Tsurumi Rail Accident Memorial

As part of my research for the article on modifications are made to public transportation accidents, I have visited a number of memorials around Japan (and some outside of Japan). Not all of these became a part of that study due to specific parameters of the study (detailed in the article). But there are also…

Revisiting The Fukuchiyama Line Derailment Memorial

Today, 25 April 2023, is the 18th anniversary of the Fukuchiyama Line Derailment. As I noted in a previous post about the crash and memorial, after the JL123 crash, this accident and memorial is the next one that I have studied and visited the most. During my January trip to Japan, I had the opportunity…

The Higashi-Ikebukuro Runaway Car Accident Memorial

As part of my research about the JL123 crash and then my article on modifications made to public transportation accidents, I visited a number of memorials around Japan.  Although I am currently working on a number of other projects, when an opportunity arises, I continue to visit relevant memorials. For example, in June 2022, I visited…

Reflecting on a Research Trip to Paris: The Paris Catacombs

Last week I took a two-day trip to Paris for research. There were a number of elements to the trip, and I am going to do a series of posts relating to each of them and this is the third (after the one about my visit to the National Library of France (Bibliothèque nationale de…

Reflecting on a Research Trip to Paris: The Concorde Memorials

Last week I took a two-day trip to Paris for research. There were a number of elements to the trip, and I am going to do a series of posts relating to each of them and this is the second (after the one about my visit to the National Library of France (Bibliothèque nationale de…

Lucky Photography – New York

I’ve now done a few posts where I have referred to ‘lucky photography‘ – those times when I was primarily doing something else and just happened to be in the right place at the right time to get at least one interesting photo. This post is about a completely different type of luck, as it…

Book Review: “The Retreat” by Mark Edwards

I read a lot. But I rarely read novels more than once – unless, like Climber’s High (or Seventeen as it was translated into English) for example, it’s related to my research. Novels are, by definition, meant to be novel, new. Part of the reasoning for not reading a book more than once is that…

Book Review: “The Hollows” by Mark Edwards – a Confliction Novel

I have just finished reading a review copy of The Hollows, the latest book from Mark Edwards. This is definitely one of my favourites of his – possibly even my favourite. I tend to say The Retreat is my favourite – largely because that it was the first one of his that I read and…

Remembering Flight AA587

Today (12 November 2020) is the 19th anniversary of the flight AA587 accident. For those unfamiliar with the accident, the key points (taken from Wikipedia) are that AA587 was a scheduled international passenger flight from John F. Kennedy International Airport to Las Américas International Airport in Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic. The Airbus A300B4-605R flying the route crashed into the…

“The Impossible” – Brilliant Disaster Movie

In the next of my posts about movies which I studied for my article “Disaster Narratives by Design: Is Japan Different?“, I am writing about The Impossible (J.A. Bayona, 2012). This movie tells the story of one family that got caught up in the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami (also known as the Boxing Day Tsunami…

Printed version of “Developing a Model to Explain Modifications to Public Transportation Accident Memorials” available now

For those who prefer hard copies, the printed version of my article “Developing a Model to Explain Modifications to Public Transportation Accident Memorials” is available now. I just got my own copy. For more information see this page or ‘Developing a Model to Explain Modifications to Public Transportation Accident Memorials’, Mortality (2019). DOI 10.1080/13576275.2019.1702009.

Remembering the Ladbroke Grove Rail Crash

5 October is the anniversary of the Ladbroke Grove Rail Crash in London. For those unfamiliar with the accident, the key points (taken from Wikipedia), the crash (also known as the Paddington rail crash) led to the deaths of 31 people and 417 were injured. It remains one of the worst rail accidents in 20th…