This course is designed to explore the contemporary Japanese culture and language from historical, social, and linguistic aspects. It will introduce the brief history of Japanese culture and language, including its writing system, and discuss how they have changed over time. The course will especially emphasize the linguistic aspect of the contemporary Japanese society and culture by drawing examples from anthropological, linguistic, and socio-linguistic studies. Major topics are traditional and modern writing systems, diversity among the speakers, and language in pop culture. Additional topics include gender differences, geographical differences, style shifting, and register. No prior knowledge of Japanese language/culture is required.

The Tale of Heike (Heike monogatari) is an epic war tale first recited by blind traveling minstrels called biwa hōshi, then set in writing in the early 14th century. It narrativizes the events of the historical Gempei War (1180-1185), which brought about the defeat of the Heike (Taira family) warriors at the hands of their political rivals the Genji (Minamoto clan). The end of the war ushered in the dominance of the samurai class and the medieval period in Japan. The Tale of Heike’s dramatized retelling of the Taira warrior’s downfall has endured in Japanese cultural memory, inspiring theatrical noh plays developed in the 15th century and even anime and TV dramas in the present day. In this course, we will read key passages from this masterpiece of Japanese literature in English translation, acquainting ourselves with its modes of literary expression and major themes. We will also examine the political and social contexts that shaped its production, reproduction, and reception. Finally, we will engage with the tale’s various retellings and reinterpretations across media and history—its many “afterlives”—to consider the role that adaptation plays in redefining the meaning and value of cultural expression.

In this course, we will embark on a literary journey through Tokyo and other urban landscapes to examine the ways that city spaces are narrated in Japanese fiction from Meiji (1868-1912) to Allied Occupation (1945-1952). Focusing primarily on the depiction of Tokyo, Japan’s political and cultural capital, we will examine how the metropolis becomes a canvas on which individuals painted their anxieties and desires, ultimately formulating their richly varied, but distinctly urban identities. Our examination of these textual representations of the city will serve as an interpretive strategy that brings together history, urban geography, and ethnography in our study of Japanese literature. This interdisciplinary approach enriches our understanding of both the literature and the urban environments they reimagine. Through our engagement with “spatial literary analysis” we will illuminate the important roles that spaces play in shaping our own lived experiences, and how these in turn become their own “space-making” practices

The course examines the Tale of Genji, the 1000-year-old masterpiece of Japanese literature about the commoner son of an emperor whose romantic dalliances, poetic sensibilities, and otherworldly beauty take him to the heights of political supremacy. The story of Hikaru Genji, “the shining prince,” is considered the pinnacle of classical literature and endures in Japanese cultural memory, inspiring works of traditional theater, art, and popular media. In this course, we will read key passages from this classic text in English translation, acquainting ourselves with its modes of literary expression and major themes. We will also examine the political and social contexts that shaped its production, reproduction, and reception. Finally, we will engage with the tale’s various retellings and reinterpretations across media and history to consider the role that adaptation plays in redefining the meaning and value of cultural expression.

Japan during the so-called “Bubble Period” was a decade of decadence and consumer excess fueled by an unsustainable asset price bubble that would burst in the early 1990s and bring about the “Lost Decades.” Before then, however, the country rode a wave of affluence that reverberated in the cultural mainstream. In this course we will focus on the fiction and films of Japan in the 1980s, while also examining manga, music, and city landmarks, in order to understand a society and culture in a decade of prosperity. This examination of diverse cultural forms will introduce us to interpretive strategies drawn from various disciplines. We will consider how cultural productions reflected the urbanization, technological growth, and consumerism of the decade, but also, how some of the works interrogated the costs and repercussions of such exuberance on its society.

This course is designed to explore the contemporary Japanese culture and language from historical, social, and linguistic aspects. It will introduce the brief history of Japanese culture and language, including its writing system, and discuss how they have changed over time. The course will especially emphasize the linguistic aspect of the contemporary Japanese society and culture by drawing examples from anthropological, linguistic, and socio-linguistic studies. Major topics are traditional and modern writing systems, diversity among the speakers, and language in pop culture. Additional topics include gender differences, geographical differences, style shifting, and register. No prior knowledge of Japanese language/culture is required.