MLO 2: Culture
Outcomes
2.1. Students develop a comprehensive understanding, appreciation and knowledge of Japanese culture: perspectives (ideas, beliefs, attitudes, values, philosophies), practices (patterns of social interactions) and products (both tangible and intangible, for example, art, history, literature, music).
2.2. Students develop analytical and critical thinking in areas, such as how Japan’s cultural background influences modern Japanese life, how to compare their own culture with the Japanese culture, or how Japanese culture relates to other world cultures in an age of global inter-relatedness. Courses Taken
Selected Course Work
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Reflective Narrative
2.1 Both Samurai Spirit (JAPN 212) and Japanese History (JAPN 302) heavily focused on the history of Japan. Samurai Spirit was my first experience learning about the different eras of Japanese history, starting hundreds of years ago. In each era, we learned about the defining characteristics, such as significant societal developments, evolution of art and religion, etc. My first and final essays depict how my understanding of the samurai developed over the course of the semester, from basic knowledge of the early samurai to a more complex understanding of stereotypes as well as the real information. I’m actually glad that I took Samurai Spirit before Japanese History because then I was already a bit familiar with the content, which was a bit difficult to cover purely in Japanese. However, unlike Samurai Spirit (which naturally focused more on samurai), Japanese History covered other historical topics as well, such as foreign loan words, which was the topic of my final presentation.
Japanese Cinema (JAPN 310), Japanese Visual Culture & Media (JAPN 314), and Japanese Affairs (study abroad) heavily focused on the arts, such as ukiyoe, advertisements, anime, etc. For example, the final portfolio for Visual Culture & Media required ten analyzations of various art forms in relation to Japanese culture—such as what makes manga distinctly Japanese and how it is used in other forms in Japan. This project was really a culmination of all forms of visual culture and media that we studied that semester because it covered a wide range of materials, from sweets to origami to fashion and more. Earlier in the semester we also had group presentations specifically focused on emaki and signs, which allowed in-depth analyzation and practice for the final portfolio project. 2.1 In contrast, Japanese Cinema and Japanese Affairs both concentrated on a specific form of art: movies and animation. In Japanese Cinema, due to the large number and variety of films we watched, I was able to analyze elements of Japanese culture from multiple examples, as seen in the midterm and final essays. Similarly, each week in Japanese Affairs we looked at a different element of Japanese culture through the examination of a specific anime film or series, and the midterm and final reports synthesized ideas from multiple examples. Another class I took while studying abroad, East Asian Politics, focused on some of Japan’s connections with other countries, such as the United States, North Korea, China, etc. What was interesting in this class was that although the weekly issues we covered were all contemporary, they also required some historical knowledge. For example, the first article we looked at examined Japan, China, and the United States’ future by first examining the trends that have developed in recent history. This style was different from my previous history classes because rather than covering extensive history in a historical context, this time it was only bits of history in a present-day context. |