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1 2017-07-06T11:49:54-07:00 Bradley J. Wilson d07e2adfeaea18284aa4bc3bb77cb735351313e9 19785 1 The Professor plain 2017-07-06T11:49:54-07:00 Bradley J. Wilson d07e2adfeaea18284aa4bc3bb77cb735351313e9This page is referenced by:
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How to Use this Module
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In order to provide for a more student-centered experience, this module is designed as a guideline for instructors, rather than an online course to be taken by students directly. The role of the instructor will be to introduce topical material and then allow the students free-form discussion while guiding them in the direction of specific topics. To accomplish this, popular media such as anime and film will be used to analyze modern Japanese culture and to explore specifically the tremendous effect of World War II upon the Japanese psyche. While your students may already be familiar with anime, this is an opportunity to have them look at the media in an academic sense.
This module is designed to be incorporated in courses related to the study of Japan, East Asia, World War II, history, psychology, or sociology.
Whenever the instructor sees the following picture of the Professor on a page, those pages are designed for the instructor only. Pages without the Professor may be used by the instructor in class to help introduce material.
For each discussion, sample questions will be provided for the instructor to pose to their class as prompts. Allow the students to discuss these questions on their own in small groups. During this time, the instructor should move about the room and sit in with each group for a short time. Then, each small group will choose a representative who will be responsible for expressing their group’s thoughts to the class. Give the students the opportunity to run their own class-wide discussion; the instructor should only interject when the discussion is drifting off topic or to provide relevant information. It should be noted that the representatives are not the only students speaking. They will provide their group’s answer to a specific question and then open the floor to the class’s rebuttal or additional commentary. Allow representatives to select who speaks, and in what order, from the class.
If this module is being incorporated into an online course, discussion can be facilitated via breakout rooms in synchronous meeting software such as Adobe Connect or Blackboard Collaborate.
The instructor is encouraged to evaluate the demonstration of acquisition of material by the students.
Evaluation of the students is recommended on four fronts:- Pre-discussion questions
- Participation in the discussion (both small group and class-wide)
- Post-discussion quizzes on readings and films
- Final essay
In summary, the course flow is:
- Introduce discussion topic and/or film
- Provide discussion prompts and allow for small group discussion (15-20 minutes)
- Have groups select a representative
- Representatives run the class-wide discussion (15-20 minutes)
- Wrap up the class by reiterating major topic points
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Terminology
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manga (mahn-gah)[JPN まんが{漫画}]: Japanese comic books. This can encompass anything from simple four-panel gag comics to extensive, multivolume series.
anime (ah-knee-may)[JPN アニメ]: Japanese animation. Differentiated from Western animation (animeeshon). Made popular in the 1960s in Japan, it has boomed internationally since the 1990s.
Tokyo (toh-kyoh)[JPN とうきょう{東京}: Current capital of Japan and center of animation production.
Kobe (koh-bay)[JPN こうべ{神戸}]: Major city in south-central Japan and the sixth largest city in the country. Heavily firebombed during World War II, it is the setting of the film Grave of the Fireflies.
Hibakusha (hee-bak-shah)[JPN ひばくしゃ{被爆者}]: People who were exposed to the atomic bomb. There are four official categories of hibakusha: 1. those exposed directly to the bomb, 2. those who were exposed to radiation after entering the city after the bomb, 3. those exposed to radiation though the disposal of the remains of victims, 4. those in utero of a hibakusha of the previous three categories.
Hiroshima (hero-shee-mah)[JPN ひろしま{広島} ]: Major city in south-western Japan. Spared the typical firebombings in World War II, it became the first site of the use of atomic weaponry in human history. The setting of the film Barefoot Gen.
Godzilla (god-zill-ah)[JPN ゴジラ]: The titular monster of Ishirō Honda’s classic 1954 Toho film. One of the most famous exports of Japan, Godzilla has starred in a multitude of films since the 1950s. While generally known as the central figure in a series of “monster fight” films, the origins of the creature are steeped in Japan’s war history.
Victim’s History: A term coined by scholar Susan Napier and defined as how “the Japanese people were seen as helpless victims of a corrupt and evil conspiracy between their government and military. This ‘victim’s history’ is partly due to the collaborative American-Japanese efforts under the Occupation to create an image of a postwar democratic Japan that would free the Japanese from an inescapable fascist and militarist past.” Noteworthy due to the tendency to focus on the tragedies perpetrated upon Japan during World War II (particularly the atomic bombings) and an avoidance of discussion of the Japanese aggression during the war (particularly incursions in to China and the Korean peninsula).
In-Group / Out-Group Dynamic: Central to the Japanese mindset, the differentiation of people into in-groups and out-groups is the major lens through which the Japanese view themselves and others. The most basic in-group is the nuclear family. However, there are several layers of groups and they often overlap. For example, your immediate family is your in-group and your neighbor’s family is an out-group. However, you and your neighbors are an in-group in comparison to residents from another neighborhood. The company you work for is an in-group in comparison to the out-group of a rival company, et. al. This dynamic affects social behavior and even language use for the Japanese.
The Professor: Pages which contain the image of the Professor are designed for use by the instructor only.
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Community
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Community
In discussing Japan, particularly from a Western viewpoint, one of the major topics is always “community.” Japan is seen as a largely collectivist society with most social standards revolving around two concepts: the in-group and the out-group.
The in-group, in its most basic incarnation, involves the individual and his/her immediate family. The out-group, then, consists of everyone else. However, these concepts are not fixed and become malleable in any given situation. For example:
Taro and his family (i.e. Taro’s in-group) VS Taro’s neighbors (out-group)
BUT
Taro’s family and neighbors (in-group) VS the people of the town nearby (out-group)
Another example:
Hanako works as a secretary in a small office. She and her immediate coworkers are an in-
group in contrast to the out-group members of offices in her same company.
BUT
Hanako’s entire company is an in-group VS other companies they do business with.
This in/out dynamic is extremely pervasive in Japanese society and affects most daily decisions including what type of language is used in any given situation. Plain form language can be used with peers and people of lower status (such as children), but polite form language, or honorifics, must be used with people of higher status. Speaking and acting in Japan requires a diligent and constant monitoring of this aspect of community.
As one might guess, the group is prioritized over the individual. Whatever serves to benefit the group is always given precedence over what serves to benefit the individual. This mindset is not unique to Japan and shares traits with Confucian principles in both China and Korea. However, Japanese society, particularly business, focuses on this sense of community to a great degree.
In the films Dragon Head, Grave of the Fireflies, and Barefoot Gen evidence of the in-group/out-group dynamic will be readily obvious. Furthermore, examples of this concept will also be prevalent in the Godzilla franchise, particularly Godzilla Resurgence.
Further Reading:
Culture’s Consequences: Comparing Values, Behaviors, Institutions, and Organizations Across Nations. Geert Hofstede. Second Edition, Thousand Oaks CA: Sage Publications, 2001
“Differences in Individualistic and Collectivistic Tendencies among College Students in Japan and the United States” Emiko Kobayashi, Harold R. Kerbo, and Susan F. Sharp.h