With spring in full swing there’s no better time than any to have another Nerd Nite Kyushu. The theme for this event is “Trying something new.” April and the spring season brings all sorts of new things to the surface and we all look forward to the new year ahead. We’re trying something new as well by hosting our next event at a brand new venue: Fukuoka Haunted House. Located a stones throw away from Ohori Park, Fukuoka Haunted House is a venue of many talents. From board games to music, to meetups and marchés—and of course the occasional haunted house—Fukuoka Haunted House has everything you can ask for in a place to share a drink with nerds. Join us May 24 (Sun) from 18:00 for another evening of nerdy talks by nerdy people.
Where
Entry fee: ￥1000 (comes with a drink ticket)
入場料: ￥1000 (ドリンクチケット付き)
Speakers
Go West, Young Punks? Student Radicals, DIY Ethics, and the Making of Kyoto’s Punk Underground
by Ran Zwigenberg
Intro
Kyoto is better known for temple bells than smashed guitars but in the late 1970s it became one of Japan’s most fertile punk and noise hubs. This talk traces how punk emerged not as a rupture but as a creative reworking of campus radicalism, focusing on Kyoto University’s Seibu Kōdō live space and bands such as the Les Rallizes Dénudés, the SS, Hijokaidan, and SOB. We will see how building on radical and autonomous spaces, organizational practices, and a DIY ethos forged in earlier student movements, Kyoto’s punks created a durable scene that both rejected and inadvertently inherited the legacy of the 1960s. Punk, this talk argues, was radicalism’s loud and unlikely afterlife.
Bio
Ran Zwigenberg is Professor of History at Pennsylvania State University. His research focuses on modern Japanese and European history. He has taught and lectured in the United States, Europe, and Japan, and has published widely on war memory, atomic energy, psychiatry, heritage, counter culture, and survivor politics. His books include Hiroshima: The Origins of Global Memory Culture (Cambridge, 2014), winner of the 2016 AAS John W. Hall Book Award, Nuclear Minds (Chicago, 2023), and co‑authored works on Japanese castles (Cambridge, 2016) and Japanese punk music (Bloomsbury, 2025).
Before Google Maps: 30 Years of Foreign Media in Fukuoka
by Nick Szasz
Intro
Before smartphones, social media, and Google Maps, living in Fukuoka as a foreigner required curiosity, patience, and often a good paper map. In this talk, Fukuoka Now founder Nick Szasz shares stories and lessons from more than 30 years building media for international residents and visitors in Japan, from floppy disk magazines and dial-up bulletin boards to print publishing, events, tourism media, newsletters, and AI-era content. Along the way: how foreign communities changed, how local media survived disruption, and why trust, curation, and human connection may matter more now than ever.
Bio
Before launching Fukuoka Now in 1998, he created Kyushu’s first English monthly magazine, RADAR, as well as early digital community projects including a floppy disk multimedia magazine and dial-up bulletin board system. He remains active in tourism, media, and international community initiatives, and currently serves as chairperson of the Fukuoka International Business Association and as a Cool Japan Producer with the Cabinet Office Intellectual Property Secretariat.
