This course examines contemporary media culture and products as a conceptual lens to focus on Japanese pop culture and soft power in the 21st Century. Manga, Anime, Cinema, literature, performance art, music, and fine arts will all be surveyed with an eye to understanding what exactly is cool and different about Japanese creative work and whether these kinds of cultural exports could become the foundation of a new post-industrial Japanese economy.
This class contributed to my fulfillment of the MLO by teaching various aspects of what is "cool" about Japan, focusing especially on the art and technology. It also brought in as to how they were incorporated with Japanese myths and beliefs.
Throughout we would do class work, such as analyze ukiyoe works as a group. But what work that I feel I benefited the most from was assignments were we would have to create reports on a cultural movie, such as a video detailing different districts of Tokyo.
Something I felt was a moment of clarity was our discussions on the religious background for many Japanese customs. I compared it to how many of our cultural practices, such as saying "bless you" when someone sneezes, is based on a protestant background, even if many people are no longer of that denomination. It helped me connect and further understand the concept.
What I wish to develop further from this class is my understanding of the arts themselves. I found subjects such as Chado and proper etiquette to be very interesting, and I would love to explore it more.
Oddly enough it really helped connect the language aspect from my other Japanese courses, as it gave background as to why they might choose a particular word for something.
I intend to carry this knowledge into future courses to help me understand it from a Japanese cultural perspective, and less from an American standpoint.
Japanese Aesthetic Essay
Throughout we would do class work, such as analyze ukiyoe works as a group. But what work that I feel I benefited the most from was assignments were we would have to create reports on a cultural movie, such as a video detailing different districts of Tokyo.
Something I felt was a moment of clarity was our discussions on the religious background for many Japanese customs. I compared it to how many of our cultural practices, such as saying "bless you" when someone sneezes, is based on a protestant background, even if many people are no longer of that denomination. It helped me connect and further understand the concept.
What I wish to develop further from this class is my understanding of the arts themselves. I found subjects such as Chado and proper etiquette to be very interesting, and I would love to explore it more.
Oddly enough it really helped connect the language aspect from my other Japanese courses, as it gave background as to why they might choose a particular word for something.
I intend to carry this knowledge into future courses to help me understand it from a Japanese cultural perspective, and less from an American standpoint.
Japanese Aesthetic Essay