1 - 10 of 17 results for: JAPAN ; Currently searching spring courses. You can expand your search to include all quarters

This course considers the political, economic, social, cultural, and artistic effects of the introduction of new technologies and media to modern Japan. Our exploration will encompass printed books and images, language reform, communication technology, serialized fiction and commercial journalism, propaganda and censorship, cinema, comics, animation and television. Through examination of these topics we will investigate a wide range of issues including nationality, ethnic identity, class, cultural identification, gender, sexuality, literacy, imperialism, consumerism, materialism, and globalism, to name just a few. Throughout the course, we will be attentive not only to the ways that new technology and media are represented in cultural materials but also how they are materialized in these products through the acts of adaptation, translation, transliteration, and remediation. No knowledge of Japanese is necessary. All materials are in English. This class fulfills the Writing & Rhetoric 2 requirement. Prerequisite: PWR 1.

Asian screen culture, ranging from cinema to online games, has (re)shaped the global and national/regional imaginings of Asia. The Post-Cold War intensification of intra-Asian interactions has precipitated the rise of a Pan-Asian regional identity wherein the nation-state is not yet obsolete. What role does screen culture plays in the border-crossing interplay among languages, ideologies, aesthetics, and affect? How does the converging media of screen culture capture local/global desires and propel the history of transformation of sign systems from the written words to visual moving images in a digital time? How do we understand the aesthetic, storytelling, and politics of Asian screen cultures vis-à-vis its historical and social context? While exploring these transnational and transdisciplinary questions, this course will deal with topical issues of Pan-Asian identity, (trans)nationalism, (un)translatability, commodity fetishism, locality and globality, technophobia, and politics of gender. Students will learn how to think and write about screen cultures of East Asia in particular and of our world of screens in general.

Many of us have grown up eating "Asian" at home, with friends, on special occasions, or even without full awareness that Asian is what we were eating. This course situates the three major culinary traditions of East Asia--China, Japan, and Korea--in the histories and civilizations of the region, using food as an introduction to their rich repertoires of literature, art, language, philosophy, religion, and culture. It also situates these seemingly timeless gastronomies within local and global flows, social change, and ethical frameworks. Specifically, we will explore the traditional elements of Korean court food, and the transformation of this cuisine as a consequence of the Korean War and South Korea¿s subsequent globalizing economy; the intersection of traditional Japanese food with past and contemporary identities; and the evolution of Chinese cuisine that accompanies shifting attitudes about the environment, health, and well-being. Questions we will ask ourselves during the quarter include, what is "Asian" about Asian cuisine? How has the language of food changed? Is eating, and talking about eating, a gendered experience? How have changing views of the self and community shifted the conversation around the ethics and ecology of meat consumption?

From the culturally distinct urban centers of Tokyo, Kyoto, and Osaka to the sharp contrasts between the southernmost and northernmost parts of Japan, modern Japanese literature and film present rich characterizations of place that have shaped Japanese identities at the national, regional, and local levels. This course focuses attention on how these settings operate in key works of literature and film, with an eye toward developing students' understanding of diversity within modern Japan.

The Japanese tea ceremony, the ultimate premodern multimedia phenomenon, integrates architecture, garden design, ceramics, painting, calligraphy, and other treasured objects into a choreographed ritual wherein host, objects, and guests perform designated roles on a tiny stage sometimes only six feet square.. In addition to its much-touted aesthetic and philosophical aspects, the practice of tea includes inevitable political and rhetorical dimensions. This course traces the evolution of tea practice from its inception within the milieu of courtier diversions, Zen monasteries, and warrior villas, through its various permutations into the 20th century, where it was manipulated by the emerging industrialist class for different-but ultimately similar-ends.

EALC students writing a Senior Capstone Essay who wish to conduct research with their adviser may enroll in this course for 1 unit, for 1 quarter.

Asian Languages majors only. May be repeated for credit. Prerequisites: JAPANLNG 129B or 103, and consent of instructor.