Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
BOOK OF ABSTRACTS
September 4, day 1
KEYNOTE LECTURE
hypothetical
conditionscounterfactual conditionstemporal conditionsgeneric conditionshabitual
conditionsmain clause
speech intention
GUEST LECTURE
Ningy: The Unexpected World of Japanese Dolls
Alan Scott Pate
What is a doll? For the majority of cultures around the world, dolls are largely
restricted to the ludic world of the child. Playthings. Insignificant. In Japanese, the word for
doll is ningy, which translates directly as human form. And herein lies a vast world of
difference. In Japan, ningy have a legacy of 13,000 years of continuous development,
extending from the dog clay figures of the Jmon Period (14,000 to 300 BCE), to the
haniwa funerary figures of the Kofun Period (250-537 CE), to the elaborate hina-ningy of
the Girls Day display that peaked during the middle of the Edo Period (1615-1868). Over the
millennia, the Japanese have developed a doll form to meet nearly every social exigency,
from protective talisman to diplomatic gift, from parlor trick to substitute child for the barren.
So rich and diverse a culture has evolved around ningy, that treating them casually as mere
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dolls is to grossly underestimate their cultural and artistic puissance.
While a complete survey of Japanese ningy history and form is impossible in this
context, a brief foray into three, perhaps unexpected, traditions can serve to illustrate the
point. First, we will look at the basal connection of ningy and health practices, looking at
dolls as talismans as well as medical tools. A number of ningy forms developed over the
ages specifically to protect the child, the home, and the nation from malevolent forces, as
well as particular forms that meld with traditional medical practices; each evolved with its
own attendant set of beliefs and ritual practices. Secondly, we will delve into the world of
ningy as entertainment, where dolls serve as the primary actor; from the celebrated
bunraku-ningy puppet tradition to the lesser known karakuri mechanical dolls and including
the shockingly beautiful iki-ningy (living doll) traditions that delighted both Japanese and
Western audiences as they spread from beyond Japanese entertainment pavilions to private
and museum collections around the world. And finally, carrying us into the modern era, we
look at ningy as a high art form. By briefly reviewing the ningy geijitsu undo (art doll
movement) of the early 1930s we can see how Japanese doll artisans themselves struggled
with establishing ningy within a proper context following Japans wholesale adoption of
Western cultural rubrics that strictly segregated art from craft.
Through such a survey it is my hope that the historical, social and artistic facets of
ningy will draw further attention to this under-explored aspect of Japanese art and culture
and inspire further study and admiration.
Yoshiya Nobuko and the Occidentalism: Focusing on "To the Limit of the Sea" [JP]
Kyoko Kinoshita, Kansai University
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Hirakawa, Setsuko. Etsu I. Sugimoto's A Daughter of the Samurai in America, Comparative Literature
Studies, Vol. 30, No. 4, East-West Issue, pp. 397-407, 1993.
2
Chafe, William H. "World War II as a Pivotal Experience for American Women." In Women and War: The
Changing Status of American Women from the 1930s to the 1940s, edited by Maria Diedrich and Dorothea
Fischer-Hornung, pp. 21-34. New York: Berg, 1990.
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[JP]
Anna Kato, Tokyo University
(2011)
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for an urban planner. Even though children seem to be able to play no matter where, the
fact that cities as we know them are less and less friendly playgrounds for kids is a threat to
the mere existence of a society, a threat that must be addressed.
This study doesnt aspire to present itself as a synthesis for the topic it engages, but
rather as one of the first stepping stones towards a more comprehensive research
investigating the relation between children and the places where they play and its reflections
in architecture and urban planning related design processes.
Hadot, Pierre. 1995. Philosophy as a Way of Life: Spiritual Exercises from Socrates to Foucault.
Oxford: Blackwell
Smith, J. 2016. The Philosopher: A History in Six Types. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University
Press
5
At first glance, one might presume that the popularity of the bands depends mostly
upon the quality of their music. However, networking with fans is another, perhaps even
more vitally important factor for bands to attain success. By making the fans feel as though
they have an essential relation to the band, they are able to make the customers come back for
more. In a lot of ways, Visual Kei can be compared to host clubs. However, compared to host
clubs, where both parties involved are made aware of the general conduct in such an
environment, it is much less transparent in the Visual Kei industry. While it is possible for
musicians to refuse such a lifestyle, many artists chose to accept since the concerts
themselves often lead to low profits. As an additional gain, the popularity of the band will
frequently increase if they accept the conditions of the system.
The consequences of this system are numerous. The system creates an environment of
competition between fans, resulting in additional conflicts. Furthermore, concert participants
who are not aware of the system will often clash with fans who regularly attend these
concerts. The musical quality of visual kei music is lowered as a whole due to the fact that
other factors play such an important part of the Visual Kei scene.
Due to lack of academic resources we will mainly depend on data collection through
participant observation at the Visual Kei concerts and surveys.
[JP]
Olga Ilina, Tsukuba University
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Serial Experiments Lain1998
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AnimemaniacsMagazine20022012
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AnimeGuide20032011
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Official PlayStation
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AnimeGuide
AnimemaniacsMagazine
The New Generation of Doujin: Changes in Doujin Distribution and Fan Culture
Tau Prestat, Copenhagen University
Doujin culture has undergone great changes over the last decades. Not only are the
three most popular derivative doujin series based on video games, but doujin fan culture and
the distribution possibilities of major conventions such as Comic Market are also
experiencing major developments. For instance, fan-made music arrangements of video game
soundtracks have become increasingly important in spreading attention to franchises through
internet memes and live concerts. Furthermore, doujin games are even beginning to create
more international awareness by being ported to the Playstation 4 and exported to the west.
Since events such as Comic Market reach above half a million participants
bi-annually, the size and influence of doujin culture should not be overlooked academically.
Touhou Project has acted as a catalyst for many of the changes in doujin distribution and fan
culture, and as such the primary focus of this research will be to examine the contemporary
fan culture of this particular franchise.
Due to the lack of academic resources relating to contemporary doujin culture, the
majority of the research will be conducted through participant observation at doujin
distribution events, as well as doujin stores. Furthermore, doujin circles and participants will
be surveyed and interviewed. Additionally, major internet phenomenon related to the success
of Touhou project will similarly be examined.
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www.animag.ru
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SESSION 4, ROOM B - Romania and Japan
Discovering Japan in 1915s Universul literar Romanian Magazine
Angela Drgan, Dimitrie Cantemir University
Japan has been present in Romanian media for a long time. In recent years,
technological advancement and entertainment industry products, such as anime or manga,
have been discussed most frequently in the news, on Japan. Political or economic news can
also be found but they are rather scarce.
This was obviously not the case at the turn of the 20th century when most of the
information on Japan revolved on its political and military involvement in the world.
Nevertheless, after the Russo-Japanese war, that took place from 1904 to 1905, one can
observe that Romanian readers were more interested in gaining knowledge about this nation.
Discovering Japans culture and understanding it were more often present in Romanian
magazines and newspapers.
My paper will focus on Universul literar magazine issued in 1915 and the article O
scrisoare din Japonia. Calea zeilor (A letter from Japan. The way of the Gods) that
explains Shintoism to Romanian readers. As in my previous presentations concerning Japans
image in the Romanian mass-media in the first half of the 20th century, my main concern is
the type of information, in this case religion, and its source, acquired directly or indirectly.
Book covers of James Clavells Shgun: A Case Study for the History of Japonisme in
Romania
Radu Leca, Affiliated Fellow, IIAS Leiden
The Romanian translation of the novel Shgun by James Clavell was first published in
1988 and then reprinted in 1992, 1994, 2007 and 2008. By analysing the covers of the various
editions, I show how their visual elements engaged with the cultural imaginary of communist
and post-communist Romania. Thus, the cover of the 1988 edition reproduced a historically
accurate folding screen. In doing so, it defined the novel as a historical saga that made present
a foreign reality as a form of respite from the mundaneness of the communist regime. In
contrast, the covers of the post-communist editions employed visual collages that included
stills from the TV series along with incongruous elements such as count Dracula, thereby
interfacing the text with visual and cinematic stereotypes. This change in iconography is
representative of the changing significance of the novel: from escapist history to a celebration
of unrestricted access to foreign media.
This study case unpacks the metonymic role of book covers in constructing the
imaginative space of the narrative. It exemplifies how the materiality and paratexts of a book
were just as important as its textual content when considering its cultural impact. The
iconography of book covers resonated with a wider field of exotic cultural tropes, forming a
part of the under-researched history of the influence of Japonisme in Romania.
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Friendship Societies and Cultural Diplomacy during the Cold War: The Romanian -
Japanese Case
Viviana Iacob, New Europe College, Bucharest
Friendship societies with western countries had a seminal role in pre-dtente Cold
War cultural diplomacy. In the absence of diplomatic relations, these associations initiated
the first contact with the West and paved the way to blooming cultural exchanges during the
dtente (from mid-sixties onward). Their activity was unidirectional in the early fifties, as it
entailed the circulation of publications and the organization of events with a rather reduced
impact such as exhibitions or conferences. Nevertheless, their main role was to gather
contacts and enlarge the network of individuals that could better serve the dissemination of a
socialist countrys culture beyond the Iron Curtain divide in the late fifties and early sixties.
My paper will focus on the work carried out by the Japan-Romania Friendship
Association (JRFA) founded in 1955 by a group of Japanese fellow travelers. By focusing on
the cultural exports that were characteristic to this association in the larger context of
East-West cultural relations between 1955 and 1965, I intend to underline what type of
cultural heritage was favored by Romanian cultural officials in exchanges outside the
socialist camp. My paper reveals a new genealogy to the internationalization of a Southeast
European culture during the Cold War. It points to specific institutionalizations of encounters
that constituted the basis for later transnational circulations of ideas and people from
Southeast Europe to multiple corners of the globe.
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September 5, day 2
KEYNOTE LECTURE
The Battle of Imphal and Hino Ashiheis Literature
Chikako Masuda, Kansai University
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(31)(15)(33)
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A Consideration of Japanese Festivals in Urban Areas: From Historical Changes in the
Toka-Ebisu "Open Gate" Ceremony at Nishinomiya Shrine
Hironori Arakawa, National Institute of Technology, Akashi College
1106230
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6000
Our Daily Rice and the Body of Christ: Staple and Ritual Foods in Japan and Romania
Carmen Spunaru Tma, Kobe University
In our highly advanced technology-oriented society, religion and religious beliefs play
a role as important as ever. Within these religious practices, food and eating have remained
constant in that they continue to be both a physiological necessity and an act ritually
performed. My paper aims to be an analysis of food that is offered to the gods or ancestors in
Japanese and Romanian cultures, as well as the customs of sharing said offerings with the
divine beings thought to be present during specific events, and among the participants, in
rituals that create new and strengthen pre-existing community bonds.
The current paper is part of a larger research project focusing on the specific meaning
of offerings made on various occasions, starting from daily occurrences (centered more on
the individual), such as placing a cup of sake on the house altar or on a grave in Japan, or the
offering of a cake to a friend, in the memory of somebody who had passed away and recently
appeared in a dream, in Romania, to bigger events that involve the entire community, such as
annual festivals in Japan, the consecrating of a new church or the performing of a rain charm
in Romania. As a case study, I intend to discuss the Tenjin Festival that takes place every
July in Osaka, and the meaning and role of rice, both as a staple food and something to be
offered to the gods, in an analysis that will touch upon eating as a social act, commensality
with the gods, reunion with deceased ancestors, or the simple act of survival.
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SESSION 7, ROOM A - Gender, Identity, Sexuality
Trendsetters and Masculine Beauty Standards in Contemporary Japan
Adrian Tma, Kobe University
One of the social aspects influenced by the drastic changes taking place in postwar
Japan is the aesthetics of the human body. My current research is concerned with masculinity
and how it is represented (and re-defined in contemporary Japanese society), and in this paper
I intend to focus on facial hair. Facial hair, a marker of masculinity in many cultures, is less
present in the Japanese society. For the past three decades, strong looking men represented a
minority, a part of a subculture centered around raw physicality (such as bodybuilding or
wrestling), while the aesthetic ideal was represented by androgynous men to whom the term
kawaii could be (and was) easily applied.
The present paper will look into the role that the media and other trendsetters played
in the transformation of the male body. What triggered the return to the ideal of the beautiful
youth of pre-modern Japan, and how have the standards changed to re-incorporate a
moustache or a beard in recent years? What caused the transition from the idea that facial hair
is dirty (and thus most Japanese companies still require their male employees to keep their
faces clean-shaven) to the concept of an elegantly bearded gentleman widely promoted by
fashion magazines nowadays? By answering these questions, my research attempts to offer a
better understanding of mens role in contemporary Japanese society, as well as the new
structure of aesthetic standards for masculinity.
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transnational approach can recognise the ongoing process of identity negotiation and
collective identity formation that is creating a hybrid culture between the indigenous queer
tradition and the Western model.
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ethnicity. They were aimed to appeal to the Western audience by means of an exotic view
belonging to a time prior to the moment they were filmed. This analysis assesses the validity
of ethnographic documentary as historical testimony, exploring the limits of the
mise-en-scne and the premeditated mechanisms of codification on Ainu identity.
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In this article, I will seek to shed light on the spread of Boym's writings in Japan and
on the influence his study has exerted on the medical developments in the Archipelago, and
subsequently on how Boym's medical-scientific works thanks to the mediation of certain
doctors of the VOC, on all the aforementioned Cleyer, have managed to have great gloss and
diffusion in the same Europe.
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September 6, day 3
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reinforcement of the world in relation to globalization, shared meanings and
cosmopolitanism.
What is the new place of the vampire in Japanese animation? How does it relate to the
current kawaii aesthetics of the "beautiful boy"? Drawing on Hiroki Azuma's concept of the
database and on the foucaldian meaning of heterotopia (Foucault, 1984), the current status of
the vampire will be addressed, so as to highlight a transcultural space of meaning developed
through anime: the affective heterotopia.
Works cited
Azuma, H. (2007) The Animalization of Otaku Culture. Mechademia, 2, 175-188
Foster, M. D. (2009). Pandemonium and parade: Japanese monsters and the culture of ykai.
Berkeley: University of California Press.
Foucault, M. (1984). Of other spaces. Architecture /Mouvement/ Continuit, 1-9.
Napier, S. (2005). Anime from Akira to Howl's Moving Castle. Experiencing contemporary Japanese
animation. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Modernity Revisited: The Dialectics of Revolution and the Nostalgia for Intellectual
Activism in Takarazuka Revues 1789: "The Lovers of Bastille"
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Maria Grjdian (Nagasaki University)
This presentation focuses on Takarazuka Revues strategies to re-invent the concept
of modernity specifically in the context of the French Revolution of 1789 by means of
re-contextualizing history in the performance 1789 The Lovers of Bastille (originally a
French rock-opera premiered in 2012). Founded in 1913 by Kobayashi Ichiz, one of the
most significant entrepreneurs in prewar Japan, the all-female popular musical theatre
Takarazuka Revue proved itself along its centennial existence both a faithful mirror of and an
influential model for the Japanese society. Simultaneously conservative in its gender
representation and progressive in its performance practice, a contradictory symbol of the
Japanese modernity and Japans leading figure in entertainment industry, emerged from the
syncretic, cross-gender tradition of the centuries-old classical Japanese stage arts and
challenging that very tradition through the creative employment of Western music and
dramatic plots, Takarazuka Revue reconstructs in a specific way asymmetric interactions
between identity and alterity, model and copy, history and geography, obtrusively displayed
in sparkling tunes, fairy-tale-like sceneries and gorgeous costumes. Especially since 1974
the year in which the world premiere of the blockbuster The Rose of Versailles took place
marked an unexpected tendency in Takarazuka Revues public appearance, visible both in the
increasing lavishness of its performances and in the intensified commercialization of the
increasingly androgynous otokoyaku figures (female impersonators of male roles).
This presentation takes into account the multiple layers in Takarazuka Revues
administration and self-orchestration (performance politics, the economical supervision of
brand-related consumption, the socio-cultural management of actresses and fandom (fans and
fan communities) as well as the performances themselves. The transition from ethics to
aesthetics and from imagination to ideology in Takarazuka Revue's marketing of
historical-geographical spaces, reflects and condenses its metamorphose from an insignificant
socio-cultural medium to a powerful political-economic message in postwar Japan as well as
Japan's emerging awareness from being an "outsider" to the Western world to gradually
becoming an "insider" of the Asian community.
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movements, this communication will show that the reading of the mitate allow a specific and
an exclusive re-examination of Japanese art history. After comparing mitate-e from the Edo
period and contemporary artworks, we ascertain a clear definition of mitate as an analogical
transposition based on outward forms to create a new image. Through the postmodern
productions, we will understand that mitate is incorporated within a traditional framework,
whose contacts with a foreign culture seem essential to develop an imaginary and a
figurative representation. Consequently, the demonstration of the playful mitate in the
Japanese contemporary visual wakagumi attests that artists bring into play the vision of the
image, rather than its signification. Artists and contemporary mitate-e testify the exchanges,
influences and impacts between Western and Japanese arts to introduce a first gap with
European art history and its conceptions.
The Influence of the English Landscape Garden on the Meiji Stroll Garden: Fact or
Speculation?
Oana Loredana Scoru (Kyoto University)
The stroll gardens built in the Meiji period (1868-1912) fall into two categories: the
Japanese style garden, and the Western style garden. This presentation will focus on the
former type. The first of its kind is considered to be Murinan Garden (1894-1898) made by
Ogawa Jihei VII, also known as Ueji, for the prince Yamagata Aritomo. On the one hand, the
overall structure of these gardens is similar to the typical stroll gardens of the Edo period
(1603-1868), such as Katsura Riky Garden, or Koishikawa Krakuen Garden. On the other
hand, new techniques replace the traditional techniques, such as the miniature landscapes
(shukkei) and the reproduction of famous landscapes (mitate). The landscape architecture
researcher Amasaki Hiromasa and the garden historian Ono Kenkichi, who analyze in detail
the new elements of the Japanese style stroll gardens of the Meiji period, mention the
possibility of an influence from the English landscape garden, without however making
further inquiries into this issue.
My paper will explore the possible influence that English landscape gardens could
have had on the changes of the Japanese style stroll garden. I will first analyze the new
elements of this style, focusing on Murinan Garden, Isuien's East Garden, and Sankeien
Garden. Then I will inquire into the possible relation between these elements and the
characteristics of the English landscape garden, a style that took shape in the 18th century and
is represented by gardens such as the Garden of Rousham House or Croome Court. Thus,
while agreeing with Amasaki and Ono that a direct influence is rather difficult to assert, I will
discuss the possibility of the existence of an indirect influence, by means of new ideas that
entered from the West, and created a new background for the design of Japanese style stroll
gardens.
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seems that since science invaded and resolved the everyday life of ordinary people, the gods,
to whom the had turned to in order to have good crop, good health or long life, are not needed
anymore. The need for religion today becomes distant, and all its agents become curiosities.
This is true for Buddhist images that were used for hundreds of years: most of them are
stashed away in private or public collections, waiting to be displayed from time to time. We
can see the magnificent paintings of serene Buddhas, or the compositions of wrathful my
king statues in great museums all around the world, but how do we comprehend them in their
new environment?
All images of especially esoteric Buddhist deities share not just a religious but a
ritualistic characteristic that can be fully understood in their most natural environment: during
a ritual inside a temple hall. Most people today go to museums to see and experience things
they have not before, so the jobs of curators becomes gradually more difficult to show
something new to the modern audience equipped with gadgets which give them information
in an instant. (Respectively, sometimes their effect is not more than instantaneous.) Do the
hundreds of different iconographies of esoteric Buddhism still have their former effect on
audiences or are they just the kind of curiosum that lures people into the museums? And if
they are used as attraction tools, is it something that we should regret or cherish?
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Japan and Cinematic Peace Propaganda in UNESCOs Orient Project 1957-1959
Miia Huttunen (University of Jyvskyl, Finland)
During the early decades of the Cold War, film became a significant tool for
constructing meaning for the general public. UNESCO (United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organization) reacted by promoting the role of film as a means to
maintaining peace. In 1959, UNESCO and the British Film Institute published a catalogue of
Eastern films titled Orient. A Survey of Films Produced in Countries of Arab and Asian
Culture, with the aim of familiarising Western audiences with Eastern cultures. Out of the
139 feature films included in the catalogue, 37 were Japanese. Approaching the project as an
example of peace propaganda, I analyse the plot summaries of the Japanese films included in
the catalogue in order to address the question of how was the catalogue utilised to send a
message of peace and to shape opinions accordingly. With a focus on sympathetic characters,
the films are described as stories of peoples struggles towards a better future. The plot
summaries emphasise the universal themes of humanism and hope everyone despite their
national and cultural background can relate to. The message constructed through the plot
summaries in the catalogue thus contributes to UNESCOs aims to build the defenses of
peace in the minds of men through its emphasis on maintaining sustainable peace built on
intercultural understanding.
A Comparative Study about Literature and Nuclear Energy in Japan and Germany
Ryuji Yorioka (Tokushima University)
Unlike Germany, which has vowed to shut down all its nuclear power plants in the
wake of the Fukushima disaster, the Japanese administration is still much dependent on
nuclear energy even today. Thus, the aim of this study is to compare and examine how the
issue of nuclear energy is treated by writers in these two countries that have shown such
staunchly different approaches.
This study focuses on discussions and discourses regarding nuclear energy found in
post-World War II literatures in Japan and Germany. In particular, differences are drawn and
further analysed from discourses between prominent German and Japanese writers such as
Gnter Grass, Shohei Ooka, Kenzaburo Oe and Makoto Oda. By doing so, the study hopes to
find a possible solution to this global crisis within the realm of literature.
The result indicates that, when compared with their German counterparts, Japanese
writers were more introversive and prudent in nature, possibly weighted down by a deep
sense of victimisation and a strong accountability toward the war, which then prevented them
from sufficiently taking into consideration the cross-boundary and bipartisan nature that
characterises the nuclear issue.
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evolution or globalization. Japan has been no exception. Most recently, after WWII, Japan
has been exposed to the U.S. influence, from which it has adopted and adapted a lot. Authors
then began observing how the Japanese society tried to find answers to questions regarding
its identity and what features embody the Japanese self. Yet, the economic growth seemed to
have erased that stage, a similar kind of confusion returning at the time of the 90s recession.
As sociology specialists have pointed out, while globalization can indeed favour
homogeneity, there is another evolution that can occur as naturally. A nation, by comparing
itself with a different culture, can also start defining its own identity more clearly, by
emphasizing its own ethnical features, up to the point where it creates a stronger sense of its
national self.
This papers hypothesis suggests that the confusion stage was a result of the rapid and
intense incorporation of many opposite values during the post-WWII period and that the
nationalistic trend beginning with the 70s, until late 80s, was only a different side of the
same identity issue. The paper raises the question of a possible layer of induced economic
carelessness during the economic boom, maybe pushed by a historic sense of inferiority
towards the West, with consequences on the subsequent recession. This reflects Japans
continuous focus on the U.S. during the post-WWII growth period, as the country, to give
some examples, bought US banks, golf lands and entire resorts, or ended up financing up to
30% of the U.S. debts.
While solutions can retrospectively be found in terms of economic policies that could
have made a difference, the paper will try to focus more on a socioeconomic perspective,
taking into account the spiraling relationship between society and economy, as an economic
imbalance also leads to uncertainty within the society and uncertainty, in turn, to political
imbalance that adopts disrupted/frail policies within an increasingly pessimistic environment,
while, respectively, economic optimism leads to euphoria, and that, to a more nation-aware
political rule, trending towards an inflationary economy.
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It will discuss the interaction between the Meiji government, especially the Ministries of the
Army and Navy, and the private sector and the introduction of technologies that led to a
from traditional footwear produced by burakumin or as a by-industry on farms to
cordwainers, cottage industry and ultimately mechanized mass production.
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universities.
The current problems of the practicums in the training courses offered at universities in Japan
are as follows:
1) It is difficult for some universities to arrange training schools or classes.
2) It is difficult to track trainees practice if practicums are outsourced to
overseas or domestic universities/schools.
3) The types of training schools that universities of trainees arrange may not
match the trainees career plan.
4) Problems have not been shared among universities and there has not been an
overview of training programmes.
Center for Japanese Language and Culture (CJLC), Osaka University has been
certified as the Joint Usage Center for education in Japanese language and culture. This
allows us to cooperate with several universities in Japan and to share our human and
educational resources. The aim of this study is to examine what CJLC can offer Japanese
language teacher training courses and their practicums at the Joint Usage Center to solve the
problems outlined above and to discuss the remaining issues.
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The Japanese legend of Urashima Tar provides us with a unique opportunity to
gaze upon the development of literary genres in Japanese literature across centuries. Starting
in the Nara period, through the Heian, Kamakura, Edo periods and up until the Meiji period
and the present, countless versions of the tale have been written, including those by some of
Japans best-known writers, Mori gai, Kda Rohan, Shimazaki Tson and Dazai Osamu.
The tales rich and complex history may be analyzed from the perspective of archetypal
literary criticism, as grounded by Northrop Fryes work Anatomy of Criticism, in 1957. In
this book the literary critic attempts to extend the comparative, morphological method used in
the analysis of fairytales and folktales (in the tradition of Wladimir Propp) to the rest of
literary genres, bringing about a structuralistic view of literature. It is my belief that one can
trace the different versions of the tale of Urashima, with the cultural background of Shinto,
Buddhism and Taoism, against Northrop Fryes classification of fictional modes, from the
mythical mode, the mode of romance (consisting of ballads, legends, fairytales and
folktales), to the high mimetic mode, the low mimetic mode and ironic mode. Thus one may
gain insight into the storys development and enrich its analysis, as of late based on the
thematic pattern followed by most versions, with an analysis of the literary style reflecting
characteristics not only of different historical periods, but also of different fictional modes.
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Chinese Anecdotes in the Mgy-sh (the Commentaries Written in Kana on Meng-qui
(Beginner's Guide)
Kiyoyuki Tsuta (Osaka University)
Classical Chinese culture or literature has widely influenced Japanese culture and
literature. In this research, anecdotes in Chinese historical texts are focused on. A wide
variety of anecdotes has been adopted into pre-modern Japanese literary works, or it has
impacted on Japanese thought and culture. In this situation, however, the images of anecdotes
were not as original as they had been. Japanese own contents have often introduced into
adopted anecdotes. In former research, these adoptions are studied mainly based on Japanese
literary works. But the import of Chinese anecdotes into Japanese literary works varies from
one work to another because of their characters, therefore we cannot consider pure influence
of adoption of Chinese anecdotes.
This research focuses on the shmono (the commentaries written in kana on Chinese
classic books). Since the shmono is compiled for lectures, it hardly contains editors'
rhetorical features. Therefore, modifications in the shmono mean that the editors of the
literature consider cited anecdotes in Chinese historical texts as shown in modified versions.
In this research, anecdotes in Chinese historical texts are extracted from Mgy-sh (a
shmono on Meng-qui (Beginner's Guide)). I point out there are some anecdotes which are
modified from originals, and I suggest that these modifications often occur in romance
relationships. It is concluded that there are differences in cultures and thoughts between Japan
and China on the background to this phenomenon.
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