https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/tv/kabukikool/

Thank you, Professor Coats, for your presentation on Japan's theater and focus on women. 

In my 9th grade English class, an instant connection and way to bridge to my own classroom is by doing lessons on Theater in England during Shakespeare's time and in other cultures i.e. Japan as part of my Romeo and Juliet unit. It is easy for to students forget, as well as even us as adults, that while we divide the world into units there are events happening all over at the same time. Shakespeare is a long and challenging unit for students, so a big part of frontloading them will not only be on the language of Shakespeare but the theater and its culture. I will use a picture of the Globe Theatre and ask for first impressions on the photo (what is your prior knowledge of theater, what are different parts of the theater used for and divided into). Then I will transition into the shift of also using indoor theatre in England and bridge to Japanese theater: what similarities do we see? I would like to spend time teaching students about both theaters during their respective times, and would like to find out more about theater in another culture as well to add.

A surprising fact for students is the idea that women were not cast into roles in Shakespeare's theater, but young men would be cast instead. In Japan, young boys and young men also eventually dominated roles in theater. I think it's also interesting that food was a part of theater life for both English (apples, oranges, and nuts) and Japanese (bento boxes) since for many moviegoers, popcorn is a ritualistic part of watching a movie. Additionally, Japanese and their love of ghost plays in the 19th century can also connect to the use of ghosts in a play such as Hamlet and the theme of "forbidden love" (sonezaki shinju) to Romeo and Juliet. An idea such as "forbidden" or "starcrossed lovers" is something that was relatable for Japanese audiences and Shakespeare's viewers, and still is adapted into film by directors such as Zeffirelli and reimaginings of Romeo and Juliet by Luhrmann in Miami. These themes are one of the reasons why plays such as Romeo and Juliet's storyline can be understood by even young audiences. Finally, I would like to point out the use of costumes and the association of colors and dress to class systems i.e. the use of purple in England for nobility to the use of flashy patterns and hairstyles for military and black for merchants.

I remembered I could not wait to watch the movie Rob Marshall's directed d in 2005 " Memoirs of a Geisha". The reason that I was eager to watch this movie was not because of the love to the Japanese culture of "Geisha", but because this movie was casted by three of Chinese top actress. It has been still a question for me why the director used Chinese actress for the Japanese Geisha roles, however, Zhang Ziyi who became world wide popular by " Croaching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", Michelle Yeoh who was famous as a "James Bond girl", and Gongli who earned so many international acting awards, these three big names had definately attracted a large group of Chinese audiences including me.

Honestly, by watching this movie, I had a pick of how a "Geisha" was trained since little, but through today's lecture, when I recall this movie, I think I had a much better understanding of its back ground Japanese "geisha" culture-a well packaged highend " sex worker" in Japan's history.

In professor Coats lecture today, he explained that in traditional Japanish Kabuki shows, male actors played women roles to avoid after show sex requirements by the audiences. 

In Chinese history, men also took all the women roles in Peking Opera and all other local stage performances as well. But the reason was different with Japan's. For my understanding is Chinese culture rooted deeply in Confucious believes that " Woman should not have any physical contact with man, and should not show in public".  Even though the reason for women were not allowed in the public stage for the " sexual entertain" reason, but " sexu workers" do exist in Chinese history.

I don't know how to address this contents in my high school classroom, however as a teacher it is very interesting for me to see the different reasons under the same phenominum.

I truly enjoyed Professor Coats lecture and learned so much about Japanese theater, prints, paintings and art. I would like to explore with my students the Shogun Nijo Castle 1626, Puppet Theater Dramas about everyday life, Sarugaku “monkey music”, Buddhist & Shinto Religion, Izumo Shinto Shrine Nembutsu dancing, Kabuki Theater in Gion, Ichikawa Danjuro Masculinity or Femininity poses, Kumadori Stage Makeup, Ichikawa Ghost Plays, Wagoto Dandies, gentle emotional men, Onnagata _ Female Impersonators 1630-Present Men play women on stage, Iwai & Segawa, and Sharaku 1794-1795 why he disappears and how the government controls the people spilt into fours with the military as the lead. I will definitely create a Photoshop lesson for my digital photography classes on Japanese theater prints and paintings. Inspiration https://design.tutsplus.com/tutorials/create-a-japanese-ukiyo-e-style-print--vector-4288

Professor Coats actually shared with me today that the writer of "Memoirs of a Geisha" was actually one of his students and that he had some issues with the film for example how they cast a Chinese lead actress instead of a Japanese actress.

The images presented by Dr. Coats were very interesting both from the point of view of the social values they depicted and their aesthetics. As he pointed out at the beginning, it was a great way to create art for the entire country and gaining political control.

The history and images about the Kabuki Theater were amazing. The distribution of the stages that Professor Coats discussed makes it a super interesting kind of place. Also, he spoke about the plot line about the plays. Contemporary themes divided between two to three narratives, with breaks in between and dance performances. The tradition of onstage transformation and the roles ranged from military to ghosts to gender.

The second part of the lecture about Pleasure and Pain was important to understand the depiction of women. However, as Dr. Coats points out, “there were more depictions of the women from the pleasure quarters than of the everyday type of women.”  Then the depiction of women from the 1710-1715 changed and depicted them as very powerful and untouchable, which starts to delineate the standards that will be followed at the beginning of the 18^th century. Conversely, by the end of the century it has started to change back to the more delicate, slender, willowy type of women. These new innocent, young women are becoming the ideal in the 1760’s, which comes to signify a significant type of change in the audience.

The manga, anime and pop culture of the presentation was very interesting as I think many of these characters, games, and content are very relevant to my students. Here the influence of western culture. Some of the older manga was directed towards older teenagers was a commentary on the modernization process of the country. Series such as the Children’s Land, which ran for 22 years, had a huge influence in illustration and storytelling, but the big change came with Astro Boy, which ran from 1951 to 1981. He looks very appealing, with a cute face and a big resemblance to Mickey Mouse. It was interesting to learn that, despite of the year gap, most people today still enjoy the same type of anime graphics as the first anime that came in the late 1980’s. This led to the modern manga that popular in the 21^st century. It’s more action oriented and with a story line that will progress over a period of months. For example, Dragon Quest went from being a manga, to an anime, to a videogame; which teaches us about many of the videogames and content that our students consume.