Week 1
Tuesday, Sept. 6
Introduction to the Course: What’s important about fantasizing Japan?
no reading due
Thursday, Sept. 8: Representing Japan
Clyde Haberman. "Some Japanese (One) Urge Plain Speaking." New York Times, March 27, 1988.
Andrew Pollack. "Rice Farmers Dig In: For Them, The Land Is Sacred." New York Times, February 18, 1993.
Nicholas D. Kristof. "Japan's Feminine Falsetto Falls Right Out of Favor." New York Times, December 13, 1995.
Nicholas D. Kristof. "In Japan, Nice Guys (And Girls) Finish Together." New York Times, April 12, 1998.
Martin Fackler. "Japan, Home of the Cute and Inbred Dog." New York Times, December 28, 2006. Be sure to check out images of the dogs here.
Martin Fackler. "Fearing Crime, Japanese Wear the Hiding Place." New York Times, October 20, 2007. And check out images of the outfits here.
Week 2
Monday, Sept. 12 ** notice the unusual day **
Weekly writing due
Tuesday, Sept. 13: Othering Japan
Ruth Benedict. 1946. A brief selection from the first chapter of her The Chrysanthemum and the Sword: Patterns of Japanese Culture. New York: Mariner Books. Pages: 1-3 only.
Roland Barthes. 1970. “Faraway” from his Empire of Signs. New York: Hill and Wang. Pages: ix-5.
Edward Said. 1978. A brief section of the introduction to his Orientalism. New York: Vintage. Pages: 1-4.
Thursday, Sept. 15: Theorizing Fantasy
This Film Is Not Yet Rated. 2006. Kirby Dick, dir. 98 minutes.
All films for this course can be found on Canvas / Media Gallery OR Canvas / Pages.
Friday, Sept. 16
Weekly writing due
Week 3
Tuesday, Sept. 20: Inventing Honor
Harold Bolitho. 1984. "The Myth of the Samurai." In Japan's Impact on the World. Alan Rix and Ross Mouer, eds. Nathan, Queensland: Japanese Studies Association of Australia. Pages: 2-9.
Thursday, Sept. 22: Fantasizing Honor
The Last Samurai. 2003. Edward Zwick, dir. 154 minutes.
All films for this course can be found on Canvas / Media Gallery OR Canvas / Pages.
Friday, Sept. 23
Weekly writing due
Week 4
Tuesday, Sept. 27: Writing Workshop
No reading due
Thursday, Sept. 29: Exotic Japan
Memoirs of a Geisha. 2005. Robert Marshall, dir. 145 minutes.
All films for this course can be found on Canvas / Media Gallery OR Canvas / Pages.
Friday, Sept. 30
Weekly writing due
Week 5
Tuesday, Oct. 4: Postwar Japanese Social Norms
Elisabeth Bumiller. The Secrets of Mariko: A Year in the Life of a Japanese Woman and her Family. New York: Random House. Read chapters 1 through 5, pages 3-140.
Thursday, Oct. 6: Mainstream Consciousness
Elisabeth Bumiller. The Secrets of Mariko: A Year in the Life of a Japanese Woman and her Family. New York: Random House. Read chapters 6 through 10, pages 141-284.
If you want to finish the book, you’re welcome to read the last two chapters, which do include the titular “secret.” But for our class’ purposes, you only need to read through chapter 10 (i.e. to the end of chapter 10).
Friday, Oct. 7
Weekly writing due
Week 6
Tuesday, Oct. 11: Revolution or Reform?
William Kelly and Merry White. “Students, Slackers, Singles, Seniors, and Strangers: Transforming a Family-Nation.” In Japan and Asia: The Dynamics of East Asian Regionalism. Peter Katzenstein and Tadashi Shiraishi, eds. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
Thursday, Oct. 13: Labor Market Precarity
Emma Cook. “Expectations of Failure: Maturity and Masculinity for Freeters in Contemporary Japan.” Social Science Japan Journal 16(1): 29-43.
Friday, Oct. 14
First short paper due
Week 7
Tuesday, Oct. 18
Fall Break - no class meeting
Thursday, Oct. 20: Beautiful Fighting Girls
Sharon Kinsella. 1995. “Cuties in Japan.” In Women, Media, and Consumption in Japan, edited by Lise Shov and Brian Moeran. Surrey: Curzon Press. Pages: 220-254.
Friday, Oct. 21
No writing due
Week 8
Tuesday, Oct. 25: Reading Love
Mark McLelland and James Welker. 2015. “An Introduction to “Boys Love” in Japan.” In Boys Love Manga and Beyond: History, Culture, and Community in Japan, edited by Mark McLelland, Kzumi Nagaike, Katsuhiko Suganama, and James Welker. University of Mississippi Press. Pages: 3-20.
Sumomo Yumeka. 2006. Same Cell Organism. June Manga. Please take a look at this description of how to read manga that has been translated from Japanese to English.
Thursday, Oct. 27: Fans and Emotions
Patrick Galbraith. 2015. “Moe Talk: Affective Communication among Female Fans of Yaoi in Japan.” In Boys Love Manga and Beyond: History, Culture, and Community in Japan. Pages: 153-168.
Hitoshi Ishida. 2015. “Representational Appropriation and the Autonomy of Desire in Yaoi / BL.” In Boys Love Manga and Beyond: History, Culture, and Community in Japan. Pages: 210-232.
Friday, Oct. 28
Weekly writing due
Week 9
Tuesday, Nov. 1: Fantasy Love
The Great Happiness Space: Tale of an Osaka Love Thief. 2006. Jake Clennell, dir. 76 minutes.
All films for this course can be found on Canvas / Media Gallery OR Canvas / Pages.
Thursday, Nov. 3: The Perfect Man?
Akiko Takeyama. 2016. Staged Seduction: Selling Dreams in a Tokyo Host Club. Stanford: Stanford University Press. Pages: ix-70.
Friday, Nov. 4
No writing due
Week 10
Tuesday, Nov. 8: The Perfect Job?
Akiko Takeyama. 2016. Staged Seduction: Selling Dreams in a Tokyo Host Club. Stanford: Stanford University Press. Pages: 71-174.
Thursday, Nov. 10: Meeting the Researcher and Scholar
No new reading due, but please send four new discussion questions to prepare for our discussion with Prof. Takeyama herself.
Please plan on attending her noon talk at the Center for Japanese studies as an Extra Credit Opportunity.
Friday, Nov. 11
No writing due
Week 11
Tuesday, Nov. 15: Fantasizing Multicultural Japan
John Lie. 2004. “Introduction” and “The Second Opening of Japan” in his Multiethnic Japan. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Pages: 1-26.
Thursday, Nov. 17
No class meeting.
Unfortunately this week I will be away at the annual meeting of the American Anthropological Association in Minneapolis. Please use this time to read ahead for next week’s assignment.
Friday, Nov. 18
Weekly writing due
Week 12
Tuesday, Nov. 22: Japanese Minorities
*optional, for extra credit*
Joseph Hankins. 2014. “Preface” and “Introduction,” in his Working Skin: Making Leather, Making a Multicultural Japan. Berkeley: University of California Press. Pages: xi-xviii and 1-28.
Thursday, Nov. 24
Thanksgiving break - No class meeting
Friday, Nov. 27
No writing due
Week 13
Tuesday, Nov. 29: Importing Diversity?
E. Taylor Atkins. 2005. “The Japanese Jazz Artist and the Authenticity Complex.” In his Blue Nippon: Authenticating Jazz in Japan. Durham: Duke University Press. Pages: 19-44.
Thursday, Dec. 1: Fantasizing Coolness
Ian Condry. 2000. "The Social Production of Difference: Imitation and Authenticity in Japanese Rap Music." In Transactions, Transgressions, and Transformations. Heide Fehenbach and Uta G. Poiger, eds. New York: Berghan Books. Pages: 166-184.
Friday, Dec. 4
Weekly writing due
Week 14
Tuesday, Dec. 6: Searching for Romance
Allison Alexy. unpublished. “What Can Be Said? Communicating Intimacy in Millennial Japan.” In Intimate Japan, edited by Allison Alexy and Emma E. Cook.
Thursday, Dec. 8: Happy Endings?
電車男 [Train Man]. 2005. Murakami Shosuke, dir. 101 minutes.
All films for this course can be found on Canvas / Media Gallery OR Canvas / Pages.
Friday, Dec. 9
No writing due
Week 15
Tuesday, Dec. 13: Final Thoughts and Reflections
No reading due
Peer comments due
Final papers are due on Wednesday, Dec. 21st at 5pm.
