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• 1 2017-06-30T07:56:23-07:00 How to Use this Module 8 plain 2017-06-30T10:01:37-07:00 In order to provide for a more student-centered experience, this module is designed as guidelines for instructors, rather than 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 utilized 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.
  
  Whenever you see 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 where instructor should only interject when the discussion is drifting off topic or to provide relative 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’ rebuttal or additional commentary.  Allow representatives to select who speaks, and in what order, from the class. 
   
  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
• 1 2017-06-28T11:23:31-07:00 Terminology 2 plain 2017-06-30T10:03:07-07:00 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.
   
  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 started 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.