>>HOME>COURSE REQUIREMENTS L03 East Asia 226CQ

Basic reading and writing skills were taught at the terakoya,
or schools for boys and girls, in the Edo period. (Toshobunko)

LECTURES AND DISCUSSION SECTIONS

Lectures will amplify and elucidate the required readings. Slide presentations and videos will be scheduled occasionally. Regular attendance is strongly encouraged and will be factored into the final grade.
Discussion sections will be held on Wednesdays (beginning September 4) and students are strongly encouraged to attend. These sessions offer students greater opportunity to explore and discuss those issues that are important to the course.

PAPER WORK

Students will be assigned short questions on most (but not every) Friday to accompany the scheduled readings. Answers must be typed and turned in the following Monday. Late submissions will be accepted but not for full credit. Answers will be graded on a scale of 1-5. The purpose of these questions is to help students focus on their readings.

Additionally, two short essays will be required. The first, 3-4 pages, will be due on September 30. Students will be assigned a topic for this essay. The second, due on December 9, will be a report on contemporary Japanese culture. Students may select a topic of their own interest: education, mass media, gender bias, pornography, abortion, reactions to the atomic bomb, the portrayal of Japan in American media, and so on. These reports, of 5-8 pages, should evidence reading in a least two outside sources (internet sources may be used but are not counted as an outside source.) In all written work, students must adhere to the Academic Integrity Statement. Please consult the Course Listings for a copy of the Statement. These essays must be turned in on time for full credit.

EXAMINATIONS

There will be a midterm on Monday, October 14. The final will be given according to the exam schedule on December 18.

EVALUATION

Questions/Quizzes/Lecture Attendance: 10%
Essays 30%
Midterm 25%
Final 35%

Students taking the course P/F or CR/NCR must achieve 70% to pass.

REQUIRED TEXTS

Conrad Schirokauer, A Brief History of Japanese Civilization (Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 1993).
Joy Hendry, Understanding Japanese Society (Routledge, 1995).
And additional readings on Electronic Reserves.

BROWNIE POINTS

Students who attend the following events will receive “Brownie Points” and will forever endear themselves with the professor. Brownie Points are extra credit points that are factored into the “attendance” portion on the Evaluation scale above.

EAST ASIAN STUDIES SYMPOSIUM

Each year the Joint-Center for East Asian Studies—sponsored by Washington University and the University of Missouri-St. Louis—hosts a symposium. The focus for this year’s Symposium will be on Regional Diversity in East Asia. All students are encouraged to attend. The first symposium will be held on the University of Missouri St. Louis campus on Saturday, September 28, 2002 from 1:00. Invited speakers are: Dr. Karen Wigen, Professor of Japanese History at Stanford University, and Dr. Helen Siu, Professor of Anthropology at Yale University.

VISITING EAST ASIAN PROFESSIONAL (VEAP) PROGRAM

Each year Washington University invites East Asian Professionals to visit the campus and interact with students and faculty. This semester we are entertaining journalists from East Asia. Mr. Nozomu Nakaoka is our journalist from Japan, and he will visit class during the semester to speak to students on current events in Japan and East Asia.

In addition, on November 9 (Saturday) we will convene a series of workshops with our visiting East Asian journalists. All WU students are invited to attend. The workshops will be followed by a Roundtable Discussion at the Chase-Park Plaza.

OTHER TEXTS

Reserve Reading

The following books are on reserve at Olin Library Reserves for a 24-hour lending period. These books were selected as representative studies of popular topics in contemporary and historical Japan. There are a large volume of books not on reserve on a variety of topics related to Japan. Please consult the BIBLIOGRAPHY (to be distributed in class and also available on the webpage) for a more thorough list of what is available in the library.

Allison. Permitted & Prohibited Desires
HQ18 J3 A43 1996

Beasley, Japan Encounters the Barbarians
DS882.6 B43 1995

Bridges, Japan and Korea in the 1990s
DS849 K8 B75 1993

Denoon, eds., Multicultural Japan
DS821.5 A1 M85 1996

Hane, Peasants, Rebels, and Outcastes
HN723 H36 1982

Hendry, Webber, eds., Interpreting Japanese Society: Anthropological Approaches
DS821 I58 1986

Imamura, Prehistoric Japan
DS855 I45 1996

Imamura, Re-imaging Japanese Women
HQ1762 .R45 1996

Kearney, African American Views of the Japanese
E185.615 .K36 1998

Krauss, Rohlen, Steinhoff, ed., Conflict in Japan
HN723.5 C67 1984

LeTendre, Learning to be adolescent
LB1135 .L47 2000

Mass. The Origins of Japan's Medieval World
DS865.5 .O75 1997

McVeigh. Wearing ideology : state, schooling and self-presentation in Japan
GT1560 .M38 2000

Moeran. Language and Popular Culture in Japan
DS821 M6398 1989

Morris, The World of the Shining Prince
DS824 M6 1964

Ohnuki-Tierney, Illness and Culture in Contemporary Japan
GN635 J2 O46 1984

Powers and Kato, eds., Handbook of Japanese Popular Culture
DS822.5 H347 1989

Robertson, Takarazuka
GN635 J2 R62 1998

Sugimoto, An Introduction to Japanese Society
HN723 S7 1997

Tobin, Re-Made in Japan
GN635.J2 R36 1992

Tsunoda Sources of Japanese Tradition
DS821 .S68

Van Wolfren, The Enigma of Japanese Power
JQ1681 W65 1989

Varley, Japanese Culture
DS821 .V36 1977

Varley. Warriors of Japan as Portrayed in War Tales
PL747.25.W3 V37 1994

Weiner, Japan's Minorities: The Illusion of Homogeneity
DS830 J36 1997

FILM SERIES

Students are encouraged to attend the bi-weekly Japanese film series. Contemporary Japanese films with English subtitles are shown every other week. Admission is free.
 

THE TONDA BUNRAKU PERFORMANCE

Last year the Joint-Center for East Asian Studies will sponsor a performance of Japanese puppetry by the Tonda Bunraku Troupe.  The performance will take place on October 3, 2001 from 8:00 at the J.C. Penney auditorium on the UM-St. Louis campus.  Japanese Civilization students are very, very strongly encouraged to attend.