MLO 2: Culture
2.1. Students develop a comprehensive understanding, appreciation and knowledge of Japanese culture: perspectives (ideas, beliefs, attitudes, values, philosophies), practices (patterns of social interactions) and products (both tangible and intangible, for example, art, history, literature, music).
2.2. Students develop analytical and critical thinking in areas, such as how Japan’s cultural background influences modern Japanese life, how to compare their own culture with the Japanese culture, or how Japanese culture relates to other world cultures in an age of global inter-relatedness.
Courses Taken:
JAPN 309: Japanese Literature in Translation
JAPN 310: Japanese Cinema
JAPN 312: Samurai Spirit
JSC-OS: Food Culture
MLO Narrative:
Through these courses, I was able to learn more about Japanese lifestyle and culture. As a child, I made a hobby of reading fairy tales throughout the world. Myself and my family quickly decided Japanese folk tales were the best, and I read piles of them. Even as I surrounded myself with the ancient culture I still viewed Japan as an exotic place with strange, yet fascinating customs and beliefs. I had come to believe many false stereotypes about Japanese society that were quickly extinguished when I came to CSUMB.
In my first semester here, I was able to complete MLO 2.1 by taking both Japanese Literature in Translation and Japanese Cinema. These two courses together painted beautiful pictures of Japan both past and present. After this wonderful first semester was done, Japan no longer felt like an exotic place, but rather an extension of normalcy for me. Perhaps the most important thing I gained from these classes was a rudimentary, but correct, understanding of Shintoism. Because it is based on concepts which have little context for English speakers, combined with words that do not translate well, it is quite difficult to find English media which correctly explains the true essence of Shinto. I was lucky to be taught by someone who could explain it well, and now the workings of this beautiful sort of animism fascinate me.
Japanese 312, Samurai Spirit, felt like a companion course to these last two, and allowed me to fulfill MLO 2.2 through the samurai culture's connection to modern Japanese life. Here I learned about Japanese history through the history of the samurai. Through movies, books, and engaging presentations, this class took us from Japan’s first warriors through to Japan’s turbulent warring states period and into the more modern Tokugawa Shogunate. We learned about how Japan’s warrior culture changed drastically over time, from wild men in wild armor to restrained businessmen with swords, more concerned with aesthetics than fighting.
In the food culture course, taken while I was studying in Nagoya, I learned much about Japanese diet and food culture. We discussed changes over time: people eating beef in the Meiji period, the slow shift from rice to bread, and addressed the question of eating whale. This class caused me to look at Japanese food culture in a whole new way, and gave me more respect for some of Japan’s unique cultural properties.
2.1. Students develop a comprehensive understanding, appreciation and knowledge of Japanese culture: perspectives (ideas, beliefs, attitudes, values, philosophies), practices (patterns of social interactions) and products (both tangible and intangible, for example, art, history, literature, music).
2.2. Students develop analytical and critical thinking in areas, such as how Japan’s cultural background influences modern Japanese life, how to compare their own culture with the Japanese culture, or how Japanese culture relates to other world cultures in an age of global inter-relatedness.
Courses Taken:
JAPN 309: Japanese Literature in Translation
JAPN 310: Japanese Cinema
JAPN 312: Samurai Spirit
JSC-OS: Food Culture
MLO Narrative:
Through these courses, I was able to learn more about Japanese lifestyle and culture. As a child, I made a hobby of reading fairy tales throughout the world. Myself and my family quickly decided Japanese folk tales were the best, and I read piles of them. Even as I surrounded myself with the ancient culture I still viewed Japan as an exotic place with strange, yet fascinating customs and beliefs. I had come to believe many false stereotypes about Japanese society that were quickly extinguished when I came to CSUMB.
In my first semester here, I was able to complete MLO 2.1 by taking both Japanese Literature in Translation and Japanese Cinema. These two courses together painted beautiful pictures of Japan both past and present. After this wonderful first semester was done, Japan no longer felt like an exotic place, but rather an extension of normalcy for me. Perhaps the most important thing I gained from these classes was a rudimentary, but correct, understanding of Shintoism. Because it is based on concepts which have little context for English speakers, combined with words that do not translate well, it is quite difficult to find English media which correctly explains the true essence of Shinto. I was lucky to be taught by someone who could explain it well, and now the workings of this beautiful sort of animism fascinate me.
Japanese 312, Samurai Spirit, felt like a companion course to these last two, and allowed me to fulfill MLO 2.2 through the samurai culture's connection to modern Japanese life. Here I learned about Japanese history through the history of the samurai. Through movies, books, and engaging presentations, this class took us from Japan’s first warriors through to Japan’s turbulent warring states period and into the more modern Tokugawa Shogunate. We learned about how Japan’s warrior culture changed drastically over time, from wild men in wild armor to restrained businessmen with swords, more concerned with aesthetics than fighting.
In the food culture course, taken while I was studying in Nagoya, I learned much about Japanese diet and food culture. We discussed changes over time: people eating beef in the Meiji period, the slow shift from rice to bread, and addressed the question of eating whale. This class caused me to look at Japanese food culture in a whole new way, and gave me more respect for some of Japan’s unique cultural properties.