Japanese Life & Culture
Japanese 2750 (CRN 31646)/ Honors 2400 (CRN
31677)
Summer 2 2008 / MW 3:00-5:30 pm
Dr. Jeffrey Angles (jeffrey.angles@wmich.edu)
Office: 518 Sprau Tower, TEL
269-387-3044
Office Hours: MW 2-3 pm or by appt.
http://homepages.wmich.edu/~jangles/courses/2008summer2/jpns2750.htm
GOALS
OF THE CLASS
·
To provide a survey
of Japanese culture and history over the last thousand years through some of
its cultural production (essays, writing, literature, art, film).
·
To provide
students with a survey of the various periods of Japanese history.
·
To show Japan's many cultural
transformations in the modern period.
·
To introduce
students to some of the major genres of Japanese literature and to introduce
several major genres and themes in Japanese art history.
·
To reflect on
the ways that Japanese have reflected their personal, religious, and national
experience through material culture.
·
To encourage
students to develop close reading and empathetic skills.
Photo: YANAGI Yukinori, Amaterasu and Haniwa
(1994)
REQUIRED TEXTS
·
Conrad TOTMAN, Japan Before Perry: A Short History, 25th
anniversary edition (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1981) [ISBN 978-0-520-25407-7].
·
Elise K. TIPTON, Modern
Japan: A Social and Political History, 2nd
edition (NY: Routledge, 2008) [ISBN 978-0-415-41871-3].
·
Jeffrey ANGLES and J. Thomas RIMER (eds.), Japan: A
Traveler’s Literary Companion (Berkeley, Whereabouts Press, 2006) [ISBN 978-1883513160].
·
Other shorter texts will be made available on the library
e-reserve website (http://www.wmich.edu/library/reserves/). See below in the section entitled “Course
Readings & Schedule.”
NOTES ABOUT REQUIRED TEXTS
·
The texts above will also be on 2-hour reserve in Waldo Library.
·
When reading about Japanese history, TAKE NOTES!
Make a chart of personal names and key concepts.
·
When reading Japanese literature, TAKE NOTES on the roles
of characters, setting, and so on. Be sure to read for for detail.
Characterization is often found in detail, setting, and social role.
·
The instructor has designed this course on the assumption
that students do not read Japanese.
GRADING
Grades will be calculated in the following fashion.
- 10% Map exam about Japanese
geography
- 5% Quiz over The Tale of Genji
- 10% Class participation
- 15% Internet
discussion
- 15% Take-home essay
- 20% Midterm exam
- 25% Final exam
The following scale will be used for grades.
·
A 93-100%
·
BA 90-93%
·
B 83-90%
·
CB 80-83%
·
C 73-80%
·
DC 70-73%
·
D 63%-70%
·
E Below
63%
The instructor promises to
have graded essays and other materials to students within two weeks after
students submitted their work.
Grades will be visible at
all times to students by clicking “My Grades” in WebCT Vista.
ABOUT CLASS
PARTICIPATION
The instructor encourages students to ask questions
in class, make comments, and respond to instructor’s questions in class. At the end of the semester, students that
have participated in class by coming regularly, raising their hands, asking
questions, and providing reflections on the material will get full credit for
the class participation portion of their grade (10%). Students
who come to all classes but say
nothing during class will not receive any points for class participation (0%). The reason for this policy is to encourage
you to participate in your own learning.
The more you think about what is being said and react to it, the more
you will get out of the entire experience!
ABOUT INTERNET DISCUSSION
Most weeks, students will be
required to read one short story from the book Japan: A Traveler’s Literary
Companion then to post their thoughts and critical
reactions to it to the WebCT Vista website.
For full credit, students should post at least one paragraph. Postings
are due each week on Monday at noon.
Possible subjects
you might write about:
·
In what ways does the story seem to reflect Japanese
culture?
·
In what ways does the story reflect themes or issues that
we have talked about in class?
·
What images does the story present of the particular
place in Japan
where the story is set?
·
What might be the historical background of this story?
·
What do you think that the author was trying to say in
this story? In other words, what themes
(big messages) do you see in the story?
You are encouraged to include
personal thoughts, but not just simple reactions like “I liked it” or “I
disliked it.” Such simple reactions will not earn any credit. Make
sure that your posting shows that you read the story and thought about it! Students are encouraged to read other
people’s postings and react to them.
How to post
your reaction on WebCT Vista:
·
Go to http://gowmu.wmich.edu and sign in with the same username & password as you do to get your
e-mail.
·
Click “e-learning” at the top of the page. Another browser page should pop-up.
·
Click on “Japanese Life and Culture: JPNS 2750.”
·
Click on “Discussions.”
·
Click on the week that you want to post in.
·
Click “Create message.”
·
Write your posting for the week then click “Post.”
ATTENDANCE
·
You have two excused absences to use as you
wish. If you’re smart, you will save
these for absolute emergencies. Missing
more than three classes will reduce your final grade by 1% off of the overall
final course grade. Please do NOT be
late. Repeated late absences will also
reduce your final grade.
·
If you miss more
than three classes in a row without informing the professors of your status,
they will assume that you have dropped the course.
COURSE READINGS
& SCHEDULE
·
Please regularly
consult the online version of the syllabus at http://homepages.wmich.edu/~jangles/courses/2008summer2/jpns2750.htm
in order to find your course
readings. This is the official version
of the course schedule. Any changes
announced in class will be posted to the course website.
·
You should
complete the readings BEFORE class and come to class ready to discuss
them.
Key to abbreviations in schedule
·
JBP = Conrad TOTMAN, Japan Before Perry: A Short History, 25th
anniversary edition (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1981).
·
MJ= Elise K. TIPTON, Modern
Japan: A Social and Political History, 2nd
edition (NY: Routledge, 2008).
·
JTLC = Jeffrey ANGLES and J. Thomas RIMER (eds.), Japan: A
Traveler’s Literary Companion (Berkeley, Whereabouts Press, 2006).
Readings in purple
in the following chart are available electronically as PDFs
through the electronic course reserves at the library. To access them, go to http://www.wmich.edu/library/reserves/
and create an account (if you don’t have one already). You will then need to search for our class
“Japanese Life & Culture” then add it to your list of classes before you
can access the PDFs.
When adding this class, you will need the password given by your
instructor in class.
|
Week 1
|
6/30
(M)
|
·
Brief introduction to Japanese
geography (Click here for the map the quiz will be over next week.)
|
|
7/2 (W)
|
·
JBP, Chapter 1: “The Beginnings,” pp.
1-17.
·
Thomas P. KASULIS,
"Chapter 1: Entering through the Torii," from Shinto: The Way Home (Honolulu: University of Hawaii
Press, 2004) pp. 8-37 [Available on library
e-reserve webpage. See information
above]
|
|
Week 2
|
7/7 (M)
|
·
Internet discussion due at
noon over JLTC, Hino Keizō,
“Jacob’s Tokyo Ladder,” pp. 1-15 [See instructions in section above about
internet discussion].
·
JBP, Chapter 2: “Classical Japan,” pp.
18-70.
|
|
7/9 (W)
|
·
Quiz in class over Japanese
geography (Click here for map for quiz.)
·
MURASAKI Shikibu, “Kiritsubo: The Paulownia Pavilion” from The Tale of Genji, vol. 1, trans.
Royall Tyler (NY: Viking, 2001) pp. 1-18 [Available on library e-reserve
webpage].
·
SEI Shōnagon,
Selections from The Pillow Book of Sei
Shōnagon, trans. Ivan Morris (NY: Columbia
University Press, 1991). [Available on library
e-reserve webpage].
·
William Theodore DeBARY, et al.,
“Chapter 9: The Vocabulary of Japanese Aesthetics I,” Sources of Japanese Tradition, vol. 1: From Earliest Times to
1600 (NY: Columbia University Press, 2001), pp. 196-204 [Available on library e-reserve webpage].
|
|
Week 3
|
7/14 (M)
|
·
Internet discussion due at
noon over JTLC, Atōda
Takashi, “The Destiny of Shoes,” pp. 126-143.
·
JBP, Chapter 3: “Medieval Japan,”
71-132.
|
|
7/16 (W)
|
·
JBP, Chapter 4: “Early Modern Japan,”
133-176 and 188-205.
·
SANTŌ Kyōden, “Grilled and Basted Edo-Born Playboy,”
trans. Chris Drake, Early Modern Japanese Literature: An Anthology 1600-1900,
ed. Haruo Shirane (NY:
Columbia Univ. Press, 2002) pp. 687-710 [Available on library e-reserve webpage].
|
|
Week 4
|
7/21 (M)
|
·
Internet discussion due at
noon over JTLC, Miyamoto Teru,
“The Swallow’s Nest”
·
MJ, Chapter 1 “Tokugawa Background”
and “The Mid-Century Crisis,” pp. 1-38.
|
|
7/23 (W)
|
·
In-class film viewing: The Twilight Samurai, directed by
Yamada Yōji.
·
There is no extra reading for
class. Use the extra time to do the
online Genji quiz and the essay due on Friday.
·
Finish the online quiz over
The Tale of Genji by midnight. Access through WebCT.
|
|
7/25 (F)
|
·
Turn-in the take-home essay
on the internet website by midnight.
Use WebCT to turn it in.
|
|
Week 5
|
7/28 (M)
|
·
Internet discussion due at
noon over JTLC, Takahashi Mutsuo, “The Snow of Memory,” pp.
190-203.
·
MJ, Chapter 3 “The Early Meiji
Revolution” and Chapter 4 “The 1880s and 1890s,” pp. 39-76.
|
|
7/30 (W)
|
·
MJ, Chapter 6 “An Emerging Mass
Society” and Chapter 7 “Contesting the Modern in the 1930s,” pp. 93-131.
·
Watch the film The Children of Japan from 1941 online at http://www.archive.org/details/Children1941.
|
|
8/1 (F)
|
·
Finish the online midterm
exam by midnight. Access through
WebCT.
|
|
Week 6
|
8/4 (M)
|
·
Internet discussion due at
noon over JTLC, Shima Tsuyoshi,
“Bones,” pp.204-223.
·
MJ, Chapter 8, “The Dark Valley”
and Chapter 9, “’Enduring the Unendurable’ and Starting Over in the ‘New’ Japan,”
pp. 132-170.
·
Watch the post-war newsreel “Japan
Today” from 1946 online at http://www.archive.org/details/1946-06-20_Japan_Today.
|
|
8/6 (W)
|
·
MJ, Chapter 11, “The ‘Economic
Miracle’ and its Underside” and Chapter 12, “The ‘Rich Country’,” pp.187-202.
|
|
Week 7
|
8/11 (M)
|
·
Internet discussion due at
noon over JTLC, Maruya Saiichi, “The Obtuse Young Man,” pp. 16-43.
·
MJ, Chapter 12, “The ‘Lost Decade,’” pp.
221-239.
|
|
8/13 (W)
|
·
MJ, Chapter 13, “Whither Japan?” pp. 240-260.
|
|
8/15 (F)
|
·
Finish the online final
exam by 11:59 pm. Access through
WebCT.
|
|
|
8/19 (T)
|
·
Grades due at noon
|
MAKE-UPS/LATE WORK
·
If you have to miss the final exam, please contact the
professor ahead of time to make other arrangements. If you miss it because of illness, calamities
in the family, and so on, you will need to provide documentation.
·
Every day that an essay or homework is late, the grade
will be drop by 25%, provided that there are no extenuating
circumstances. If a paper is four or more days of the week late, then the
work will not be accepted.
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY
·
You are responsible for making yourself aware of and understanding
the policies and procedures in the Undergraduate (pp. 274-276) [Graduate (pp.
25-27)] Catalog that pertain to Academic Honesty. These policies include
cheating, fabrication, falsification and forgery, multiple submission,
plagiarism, complicity and computer misuse. If there is reason to believe you
have been involved in academic dishonesty, you will be referred to the Office
of Student Conduct. You will be given the opportunity to review the charge(s).
If you believe you are not responsible, you will have the opportunity for a
hearing. You should consult with me if you are uncertain about an issue of
academic honesty prior to the submission of an assignment or test.
·
At the end of all essays, include a bibliography citing
all sources you have used, including sources on the internet.
Back to syllabi
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Updated July 28, 2008