JAPN 308: Japanese Pop Culture
This course explores post WWII Japanese music, literature, artistic media, and hi-tech products. Investigates social themes ranging from post-holocaust Japanese hedonism to childhood fantasies by looking at Manga comic books, Anime animated movies, and popular music from Enka to J-Pop to Karaoke, as well as fashion and style, popular technology, consumerism, and environmental issues. Explores the evolution of pop culture and its impact on society.
Instructor: Dr. Chikaomi Takahashi
Instructor: Dr. Chikaomi Takahashi
Course Narrative
A critical part of a world languages and culture education is the ability to understand and have a general knowledge of a socio-cultural group that is different from the one an individual has chosen to study. At CSU-MB we are lucky to have a well-established Japanese program that offers many opportunities for Spanish majors to learn more about Japanese culture. I chose to take this course because it I had an interest in learning more about Japanese pop culture. This course fulfills Major Learning Outcome 4: Secondary Cultural Knowledge.
The course began by outlining some of the earliest forms of pop culture in Japan, the ukiyo-e woodblock prints and from there we began to form an opinion about what pop culture means. The course covered topics from anime and comics to television and film. We discussed several concepts that are unique to Japanese culture such as kawaii and otaku. The course successfully integrated various learning mediums such as written assignments and oral presentations in order for us to prove our understanding of the subject matter. Various writing exercises in this course were designed in such a way that we not only learned about pop culture but we were able to think critically about it and take part in discussions that went beyond superficial comprehension of the subject. For my final project I chose to do presentation which highlighted the importance of pop culture in the Japanese food industry.
One of the things that surprised me the most about this course is the far reaching influence of Japanese pop culture. Growing up I recognized many of the characters, especially from anime, that were part of this movement but I never really thought about them as Japanese pop culture I just accepted them as a part of American pop culture. Through a comprehensive look at the different aspects of pop culture, this course helped me gain an insight into Japanese culture as a whole.
The course began by outlining some of the earliest forms of pop culture in Japan, the ukiyo-e woodblock prints and from there we began to form an opinion about what pop culture means. The course covered topics from anime and comics to television and film. We discussed several concepts that are unique to Japanese culture such as kawaii and otaku. The course successfully integrated various learning mediums such as written assignments and oral presentations in order for us to prove our understanding of the subject matter. Various writing exercises in this course were designed in such a way that we not only learned about pop culture but we were able to think critically about it and take part in discussions that went beyond superficial comprehension of the subject. For my final project I chose to do presentation which highlighted the importance of pop culture in the Japanese food industry.
One of the things that surprised me the most about this course is the far reaching influence of Japanese pop culture. Growing up I recognized many of the characters, especially from anime, that were part of this movement but I never really thought about them as Japanese pop culture I just accepted them as a part of American pop culture. Through a comprehensive look at the different aspects of pop culture, this course helped me gain an insight into Japanese culture as a whole.
|
|