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Japanophilic as he is, my favorite author William Gibson, the godfather of “cyberspace,” deftly incorporated the concept of “Thomasson” into his fourth novel Virtual Light (1993). This novel describes what could have happened to the post-earthquake San Francisco Bay Bridge in 2005; the incredibly huge earthquake "the Little Grande" helped close to traffic the Bay Bridge linking San Francisco and Oakland, letting ex-hippies and former homeless storm the very bridge space and build themselves a new self-governing community therein. Carefully observing the psychedelic outlook of the junk art bridge, Mr. Yamazaki, a young sociologist from Osaka University, finds there the heritage of post-Flower Renaissance culture merging with the essence of Japanese Neo-Dadaistic art form "Thomasson," as its guru Genpei Akasegawa called it:

Thomasson was an American baseball player, very handsome, very powerful.  He went to the Yomiuri Giants in 1982, for a large sum of money. Then it was discovered that he could not hit the ball.   The writer Gempei Akasegawa appropriated his name to describe certain useless and inexplicable monuments, pointless yet curiously artlike features of the urban landscape.  But the term has subsequently taken on other shades of meaning.  If you wish, I can access and translate today's definitions in our Gendai Yogo no Kisochishiki, that is, The Basic Knowledge of Modern Times. (Virtual Light, chapter 6 "The Bridge," 64-65)

In retrospect, Gibson has long been obsessed with neologism, without which his cyberpunk fiction could not have appealed to the wider audience. Herein lies radical ambivalence; while Gibsonian neologism makes his fiction unintelligible on the surface, his world is carefully constructed by unfamiliar terms that has long captured the readers’ imagination: Lo Teks, Simstim (Simulated Stimulation), Meatpuppet, Arcology, Sprawl, Cyberspace Cowboy, ICE (Intrusion Countermeasure Electronics), Icebreaker and so forth. Likewise, he mystifies the Anglo-American audience of Virtual Light by drawing an analogy between the Japanese esoteric concept of “Thomasson” and the essence of San Francisco Bay Bridge metamorphosed into something else.

I started this blog with the novel, not only because Hayakawa’s pocketbook edition of Virtual Light with my new afterword has just been out in April, 2026, but also because I find it necessary for us to compile something like The Basic Knowledge of Modern Times in view of our school, which could well be entitled “A Glossary of Keio Academy of New York” or “An Encyclopedia of Keio Academy of New York” or simply “Konypedia.”

To tell the truth, when I started serving as headmaster of the school in January 2022, I became busy learning its jargon from walking dictionaries around me: NHS (National Honor Society), NYSAIS (New York State Association of Independent Schools), K12 (Kindergarten through 12^th grade) , roomy, peer tutor, varsity sports/house sports and so forth. From another perspective, the very concept of “Ikkan Kyoiku” (Keio’s integrated educational system) sounds enigmatic to North American teachers and educators who have never seen a gigantic system like Keio sustaining a couple of elementary schools, three junior high schools, five high schools and ten university-level faculties. Fukuzawa sensei’s ideas also need full annotations in the context of transpacific context: “Dokuritsu Jison” (Moral Independence and Self-Reliance), “Hangaku Hankyo” (Learning while Teaching, Teaching while Learning), “Shachu Kyoryoku” (Collaboration within the Company) and so on.

What matters most is how to abbreviate the name of our school. Although the abbreviation of our school as KANY seems natural enough in the United States, Keio students prefer KONY to KANY: https://www.keiony.jp/about.php?utype=pc&lang=ja&page=regulation.

Why?　The answer is simple. “KO” of “KONY” refers to the Chinese characters”慶應”: “KO” should be pronounced as “Keio,” “KONY” as “Keio New York.”  Note that the 1960s saw even the Chinese characters “慶應“being simplified and grafted onto western alphabets. Hence a linguistic mutant or chimera nicknamed as “Gebaji” (characters of violence [Gewalt]) invented and employed by the spokesmen of the student movement, especially the leaders of “Zengakuren” (All-Japan Federation of Student Government Associations).　Therefore, it is very natural that at the 35^th anniversary reception of Keio Academy of New York Alumni Association its directors included a quiz game: “How do you spell the name of the teacher of geography?” “How many headmasters were there before Dr. Takayuki Tatsumi?” etc.

Of course, I would like to make the most of the concept of “academy,” because its signifier hovers between high school and research institute ambiguously and beautifully. Therefore, whenever we emphasize the aspect of “academy,” we spell the name in full: “Keio Academy of New York.” Don’t abbreviate it.   

I have a dream that all the students, alumni, alumnae, faculty and staff of Keio Academy of New York will one day speculate on the jargon of our school and join forces to compile a digital glossary useful not only for its members but also for whoever is interested in the growth of Triculture. You should feel free to revise and expand this glossary as you like it. I feel convinced that this future project will further enrich our Purchase life.