ESOPExchange Students from Overseas Program

This is a team-taught course that aims to give students an in-depth look at multiple facets of Japan through a series of lectures given by scholars from diverse fields. The theme varies by year, and in 2024 the focus is on transnationalism in modes of expression in Japan. Through this course, students will acquire critical knowledge about a variety of forms of creative expression in Japan while also exploring the transnational flows of creation and consumption that defy simple formulations of discrete national culture.

Students will learn about the complex webs of connection and exchange that underpin culture. Students will synthesize the contents of the individual lectures to better understand the creation, maintenance, and consumption of culture in general, and will demonstrate their understanding through final presentations and papers.

英語 / English

This course will be taught through lectures, discussions, and presentations. Most weeks will be conducted in person, but certain weeks of the class may be provided online; details will be provided later in the semester. Feedback will be provided to students either in class or through the university's online learning system, Hoppii.

あり / Yes

なし / No

授業形態/methods of teaching：対面/face to face

※各回の授業形態は予定です。教員の指示に従ってください。

1.[対面/face to face]：Overview

Explanation of the course, its theme for this year, and requirements. Warm-up discussion on transnational issues.

2.[対面/face to face]：Japanese Transnationalism (K. Takata)

Understanding the characteristics of Japanese transnationalism - past and present.

3.[対面/face to face]：Anime’s Transnationality (S. Suan)

Exploring different ways to consider anime’s globalization.

4.[対面/face to face]：South Korean Anime Industry (K. Choo)

Examining how the Japanese anime industry propelled the development of South Korea’s animation industry.

5.[対面/face to face]：From Parasitic to Productive: Consideration Translation in Meiji- era Literature (K. Niehaus)

Examining translation's intimate and inextricable relationship with the birth and efflorescence of modern Japanese shosetsu.

6.[対面/face to face]：Modernizing Women’s Education in Meiji (S. Lukminaitė-Anand)

Modernizing women’s education in Meiji. We will focus on the usage of literature and physical education in particular as tools of nation-building and see how Japanese educators were influenced by the Western examples and then influenced other countries in Asia.

7.[対面/face to face]：Ryukyuan Culture (T. Seifman)

Ryukyu as a foreign country within Tokugawa Japan, and Okinawan foreignness or difference within Japan today.

8.[対面/face to face]：Japanese and American SF short-shorts (L. Cardi)

SF short-short stories by the Japanese writer Hoshi Shin`ichi (1926-1997) and the American writer Fredric Brown (1906-1972) from a comparative perspective.

9.[対面/face to face]：The Influence of Early European and American Animation on Pre-War Japanese Anime (C. Hotes)

An examination of short films by Émile Cohl, Lotte Reiniger, the Fleischer Brothers and Disney and how they influenced early Japanese animation pioneers.

10.[対面/face to face]：Yeats’ Symbolist Plays and New Noh (A. Takeuchi)

Discussing Yeats’ adaptation of noh drama in his plays, which then influenced in creating “new noh” plays in Japan.

11.[対面/face to face]：Poetry of Japan and Okinawa (J. Urbanova)

The influence of Japanese poetry on Okinawan poetry and different nuances
of similar expressions in Japanese and Okinawan poetry.

12.[対面/face to face]：Contemporary Transnational Authors in Japan (G. Khezrnejat)

Transnational authorship and the fluctuating boundaries of national literature.

13.[対面/face to face]：Student Presentations

Student presentations on the knowledge they have acquired and discussion of related issues not covered in this course.

14.[対面/face to face]：Student Presentations

Student presentations continued and a final synthesis of course content.

Students should keep up with the weekly readings so as to be able to contribute to the class discussions. Students will prepare a presentation at the end of the term based on an independent research project and will submit a final report on the same topic.
The average study time outside of class per week would be roughly 4 hours.

Reading materials will be provided as handouts or made available on Hoppii. (Each student is responsible for keeping all the readings and bringing the assigned reading to class on the designated day.)

The instructor will suggest reference materials whenever appropriate.

Class participation (10%)
Weekly response papers (15%)
Research presentation (25%)
Final report (50%)

Not applicable.

Please note that the list of topics and guest lecturers may be subject to change. Any changes to the syllabus will be announced during the first class of the semester.