Exploring a Non-Western Culture: Japan

Anthropology 1110 Fall 2009

M/W/F 8:00-8:50 Humanities 250

Instructor: Chris McMorran

Email: mcmorran@colorado.edu

Office hours: Tues and Thurs 4:30-5:30

or by appointment

Office: Hale 449

Teaching Assistant: Sarah Laundry

Email: Sarah.Laundry@colorado.edu

Office hours: Tues and Wed 10:00-11:00

Office: Hale 176

Course overview

This course introduces Japan through an anthropological lens, and it provides an introduction to the methods and theories of cultural anthropology. This course satisfies the Core Curriculum requirement in Human Diversity for the College of Arts and Sciences. Therefore, I hope to meet the needs of a wide range of students in the course. It is my goal that all students will gain an appreciation for both Japan and the subject of anthropology. Those who wish to learn more about Japan (history, language, literature) are encouraged to take courses in the Departments of History and Asian Languages and Civilizations in the future.

Two central themes of the course will be Japan's unity and diversity. While Japan is often portrayed as a unified, homogenous country, both from within Japan and among early Western anthropologists, recent scholarship emphasizes Japan's incredible cultural diversity. We will discuss the ways that diversity is expressed in Japanese society, as well as the implications of seeing Japan as a heterogeneous nation.

Key objectives of the course

1) To introduce you to Japan through the perspective of anthropology.

We will reach this objective by:

Defining anthropology and discussing its advantages
Reviewing the history of anthropology of/in Japan and recent debates
Reading current anthropological scholarship on Japan

2) To help you appreciate Japanese society and culture.

We will reach this objective by:

Reviewing key historical moments and their continued importance
Learning about Japan's environmental diversity
Outlining arguments about Japan as either homogenous or heterogeneous
Reading debates about the uniqueness of Japanese culture
Studying current events about Japan

3) To improve your academic skills and overall university learning experience.

You will reach this objective by:

Participating in classroom discussions
Working in groups to learn from and teach each other
Reading the assigned materials with a critical eye

Knowledge vs. learning

This may be your first course about Japan or your first anthropology course. If you have more experience with either topic, great. However, I assume that most of this material will be new to you, and I have not designed the course to test what you already know. Instead, you will be challenged to be an active learner of the material and to make new connections in class. One of my overall goals is to convince you to be a lifelong learner, which inevitably means that the more you learn, the more you realize that you don't know very much. Relish that and keep learning and being in awe of the world. If you attend this class with that spirit, you should do well.

Overview of expectations

I encourage you to attend class every day. In-class exercises and quizzes, plus classroom discussions, comprise 25% of your final grade. These exercises and discussions will give you the opportunity to share ideas with classmates and help you prepare for exams. Class time will be devoted to both lecture and discussion of readings. Exam questions will be drawn from both lectures and readings. As is standard at CU, each hour in class requires two to three hours of preparation time outside class. The readings have been chosen accordingly.

I will not post class notes or lectures on the web. If you miss class, please ask your classmates for notes. I encourage you to study regularly with classmates, especially for exams. Please look carefully at the schedule to check for any conflicts with the exams. Any alternate exam times must be authorized well in advance, ideally the first week of the semester. Please tell me as soon as possible so that we can make such arrangements. If you need special accommodations for any reason, please let me know the first week of class. Late work will be docked 15% per day.

Daily expectations

Class participation: This means contributing ideas in small groups or to the entire class, listening to others, and actively taking notes.
Turn off your cell phone prior to the beginning of class.
Use your laptop only for taking notes. Using your laptop for any other purpose is distracting and disrespectful to both your classmates and me.
Listen to and respect the opinions of others in the class.

Grading

20% In Class Exercises (ICE) (best score on four out of five, each worth 5%, no make-ups)

10% Map quiz

10% Clicker questions (some points will be given for participation, and some for correct answers; we will drop your 5 worst days' scores)

60% Two exams (30% each, neither is cumulative)

100% Total

Special Needs

If you qualify for accommodations because of a disability, please submit a letter to me from Disability Services in a timely manner so that your needs may be addressed.

Important dates:

Map quiz: September 11

Exam #1: October 9 - review sheet.

Exam #2: December 17 - review sheet.

CU Honor Code

All the work that you do for this course must be your own. Any violations of the CU Honor Code will be reported to the Honor Code Council without question. The CU Honor Code is available on the web: http://www.colorado.edu/honorcode/. Any instances of academic dishonesty will result in immediate failure of the course.

Required Texts

1. Course reader (online articles below)

2. Japan and National Anthropology: A Critique by Sonia Ryang (available at CU bookstore and online $39.95)

3. Intimate Encounters: Filipina Women and the Remaking of Rural Japan by Lieba Faier (available at CU bookstore and online $21.95)

4. i-Clicker (remember to register your clicker on CU Connect)

Helpful Links

1. Language sites - for those interested (NOT REQUIRED)

Online Nihongo - great place to begin

Free Japanese Lessons - good overview

NHK language lessons - to learn regularly via conversations

Kanji-a-Day website - daily email with a new character

Jim Breen's Online Japanese Dictionary - great online dictionary

2. News sites - for information about Japan

Web Japan - general news on Japan

The Japan Times - general news on Japan

The Asahi Shimbun - general news on Japan

The Daily Yomiuri - general news on Japan

Japan Today - general news on Japan

The Nikkei Weekly - business news on Japan

The New York Times - occasional news on Japan

The Economist - occasional news on Japan

The Christian Science Monitor - occasional news on Japan

3. Recommended films - for those interested (NOT REQUIRED)

(many available at Norlin; links to imdb.com sites)

Shall We Dance? (1996, not the J Lo version)

My Friend Totoro (Tonari no Totoro)

Fireworks (Hanabi)

Eel (Unagi)

Memories of Tomorrow (Ashita no Kioku)

Rashomon

Nobody Knows (Dare mo Shiranai)

Traffic Jam (Jutai)

PBS's "Memoirs of a Secret Empire" series - on Hulu.com - good for history of Edo period

The Way of the Samurai

The Will of the Shogun

The Return of the Barbarian

Course Schedule and Reading Assignments – adjustments to schedule may be made at any time. Changes will be announced in class.

*Date*	*Topic*	*Homework*
Section 1: Introducing Japan and Anthropology in Japan
8/24	Course introduction
8/26	Geography	1) Review syllabus 2) "The Geography of Japan," in Cultural Atlas of Japan pp.12-22.
8/28	Geography	Gluck, "Top Ten Things to Know about Japan in the Late 1990s," pp. 1-7.
8/31	Geography	1) Diamond, "Japanese Roots" available at http://discovermagazine.com/1998/jun/japaneseroots1455 2) ICE #1 Who cares? Type a half-page summary of why the question of the Japanese roots could be controversial in contemporary Japan. Be sure your name is on the document and be prepared to share your ideas with your classmates. You will hand in this assignment.
9/2	Anthropology in Japan	Ryang, Introduction, pp. 1-14. CU add deadline w/o signature (5:00pm)
9/4	Fieldwork in Japan	McMorran, Methods, pp. 1-41.
9/7	No class – Labor Day
9/9	Fieldwork in Japan	Kondo, Chapter 3: Disciplined Selves, pp.76-115. CU drop deadline w/o signature (5:00pm)
9/11	Map quiz	Map quiz.
9/14	Defining Japanese culture	1) Robertson, "Introduction: Putting and Keeping Japan in Anthropology" pp. 3-16. 2) ICE #2 Bring a recent (published since June 2009) newspaper or magazine article about Japan. On an attached piece of paper write a short paragraph about the representation of Japan (Japanese people, Japanese culture). This must be typed. Make sure your name is on the assignment. Be prepared to discuss the article in a small group.
9/16	Early anthropology in Japan	Ryang, Chapter 2: Benedictian myth, pp. 47-72. In-class video by Rip Slyme.
9/18	Postwar anthropology	In-class video by Ulfuls. In-class reading on minorities.
9/21	Postwar anthropology	Ryang, Chapter 3: Occupation anthropology, pp. 73-100. In-class reading on burakumin.
9/23	Postwar anthropology	Ryang, Chapter 4: Locating Japanese kinship, pp. 101-138.
9/25	The ie in history Kinship and the family
9/28	The ie in anthropology	Ryang, Chapter 5: The emergence of national anthropology, pp. 139-165.
9/30	The ie in business	Kondo, Chapter 4: Circles of Attachment, pp. 119-160. In-class video by Morning Musume.
10/2	The Japanese self	ICE #3 Using both Ryang (the book) and Kondo (Chapter 4), define the term 'ie' in your own words. Explain the significance of the term, and state whether or not you think the term is useful in understanding Japanese culture. Support your answer with 1-2 examples from each reading. Type the answer and try not to exceed one page in length. Bring the assignment to class for discussion and collection.
10/5	Wrap up section	1) Ryang, Chapter 6: The Japanese self, pp. 166-192. 2) Optional: Prepare one multiple choice question for the upcoming exam. This can be a question about the lectures or readings. Provide four possible answers for the question (indicate the correct answer).
10/7	Exam review	CU drop deadline w/o dean's office (5:00pm)
10/9	Exam #1	Exam will be divided into three parts: 1) 30-50 multiple choice questions 2) 3-5 short definition questions (define key term and state its significance) 3) 1 short essay: choose one of the following news articles about Japan. Using the key terms and ideas you have learned thus far in class, explain the importance of this news. How does this news challenge or support notions of Japanese identity previously identified by anthropologists? Your essay will be graded on your ability to use new terms to explain the wider significance of this news story. Although you will be able to practice your essay beforehand, you must write it during the exam time. Paper will be provided. Please choose from the following stories: a) Koizumi and Dogs b) Korean Wave in Japan c) Burakumin in Google Earth Essays: Examples Short definitions: Examples
Section 2: Understanding Contemporary Japanese Society		*Homework*
10/12	Film	Optional reading: Anderson, "When the Twain Meet: Hollywood's Remake of 'The Seven Samurai,'" pp. 55-58.
10/14	Film	Ashkenazi, "Food, Play, Business, and the Image of Japan in Itami Juzo's Tampopo.
10/16	Film
10/19	Film discussion	ICE #4 What makes the film "Tampopo" Japanese? (Of course, besides the fact that the director is Japanese and the story takes place in Japan.) Write a one-page essay that answers this question through the use of 3-4 specific examples from the film. Refer to what you have already learned about Japan and its culture. One way to think about the question is this: is Tampopo more a celebration of Japan's uniqueness, or of Japan's ability to borrow from elsewhere? The best essays will include ideas from the Ashkenazi article (above).
10/21	Gender roles	1) Tabuchi, "Young Japanese Women Vie for a Once-Scorned Job," pp. 1-5. 2) NY Times hostessing debate, pp. 1-5.
10/23	Gender at work	Kondo, Chapter 8: Uchi, Gender, and Part-Time Work, pp. 258-299.
10/26	Locating Japanese culture	Faier, Introduction: Relations of Cultural Production, pp. 1-32.
10/28	Immigration and Japan	Faier, Chapter 1: Sites of Encounter, pp. 33-79.
10/30	Ethnic difference	Faier, Chapter 2: America and Other Stories of Filipina Migration, pp. 80-102.
11/2	Place and region in Japan	Faier, Chapter 3: Japan in the Kiso Valley, the Kiso Valley in Japan, pp. 103-132.
11/4	Place and region in Japan	Faier, Chapter 4: Kindred Subjects, pp. 133-157.
11/6	The Japanese home
11/9	The Japanese home	1) Faier, Chapter 5: The Pressures of Home, pp. 158-189. 2) Email a question (mcmorran@colorado.edu) for the author of the book by 5:00pm. Any question is acceptable.
11/11	The Japanese home	Faier, Chapter 6: Runaway Stories, pp. 190-210.
11/13	Book discussion	ICE #5 Providing examples from Faier's book, discuss how Filipinas are perceived as both foreigners (gaijin) and ideal Japanese brides (ii oyomesan). What challenges does this situation create for these women? Type your essay and try not to exceed one page in length. Bring the assignment to class for discussion and collection.
11/16	Economy and Society	Bestor, "Tokyo's Pantry," pp.1-49.
11/18	Economy and Society	Whitelaw, "Learning from Small Change: Clerkship and the Labors of Convenience," pp. 62-69.
11/20	Economy and Society
11/23-11/27	No class – Fall break
11/30	Nature in Japan	Martinez, "On the 'Nature' of Japanese Culture, or Is There a Japanese Sense of Nature?," pp. 185-200.
12/2	Rural Japan	Schnell, "The Rural Imaginary: Landscape, Village, Tradition," pp. 201-217.
12/4	Urban Japan	Cybriwsky, "Tokyo's Third Rebuilding: New Twists on Old Patterns," pp. 218-230.
12/7	Leisure in Japan	Hendry, "Japan's Global Village: A View from the World of Leisure," pp. 231-243.
12/9	Wrap up section	Optional: Prepare three multiple choice questions for the upcoming exam. These can be questions about the lectures or readings. Provide four possible answers for each (indicate the correct answer). Video shown in class: Ise Shrine rebuilding.
12/11	Exam review	Final exam review sheet.
12/17	Exam #2	Final exam: 10:30 – 1:00 in Humanities 250 (same room where class is held) Exam will be divided into three parts: 1) 30-35 multiple choice questions 2) 2-3 short definition questions (define key term and state its significance) 3) 1 short essay: choose one of the following news articles about Japan. What does this article say about contemporary Japan? What trends or ideas does this article leave out? Does this news challenge or support notions of Japanese identity, especially as a homogeneous nation? If so, how? If not, why not? Your essay will be graded on your ability to use ideas from the course to explain the wider significance of this news story. Although you will be able to practice your essay beforehand, you must write it during the exam time. Paper will be provided. Please choose from the following stories: a) City Girls b) Child Allowance