Japan in the Foreign Imagination

Relation to Other Courses

This is a stand alone course. It is not
directly related to other Saitama University
courses. There is some overlap with the Social
History of Postwar Japan.

Prerequisites:

None.

Outcomes:

Students will be able to explain how and why
foreign views of Japan have changed in the
seventy some years since the end of the Pacific
War.

Students will be able to explain the
factors that lead Japanese domestic media to
distortions and exaggeration of Japanese
reality.

Course Description

This course examines foreign (primarily
Anglo-American) views of Japan, both
contemporary and historical. Knowing the common
and often highly distorted images of Japan and
the Japanese, both positive and negative,
presented in foreign mass media and popular
culture is important to both Japanese and
foreign students. These images have been and
continue to be significant in Japan's diplomatic
and economic relations with other countries.
Moreover, the mechanisms that distort the
foreign view of Japan also work to distort the
Japanese view of foreign countries. Teaching
students how to recognize distorted images of
foreign countries and peoples is a major goal of
this course.

Course Format

Lectures supplemented by documentary videos.
Questions are welcome at any point.

Session Topics

1 Japan Cool vs Cool Japan - Introduction to the Course

2 Japan Cool in Europe and America

3 Japan Cool vs Cool Japan

4 Japan Robotic - Astro Boy, Asimo, and Fukushima Dai-Ichi

5 Japan Cruel - The Pacific War Legacy

6 Japan Sick - Japanese Social Problems Seen from Afar

7 Japan Aging - The Baby Bust and Population Change

8 Japan Bizarre - The Extraordinary Made Ordinary

9 Japan Kink - Sex Obsessed or Sexless

10 Japan Xenophobic - The Hard Lot of Gaijin in Japan

11 Japan Concrete - The Japanese Unnatural Environment

12 Japan Leading - Japan as Number One

13 Japan Cramming - The Best and the Brightest Rule?

15 Japan Inept - Politics and Administration Seen From Abroad

15 Japan Unique - Japan in the Japanese Imagination

Required Work

Essay examination at the end of the
term (100%) based on topics specified by the
instructor OR a report on subjects chosen by the
student (100%). In either case the written work
is prepared outside of class. There is no
in-class examination.

Evaluation Criteria

Appropriateness of topic, depth of research, clarity of expression.
Allowance is made for those who are not native speakers of English.

Textbook

There is no text book as such. Appropriate
readings will be introduced in the lectures and
made available through the web site maintained
by the instructor.

Reference Readings

Christopher P. Hood, Japan: The Basics (Routledge, 2015)

Sugimoto and Mouer, Images of Japanese society: a study in the
social construction of reality (Routledge, 2015)

Message to Students

Feel free to bring up topics not on the syllabus.

Mail Address

[email-masked]

Office Hours

No office at Saitama University and thus no
office hours. I will, however, be happy to meet
with students during the lunch break.

Course Home Page

http://www2.gol.com/users/ehk/saitama/images

http://ehk.servebeer.com/saitama/images