JAPAN 360 A: Topics in Japanese Culture

Winter 2022
Meeting:
MW 1:30pm - 3:20pm / FSH 107
SLN:
16071
Section Type:
Lecture
Instructor:
Syllabus Description (from Canvas):

In 1905 Basil Hall Chamberlain wrote, "To have lived through the transition stage of modern Japan makes a man feel preternaturally old; for here he is in modern times, with the air full of talk about bicycles and bacilli and spheres of influence, and yet he can himself distinctly remember the Middle Ages. The dear old Samurai who first initiated the present writer into the mysteries of the Japanese language, wore a queue and two swords. This relic of feudalism now sleeps in Nirvana. His modern successor, fairly fluent in English, might almost be a European, save for a certain obliqueness of the eyes and scantiness of beard. Old things pass away between a night and a morning. The Japanese boast that they have done in thirty or forty years what it took Europe half as many centuries to accomplish..." 

The Winter 2022 iteration of Japan 360 will focus on the transformation of the city of Edo into the modern city of Tokyo and on literary representations of life in the city. We will begin with two of the most famous fictional works of the late-Edo period (1600-1868) and then move on to literary works produced in the first half-century of Japan's modern period, drawn from Sumie Jones and Charles Shiro Inouye, eds., A Tokyo Anthology: Literature from Japan's Modern Metropolis, 1850-1920 (Hawaii, 2017). In conjunction with this anthology of literary texts, we will also read from two supplementary texts: Jinnai Hidenobu's study, Tokyo: A Spatial Anthropology (California, 1985), to give us a better sense of the historical and material aspects of the city, and Edward Seidensticker's Low City, High City: Tokyo from Edo to the Earthquake (Tuttle, 2010). Students are required to obtain a copy of A Tokyo Anthology, but will be provided with the supplementary texts in PDF form.

The teaching modality of this class will be determined as we learn more about the omicron variant of Covid-19. The class will be held online through January 31 at https://washington.zoom.us/j/94537820012; beginning on Monday, February 7, we will meet in person; our classroom is FSH 107. You are welcome to use this classroom as a place to join virtual meetings. Class meets Mondays and Wednesdays from 1:30-3:20, except on University holidays. The midterm exam will be held online; the final exam will be held in person if that is possible.

Your grade will be made up of four components, each worth 25% of your final grade. The first component will be discussion posts about the reading; the second will be participation in the class discussion; the third will be a take-home midterm and peer feedback exercise; and the fourth will be the final exam.

All University-mandated Covid policies must be adhered to by all students.

This course focuses on a specific topic in modern Japanese literature.

Although this course cannot be taken as a "W" (writing) course, it can be used to fulfill VLPA or I&S requirements. 

No background in the Japanese language, Japanese history, or literary studies is required for this course.

Catalog Description:
Focuses on literature from a limited time period or particular aspects of pre-modern or modern Japanese culture.
GE Requirements Met:
Arts and Humanities (A&H)
Credits:
5.0
Status:
Active
Last updated:
March 26, 2024 - 8:51 pm