Dispatches from Post-growth Japan

Living at human and artificial scale

On small places, and what AI displaces but cannot replace

Mar 25 • Sam Holden

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January 2026

Yes, you should go to Nagasaki

What makes the NYT travel pick such a special city

Jan 24 • Sam Holden

47

9

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Sento and saunas

Community commons and consumer choices are not the same thing

Jan 3 • Sam Holden

36

5

2

November 2025

The Line was the zenith of our age of insanity

Look on my works ye Mighty, and despair!

Nov 22, 2025 • Sam Holden

30

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A roof in the rain

Five years of Labyrinth, Substack subscriptions, and Onomichi cat calendars

Nov 3, 2025 • Sam Holden

16

1

October 2025

Osaka Airbnb-ification

Post-growth gentrification in the expo city

Oct 22, 2025 • Sam Holden

59

17

9

September 2025

Is the best tech for learning Japanese 20 years old?

I miss the cognitive friction of my old electronic dictionary

Sep 2, 2025 • Sam Holden

28

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August 2025

Is a city alive?

From the rights of nature to the right to the city

Aug 22, 2025 • Sam Holden

25

6

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June 2025

Why Tokyo bikes more than NYC

It’s not more bike lanes. It’s the absence of cars

Jun 19, 2025 • Sam Holden

35

9

6

Labyrinth House pre-opening

Our new urban commons opens its doors in Onomichi

Jun 5, 2025 • Sam Holden

25

April 2025

Transit and techno-futurism

When new tech arrives, what other futures does America lose in its embrace?

Apr 21, 2025 • Sam Holden

35

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5

March 2025

A little house in the ruins of Tokyo

Remembering an old visitor on the 80th anniversary of the firebombing

Mar 10, 2025 • Sam Holden

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