Japanese Studies Commons^™

Beginning Japanese For Professionals: Book 1, Emiko Konomi

PDXOpen: Open Educational Resources

This is the first book in a three book series and includes Lessons 0 - 4. Book 2 and Book 3 are also available for download.

This textbook is designed for beginning learners who want to learn basic Japanese for the purpose of living and working in Japan. Unlike textbooks written primarily for students, whose content largely centers on student life, this book focuses more on social and professional life beyond school.

As a beginning level textbook, this book includes many elementary grammar patterns (Japanese Language Proficiency Test Levels 5 and 4), but the vocabulary and situations are selected specifically …

Earthly Pleasures: Bounty In Ukiyo-E Prints (2015), Theory & History Of Art & Design Department, Elena Varshavskaya (H791 Instructor)

Ukiyo-e Prints Course | Exhibition Catalogs

"Earthly Pleasures or, broader, nature’s riches and man, is a topic for an exhibition project of the ukiyo-e prints curatorial course taught at RISD in the Fall Semester of 2015. When deciding on this subject matter we were curious to see how the urban art of ukiyo-e with its focus on figurative representation of celebrities dealt with the nature theme, essential for Japanese culture and all-pervading in Japanese classical visual arts and literature. Did ukiyo-e artists include images of nature in their compositions? If yes, then who, when and how? It is with this quest in mind that a …

Crossing The Orthographic Wall: Mastering Edo-Period Written Japanese, Brian Dowdle

University Grant Program Reports

The Small University Research Grant ($3500), together with support from the Mansfield Center in the form of a Yamaguchi Opportunity Grant ($500), supported participation in a two-week seminar on reading, decoding, and interpreting original texts from the Edo period (c. 1600-1868)

Language Policy And Bilingual Education For Immigrant Students At Public Schools In Japan, Naomi Asakura

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis discusses the current Japanese language (nihongo) education for immigrant students at public schools in Japan and provides recommendations through the study of language policy and the comparison of bilingual education in the United States. The current situation of a decreasing birth rate and increasing aging population in Japan has led to the acceptance of more foreign workers. Due to this change, language education in Japan has increasing development. The focus of chapter 1 is on the theories of language policy. This paper particularly focuses on the ideas of Wright (2004), Neustupný (2006), Spolsky (2004), and Cooper (1989), and …

Nishi E Yuku Saigyo: Eigoken Ni Okeru Kenkyu To Kyoju (Saigyo Goes West: Research And Reception In English), Jack C. Stoneman

Faculty Publications

This article and bibliography trace the reception of Saigyo in English language scholarship and translations from the mid-nineteenth century to the twenty-first century.

Postwar Residential New Towns In Japan: Constructing Modernism, Michelle L. Hauk

Graduate School of Architecture & Urban Design Theses & Dissertations

In 1963, Japan passed the New Residential Town Development Act prompting the construction of publicly constructed large-scale residential satellite towns across the nation in response to a severe housing crisis. Addressing two case studies, Senri New Town near Osaka and Tama New Town outside of Tokyo, this thesis examines the historical and social context of the design and construction of postwar new towns by tracing the institutional, intellectual, and architectural histories that shaped their urban form. Senri New Town, the first to be built in Japan, exemplified the model for the postwar new town while Tama New Town, the largest, …

Anime And Identity: The Reception Of Sailor Moon By Adolescent American Fans, Darrah M. Hewlett

East Asian Studies Summer Fellows

This project looks at the way fans think, talk, and feel about the anime they watch and the manga they read. Specifically, it looks at fans of Sailor Moon, a series of Japanese anime and manga made in the 1990s that have been dubbed and translated into English and have been met with an enthusiastic reception among girls and young women in the United States. Sailor Moon is considered one of the first mass cultural productions to present images of girl power and gender equality and has generated a large and enthusiastic online community of fans. Most of its …

Review Of A Cultural History Of Japanese Buddhism By Brian Ruppert And William E. Deal, Ronald S. Green

Philosophy and Religious Studies

No abstract provided.

The Fascination Of Manga: Cross-Dressing And Gender Performativity In Japanese Media, Sheena Marie Woods

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The performativity of gender through cross-dressing has been a staple in Japanese media throughout the centuries. This thesis engages with the pervasiveness of cross-dressing in popular Japanese media, from the modern shōjo gender-bender genre of manga and anime to the traditional Japanese theatre. Drawing on theories from gender-studies and performance aesthetics to delineate the female gender in traditional Japanese theatre, I follow the roles of, representation of, and media for women, concentrating on (1) manga, a form of sequential art featuring illustrations with corresponding text, (2) anime, animated productions (where the word anime is the abbreviated pronunciation of “animation” in …

Responding To “Comfort Woman” Denial At Central Washington University, Mark J. Auslander, Chong Eun Ahn

Anthropology and Museum Studies Faculty Scholarship

No abstract available.

Review: Ōtani Ei'ichi, Kindai Bukkyō To Iu Shiza: Sensō, Ajia, Shakaishugi (The Perspective Of Modern Buddhism: War, Asia, Socialism) (Perikansha, 2012)., James Mark Shields

Other Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

Review: Hwansoo Ilmee Kim, Empire Of The Dharma: Korean And Japanese Buddhism, 1877–1912., James Mark Shields

Other Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

A Comparative Analysis Of The Civilizations Of Fukuzawa Yukichi And Sun Yat-Sen, Matthew Jones

Global Tides

This essay will explore the different theories of civilization for two major Asian political philosophers Fukuzawa Yukichi, and Sun Yat-sen. Both men wrote during the late 19^th and early 20^th century just as their respective countries, Japan and China, were facing immense pressure to subordinate themselves to the West which threatened the collapse of their historical structures of civilization. The two men’s theories reflect the transitory nature of the times by drawing heavily from both Eastern and Western traditions to create a unique blend of the two which would have an immense impact on the modern course of …

The Ingredients Of Comparison: The Semantics Of The Excessive Construction In Japanese, Xiao Li

Publications and Research

Excessives (e.g., this pair of pants is too long) are often considered as a ‘degree construction’ in the literature, presumably because it is assumed that their semantics involves a comparison of degrees. This paper takes a cross-linguistic look at the excessive construction in Japanese and raises the question of whether degrees are a necessary ingredient in the semantics of comparison. Unlike any degree morpheme in English, -sugi ‘to exceed’ can combine with either a gradable adjective (e.g., naga ‘long’) or a non-gradable verb (e.g., yomi ‘to read’) to form an excessive construction. In each case, a semantically different type of …

Book Review: The Nature Of Beasts: Empire And Exhibition At The Tokyo Imperial Zoo, Andrew W. B. Kustodowicz

Madison Historical Review

No abstract provided.

Exporting Exoticism: Captain Brinkley's Japan Described And Illustrated, Dan Johnson

Bridgewater Review

No abstract provided.

Anime: Fortress Of Solitude Or Kryptonite?, Oscar King Iv

Honors Thesis

Anime is a complex medium that is expanding at a rapid rate on a global scale. It inspires fandoms, some of which unbelievably tenacious. My research explored scholarship concerning anime fans and asked the question: Why does anime in particular seem to create hyper-obsessed fans? I consulted fandom studies, pop culture scholarship, and sources regarding the anime medium as a whole.

The results of my study suggested that anime, at its extremes, functions in some capacity as a modern fairy tale genre. It allows a viewer to vicariously experience life through the screen, engaging with the animated characters in a …

How To Get An American Boyfriend: Japanese Women And Westernization, Nicole M. Puckett

Honors College Theses

Since the end of World War II, and even more so since the 1980’s, Japanese women have been gaining more and more independence through jobs and international experience. Part of this move towards liberation can be seen in how brand-focused many Japanese girls and women are and the overt manner in which they try to express themselves in typically western ways. This report will focus on Japanese women and how they try to make themselves appear western as a means of defining their individual identities and how they balance that with their usual prescribed roles as traditionally Japanese mothers and …

Hamada, Rina (Fa 795), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid and full text paper (click on Additional File below) for Folklife Archives Project 795. This collection features a term paper about the traditions surrounding the Japanese New Year's celebration. The project was completed by Western Kentucky University student Rina Hamada for credit in an "Introduction to Folk Studies" class.

Higa, Ayuka, B. 1994 (Fa 783), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid and full text paper (click Additional Files below) for Folklife Archives Project 783. This collection features a research paper about Japanese folk songs from Okinawa, Japan. The project was completed by Western Kentucky University student Ayuka Higa for credit in an “Introduction to Folk Studies” class.

Navigating The Shifting Winds Of Activism: The Woman's Reform Society's Movement, Jier Yang

East Asian Languages and Cultures Department Honors Papers

No abstract provided.

Sex In Japan: It’S A Straight Man’S World, Kaileigh Nicklas

Honors Theses, 1963-2015

Japanese feminism directly impacts the social image of non-male sexuality in Japanese literature and pop-culture through highlighting gender roles, ingrained misogyny, and violence toward non-male oriented sex. This project will specifically focus on the power dynamics of sex in Japanese society through gender roles, female sexuality, and the rise of Japanese feminist movement. An observation of sexuality in Japan from such female works as The Apprenticeship of the Big Toe P and Snakes and Earrings in contrast to male works such as Norwegian Wood and Memoirs of a Geisha provide further insights to the role that sex plays in the …

Lone Wolves And Stray Dogs: The Japanese Crime Film, 1931-1969, Aaron Gerow, Rea Amit, Samuel Malissa, Noriko Morisue, Hsin-Yuan Peng, Stephen Poland, Grace Ting, Takuya Tsunoda, Justine Wiesinger, Young Yi, Inuhiko Yomota, Jō Ōsawa, Phil Kaffen

Film Series Commentaries

“Lone Wolves and Stray Dogs: The Japanese Crime Film, 1931–1969” is a continuing collaboration between the Council on East Asian Studies at Yale University and the National Film Center of the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo. Ever since the success of the French crime film Zigomar in 1911, the Japanese film industry has produced numerous movies depicting criminals and the detectives who try to apprehend them. Chivalric yakuza, modern mobsters, knife-wielding molls, hardboiled gumshoes, samurai detectives, femme fatales, and private eyes populate Japanese cinema, from period films to contemporary dramas, from genre cinema to art film, from the …

A Review Of Critical Buddhism: Engaging With Modern Japanese Buddhist Thought, Ronald S. Green

Philosophy and Religious Studies

No abstract provided.

Haruki Murakami And Religion: The Nature Of Religion In 1q84 And Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki And His Years Of Pilgrimage, Ronald S. Green

Philosophy and Religious Studies

This course focuses on underlying religious and philosophical assumptions in the most recent works of Haruki Murakami (1949-), 1Q84 in three volumes and Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage. Murakami is the most popular and widely read novelist in Japan today and a major literary figure worldwide. He cites as his two sources for inspiration in writing 1Q84 George Orwell and the AUM religious cult, responsible for bombing Tokyo subways with sarin gas in the 1990s.

KūKai's Epitaph For Master Huiguo: An Introduction And Translation, Ronald S. Green, Chanju Mun

Philosophy and Religious Studies

No abstract provided.

Way Of The Butterfly: A Journey Towards Transformation Through Self-Portraits In-Between, Masami Koshikawa

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

It has not been easy for me to talk about myself or describe my feelings or thoughts. Coming from Japan, a collective society, we typically are not raised to do so. Throughout the MFA program at UCF, I have shared my feelings and thoughts through my work. It is important to discuss and inform others of our cultural similarities and differences so that we may gain a better understanding of each other. This process has helped me grow not only on an artistic level, but also on a personal level. My journey towards integration has led me to a meaningful …

Picturing The Flames Of Daimonji, Clark Lunberry

English Faculty Research and Scholarship

Essays and photographs on the fiery calligraphy of Kyoto’s mountainside Daimonji festival.

The Demonic Women Of Premodern Japanese Theatre, Jasmine C.E. Umeno

Scripps Senior Theses

This thesis aims to examine the ways in which women are used as vehicles within the noh and kabuki theatre traditions to perpetuate moral and religious doctrine. Using the theoretical frameworks of Michel Foucault, Judith Butler, and Jill Dolan, I examine two plays which feature a female demon as their antagonist, Momijigari and Dojoji, and focus on the ways they incorporate Buddhist and Neo-Confucian ideology in their respective noh and kabuki renditions.

Wrestling With Tradition: Japanese Activities At Amache, A World War Ii Incarceration Facility, Zachary Allen Starke

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

I employ archaeological analyses, archival research, and oral histories to investigate traditional Japanese practices that were performed at Amache, a World War II Japanese American incarceration facility. I argue that these inter-generational practices helped to bridge a cultural gap that existed between several generations of Japanese Americans. For many incarcerated Japanese Americans, their first exposure to many traditional activities occurred during incarceration. The resulting social environment incorporated aspects of Japanese, Japanese American, and mainstream American influences, all of which were adapted to conditions during incarceration. Similarly, archaeological analyses allow for the investigation of traditional practice features. These provide evidence regarding …