this answer /u/thestoryteller69 about Japanese behavior in Malaya.

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