East Asian Languages and Societies Commons^™

The Evolution Of Yōkai In Relationship To The Japanese Horror Genre, Adam J. Johnson

Masters Theses

In 2007, popular mystery author Kyōgoku Natsuhiko attempted to adapt a collection of random stories known as the Mimi bukuro or Tales Heard into kaidan, tales of the strange and mysterious for today’s readership. The writing experiment ended with Kyōgoku questioning his own writing abilities and publishing his small collection of adapted stories into a book that was not considered very frightening. Although the experiment failed, Kyōgoku’s efforts raise the question, “if not kaidan, what is frightening in the twentieth century?”

The reason why kaidan are no longer frightening is because their central characters, yōkai, have been displaced …

Recast And Elicitation: The Effectiveness Of Corrective Feedback On Japanese Language Learners, Kinji Ito

Masters Theses

This paper examines the effectiveness of corrective feedback on learners of the Japanese language. The current study had a total of 25 students who agreed to participate, consisting of both advanced and intermediate levels. There are six main types of corrective feedback established and defined by Lyster and Ranta (1997), this study focused on two particular types, recast (a category of implicit) and elicitation (a category of prompt). Comparing a particular feedback or a category of feedback with another has been one of the ongoing topics in the field of second language (L2) learning.

The present study is intended to …

The Practice And Evolution Of Video Game Translation: Expanding The Definition Of Translation, Elizabeth Bushouse

Masters Theses

This paper looks at the practice and history of video game translation, with the goal of expanding the definition of translation. Video game translation is a complex process that incorporates a number of aspects from other types of translation, such as literary, audiovisual, and software translation, to form a dynamic whole. As a new medium, video games also present their own challenges to translation in the form of interactivity, technology, non-textual and extra-textual elements, audience involvement, and new business practices. Even though video games are a relatively new medium, the practice of translating them has undergone drastic transformations over the …

Seeing And Believing: A Critical Study Of Kobayashi Hideo's Watakushi No Jinseikan, Saki Morikawa

Masters Theses

What do we mean by “seeing”? Although we may see the same object in front of us, we each consciously or unconsciously select what we wish to see, eliminating information we find unnecessary. An artist or poet can see in even a tiny flower, which others barely notice, a wealth of colors or countless words. How then do our own eyes and those of others differ?

This thesis aims to explore how the act of seeing shapes one’s life and influences it through a consideration of the works of Kobayashi Hideo 小林秀雄 (1902-1983), a literary critic in modern Japan. In …

Distinction And Difference: From Kana To Hiragana And Hentaigana, Clare Marks

Masters Theses

The study of kana 仮名 development has only begun in the last fifteen years, with much scholarship focused upon discerning either the Heian origins of kana or such later developments as furigana 振り仮名 (phonetic guides) and spelling rules. However, these perspectives have largely overlooked a key moment in Japanese writing history: in 1900, the Meiji government standardized the kana, from hundreds of possible variant graphemes to the forty-six used today, one symbol per sound. From then on, what had commonly been known only as kana were divided into two groups: hiragana 平仮名, the standard set, and hentaigana 変体仮名, the …

The Unnatural World: Animals And Morality Tales In Hayashi Razan's Kaidan Zensho, Eric Fischbach

Masters Theses

Kaidan is a genre of supernatural tales that became popular during Japan’s Edo period. In 1627, Hayashi Razan translated numerous supernatural tales from China and collected them in five volumes in a work known as Kaidan zensho, the “Complete Collection of Strange Works.” Hayashi Razan was an influential Neo-Confucian scholar and was instrumental in establishing Neo-Confucianism as a dominant ideological force in Tokugawa Japan. As his teachings and stories reached a wide audience, and the government was supportive of Neo-Confucian ideas in Japan, his Kaidan tales, which contained subtle didactic elements, enjoyed success. However, Kaidan zensho was never translated into …

Constructing Abe No Seimei: Integrating Genre And Disparate Narratives In Yumemakura Baku's Onmyōji, Devin T. Recchio

Masters Theses

The Onmyōji series has had an incredible impact on Japanese fiction. It has created an entire genre of material called onmyōjimono and sold 5 million copies counting only the novel series. Despite this, it has been woefully understudied by both Japanese and English speaking scholars. The Japanese scholars that do acknowledge it use it as a springboard to launch a survey of Abe no Seimei in written and performed media throughout history, and the English speaking scholars have limited their analyses to the form that oni take in the narrative. My research has revealed that Yumemakura Baku utilizes a complex …

The Effects Of Culture On Language Learning And Ways Of Communication: The Japanese Case, Yuri Kumagai

Master's Capstone Projects

No abstract provided.

The Good Empire: Japan's New Order At Home And Abroad, Stephen E. Pelz

Asian Language & Literature Occasional Papers

PREFATORY NOTE

The Area Studies Programs within the International Programs Office of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst initiated in 1976 a series of Occasional papers to provide an outlet for both informal and formal scholarly works of a generci interest to the University community. In 1978 the first numbers in this series devoted to issues and themes related to Asia were introduced under the sponsorship of the Asian Studies Committee at the University. The initial three papers deal with topics in Japan, China and Laos. In future papers topics will be presented which encompass the major regions of Asia; …