Japanese Culture |
Fall 2015-Spring 2016
|
Course Information
日本事情・日本文化
MLO 2: Culture MLO 5: Cultural Internalization & Language Immersion Course Description
This course exposes students to a range of Japanese cultural elements with the opportunity for various personal, hands-on experiences. Topics vary by semester; this course also offers off-campus field-trips and guest speakers. Open to all language levels. Native speakers may enroll as well.
Course Work
|
Reflective Narrative
This course covered a wide variety of topics, from playing the koto to visiting government offices to watching guest speakers. Sometimes the topic was repeated the second semester for new students, but it was just as enjoyable the second time! The only real assignments in this class were the short, handwritten reflections turned in each week about the previous week’s topic. At the end of each semester, students also wrote a letter to their home university about their experiences abroad; I’ve included a draft of my letter to Sekine-sensei from second semester.
What was unique about this course was that all of the exchange students were required to take it, so it was the only time that we all had class together (it was also the only time we had such a big class!). I certainly enjoyed the variety of students in the class as well as the variety of things we were able to do. In class, we were able to experience playing the koto, participating in a tea ceremony, dancing a traditional dance, wearing yukata, cooking sweets, writing calligraphy, playing the taiko, watching movies, creating ikebana, and more. We also had some great guest speakers, who taught us about noh masks, cinematography in Kitakyushu, as well as other interesting topics! Through this class, we also were able to go on field trips, such as to a limestone cave, to a government building, to Mojiko, to the mountains to collect takenoko, and more other locations as well. It was truly an all-encompassing course. |