teaching about contemporary japan

[clay dube]

We have a "contemporary China" thread, so I thought we should have similar threads for Japan (and the Korean peninsula, SE Asia, and S Asia). Many of these posts might also be relevant to the "high school ideas" or to the threads on literature, the ongoing debates over the place of World War II in school curricula (e.g., the thread on "teaching about the recent past" and so on.

Please remember to change the subject line to reflect the specific content of your post. [Edit by="Clay Dube on Sep 8, 4:49:01 AM"][/Edit]

[clay dube]

Prices are up in the U.S., but Japanese consumers are also feeling squeezed. At the same time, Japanese bankers and politicians are expecting consumers to lead Japan out of the golden recession it's endured for almost two decades now.

WADA Yuki's (Japanese name order) popularity, however, suggests that many Japanese are not "get me the latest and fastest X at whatever the cost" consumers. This Business Week story explains that Wada's blog coaches people on how to save money. Her frugality is also extremely environment-friendly. Her blog gets about 180,000 unique visitors a month and is rising in popularity. Click on the link below to see Wada (umbrella shielding her from the sun) and read the story.

Tokyo Yuki

[clay dube]

The attached photo is from the america.gov site. It shows girls in Obama, Japan marking the inauguration of our new president by doing a hula dance.

Here's the slide show -- the inauguration as seen elsewhere.
http://www.america.gov/multimedia/photogallery.html#/4110/caw/

Other slides in the series show Obama t shirts in Shanghai and scenes from Indonesia (a place he lived as a boy) and India.

Another slide show at the site marks the election - and again, it's Hawaiian hula time in front of a giant screen showing election results.

http://www.america.gov/multimedia/photogallery.html#/4110/elect_08/%5BEdit by="Clay Dube on Feb 20, 6:32:24 PM"][/Edit]

[clay dube]

An interesting controversy that has emerged regarding Google Earth and maps showing burakumin areas. In 2006 and 2008, teachers on the California NCTA study tour visited a museum in Osaka dedicated to remembering the discrimination of the past and fighting for equal rights today.

Here’s an Associated Press article on the controversy:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5h1ON4xXZci7XWpI8IxdZNg86ZYlAD97U56SG0

Here’s a bit from the article:
“Castes have long since been abolished, and the old buraku villages have largely faded away or been swallowed by Japan's sprawling metropolises. Today, rights groups say the descendants of burakumin make up about 3 million of the country's 127 million people.
“But they still face prejudice, based almost entirely on where they live or their ancestors lived. Moving is little help, because employers or parents of potential spouses can hire agencies to check for buraku ancestry through Japan's elaborate family records, which can span back over a hundred years.”

Responding to complaints about the old maps and the discrimination they facilitated, Google Earth has censored them.

Yuki Ishimatsu of the Berkeley library commented (on H-Asia):

“Over ten years ago a Japanese map collector, Takashi Otsuka, made an agreement with Buraku Kaiho Domei (Buraku Liberation League) to publish a book of collection of old Kyoto maps without erasing those names. Since then most Japanese publishers started publishing reproductions of old maps without alterations. The largest among them, Kashiwa Shobo, whose VP, Hiroshi Tobe, has told me that it is important to clearly state their position to recognize the historical facts as they are to solve social discriminations in the preface of book.

“We have followed this policy with our online maps that we host and control. Google, because of its position, felt that it had to take a different approach.”

Here’s a January Japan Times column about burakumin:
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fl20090120zg.html

Would it be useful to use this debate from today’s news to discuss with your students issues of discrimination, reconciliation, and the role of government and education?

[Anonymous]

It would be most useful to share these articles with students. Beyond sharing the article with students, pictures taken of our trip to the Human Rights museum in Osaka would be very powerful. I have often thought of the museum and I remember that I was really shocked that this historical discrimination existed in Japan. I have also thought of sharing the daily log of our trip with my students.

[Anonymous]

absolutely! the issue of discrimination because of social/economic status is still present in Japan, and is definitely present here in southern California. Discussing this debate would give rise to questions about old vs new examples of discrimination, institutionalized racism, classism and sexism.

Although Japan does not officially abide by the old Tokugawa social hierarchy is not proof that isolation or disenfranchisement does not occur today. For google to censor these maps is an attempt to ignore and brush under the rug a very important issue impacting millions of lives.

I would like to use the article to tie our history of social/economic discrimination, here in Los Angeles, perhaps cultural/racial segregation in Los Angeles, to Japan's beginning with the Tokugawa shogunate.

[clay dube]

Many teachers who have completed seminars with us at UCLA and USC have had the privilege of learning from Fred Notehelfer. (Here's his page on our k-12 curriculum site:
http://china.usc.edu/ShowArticle.aspx?articleID=194)

Prof. Notehelfer was recently honored with one of the Japanese government's top awards, "The Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon," for his service promoting greater understanding of Japanese history and culture. Here is the Japanese consulate's webpage detailing the award and why it has been presented to Prof. Notehelfer:
http://www.la.us.emb-japan.go.jp/e_web/e_news_24.htm

In accepting the award, Prof. Notehelfer emphasized how important it has been for him to work with teachers in recent years. He greatly values the contributions teachers make to expanding students' knowledge and their horizons.

I should note that Prof. Notehelfer could have elected to receive his award from the Japanese Emperor at the Imperial Palace. Instead, he chose to accept it at the Japanese consulate in Los Angeles so that many of his friends and colleagues throughout the region could attend. It was a memorable event. Here's a Daily Bruin article about it: http://dailybruin.ucla.edu/stories/2009/may/12/japaneseprofessors/[Edit by="Clay Dube on Jun 11, 1:45:48 PM"][/Edit]

[clay dube]

The Economist recently (7/23/09) had a great article about Toto, a giant Japanese producer of toilets, etc.

http://www.economist.com/people/displaystory.cfm?story_id=14082288

There are many interesting comparative cultural notes in the article about the CEO's ease with subordinates and so on. The firm's success in exporting to China is also remarkable.

Every teacher we've taken to Japan has remarked about high tech Japanese bathroom fixtures and at least two have subsequently bought and installed Japanese toilets in their own homes. I'll leave it to others to visit the Toto and other websites so as to share pictures of these state of the art creations.

[clay dube]

FREE RECITAL (after museum admission) --
September 19, 2009
Japanese American National Museum, 369 E. First Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012

Pair Work: Celebrating Japanese Heritage in Contemporary Music

Antares Boyle and Rory Cowal will present a free public recital of contemporary music by Japanese composers. Selected composers include Joji Yuasa, Toshio Hosokawa, Michio Kitazume, Kazuo Fukushima, and Misato Mochizuki.

The highlight will be the world premiere of a newly-commissioned work by the composer Ryan Tanaka. The concert will be both a celebration of modern Japanese music and an exploration of cultural fusion. The selected composers were all trained in the Western classical tradition and are internationally active in the contemporary art music scene. Yet each has developed a personal approach to composition that incorporates a distinct concern with the composer’s national and ethnic identity. The myriad ways in which composers address this background in their music creates a program of fascinating diversity while showcasing recurring elements of uniquely Japanese musical aesthetics.

This event is included with museum admission. Admission: $9 Adults; $5 Seniors (age 62+); $5 Students with ID and Youth (age 6-17); And Free for Museum members.
For more information please call (213) 625-0414 or visit
http://www.janm.org/events

[Anonymous]

Before President Obama arrived in Japan, Ozawa, The Secretary General of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan, slandered Christianity and Western Civilization in a series of remarks.

As the head of the party, Ozawa is seen as the real power in Japan and experts are shocked to have an international leader of his stature speak derisively of Christianity as well as of Western Civilization.

In Koyachi, at the Japan Buddhist Federation, Ozawa said,
"Christianity is exclusive and self-righteous." Then he added, "Islam is exclusive too like Christianity, but Christianity is worse...Western society, because it is based on Christianity, is dead as well." Ironically, Koyachi, the place where the conference was held, was
formerly the site of a Christian Monastery from the 8th century.

Ozawa, who won recent elections made the comments to reporters following his talk to the Federation.

Currently, the Democratic Party of Japan, received financial support from the mother of Prime Minister Hatoyama who is a well known Christian and has the largest number of Christian believers of any Japanese party.

Furthermore, Japan's former Prime Minister, Taro Aso, is a Christian believer as is the current Empress Michiko of Japan.

Christians in Japan are particulary upset as Japan has the noteriority of having the longest persecution of Christians in history. There was a period of 250 years, otherwise known as the "Japanese Holocaust," in which up to one million "kirishitans" or indigenous Christians were martyred.

Christians around the world have been informed of this via email and have been encouraged to email The Democratic Party to protest this anti-Christian retoric.

Cheryl Watson

[clay dube]

Google dominates most of the markets it competes in, but in both Japan and China it is a distant no. 2. How can this be? And what is the search giant trying to do about it?

In Japan, it's changing how it looks and is using a variety of stunts. Here's a NY Times article with more:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/30/technology/internet/30google.html?_r=1&th&emc=th

In China, it's worked out a deal with music publishers to offer free MP3 downloads -- easily the first time that having a Chinese-based computer gives one more rather than less access. Tech Crunch has more, including screen shots:
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/03/30/google-china-signs-big-music-for-free-mp3-search-engine/

What might these trends indicate about differing cultural norms and about assumptions regarding globalization?

[Author]

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