I laughed out loud when I read that a Western stew with soy sauce and rice wine was enough to be called 'sukiyaki', because my mom used to make a dish called 'sukiyaki' when I was growing up. So that means that I learned of it somewhere around 1975 - forty years ago - and my mom still makes it sometimes. The most valuable lesson I learned while reading this article was that when Safari (my phone's internet search engine) asks, "Did you mean 'kamishibai'?", and not 'kamishihai', say yes...and secondarily, wear reading glasses when trying to distinguish between a 'b' and an 'h'. The Japanese certainly do excel in globalizing, and I literally could not look back on my life without seeing Japanese art, products, cartoons, games, films and many other things woven into it. Impossible. My son is making sushi as I am writing this! My daughter went to Japan last summer (2015) and will be traveling there again next summer (2016), with her university. The common themes of Apocalypse, monsters, cuteness, and 'mecha' obviously resonate with many people around the world, not the least of which is my household. Kids in my class and school are once again in love with Pokemon, and I still love Pikachu. Arigato, Japan.

This was one of my favorite readings from the course so far, mainly because it closely examined a topic I hadn't ever really considered before. I've always wrongfully assumed that the fascination with Japanese culture was a more modern American trend, but as the article showed this clearly isn't the case. I was surprised to learn that the Western interest in Japanese art and culture predates the Meiji Restoration in 1868 (that bit about King George V getting a tattoo in Japan was fascinating!). I think the allure of Japanese culture to some Americans can in part be attributed to the very fact that Japanese culture developed so strongly during their period of isolation. Whether or not the culture of Japan was actually cut off from the rest of the world could be debated, but this did create a sense of "other-worldliness" to Japanese traditions and art. The interplay between Western culture and Japanese culture, and the exchange of the two throughout the post-war era was particularly interesting to me. As the article points out, the spread of Japanese culture to mainstream America and other parts of the "Western" world really does challenge the notion that modern globalization is a mere "Americanization" of other parts of the world. The fact that my students eat sushi, have Hello Kitty backpacks, and consider the themesongs of many Japanese cartoons to be a crucial part of their childhood exemplifies the connection between current American and Japanese culture. And despite what the opening paragraph argues top knots, not unlike those Samurai warriors, are very "in" right now for both men and women.

When I think about Japanese culture the first thing I think about is Hip Hop. I am a huge hip hop fan and when I think about the Japanese, I think of their adaptation of hip hop culture. Many of the former hip hop stars of the 90s still do tours and make money out there. I am also fascinated on the Japanese twist on hip hop fashion. The sneaker heads from the US admire the sneakers heads of Japan and vice versa. When I was in college I was involved in a hip hop organization. We put on shows on campus and things like that. One of our members was a DJ and also made hip hop beats. Somehow, people in Japan heard his stuff. They brought him out and he released an album out there. I believe they found him on myspace! It was very interesting to me how he had larger following in Japan than he did in the US. This is why I found this article extremely interesting. I always wondered about the exchanges about culture between the US and Japan.

Growing up in Los Angeles in the 80s to a Chinese-American family, I could not help but fall influence to Japanese pop culture. My siblings and I were always so excited to welcome family members returning from Hong Kong for they brought presents from Japan. Transforming robot cars and hand-held Donkey Kong II and Mario Brothers made by Nintendo, among other digital toys, were gifts we looked forward to receiving .While none of our friends, mostly non-Asian, were exposed to these sort of toys, we fortunately did! Nintendo had not been sold in the mass market yet. That would be for another 20 years. No non-Asian American friend of ours had ever played with a hand-held Nintendo before! They had their Atari boxes, inspired by the Japanese no doubt! We were told by our gifters that Hong Kong was the place to buy Japanese-made items at a great discount. What was so impressive about my Donkey Kong II hand-held was that it was reflected onto a small mirror that I looked into while playing. I would not be ale to play the game if I did not look into this mirror. The mirroring screen slid open and flipped up. It was a very personalized game. I got so good playing it I flipped the game a few times!

Little Tokyo was a place we looked forward to going to once or twice a year. We also discovered Sanrio products when my mom and her friend took us to Little Tokyo. My young siblings and I would buy Little Twin Stars, Hello Kitty, Tuxedo Sam, and Robbi Rabbit Christmas gifts for each other with our small dollar bills. These products were not sold in the American malls yet! I especially enjoyed Japanese coloring books of characters like Sailor Moon or Min Mei with big googly eyes, which we now call manga. We enjoyed getting the red bean "sandwiches" and fresh udon that we couldn't get in our Chinese markets or anywhere else.

So I read this article with nostalgia and an understanding of the globalization of all things Japanese on the Western front.

I really thought the question as to WHY global film gained so much popularity after WWII and more specifically after 1950 was an interesting question. There were many suggestions as to what the reasoning for this was that the civil rights movement followed, and women’s rights were in effect at this time, and may have encouraged more knowledge of race and rights. Also the GI Bill, and the push for and availability of higher education.

In my opinion I don’t think it is one factor that led to the interest, I imagine there are a multitude of factors that allowed global cinema to become popular. Another factor mentioned was the influx of televisions in people’s homes. This was actually the first factor that came to my mind as more people owned televisions, became more aware of cinema, and more knowledgeable of things happening not just in their own communities, but what was occurring worldwide. Another factor I feel may have been a huge factor aside from popular culture or mass culture, being shared by a large audience may have been TRAVEL. More people being able to more outside of their communities, cities, states, and even more prevalent to travel out of the country. I think with all the new technologies to allow people to become more knowledgeable of the global world there would naturally be an increase in global cinema. It also could have helped that global cinema was being recognized in award ceremonies allowing people to gain an interest and also encourage more people to produce movies.

While I appreciated learning all of the history of cinema from this week's session, I was ultimately slightly disappointing in the film clips that were presented. While I found them fascinating and they provided a great overview of Japanese cinema, they aren't very applicable the curriculum we're teaching, nor could they really be used in our classrooms. That said, the informational sheet provided did have a few directors that I know have produced films that would be great to use in a secondary history class. I've used parts of Grave of the Fireflies (1988) and The Wind Rises (2013), both animated Japanese films, as part of my unit on World War II. Students find them engaging because of the animation, and I think in a way the animation helps the heavy topics of total war and devastation become somewhat more approachable for kids. (I've written reviews of both movies from a teacher's perspective for our film assignment in the "Film Festival" section of the forum.)

I am not an avid film watcher by any means. I have yet to watch many iconic movies. Most of my students can't believe that I have never seen any Star Wars movies yet. With that being said, a lot of what was said might have not resonated within me in a way that it would have within a true fan of cinema. However, I did find lots of things interesting from the presentation. For one, I would have never imagined that the Japanese have had a movie industry as long as they have. The comparison of the different ways the Japanese and American movie industries implement the "studio system" was also very intriguing. I've never thought to think about a movie studio like a sports team.