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Home › Forums › Core Seminars › East Asia Since 1800, Fall 2018 › Session 8 - Lynne Miyake, 11/3 afternoon
Kathryn Sutherland.
Lindsay ReissThis guest lecturer was incredibly engaging. I loved learning about different art forms and their common themes. The idea of "bittersweetness" is one she mentioned multiple times. It was also interesting to hear about the female writers who published with the connection to male "mentors."
Lin KuangDr.Dupe brought up a very precious photo of President Fort visited China in 1975 and met with Deng Xiaoping with George H. W. Bush and his wife's presence on his national farewell day. By the way, my friends in China posted more interesting pintures about this couple earlier in Beijing on a bike with Barbara in front of the Tian Anmen Square on Wechat indicating that they stayed in Beijing for a while learning Chinese, riding bikes, eating Doufu, and Beijing Roasted Crispy ducks... They walked on the streets hands in hands exactly like common couples. Chinese respect them as their best friends at these days.
Lin KuangWe respected Deng Xiaoping as the the world recognition of his economic reform " Open Policy" led Chinese from a developing country leaped to a developed country just behind USA. I was growing and experiencing the changes. When I was still in College, he just circled a couple costal cities in Southern China, Zhuhai, Shenzhen... and let these cities develop first with all proorities and opportunities. Then, people wiht capabilities and talents from variety of feilds threw away their "iron bowls' and went to these special districts for better opportunities, and they did succeed with easy accesses and procedures. Shenzhen was a just fishing villege in 1978, now it has been developed as a most important econimic and touring city standing side by side cross a border from Hong Kong. Shenzhen is an icon of Chinese Socilistic Indicidulism with great sucess. Deng Xiaoping's huge statue in Shenzhen is getting bigger and bigger in people's hearts. We know his famous saying " No matter what color the cat is, as soon as he can catch mice, then, he must be a good cat."
Lin Kuang40 years later, when chinese reviewed the speech Deng Xiaoping made on Dec.13, 1978 stating " Enmancipate the mind, use our brains, and seek truth fom the facts." After his open policy, the coatal cities he circled out were quickly developing with prioritized policies and aupports, which atrracted highly educated and experienced experts or intelligent people for their dream positions with their passion and compassion.He indicated not just. people from all over China from top to bottom lines, everyone has to seek truth from the facts and dedicste the " Four modernizations" to move forward together. He mentioned that enmancipating our minds is very important because it helps us to seek differnt ways to develop our country and get rid of poverty.We have to keep our minds iopen and use our brains to find variety ways to solve problems. He also mentioned " We have to learn economic management with economic methods, If we don't understand, then, we need to learn from our experts sincerely. We also need to learn managments from foreign companies to strenghten ourselves.We can start from centein areas, districts, or cities, then spread out. We have to encourage more innovative trials and support them. Of course, there will be problems or conflicts during the experiments, we need to immediately find them out and solve the problem one by one so that we can move forward based on our experiences." This was very inspiring to all Chinese. His speech enoouraged those brave and risk-takers to throw their iron-bowls and do what they really wanted to do based on their skills and experiences.Many people chose Shenzhen, one of the circled city by Deng Xiaoping to develop their skills and challenge themselves. They went through the same hiring procedures for certain position fairly no matter what position you had before. Some people loaned from the banks and set their own small business... Chinese were motivated to develop their economy, which was the beginning of the Chinese economy growth.
Lin KuangIn " Anime, Film, and Manga Adaptations in English Translation," Lynne Miyake provided plenty detailed about Japenes anime, which is very useful for our students becasue our students are so interested in Japanese Cartoon characters and anime. My collegues, Mr. Ramos organized an " Animation Club" to provide students opportunities to explore more under teachers' guidance with all students who are really interested and dedicated in anime together. I will difinitely forward these information from Professor Miyaketo them. As our teacher in this cohert did research on " Barefoot Gen"by Keiji Nagazawa, which is a great idea for our club members to watch and have great conversations about the arts itself and the content " Pearl Harbaor".
Mario GalindoStudio Ponoc, Ghibli, Miyasaki, Kawajiri and finally Haruki Murakami have taught me about Japanese storytelling: unique and surprisingly original, something implacable and distinguishing in the presentation and characterization, settings that magically pull one in to a foreign existence, and, at the same time, are universal—yet, definitely Japanese.
Now, newly introduced to Tanizaki Junichiro, I know that this goes back at least to the early 20th Century. “The Tattooer” fits snuggly within this story world I’ve experienced since my introduction to it decades ago. Maybe part of the mystique is the dark side of humanity, the non moralistic approach to story. There is a natural realism right along side a surreal, Magic Realism-ness, to borrow a literary term usually not applied to East Asian, that seems to know that humanity has an evil that forces the good to have meaning. The clichéd idea that one needs “bad” to appreciate, and even strive for “good” is not cliché at all.
In the sense of “The Tattooer” because all was peaceful and abundant, the vain pleasure of adding color to our skin, gives the evil pleasure of seeing others suffer truer meaning. From leisure and prosperity the mind can wander to places where it might not have otherwise if poverty and struggle took our waking existence. And, now that I am analyzing, this seems to be a unifying element. Whether it is an evil witch or an underworld crime boss, a familial curse or a concubine that bring us to this narrative place, it is natural, compelling, and real. And because of that powerful.
Now. How can I use this in the classroom? Easy. Tattoos, or “ink” in the vernacular, has been around for centuries. People have an evil side and that is normal. Why do some of us have milk and cookies for dessert and others of us chose other things? Is there anything wrong with choosing one or the other? And that’s just for the Freshmen.
Mario GalindoYeah. This session gave me a lot to ruminate. I was a Creative Writing major and have a truly personal connection with literature. I had very little knowledge of East Asian literature with the exception of Haruki Murakami before this course. I had always been fascinated with the storytelling of Japanese films, including adult anime, so getting a primer on "serious" literature has opened up another literary vein to explore for me.
When Professor Miyake kept asking if anyone had read this piece or that one and no one answered I felt bad, especially since I had read a few of the short stories, but kept silent because I wanted to hear someone else's interpretation. I got enough, though from her energetic presentation of the work.
Since, I have done a bit of research, which, as I mentioned, will keep me busy for years to come. So, in a way, it was better: as a true teacher she did her job by exposing the topic and making me work for my own answers.
Kim LengI truly enjoyed Professor Miyake’s lecture on Japanese literature. She is knowledgeable about her field and I have a lot of new authors to add to my reading list. Of all the authors mentioned, Higuchi Ichiyo stood out most to me because she died so young (at the age of 24), but accomplished so much in her short life. She’s considered one of the most important Japanese writers from the Meiji period (1868-1912). In Child’s Play, Ichiyo paints a vivid picture of children growing up in a Japanese town near a brothel. She depicts the people’s occupation and way of life. There are escorts, priests, rickshaw drivers, and the children growing up in this town. She does not shy away from the reality of life…however difficult. I definitely want to read more about her and her other works, especially, In the Shade of Spring Leaves: The Life of Higuchi Ichiyo, with Nine of Her Best Stories.
I am amazed that her inspiration for writing began when a friend successfully published a book. It appears that she wrote between 1891-1896. She accomplished so much in just 5 years!
Sophia Kang"The Tattooer" is a drastic shift from stories such as Barefoot Gen which are about the war. Throughout the 3 stories--Barefoot Gen, Tattooer, and Woman Writer, a common pattern is the ambition of the three women protagonists in the stories. One strives to lure men, the other strives to follow through with her husband's wishes to protect the children, and another strives to express herself. What surprised me was the amount of violence present in almost all the stories, from a man taking pleasure in the pain of others, to the biting off of fingers. Regardless of the violence, it is interesting to see the treatment of those against the war efforts. Considering the sacrifices of those of lower economic status in the war efforts, it makes sense that some were opposed to war and that this created a cycle of younger men who wanted to join the army so that they could eat.
Kathryn SutherlandI am very excited to use the Botchan comic in my class. As pre-readers, the kindergarteners love to create stories that go with the pictures of what they are reading. The Botchan manga with empty speech bubbles will be a great way to introduce a couple of different topics to my students: for one, that not all languages read from left to right; and two, that people all over the world have been telling stories, writing stories, and drawing stories for hundreds of years (hard to believe that Botchan is from 1906!). I think I would introduce the story by describing the characters, focusing on the rebellious nature but ultimately strong morality of Botchan, and then see what kinds of stories they come up with.
The great thing about this kind of assignment is that there is no wrong answer, and it might spark an interest in learning more about manga or other stories from Japan. At this age, exposure to other people, places, and things is what inspires lifelong learning. I hope that this lesson with Botchan will inspire them to learn more about Japan and East Asia!
Sophia KangI was inspired by your thoughtful questions! I would like to use Barefoot Gen as well to discuss perspectives in my class along with the film that Dr. Miyake introduced, "Grave of the Fireflies." The artistic discretion of the author and film director of both works to portray the perspectives of children struggling to survive or a family struggling to assert their opinion taps into the nuances that are not told in history books. It would also be interesting to start an activity in which students draw/write the story that has an opposite perspective of what they have just read, leading into a discussion about what are governments' goals in banning books?
Kim LengHi Margaret,
Mangas and graphic novels are awesome! I still have Barefoot Gen on my to read list. I'm sharing my graphic novels book list on this forum. I find that this meduim does reach out to some of our reluctant readers. Common Sense Media has compiled a list of "Graphic Novels that Teach History": https://www.commonsensemedia.org/lists/graphic-novels-that-teach-history.
And share with your students that First Book is giving away FREE BOOKS this Saturday! I've a ttached a flyer for the event. I'm going to share this resource with my students. They may get in line and take 10 brand new books home for FREE. Maybe this will spark more interest in reading as they may start their own library. The event is free for all families and educators.
Kathryn SutherlandI am interested to learn more about Kawabata Yasunan and his book, Snow Country, which was one of his works that was cited for a nobel prize in literature in 1968. Professor Miyake mentioned that this book served to refashion Japan in the view of the western powers as a "defanged, docile ally"--an emasuclated man, not a fierce samurai or wartime enemy, as it had been thought of by western powers in the past. She said that both Japan and the US were complicit in recreating the image of Japanese culture, where men were emasculated, and women were eroticized. Learning what we have about romantic relationships in Japan (or lack thereof: the Japanese government has put into place initiatives to get young people to date, marry, and have babies: https://www.businessinsider.com/japanese-government-dating-services-2016-10), I wonder if Snow Country and the refashioning of the image of men has had any long term effects on the relationships between men and women. Or, this could simply be a case of "association does not imply causation"! Either way, I'd like to know more about this author and his importance in contemporary Japanese culture.