[Header image is of Japanese-British ceramist Taja]
In this course, we are lucky to have both undergraduate and graduate students. This is the syllabus for graduate students, which includes more reading and different assignments than the undergraduate syllabus. Please make sure you are following the correct syllabus for your enrollment.
Everything on this syllabus can be completed asynchronously, although you are welcome to join lectures live and talk with Prof. Alexy in office hours.
week one
Monday, 8/31 - Welcome
[Lecture live from 2:30-4pm; Recording will be posted]
In this welcome lecture, Prof. Alexy will talk through the logistics of the class – how we will think and learn together given that we are online. No reading is due.
Tuesday, 9/1 - Survey
Please complete this introductory survey by 5pm
Wednesday, 9/2 - Why Study Japan?
[Optional "show and tell" from 2:15-2:30; Lecture live from 2:30-4pm; Recording will be posted]
In this lecture, Prof. Alexy begins to introduce content for the course. As homework before this session, please spend 10+ minutes reading through this website to familiarize yourself with our plans for the semester.
Thursday, 9/3 - Weekly Assignments due
Lecture guides are due on Canvas by 5pm
week two
Monday, 9/7 - Labor Day
No class meeting. Please have fun and stay safe!
Tuesday, 9/8
Discussion questions due at 5pm
Wednesday, 9/9 - Stereotyping Japan
[Optional "show and tell" from 2:15; Lecture live from 2:30-4pm; Recording will be posted]
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.
Lisa Katayama. "Love in 2-D" New York Times Magazine, July 21, 2009.
Thursday, 9/10 - Weekly Assignments due
Lecture guide is due on Canvas by 5pm
week three
Sunday, 9/13
Discussion questions due at 5pm
Monday, 9/14 - Is Culture the Same as National Character?
[Optional "show and tell" from 2:15; Lecture live from 2:30-4pm; Recording will be posted]
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.
Tuesday, 9/15
Discussion questions due at 5pm
Wednesday, 9/16 - Othering Japan
[Optional "show and tell" from 2:15; Lecture live from 2:30-4pm; Recording will be posted]
The Wolverine. 2013. James Mangold, dir. 126 minutes. You can find this film on Canvas / Pages.
Edward Said. 1978. "Introduction" to his Orientalism. New York: Vintage. Pages: 1-29.
Ruth Benedict. 1946. "Assignment: Japan." From her The Chrysanthemum and the Sword: Patterns of Japanese Culture. New York: Mariner Books. Pages: 1-19.
Roland Barthes. 1970. “Faraway” from his Empire of Signs. New York: Hill and Wang. Pages: ix-5.
Thursday, 9/17 - Weekly Assignments due
Lecture guides and Critical Précis are due on Canvas by 5pm
week four
Sunday, 9/20
Discussion questions due at 5pm
Monday, 9/21 - Samurai and the Invention of Tradition
[Optional "show and tell" from 2:15; Lecture live from 2:30-4pm; Recording will be posted]
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.
Eiko Ikegami. 1995. "Honor, State Formation, and Social Theories." In her The Taming of the Samurai: Honorific Individualism and the Making of Modern Japan. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. 15-44.
Sunday, 9/22
Discussion questions due at 5pm
Wednesday, 9/23 - History and Responsibility
[Optional "show and tell" from 2:15; Lecture live from 2:30-4pm; Recording will be posted]
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.
Thursday, 9/24 - Weekly Assignments due
Lecture guides and Critical Précis are due on Canvas by 5pm
week five
Sunday, 9/27
Discussion questions due at 5pm
Monday, 9/28: Postwar Social Institutions
[Optional "show and tell" from 2:15; Lecture live from 2:30-4pm; Recording will be posted]
Shall We Dance? 1995. Suo Masayuki, dir. 136 minutes. This film will be added to Canvas.
Tuesday, 9/29
Discussion questions due at 5pm
Wednesday, 9/30: The Heroic Salarymen
[Optional "show and tell" from 2:15; Lecture live from 2:30-4pm; Recording will be posted]
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.
* Please work ahead because there is a heavier load of reading next week and Ogasawara's book relates very much to this topic, too.
Thursday, 10/1 - Weekly Assignments due
Lecture guides and Critical Précis are due on Canvas by 5pm
week six
Sunday, 10/4
Discussion questions due at 5pm
Monday, 10/5 - Cushions around the Core
[Optional "show and tell" from 2:15; Lecture live from 2:30-4pm; Recording will be posted]
Yuko Ogasawara. 1998. Office Ladies and Salaried Men: Power, Gender, and Work in Japanese Companies. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Tuesday, 10/6
Discussion questions due at 5pm
Wednesday, 10/7 - Early Education
[Optional "show and tell" from 2:15; Lecture live from 2:30-4pm; Recording will be posted]
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.
Thursday, 10/8 - Weekly Assignments due
Lecture guides and Critical Précis are due on Canvas by 5pm
week seven
Sunday, 10/11
Discussion questions due at 5pm
Monday, 10/12 - Schools in Communities
[Optional "show and tell" from 2:15; Lecture live from 2:30-4pm; Recording will be posted]
The Slow Way Home. 2014. Leonard Schoppa, dir. You can find this film on Canvas / Pages.
Leonard Schoppa. 2013. "Residential Mobility and Local Civic Engagement in Japan and the United States: Divergent Paths to School." Comparative Political Studies 46(9): 1058-1081.
Tuesday, 10/13
Discussion questions due at 5pm
Wednesday, 10/14 - Changing Japan
[Optional "show and tell" from 2:15; Lecture live from 2:30-4pm; Recording will be posted]
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.
Allison Alexy. 2019. "Introduction: The Stakes of Intimacy in Contemporary Japan." From Intimate Japan: Ethnographies of Closeness and Conflict, edited by Allison Alexy and Emma E. Cook. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press. Pages: 1-34.
Thursday, 10/15 - Weekly Assignments due
Lecture guides and Critical Précis are due on Canvas by 5pm
week eight
Sunday, 10/18
Discussion questions due at 5pm
Monday, 10/19 - New Masculinity
[Optional "show and tell" from 2:15; Lecture live from 2:30-4pm; Recording will be posted]
Emma E. Cook. 2015. Reconstructing Adult Masculinities: Part-time Work in Contemporary Japan. London: Routledge.
Tuesday, 10/20
Discussion questions due at 5pm
Wednesday, 10/21 - Herbivorous Men
[Optional "show and tell" from 2:15; Lecture live from 2:30-4pm; Recording will be posted]
電車男 [Train Man]. 2005. Murakami Shosuke, dir. 101 minutes. This film will be added to Canvas.
Thursday, 10/22 - Weekly Assignments due
Lecture guides and Critical Précis are due on Canvas by 5pm
week nine
Sunday, 10/25
Discussion questions due at 5pm
Monday, 10/26 - Intimacy and Work in a Neoliberal Era
[Optional "show and tell" from 2:15; Lecture live from 2:30-4pm; Recording will be posted]
Allison Alexy. 2020. Intimate Disconnections: Divorce and the Romance of Independence in Contemporary Japan. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Introduction through Chapter 2, pages: 1-83.
Hiroko Takeda. 2008. "Structural Reform of the Family and the Neoliberalisation of Everyday Life in Japan." New Political Economy 13(2); 153-172.
Tuesday, 10/27
Discussion questions due at 5pm
Wednesday, 10/28 - Changing Families
[Optional "show and tell" from 2:15; Lecture live from 2:30-4pm; Recording will be posted]
Allison Alexy. 2020. Intimate Disconnections: Divorce and the Romance of Independence in Contemporary Japan. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Chapter 3 and Chapter 4, pages: 85-133.
Thursday, 10/29 - Weekly Assignments due
Lecture guides and Critical Précis are due on Canvas by 5pm
week ten
Sunday, 11/1
Discussion questions due at 5pm
Monday, 11/2 - Social Inequalities
[Optional "show and tell" from 2:15; Lecture live from 2:30-4pm; Recording will be posted]
Allison Alexy. 2020. Intimate Disconnections: Divorce and the Romance of Independence in Contemporary Japan.Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Chapter 5 through Conclusion, pages: 135-176.
Shunsuke Nozawa. 2015. "Phatic Traces: Sociality in Contemporary Japan." Anthropological Quarterly 88(2): 373-400.
Tuesday, 11/3
Discussion questions due at 5pm
Wednesday, 11/4 - No class
I believe that Election Day should be a national holiday in order to make it easier for people to vote. I know that not everyone in this class is a US citizen, and that some of you are likely voting absentee or by mail, but I want to do what I can to give you time off from the work of this class to make it easier for you to vote. If you are able, please use the time you would normally devote to this class – reading and watching the lecture – to spend on instead on voting, however you do so.
Thursday, 11/5 - Weekly Assignments due
Lecture guide and Critical Précis are due on Canvas by 5pm
week eleven
Sunday, 11/8
Discussion questions due at 5pm
Monday, 11/9 - Is Japan Diverse?
[Optional "show and tell" from 2:15; Lecture live from 2:30-4pm; Recording will be posted]
Hwaji Shin. 2017. "Trust Networks and Durable Inequality Among Korean Immigrants in Japan." From Immigration and Categorical Inequality, edited by Ernesto Castañeda. London: Routledge. Pages: 121-139.
Joseph Hankins. 2014. Working Skin: Making Leather, Making a Multicultural Japan. Berkeley: University of California Press. Preface through Chapter 4, pages: xi - 152. You are welcome to finish the book if you would like to read further.
Tuesday, 11/10
Discussion questions due at 5pm
Wednesday, 11/11 - Intersections of Religion, Ethnicity, and Culture
[Optional "show and tell" from 2:15; Lecture live from 2:30-4pm; Recording will be posted]
Suma Ikeuchi. 2019. Selections from her Jesus Loves Japan: Return Migration and Global Pentecostalism in a Brazilian Diaspora. Stanford: Stanford University Press. Pages: 1-52.
Today we are very lucky to have Prof. Hwaji Shin join us live for Q&A. Please think of questions to ask her.
Thursday, 11/12 - Weekly Assignments due
Lecture guides and Critical Précis are due on Canvas by 5pm
week twelve
Sunday, 11/15
Discussion questions due at 5pm
Monday, 11/16 - LGBTQ+ Rights
[Optional "show and tell" from 2:15; Lecture live from 2:30-4pm; Recording will be posted]
Claire Maree. "Sexual Citizenship at the Intersections of Patriarchy and Heteronormativity: Same-sex Partnerships and the koseki." In Japan's Household Registration System and Citizenship: Koseki, Identification and Documentation, edited by David Chapman and Karl Jakob Krogness. London: Routledge. Pages: 187-202.
Tuesday, 11/17
Discussion questions due at 5pm
Wednesday, 11/18 - Love and Law
[Optional "show and tell" from 2:15; Lecture live from 2:30-4pm; Recording will be posted]
Of Love and Law. 2017. Hikaru Toda, dir. 94 min. This film is at Canvas / Pages / Films.
Karl Jakob Krogness. 2011. "The Ideal, the Deficient, and the Illogical Family: An Initial Typology of Administrative Household Units." In Home and Family in Japan: Continuity and Transformation, edited by Richard Ronald and Allison Alexy. London: Routledge. Pages: 65-90.
Thursday, 11/19 - Weekly Assignments due
Lecture guides and Critical Précis are due on Canvas by 5pm
Thanksgiving Break - no class or discussion sections between 11/21 and 11/29.
week thirteen
Sunday, 11/29
Discussion questions due at 5pm
Monday, 11/30 - Authenticity
[Optional "show and tell" from 2:15; Lecture live from 2:30-4pm; Recording will be posted]
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.
Kevin Fellezs. "What Is This 'Black' in Japanese Popular Music? (Re)Imagining Race in a Transnational Polycultural Context." In Traveling Texts and the Work of Afro-Japanese Cultural Production: Two Haiku and a Microphone, edited by William H. Bridges IV and Nina Cornyetz. Lanham: Lexington Books. Pages: 169-186.
Tuesday, 12/1
Discussion questions due at 5pm
Wednesday, 12/2 - Fandom
[Optional "show and tell" from 2:15; Lecture live from 2:30-4pm; Recording will be posted]
Dexter Thomas Jr. 2019. "Can the Japanese Rap?" In Traveling Texts and the Work of Afro-Japanese Cultural Production: Two Haiku and a Microphone, edited by William H. Bridges IV and Nina Cornyetz. Lanham: Lexington Books. Pages: 223-239.
Remixed in Japan. 2006. Melody Shemtov, dir. 44 minutes. This film is available through Canvas / Media Gallery.
Thursday, 12/3 - Weekly Assignments due
Lecture guides and Critical Précis are due on Canvas by 5pm
week fourteen
Monday, 12/7 - Final Thoughts and Future Questions
[Optional "show and tell" from 2:15; Lecture live from 2:30-4pm; Recording will be posted]
No reading due.
Thursday, 12/10 - Weekly Assignments due
Lecture guides and Critical Précis are due on Canvas by 5pm
The final version of your final paper / project is due Sunday, December 20 at 5pm.
In this course, we are lucky to have both undergraduate and graduate students. This is the syllabus for graduate students, which includes more reading and different assignments than the undergraduate syllabus. Please make sure you are following the correct syllabus for your enrollment.
Everything on this syllabus can be completed asynchronously, although you are welcome to join lectures live and talk with Prof. Alexy in office hours.
week one
Monday, 8/31 - Welcome
[Lecture live from 2:30-4pm; Recording will be posted]
In this welcome lecture, Prof. Alexy will talk through the logistics of the class – how we will think and learn together given that we are online. No reading is due.
Tuesday, 9/1 - Survey
Please complete this introductory survey by 5pm
Wednesday, 9/2 - Why Study Japan?
[Optional "show and tell" from 2:15-2:30; Lecture live from 2:30-4pm; Recording will be posted]
In this lecture, Prof. Alexy begins to introduce content for the course. As homework before this session, please spend 10+ minutes reading through this website to familiarize yourself with our plans for the semester.
Thursday, 9/3 - Weekly Assignments due
Lecture guides are due on Canvas by 5pm
week two
Monday, 9/7 - Labor Day
No class meeting. Please have fun and stay safe!
Tuesday, 9/8
Discussion questions due at 5pm
Wednesday, 9/9 - Stereotyping Japan
[Optional "show and tell" from 2:15; Lecture live from 2:30-4pm; Recording will be posted]
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.
Lisa Katayama. "Love in 2-D" New York Times Magazine, July 21, 2009.
Thursday, 9/10 - Weekly Assignments due
Lecture guide is due on Canvas by 5pm
week three
Sunday, 9/13
Discussion questions due at 5pm
Monday, 9/14 - Is Culture the Same as National Character?
[Optional "show and tell" from 2:15; Lecture live from 2:30-4pm; Recording will be posted]
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.
Tuesday, 9/15
Discussion questions due at 5pm
Wednesday, 9/16 - Othering Japan
[Optional "show and tell" from 2:15; Lecture live from 2:30-4pm; Recording will be posted]
The Wolverine. 2013. James Mangold, dir. 126 minutes. You can find this film on Canvas / Pages.
Edward Said. 1978. "Introduction" to his Orientalism. New York: Vintage. Pages: 1-29.
Ruth Benedict. 1946. "Assignment: Japan." From her The Chrysanthemum and the Sword: Patterns of Japanese Culture. New York: Mariner Books. Pages: 1-19.
Roland Barthes. 1970. “Faraway” from his Empire of Signs. New York: Hill and Wang. Pages: ix-5.
Thursday, 9/17 - Weekly Assignments due
Lecture guides and Critical Précis are due on Canvas by 5pm
week four
Sunday, 9/20
Discussion questions due at 5pm
Monday, 9/21 - Samurai and the Invention of Tradition
[Optional "show and tell" from 2:15; Lecture live from 2:30-4pm; Recording will be posted]
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.
Eiko Ikegami. 1995. "Honor, State Formation, and Social Theories." In her The Taming of the Samurai: Honorific Individualism and the Making of Modern Japan. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. 15-44.
Sunday, 9/22
Discussion questions due at 5pm
Wednesday, 9/23 - History and Responsibility
[Optional "show and tell" from 2:15; Lecture live from 2:30-4pm; Recording will be posted]
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.
Thursday, 9/24 - Weekly Assignments due
Lecture guides and Critical Précis are due on Canvas by 5pm
week five
Sunday, 9/27
Discussion questions due at 5pm
Monday, 9/28: Postwar Social Institutions
[Optional "show and tell" from 2:15; Lecture live from 2:30-4pm; Recording will be posted]
Shall We Dance? 1995. Suo Masayuki, dir. 136 minutes. This film will be added to Canvas.
Tuesday, 9/29
Discussion questions due at 5pm
Wednesday, 9/30: The Heroic Salarymen
[Optional "show and tell" from 2:15; Lecture live from 2:30-4pm; Recording will be posted]
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.
* Please work ahead because there is a heavier load of reading next week and Ogasawara's book relates very much to this topic, too.
Thursday, 10/1 - Weekly Assignments due
Lecture guides and Critical Précis are due on Canvas by 5pm
week six
Sunday, 10/4
Discussion questions due at 5pm
Monday, 10/5 - Cushions around the Core
[Optional "show and tell" from 2:15; Lecture live from 2:30-4pm; Recording will be posted]
Yuko Ogasawara. 1998. Office Ladies and Salaried Men: Power, Gender, and Work in Japanese Companies. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Tuesday, 10/6
Discussion questions due at 5pm
Wednesday, 10/7 - Early Education
[Optional "show and tell" from 2:15; Lecture live from 2:30-4pm; Recording will be posted]
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.
Thursday, 10/8 - Weekly Assignments due
Lecture guides and Critical Précis are due on Canvas by 5pm
week seven
Sunday, 10/11
Discussion questions due at 5pm
Monday, 10/12 - Schools in Communities
[Optional "show and tell" from 2:15; Lecture live from 2:30-4pm; Recording will be posted]
The Slow Way Home. 2014. Leonard Schoppa, dir. You can find this film on Canvas / Pages.
Leonard Schoppa. 2013. "Residential Mobility and Local Civic Engagement in Japan and the United States: Divergent Paths to School." Comparative Political Studies 46(9): 1058-1081.
Tuesday, 10/13
Discussion questions due at 5pm
Wednesday, 10/14 - Changing Japan
[Optional "show and tell" from 2:15; Lecture live from 2:30-4pm; Recording will be posted]
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.
Allison Alexy. 2019. "Introduction: The Stakes of Intimacy in Contemporary Japan." From Intimate Japan: Ethnographies of Closeness and Conflict, edited by Allison Alexy and Emma E. Cook. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press. Pages: 1-34.
Thursday, 10/15 - Weekly Assignments due
Lecture guides and Critical Précis are due on Canvas by 5pm
week eight
Sunday, 10/18
Discussion questions due at 5pm
Monday, 10/19 - New Masculinity
[Optional "show and tell" from 2:15; Lecture live from 2:30-4pm; Recording will be posted]
Emma E. Cook. 2015. Reconstructing Adult Masculinities: Part-time Work in Contemporary Japan. London: Routledge.
Tuesday, 10/20
Discussion questions due at 5pm
Wednesday, 10/21 - Herbivorous Men
[Optional "show and tell" from 2:15; Lecture live from 2:30-4pm; Recording will be posted]
電車男 [Train Man]. 2005. Murakami Shosuke, dir. 101 minutes. This film will be added to Canvas.
Thursday, 10/22 - Weekly Assignments due
Lecture guides and Critical Précis are due on Canvas by 5pm
week nine
Sunday, 10/25
Discussion questions due at 5pm
Monday, 10/26 - Intimacy and Work in a Neoliberal Era
[Optional "show and tell" from 2:15; Lecture live from 2:30-4pm; Recording will be posted]
Allison Alexy. 2020. Intimate Disconnections: Divorce and the Romance of Independence in Contemporary Japan. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Introduction through Chapter 2, pages: 1-83.
Hiroko Takeda. 2008. "Structural Reform of the Family and the Neoliberalisation of Everyday Life in Japan." New Political Economy 13(2); 153-172.
Tuesday, 10/27
Discussion questions due at 5pm
Wednesday, 10/28 - Changing Families
[Optional "show and tell" from 2:15; Lecture live from 2:30-4pm; Recording will be posted]
Allison Alexy. 2020. Intimate Disconnections: Divorce and the Romance of Independence in Contemporary Japan. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Chapter 3 and Chapter 4, pages: 85-133.
Thursday, 10/29 - Weekly Assignments due
Lecture guides and Critical Précis are due on Canvas by 5pm
week ten
Sunday, 11/1
Discussion questions due at 5pm
Monday, 11/2 - Social Inequalities
[Optional "show and tell" from 2:15; Lecture live from 2:30-4pm; Recording will be posted]
Allison Alexy. 2020. Intimate Disconnections: Divorce and the Romance of Independence in Contemporary Japan.Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Chapter 5 through Conclusion, pages: 135-176.
Shunsuke Nozawa. 2015. "Phatic Traces: Sociality in Contemporary Japan." Anthropological Quarterly 88(2): 373-400.
Tuesday, 11/3
Discussion questions due at 5pm
Wednesday, 11/4 - No class
I believe that Election Day should be a national holiday in order to make it easier for people to vote. I know that not everyone in this class is a US citizen, and that some of you are likely voting absentee or by mail, but I want to do what I can to give you time off from the work of this class to make it easier for you to vote. If you are able, please use the time you would normally devote to this class – reading and watching the lecture – to spend on instead on voting, however you do so.
Thursday, 11/5 - Weekly Assignments due
Lecture guide and Critical Précis are due on Canvas by 5pm
week eleven
Sunday, 11/8
Discussion questions due at 5pm
Monday, 11/9 - Is Japan Diverse?
[Optional "show and tell" from 2:15; Lecture live from 2:30-4pm; Recording will be posted]
Hwaji Shin. 2017. "Trust Networks and Durable Inequality Among Korean Immigrants in Japan." From Immigration and Categorical Inequality, edited by Ernesto Castañeda. London: Routledge. Pages: 121-139.
Joseph Hankins. 2014. Working Skin: Making Leather, Making a Multicultural Japan. Berkeley: University of California Press. Preface through Chapter 4, pages: xi - 152. You are welcome to finish the book if you would like to read further.
Tuesday, 11/10
Discussion questions due at 5pm
Wednesday, 11/11 - Intersections of Religion, Ethnicity, and Culture
[Optional "show and tell" from 2:15; Lecture live from 2:30-4pm; Recording will be posted]
Suma Ikeuchi. 2019. Selections from her Jesus Loves Japan: Return Migration and Global Pentecostalism in a Brazilian Diaspora. Stanford: Stanford University Press. Pages: 1-52.
Today we are very lucky to have Prof. Hwaji Shin join us live for Q&A. Please think of questions to ask her.
Thursday, 11/12 - Weekly Assignments due
Lecture guides and Critical Précis are due on Canvas by 5pm
week twelve
Sunday, 11/15
Discussion questions due at 5pm
Monday, 11/16 - LGBTQ+ Rights
[Optional "show and tell" from 2:15; Lecture live from 2:30-4pm; Recording will be posted]
Claire Maree. "Sexual Citizenship at the Intersections of Patriarchy and Heteronormativity: Same-sex Partnerships and the koseki." In Japan's Household Registration System and Citizenship: Koseki, Identification and Documentation, edited by David Chapman and Karl Jakob Krogness. London: Routledge. Pages: 187-202.
Tuesday, 11/17
Discussion questions due at 5pm
Wednesday, 11/18 - Love and Law
[Optional "show and tell" from 2:15; Lecture live from 2:30-4pm; Recording will be posted]
Of Love and Law. 2017. Hikaru Toda, dir. 94 min. This film is at Canvas / Pages / Films.
Karl Jakob Krogness. 2011. "The Ideal, the Deficient, and the Illogical Family: An Initial Typology of Administrative Household Units." In Home and Family in Japan: Continuity and Transformation, edited by Richard Ronald and Allison Alexy. London: Routledge. Pages: 65-90.
Thursday, 11/19 - Weekly Assignments due
Lecture guides and Critical Précis are due on Canvas by 5pm
Thanksgiving Break - no class or discussion sections between 11/21 and 11/29.
week thirteen
Sunday, 11/29
Discussion questions due at 5pm
Monday, 11/30 - Authenticity
[Optional "show and tell" from 2:15; Lecture live from 2:30-4pm; Recording will be posted]
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.
Kevin Fellezs. "What Is This 'Black' in Japanese Popular Music? (Re)Imagining Race in a Transnational Polycultural Context." In Traveling Texts and the Work of Afro-Japanese Cultural Production: Two Haiku and a Microphone, edited by William H. Bridges IV and Nina Cornyetz. Lanham: Lexington Books. Pages: 169-186.
Tuesday, 12/1
Discussion questions due at 5pm
Wednesday, 12/2 - Fandom
[Optional "show and tell" from 2:15; Lecture live from 2:30-4pm; Recording will be posted]
Dexter Thomas Jr. 2019. "Can the Japanese Rap?" In Traveling Texts and the Work of Afro-Japanese Cultural Production: Two Haiku and a Microphone, edited by William H. Bridges IV and Nina Cornyetz. Lanham: Lexington Books. Pages: 223-239.
Remixed in Japan. 2006. Melody Shemtov, dir. 44 minutes. This film is available through Canvas / Media Gallery.
Thursday, 12/3 - Weekly Assignments due
Lecture guides and Critical Précis are due on Canvas by 5pm
week fourteen
Monday, 12/7 - Final Thoughts and Future Questions
[Optional "show and tell" from 2:15; Lecture live from 2:30-4pm; Recording will be posted]
No reading due.
Thursday, 12/10 - Weekly Assignments due
Lecture guides and Critical Précis are due on Canvas by 5pm
The final version of your final paper / project is due Sunday, December 20 at 5pm.