IGESS (Institute for Global Economics and Social Sciences)

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ARS200BD
Comparative Culture(3)

Keita HATOOKA

Class code etc
Faculty/Graduate school IGESS (Institute for Global Economics and Social Sciences)
Attached documents
Year 2024
Class code A2988
Previous Class code
Previous Class title
Term 秋学期授業/Fall
Day/Period 火5/Tue.5
Class Type
Campus 市ヶ谷
Classroom name 市Y‐Y603
Grade 2~4
Credit(s) 2
Notes
Open Program
Open Program (Notes)
Global Open Program
Interdepartmental class taking system for Academic Achievers
Interdepartmental class taking system for Academic Achievers (Notes)
Class taught by instructors with practical experience
SDGs CP
Urban Design CP
Diversity CP
Learning for the Future CP
Carbon Neutral CP
Chiyoda Campus Consortium
Category General Education Courses/総合教育科目
Global Open Program/グローバルオープン科目
Faculty Sponsored Department 文Letters

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Outline and objectives

This class examines how American culture has understood and utilized the culture of "kawaii" in Japan through the comparative study of cuteness in both the United States and Japan.

Goal

Students will be able to:
1. show how media texts are shaped by their distinctive local, national, international, and transnational contexts.
2. gain a cross-cultural perspective of Japanese popular culture aesthetics.

Default language used in class

英語 / English

Method(s)(学期の途中で変更になる場合には、別途提示します。 /If the Method(s) is changed, we will announce the details of any changes. )

This course aims to teach how to understand the "diversity of parodies of cute Japan" critically. Learning how to do this requires that you examine media content and texts closely and read critical essays on them with the guidance of the lecturer, as well as through discussions with your classmates.

Active learning in class (Group discussion, Debate.etc.)

あり / Yes

Fieldwork in class

なし / No

Schedule

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。

第1回[対面/face to face]:Japan on American TV

Introduction to the course

第2回[対面/face to face]:"The Power Dynamics of Parodying Kawaii Japan"

"Idol," Sanrio, and Yuru Kyara

第3回[対面/face to face]:"Wartime Stereotypes Become Judo Jacks" (Ch.1)

International characters on American TV in 1950s

第4回[対面/face to face]:"Fred Flintstone Meets Professor Rockimoto" (Ch.1)

International characters on American TV in 1960s

第5回[対面/face to face]:"Samurai in America" (Ch.2)

Samurai characters on American TV in 1970s #1

第6回[対面/face to face]:"Shōgun’s Serious Samurai" (Ch.2)

Samurai characters on American TV in 1970s #2

第7回[対面/face to face]:"Sesame Street in the United States and Japan" (Ch.3)

The role of American TV in explaining Japan #1

第8回[対面/face to face]:"Japan in Sesame Street and Big Bird in Japan (Ch.3)

The role of American TV in explaining Japan #2

第9回[対面/face to face]:"Provincial Fathers and Sons Bond in Cool Japan" (Ch.4)

The Simpsons and the animated sitcoms

第10回[対面/face to face]:"J-Pop America Fun Time Now" (Ch.5)

Metaparody of Japanese studies

第11回[対面/face to face]:"Marie Kondo and the KonMari Method" (Ch.6)

Interpretation of the "Ideal Japanese woman" for American audiences

第12回[対面/face to face]:"Queer Eye: We're in Japan!" (Ch.6)

"Tidiness" and Yamato Nadeshiko

第13回[対面/face to face]:Japan's "cutification"

Japan as "one of the first and most consistently parodied contries on American television"

第14回[対面/face to face]:Final Exam

Students summarize each chapter of the textbook and write their opinions.

Work to be done outside of class (preparation, etc.)

Preparing for quizzes at the beginning of each class: 2 hours.
Reading a chapter of the textbook: 2 hours.

Textbooks

Freedman, Alisa. Japan on American TV: Screaming Samurai Join Anime Clubs in the Land of the Lost. Columbia University Press. 2021.

References

Iwabuchi, Koichi. Recentering Globalization: Popular Culture and Japanese Transnationalism. Duke University Press, 2002.
Hutcheon, Linda. A Theory of Parody: The Teaching of Twentieth-Century Art Forms. University of Illinois Press, [1985] 2000.

Grading criteria

There will be small tests at the beginning of each class. Grading shall be as follows:
1. Quizzes in class: 50%.
2. Final exam: 50%.
Three or more absences from discussion sessions without a valid and well-documented reason will lower your final course grade by one full grade.

Changes following student comments

Feedback is not available due to a change in the class instructor this year.