Week 1
Wednesday, Sept. 4
Introduction to the Course: What’s important about fantasizing Japan?
no reading due
Friday, Sept. 6
Weekly writing due
Week 2
Monday, Sept. 9 - Representing Japan
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.
Wednesday, Sept. 11 - Othering Japan
Edward Said. 1978. A brief section of the introduction to his Orientalism. New York: Vintage. Pages: 1-4.
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.
Friday, Sept. 13
Weekly writing due
Week 3
Monday, Sept. 16 - Theorizing Pop Culture
Emily Nussbaum. 2019. "The Big Picture: How Buffy the Vampire Slayer Turned Me Into a TV Critic." From her I Like to Watch: Arguing My Way Through the TV Revolution. New York: Random House.
Wednesday, Sept. 18: Rating Fantasies
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. 20
Weekly writing due
Week 4
Monday, Sept. 23 - Inventing History
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.
Wednesday, Sept. 25 - 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. 27
No writing due, but use this time to watch the film for your first paper.
Week 5
Monday, Sept. 30 - 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.
Wednesday, Oct. 2 - Theorizing Exoticism
Anne Allison. 2001. “Memoirs of the Orient.” Journal of Japanese Studies 27(2): 381-398.
Friday, Oct. 4
Weekly writing due
Week 6
Monday, Oct. 7 - 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 6, pages 3-178.
Wednesday, Oct. 9 - Conflict and Debate
Elisabeth Bumiller. The Secrets of Mariko: A Year in the Life of a Japanese Woman and her Family. New York: Random House. Read chapters 7 through 12, pages 178-332.
Friday, Oct. 11
Weekly writing due
Week 7
Monday, Oct. 14 - Fall Break
No class meeting
Wednesday, Oct. 16 - Masculine Responsibilities
Shall We Dance? Suo Masayuki, dir. 136 minutes.
All films for this course can be found on Canvas / Media Gallery OR Canvas / Pages.
Friday, Oct. 20
Rough draft of first paper is due.
Week 8
Monday, Oct. 21 - Social Transformations
Allison Alexy. 2019. “What Can Be Said?: Communicating Intimacy in Millennial Japan.” In Intimate Japan: Ethnographies of Closeness and Conflict, edited by Allison Alexy and Emma E. Cook. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press.
Wednesday, Oct. 23 - New Men
Emma Cook. “Expectations of Failure: Maturity and Masculinity for Freeters in Contemporary Japan.” Social Science Japan Journal 16(1): 29-43.
Friday, Oct. 25
First Paper Due
Week 9
Monday, Oct. 28 - Herbivorous Men
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.
Wednesday, Oct. 30 - Manga 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, Nov. 1
No writing due
Week 10
Monday, Nov. 4 - Catch up!
No new reading due but bring the Kinsella reading because we'll be focusing on that.
Wednesday, Nov. 6 - Manga Boys
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.
Friday, Nov. 8
Weekly writing due
Week 11
Monday, Nov. 11- Fantasy Gay Men
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.
Optional: 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.
Wednesday, Nov. 13 - 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.
Friday, Nov. 15
No writing due
Week 12
Monday, Nov. 18 - The Labor of Fantasy
Akiko Takeyama. 2016. Staged Seduction: Selling Dreams in a Tokyo Host Club. Stanford: Stanford University Press. Pages: ix-38.
Wednesday, Nov 20
No class meeting. I need to cancel class so I can attend the American Anthropological Meetings in Vancouver. Please use this time to work on your final paper and / or complete the next readings.
Friday, Nov. 22
Weekly writing due
Week 13
Monday, Nov. 25 - The Perfect Job?
Akiko Takeyama. 2016. Staged Seduction: Selling Dreams in a Tokyo Host Club. Stanford: Stanford University Press. Pages: 39-102.
Wednesday, Nov. 27
No class meeting
Friday, Nov. 29
No writing due
Week 14
Monday, Dec. 2 - Gendered Fantasies
Akiko Takeyama. 2016. Staged Seduction: Selling Dreams in a Tokyo Host Club. Stanford: Stanford University Press. Pages: 103-174.
Wednesday, Dec. 4 - Jazz and Hip hop
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.
Friday, Dec. 6
Weekly writing due
Week 15
Monday, Dec. 9 -
Please watch Remixed in Japan, which I will distribute.
Wednesday, Dec. 11 - Final Reflections and Future Questions
No reading due
Peer comments due
Final papers are due on Wednesday, Dec. 18th at 5pm.
