Introduction to Japanese Culture

Readings

• [Bumiller] Bumiller, Elizabeth. The Secrets of Mariko: A Year in the Life of a Japanese Woman and Her Family . Vintage Books, 1996. ISBN: 9780679772620.
  Required
• [Ito] Ito, Mizuko, ed. Fandom Unbound: Otaku Culture in a Connected World . Yale University Press, 2012. ISBN: 9780300158649.
  Required
• [Philip] Philip, Leila. The Road Through Miyama . Vintage Books, 1991. ISBN: 978067972501.
  Required
• SES #: 1–2 · TOPICS: Introduction to the Course: Brief history Japan and the contemporary study of culture · READINGS: [Bumiller] 1-33
  Reading assignment
• Kelly, William. “Finding a Place in Metropolitan Japan.” In Postwar Japan as History . Edited by Andrew Gordon. University of California Press, 1993. ISBN: 9780520074750.
  Required
• Film: Makiko’s New World . Directed by David Plath. Color, 57 min. Media Production Group, 1999. [Preview available on YouTube: docued. “ Makiko’s New World – PREVIEW .” September 10, 2008. Accessed August 28, 2012.] ↗
  Required
• Film: Hoichi the Earless , excerpt from Kwaidan . Directed by Masaki Kobayashi. Color, 183 min, 1964. ↗
  Required
• Hearn, Lafcadio. “Hoichi the Earless.” In Kwaidan . CreateSpace, 2012. ISBN: 9781477469804.
  Required
• McCullough, Helen. Chapters 1 and 9 in The Tale of the Heike . Stanford University Press, 1990. ISBN: 9780804718035.
  Required
• Film: The Pacific Century, Vol. 6: Inside Japan, Inc. 60 mins. 1992.
  Required
• Millar, Laura, and Jan Bardsley. Bad Girls of Japan . Palgrave Macmillan, 2005. ISBN: 9781403969477.
  Required
• Wezorek, Joe. “Japanese Dominance of the Video Game Industry.” In The Japanification of Children’s Popular Culture: From Godzilla to Miyazaki. Edited by Mark I. West. Scarecrow Press, 2008. ISBN: 9780810851214.
  Required
• [Ito] Kijima, Yoshimasa. “The Fighting Gamer Otaku Community: What Are They Fighting About?” Chapter 9.
  Required
• Azuma, Hiroki. Otaku: Japan’s Database Animals. Translated by Jonathan E. Abel and Shion Kono. University of Minnesota Press, 2009. ISBN: 9780816653522.
  Required
• Otsuka. “Narrative Consumption.” (2011)
  Required
• Miyazaki, Hayao. “My Theories on the Popularity of Manga.” In Starting Point: 1979-1996. Translated by Beth Cary and Frederik L. Schodt. VIZ Media, LLC, 2009. ISBN: 9781421505947.
  Required
• Sayle, Murray. “ Letter from Hiroshima: Did the Bomb End the War? ,” New Yorker , July 31, 1995, 40–64. ↗
  Required
• Dower, John. “ Don’t Expect Democracy in Iraq .” Boston Review , February/March 2003 issue. ↗
  Required
• Napier, Susan J. “Grave of the Fireflies.” In Anime from Akira to Princess Mononoke: Experiencing Contemporary Japanese Animation . Palgrave Macmillan, 2001. ISBN: 9780312238629.
  Required
• Film: Grave of the Fireflies . Directed by Isao Takahata. Color, 89 min. Studio Ghibli, 1988. ↗
  Required
• SES #: 16–18 · TOPICS: Contemporary Japan as Global Culture · READINGS: McGray, Douglas. “ Japan’s Gross National Cool .” Foriegn Policy , May 1, 2012. ↗
  Reading assignment