East Asian Languages and Societies Commons^™

Hosts, Scouts, And Female Indentured Sexual Servitude In Contemporary Japan, Caroline Norma, Seiya Morita

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

This article sweeps away glossy abstractions obscuring the indenturing of women in sexual servitude in Japan. These abstractions were generated by anthropologists writing in English in the first two decades of the 21^st century who inverted the relationship between perpetrator and victim to suggest that female customers exploited hosts. To overturn this view and expose the ‘gendered reality that [i]s really going on’ in Japan, this article differently explains from a feminist perspective how present-day host and scout businesses indenture Japanese women in sexual servitude. This role is one of both procuring victims as well as keeping young women …

The Happy Hooker Revisited: Trauma And Sexualized Memories, Carolyn Gage

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

No abstract provided.

Antioxidant Activity And Phytochemical Profile Of Traditional Chinese Medicinal Plant Extracts, Ashley Tai

Senior Honors Projects

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), specifically the extracts of Chinese medicinal plants, has been studied for thousands of years to prevent, diagnose, and treat diseases. Our research group has initiated a program to systemically investigate the phytochemical composition and biological activities of a library of TCM medicinal plants. Herein, extracts of four commonly used TCM plants including broccoli (Brassica oleracea) seeds, horny goat weed (Epimedium brevicomu), houpu magnolia (Magnolia officinalis) bark, and golden root (Rhodiola rosea) were selected for this study. The antioxidant effects of these extracts were evaluated in a biochemical assay …

What China’S Infrastructure Development Abroad Reveals About Its International Goals, Gillian Hodge

Senior Honors Projects

China’s Belt and Road Initiative has resulted in a variety of investment and infrastructure projects around the world, especially in developing countries. This initiative is unique in its implementation strategy, particularly the hands-on approach China takes to each infrastructure development project. Projects are financed by Chinese national banks and built by Chinese corporations utilizing majority-Chinese labor. These projects are seen by many countries as mutually beneficial; China is able to provide gainful employment and business to its national corporations in exchange for lucrative infrastructure for the host countries in the form of advanced roads, rails, ports, etc. Other countries, especially …

Minari: The Concealed Asian Aspiration Wrapped In The American Dream, Anh Luan Tran-Nguyen, Arthur Nguyen

Markets, Globalization & Development Review

After the success of the Korean film Parasite, Minari – a quasi-autobiographical drama of the Korean-American film director Lee Isaac Chung – has again turned the global public’s attention to Korean culture at large. In this review, we shed light on two themes that we capture from the movie: tensions and compromises in chasing the American dream of immigrants. Although stories about pursuing the American dream are abundant, we know less about how that dream causes tensions at the individual and family levels and how the tensions are resolved. Minari is an excellent example to probe the unfolding issues relating …

Minari: The Invincible, Soonkwan Hong

Markets, Globalization & Development Review

No abstract provided.

Hyphenated Globalization: First, Wide Propagation; Then, Gradual Elimination, Nikhilesh Dholakia, Deniz Atik

Markets, Globalization & Development Review

No abstract provided.

The Future Of Taiwan, Gillian Hodge

Senior Honors Projects

In American media, Taiwan has been referred to as the potential flashpoint for the next world war. Much quantitative research has been done regarding political views and predictions for Taiwan’s future. Based on previous studies, this essay seeks to build more knowledge on public perceptions of the Taiwan independence conflict among individuals on either side of the Taiwan Strait through interview-based research methods. To do this, I interviewed five individuals born in mainland China and five individuals born in Taiwan to compare how they view issues surrounding the China- Taiwan relationship and Taiwan's political status. My central research question looks …

Going Glocal In A Pandemic: Can Japan Offer Lessons For Others?, Masaaki Takemura

Markets, Globalization & Development Review

This Dialogue contribution draws some lessons from the Japanese countermeasures against the COVID-19 pandemic. It approaches this issue from a social point of view. Specifically, it focuses on social and cultural understanding process of an uncertainty event – in this case the COVID-19 pandemic, but also early instances – by the Japanese.

Pandemic And Õen Consumption In Japan: Deliberate Buying To Aid The Seller, Kosuke Mizukoshi, Yuichiro Hidaka

Markets, Globalization & Development Review

This dialogue contribution discusses whether it is possible to create favorable new social assistance under the market principles, based on the Ouen or Õen (aid) consumption in Japan. The meaning of consumption has changed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In Japan, aid consumption is increasing. This means helping local restaurants and producers by willfully and proactively buying and consuming their services and products. This is a favorable form of new social assistance and the result of strong marketing and market functions. The penetration of market forces may surpass pure altruistic behavior such as donations and gifts, by creating new market-linked …

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 …

Crazy Rich Asians: Exploring Discourses Of Orientalism, Neoliberal Feminism, Privilege And Inequality, Devi Vijay

Markets, Globalization & Development Review

In this review of Crazy Rich Asians (2018), I examine elements of orientalism, neoliberal feminism, privilege and inequality that layer the film. Specifically, I interrogate the film’s American inflection of orientalism, surfacing a constant duel between essentialized Asian and American values, where what is American eventually wins out. Independent, entrepreneurial women are integral to this narrative of global capitalist accumulation. Yet, as the East meets the West in the globalized consumptive spaces of the super-rich, inequalities in the United States and Singapore are either repackaged under the myth of meritocracy, or conveniently erased. While the film demarcates a new Hollywood …

Mosaic Of China Through Animated Films Chn 560, Joanna Burkhardt

Library Impact Statements

No abstract provided.

Mosaic Of China Through Animated Films Chn 460, Joanna Burkhardt

Library Impact Statements

No abstract provided.

Japanese Language And Culture Jpn Xxx, Joanna Burkhardt

Library Impact Statements

No abstract provided.

Critical Thinking From Japan: Additional Perspectives, Masaaki Takemura, Nikhilesh Dholakia

Markets, Globalization & Development Review

No abstract provided.

Conversational Chinese Iv Chn 124, Joanna Burkhardt

Library Impact Statements

No abstract provided.

Conversational Chinese Ii Chn 122, Joanna Burkhardt

Library Impact Statements

No abstract provided.

Conversational Chinese Iii, Joanna Burkhardt

Library Impact Statements

No abstract provided.

Topics In Chinese Linguistics Chn 550/450, Joanna Burkhardt

Library Impact Statements

No abstract provided.

Teaching Chinese As A Foreign Language Chn 551.441, Joanna Burkhardt

Library Impact Statements

No abstract provided.

Chinese Instruction And Research Practicum Chn/Edc 552/452, Joanna Burkhardt

Library Impact Statements

No abstract provided.

Advanced Topics In Sociolinguistics Chn/Edc 553/453, Joanna Burkhardt

Library Impact Statements

No abstract provided.

Tour Guides Take Technology: Mobilizing The Coverage Process, Cassie Jes Jacob

Senior Honors Projects

Technology has progressed more in the past decade than it has in the past century, and it has changed the way we live. To succeed in this society, innovation is a necessity. A recent phenomenon in technology is the use of mobile applications designed to make our lives and daily activities, such as note-taking and scheduling, more convenient.

This project explores the use of mobile applications in a business. At URI, the Tour Guide team acts as a business that manages over 100 employees as they lead visits around campus for prospective students.

These employees are college-age students raised in …

The Yin And Yang Of Conflict Management And Resolution, Guo-Ming Chen

Communication Studies Faculty Publications

The increasing interaction among cultural groups due to the impact of globalization has not only made the relationship between conflict and culture more interdependent and complicated, but also demands that a new way be found for studying conflict management and resolution from a more dynamic perspective. Eastern and Western cultures are distinct societies in terms of axiological, epistemological and methodological assumptions. The axiological assumptions are especially useful for understanding the differences between Eastern and Western conflict behaviors. From the perspective of human interaction, the dynamic nature of culture can be more specifically displayed intraculturally by internal variations and interculturally by …

Advanced Technical Chinese Chn 413, Joanna Burkhardt

Library Impact Statements

No abstract provided.

China's 80后 And 90后: The Next Generation Of Leaders In The World's Next Superpower, A Students-Teaching-Students Course, Patrick Slavin

Senior Honors Projects

In light of China’s recent reemergence as a global superpower, it is becoming increasingly important for westerners to understand its history and culture. For current college students, the culture of China’s youth is particularly pertinent.

In this project, a course, HPR 107: Chinese Youth Culture, was designed and taught through the Students-Teaching-Students program, which provides senior Honor’s Program students the opportunity to design and teach their own Honor’s Program course. The HPR 107 course focuses on China’s 80后 and 90后 generations, those born in the 1980s and 1990s, respectively.

This multi-faceted project includes: subject matter research, course development, pedagogy development, …

Library Impact Statement For Chn 485/486, Mona Niedbala

Library Impact Statements

Library Impact Statement for CHN 485/486 new course proposal. No new library resources are required to support this course. Responding library faculty member: Mona Niedbala. Requesting faculty member: Wex Xiong

Hong Kong And The Future Of Green Energy, Kelly Deangelis

Senior Honors Projects

Hong Kong and the Future of Green Energy

Kelly DeAngelis

Faculty Sponsor: Wayne He, Chinese

Hong Kong, with a large, dense population that uses a vast amount of energy, has become China’s epicenter of trade and economic development. Currently, Hong Kong relies on nuclear power and fossil fuels for most of its energy needs. The growing concern of global climate change and the depletion of traditional fuel reserves inspired me to investigate the green technologies that have the potential to replace or supplement current energy sources.

The purpose of my project is to provide an informative and interesting assessment of …

Chinese Harmony Theory, Guo-Ming Chen

Communication Studies Faculty Publications

Based on Chen’s harmony theory of Chinese communication, this entry explicated that the ability to reach a harmonious state of human relationship is the main criterion the Chinese use to evaluate communication competence. In order to achieve harmony interactants are required to follow three principles: (1) intrinsically to internalize jen (humanism), yi (righteousness), and li (rite); (2) extrinsically to accommodate shih (temporal contingencies), wei (spatial contingencies), and ji (the first imperceptible beginning of movement); and (3) strategically to exercise guanxi (inter-relation), mientz (face), and power in the behavioral level.