week one
Tuesday, September 6: Introduction to the course
no readings due
Thursday, September 8: Stereotyping Japan: The Perils of National Character
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. "In Japan, Nice Guys (And Girls) Finish Together." New York Times, April 12, 1998.
Nicholas D. Kristof. "Japan's Feminine Falsetto Falls Right Out of Favor." New York Times, December 13, 1995.
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.
Friday, September 9
Short writing assignment due.
week two
Tuesday, September 13: Japanese Culture: It's not in the Blood
Anne Allison. 1996. "Japanese Mothers and Obento," In her Permitted and Prohibited Desires: Mothers, Comics, and Censorship in Japan. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. Pages: 81-103.
James Stanlaw. 2004. "The Dynamics of English Words in Contemporary Japanese: Japanese English and a "Beautiful Human Life." In his Japanese English: Language and Culture Contact. Hong Kong: University of Hong Kong Press. Pages: 11-43.
Thursday, September 15: Othering Japan
The Japanese Version. Louis Alvarez and Andrew Kolker, dirs. 1991. 56 minutes.
All films for this course can be found on Canvas / Media Gallery OR Canvas / Pages. The films will stream faster and better if you are on campus.
Please watch the film before you read these two responses to it: Viewing notes from Dr. William Kelly (Yale University) and a rejoinder against showing this film from Dr. Henry Smith (Columbia University).
Friday, September 16
Short writing assignment due.
week three
Tuesday, September 20: Samurai and the Invention of Tradition
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, September 22: History and Responsibility
Norma Field. 1991. “Prologue” and “A Supermarket Owner,” in her In the Realm of a Dying Emperor: Japan at Century’s End. New York: Vintage. Pages: 5-104.
Friday, September 23
Short writing assignment due.
week four
Tuesday, September 27: Postwar Social Institutions
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, September 29: 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, September 30
No writing assignment due. Use this time to work on the essay due next week.
week five
Tuesday, October 4: Salarymen
Thomas P. Rohlen. 1974 "The Office Group," in his For Harmony and Strength: Japanese White-Collar Organization in Anthropological Perspective. Berkeley: University of California Press. Pages: 93-120.
Katô Tetsurô. 1995. "Workaholism: It's Not in the Blood," LOOK Japan. February: 8-10
Thursday, October 6: Heroic Workers?
Shall We Dance? Suo Masayuki, dir. 136 minutes.
All films for this course can be found on Canvas / Media Gallery OR Canvas / Pages. The films will stream faster and better if you are on campus.
Friday, October 7
Your first paper is due at 5pm.
week six
Tuesday, October 11: Cushions around the Core
Yuko Ogasawara. 1998. Office Ladies and Salaried Men: Power, Gender, and Work in Japanese Companies. Berkeley: University of California Press. Pages: 1-113.
Thursday, October 13: Power and Resistance
Yuko Ogasawara. 1998. Office Ladies and Salaried Men: Power, Gender, and Work in Japanese Companies. Berkeley: University of California Press. Pages: 114-168.
Friday, October 14
Short writing assignment due.
week seven
Tuesday, October 18
Fall Break - No class meeting
Thursday, October 20: The Education System
Catherine C. Lewis. 1994. "Learning and Caring," In her Educating Hearts and Minds: Reflections on Japanese Preschool and Elementary Education. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Pages: 149-177.
Rebecca Fukuzawa.1994. "The Path to Adulthood According to Japanese Middle Schools," Journal of Japanese Studies 20(1):61-86.
Friday, October 21
No writing due, but complete this assignment before coming to section.
week eight
Tuesday, October 25: Changing Japan?
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, October 27: Parasites or Pragmatists?
Masahiro Yamada and Yuji Genda. 2000. A debate on "Japan's Dependent Singles," Japan Echo, June: 47-56.
Lynne Nakano and Moeko Wagatsuma. 2004. "Mothers and Their Unmarried Daughters: An Intimate Look at Generational Change." In, Japan's Changing Generations: Are Young People Creating a New Society? Gordon Mathews and Bruce White, eds. London and New York: RoutledgeCurzon. Pages: 137-154.
Friday, October 28
Short writing assignment due.
week nine
Tuesday, November 1: Labor Market Shifts
Cook, Emma E. 2013. “Expectations of Failure: Maturity and Masculinity for Freeters in Contemporary Japan.” Social Science Japan Journal 16(1): 29-43.
Thursday, November 3: The Perfect Job?
The Great Happiness Space. 2006. Jake Clennell, dir. 76 minutes.
All films for this course can be found on Canvas / Media Gallery OR Canvas / Pages.
Friday, November 4
No writing assignment due. Use this time to work on the upcoming paper draft.
week ten
Tuesday, November 8: Romantic Fantasies
Akiko Takeyama. 2016. Staged Seduction: Selling Dreams in a Tokyo Host Club. Stanford: Stanford University Press. Pages: ix-70.
*optional* Allison Alexy. unpublished. “What Can Be Said? Communicating Intimacy in Millennial Japan.” In Intimate Japan, edited by Allison Alexy and Emma E. Cook.
Thursday, November 10: Labor and Intimacy
Akiko Takeyama. 2016. Staged Seduction: Selling Dreams in a Tokyo Host Club. Stanford: Stanford University Press. Pages: 71-174.
Please note: We are very lucky to have Prof. Takeyama visiting campus. In lieu of today’s lecture, please plan to attend her presentation in Room 1636 School of Social Work Building. It will go from 12 noon until 1:30pm and I understand that some of you will have to leave at 1. If you’re able to stay until the end, please do because that will be your opportunity to ask her questions. If you can’t stay, but want to ask her questions, please email them to me and I’ll pass them along to her.
Friday, November 11
No writing assignment due. Use this time to work on the upcoming paper draft.
week eleven
Tuesday, November 15: Educational Changes and Challenges
Peter Cave. 2014. "Education after the "Lost Decade(s).” In Capturing Contemporary Japan. Satsuki Kawano, Glenda S. Roberts, and Susan Orpett Long, eds. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. Pages: 271-299.
Tuesday, November 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, November 18
Rough draft of your second essay is due.
week twelve
Tuesday, November 22: Different Ways to be Japanese
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, November 23: Thanksgiving Break
No class meeting
Friday, November 24
No writing assignment due. Use this time to enjoy the break.
week thirteen
Tuesday, November 29: Authenticity and Coolness
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.
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.
Thursday, December 1: African Americans in / and Japan
Remixed in Japan. 2006. Director: Melody Wienstein. US. 60 minutes.
Samurai Champloo. 2004. Episode One, "Tempestuous Temperaments (Shippu Doto)." Fuji Television. 24 minutes.
Afro Samurai. 2007. Episode One "Revenge." Gonzo Entertainment / Spike TV. 22 minutes.
All films for this course can be found on Canvas / Media Gallery OR Canvas / Pages.
Friday, December 2
Short writing assignment due.
week fourteen
Tuesday, December 6: Domestic Terror
Haruki Murakami. Alfred Birnbaum and Philip Gabriel, trans. 2001. Underground: The Tokyo Gas Attack and the Japanese Psyche. New York: Vintage. Pages: 3-44; 247-276; 292-303.
Tuesday, December 8: Natural Terror
Tom Gill, Brigitte Steger, and David Slater. 2013. “The 3/11 Disasters” in their Japan Copes with Calamity: Ethnographies of the Earthquake, Tsunami, and Nuclear Disasters of March 2011. Bern: Peter Lang. Pages: 3-24.
Nuclear Nation: The Fukushima Refugees Story. 2012. Funahashi Atsushi, dir. 96 minutes.
All films for this course can be found on Canvas / Media Gallery OR Canvas / Pages.
Friday, December 9
Short writing assignment due
week fifteen
Tuesday, December 13: Final Thoughts and Future Questions
Group reflection - what have we been doing?
No new readings due
Tuesday, December 20th
Final Paper due, uploaded to Canvas by 5pm. There is no final exam in this course.