Japanese Studies Commons^™

Japanese Popular Culture Influences In Contemporary Black American Rap And Hip-Hop, Rodrianna Gaddy

Senior Theses

Since hip-hop’s emergence in New York during the early 1970s, there has been an increasing amount of Japanese popular cultural references in Black American rap and hip-hop. This increase is made possible through globalization and innovations in communication technology. Most previous research on the trend has focused primarily on the impact hip-hop has had on Japanese culture, and how Afro-Asian collaborations have shaped music produced in the East and West. However, this thesis focuses on the influence various forms of Japanese media and history have had on contemporary Black American rap and hip-hop. I evaluate how artists can display these …

Abenomics’ Effect On Gender Inequality In Japanese Society And The Workplace, Arianna C. Johnson

Honors College Theses

In this study, I determine the extent to which Japan’s shrinking workforce population has been affected by gender roles. Many Asian countries are experiencing a prominent decline in birth rate and population, which has increased global interest in these issues. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Japanese government officials have eagerly responded, pushing Japanese women into the labor force as a possible solution. However, this decision has unanticipated drawbacks, which require officials to address Japanese women’s concerns in and outside of the workplace. I argue that the Japanese government will have more success by addressing these needs, creating a more gender-equal …

A Virtual Life: The Nijisanji Project And The Risks Of Online Content Creation, Cayden Hernandez

Scholars Week

There are several security and privacy risks within the realm of social media and the lifestyles of social media influencers. Some YouTubers and other content creators, however, are under contract with certain agencies and sponsors, giving access to assistance in case of privacy breaches, such as information doxing. However, Virtual YouTubers (VTubers) and content creators are in a different category, as they are typically represented by a virtual avatar, which suggests that they are more protected; similar to typical content creators, though, VTubers are also at risk. If their information were leaked, the outcome could be more severe than that …

The Music Of Japanese Animation, Danielle Toney

Scholars Week

Danielle Toney

Graduating in May, Danielle is a Japanese major with a minor in Music. Danielle has been studying Japanese for 6 years, and went to Doshisha University in Kyoto for two semesters in 2019 for an intensive study abroad program. Danielle has been active in Murray State’s Japanese Club for 4 years, which includes being Vice President in Fall of 2020. Danielle is also active in Murray State’s Japanese Language Table and practices speaking Japanese weekly with colleagues and friends. After graduation, Danielle will return to Kyoto to study Music Composition at Kyoto City University of Arts.

The Music …

Case Study: Religion, Socialism And Secularization In Modern Japan: The New Buddhist Fellowship, James Mark Shields

Faculty Contributions to Books

No abstract provided.

Pornography, Its Harms, And A New Legal Strategy: Research And Experience In Japan, Seiya Morita, Caroline Norma

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

In this article we describe pornography’s harms in Japan, which are known about from surveys and research, and from the outreach and consulting activities of Japanese feminist-abolitionist groups. Among these are the Anti-Pornography and Prostitution Research Group (APP) and People Against Pornography and Sexual Violence (PAPS). We then propose a renewed classification scheme for pornography’s harms that centrally considers the experiences of victims in Japan. Lastly, we consider various legal approaches to addressing the myriad harms we describe and suggest possibilities for a new legal strategy. The article’s research comes from Japanese-language materials produced by the above-mentioned activist groups, as …

“Publishing Goals Of Hanseikai Zasshi” (1887) And “Living The Pure Life” (1887). Translations With Introduction And Commentary, James Mark Shields

Other Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

Report On Japanese-Language Manga Magazine Survey 2020, Victoria Rahbar

Journal of East Asian Libraries

The North American manga boom occurred in the early 2000s, but the anime and manga studies boom is occurring now as fans grow up and design their research based on childhoods complete with idols, magical girls, ninjas, and superheroes. Japanese-language manga magazines are one text utilized by these fans turned anime and manga studies researchers, and yet there has been no documentation prior on where patrons are able to access these magazines in North America. Thus, the Japanese-language manga magazine survey was primarily developed to document the availability of Japanese-language manga magazines at North American East Asian academic libraries with …

Ataka, Anthony H. Chambers

Mime Journal

No abstract provided.

Bakeneko: A Look Into The Origins Of Japan's Supernatural Cats, Cedar Taulbee

University Honors Theses

Cats are strange and mysterious creatures. Cultures all around the world have created myths and legends surrounding house cats, stories laden with superstition and usually a touch of fear. In most of the West we have black cats and their association with witches and black magic. In Ancient Egypt, as most of us know, cats were worshipped as sacred animals. And in Japan there are bakeneko.

I use bakeneko as a general term, but what I am really referring to is kaibyo, which is a Japanese word used to describe supernatural or "strange" cats. And Japan has a …

On Mochizuki: Interview With Mikata Shizuka And Udaka Tatsushige, Diego Pellecchia, Rebecca Teele Ogamo

Mime Journal

No abstract provided.

Guise And Disguise: Nō Costumes In The Context Of Cultural Norms, Monica Bethe

Mime Journal

No abstract provided.

Introducing Genzai Nō: Categorization And Conventions, With A Focus On Ataka And Mochizuki, Diego Pellecchia

Mime Journal

No abstract provided.

Mochizuki: History And Context, Michael Watson

Mime Journal

No abstract provided.

From Ataka To Kanjinchō: Adaptation Of Text And Performance In A Nineteenth-Century Nō-Derived Kabuki Play, Katherine Saltzman-Li

Mime Journal

Nō techniques and play borrowings provided important infusions into kabuki throughout its history, but in the nineteenth century, a genre of kabuki plays in close imitation of nō or kyōgen wasadded to the kabuki repertoire. The genre came to be called matsubamemono, meaning “[nō/kyōgen-derived kabuki] plays [performed] on a stage with a pine painted on the back wall” or “pine-boardplays.”1 These plays are the focus of this article, in which I first introduce the genre and its place in kabuki history, and then discuss its most famous example, the play Kanjinchō (Hattori 17–40; Meisakukabuki zenshū 181–197; Brandon, The Subscription List …

Paragons Of Loyalty On The Japanese Stage, J. Thomas Rimer

Mime Journal

No abstract provided.

On Ataka: Interview With Udaka Michishige And Sugi Ichikazu, Diego Pellecchia, Rebecca Teele Ogamo

Mime Journal

No abstract provided.

Varieties Of Transnational Life: Brazilian Nikkeis’ Changing Cross-Border Ties With Two Homelands, Hiroyuki Shibata

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation explores the varieties of Brazilian Nikkei’s – Japanese emigrants to Brazil and their descendants – transnational lives throughout a century of their migration history. I propose an interactive process approach to migrant transnationalism to understand the divergence of Brazilian Nikkeis’ transnational lives between their two homelands, Japan and Brazil. First, I focus on the four macro-institutional contexts: 1) positions and development patterns of sending and receiving states within the international state system; the infrastructural power of states, more concretely 2) the diasporic bureaucracy of sending states and 3) the incorporative power of receiving states; and 4) the mobilizing …

Book Review On New Essays In Japanese Aesthetics (Edited By A. Minh Nguyen), Mary Wiseman

Comparative Philosophy

No abstract provided.

George Berkeley And Motoori Norinaga On Other Minds And There Being “Nothing To Be Done”, Wung Cheong Chim

Comparative Philosophy

The 18th century Irish philosopher George Berkeley argued that we might know of the existence of other minds based upon our experience of having certain sense-data or “ideas” imprinted upon us. This served, for Berkeley, ultimately as a basis for us to know of a “grand” other mind orchestrating the order among said ideas imprinted upon us, that is, God. This leap to God, however, has been challenged over the past three decades. A very rudimentary form could still be retained though from Berkeley’s argument for God, whereby Berkeley argued that human minds were dependent upon other “more powerful” minds. …