[Aja Koester]

One of the biggest challenges as a reformer is the contrast between wanting to move forward (modernizing) while at the same time not wanting to move forward (staying true to tradition). As a a group we must acknowledge that there is unrest within and many are unhappy. It seems as reformers we could look at education as a platform for reform, which I think could be a good focus for our group. Reform through education could be a way to introduce new ideas to help move China forward (i.e. Western science, technology, production modes, and updated plans for commerce). At the same time, education could be a place to maintain what we already have in place that is working. An immediate rebellion would ultimately weaken our country because there is nothing in place to work towards. We could use education to both appreciate our history and culture including our successes, while also looking at our country’s challenges. We could begin teaching about ways that other countries are becoming successful and begin modifying these to work for China. While this reform could take many years to truly create change, it is a way of solving the challenge of trying something new while holding on to the integrity of what is traditionally Chinese.

[Aja Koester]

I visited the Japanese American Museum located in Little Tokyo in downtown. There was a combination of both art and history with a focus on the Japanese-American experience (as the name of the museum suggests). However, the current art exhibit was titled Transpacific Borderlands and included a broader range of experiences including Japanese artists in Latin American countries and neighborhoods (i.e. Lima, Sao Paulo, Mexico City). The art seemed to convey how mixtures in culture, ethnicity, and race influence artists’ lives. Many of the works included pop culture references such as band names (i.e. Siouxsie and the Banshees) often alongside traditional Japanese tradition/art to show hybridity.

The museum also included a large exhibit dedicated to the history of Japanese Americans from WWII to the present. One of the installations built by “The Remembrance Project” was a replica of an internment barrack with quotes from Japanese-American children whose parents were internment survivors. The project works to bring remembrance of what was done to Japanese Americans during WWII. This exhibit brought to life very real accounts of Nisei, children who grew up in America with Japanese immigrant parents, who did not fully understanding their parents past. Many Nisei learned that their parents were traumatized. One quote that stuck out at me stated, “…[the project] helped me to better understand my parents’ own silence about the internment and broadened my respect for the dignity and grace of my parents’ resolve during such a difficult and troubling time”(Kevin Tokunaga). Many of the quotes were similar in that it took looking back at this history to bring understanding between Issei and Nisei.

[Aja Koester]

I visited the Go For Broke National Education Center, which is a small museum focused on propaganda and the Japanese-American experience during WWII. I had never heard of this museum before, and was very impressed with how interactive it was. It would make for a great field trip with students to not only teach about WWII but how propaganda is used during war in general.

 

The first exhibit includes a video projected onto a set of furniture and items that represent the move of Japanese-Americans who were put into internments. There are people speaking about their experience including one man who explained that as a young man he said to his mom, “This is against the constitution, they didn’t give us a trial,” to which his mom replied, “Oh shut up and pack.” He goes on to say how, “[he] was always American…and now he was nothing.” To hear the voices of real people speaking about what happened to them and their families brought life to the history, which is something students would benefit from.

 

Another exhibit that stuck out to me was one on propaganda. It defined and broke down concepts alongside the examples of American war propaganda, which seemed as if it was aimed at young students. There was a table with pictures that were partially covered in order to show how a cropped picture had the ability to tell only part of a story. You could then lift the cover to see the rest of the picture and understand the full story. These pictures had all been cropped at one point in history. One that stuck out at me was a beautiful picture of a man carrying his daughter, but when you lifted the cover, the full picture was him and his daughter standing on one side of a chain link fence with barbed wire and the mom standing on the other side saying goodbye. This could be an engaging way to explain censorship.

[Aja Koester]

In Prof. Yamashita's lecture he discussed the evacuation of children 6-11 years old into rural areas during the 1940's (WWII Japanese homefront). He talked about the shortage of food and the bullying that took place in the evacuation camps. He left a strong image in my mind of starving children sucking the puss from their wounds because they were so hungry. 

I thought this was interesting in contrast with an entry from Nakane Mihoko's (an evacuated schoolgirl) diary. She writes on April 9, 1945, "Today, it was finally decided that we will go to Toyama Prefecture. I am so happy I can't bear it." I immediately wondered where the enthusiasm came from. It seems uprooting a young child and taking him/her from their family would be a traumatic event. On the contrary, Mihoko takes a very different perspective in her diary when she shares how she would not see her brothers and sisters for a long time, but was fine with this. She mentions no sadness in her goodbyes with her brother. She desccribes a lot of what she did early on in camp as "fun". As Prof. Yamashita explained, the children were the biggest war enthusiasts and it seems these diary entries support this. As I read the entries, I wondered if Mihoko's perspective on war and evacuation changed as her time in the camp grew longer. 

[Aja Koester]

I really appreciated the structure of Prof. Yamashita's presentation. Many times I have attempted to contextualize literary periods using slides in a prezi or powerpoint alongside Cornell notes where I discuss the influence of government, politics, culture, etc. However, students sometimes struggle with understanding the interconnections of these different contexts. Prof. Yamashita used a simple visual of layered circles, where the main topic was represented in the center and the circles extending outward represented different contexts (i.e. historical, economical, political). It seemed that the more narrowed/significant influences were closest to the center circle and the larger contexts were on the outer circles. While my intent to contextualize a topic using a powerpoint is similar, seeing context through this visual was really helpful to me as a student and would likely help in my classroom as well.

I plan to try this in my next unit by placing Milton's Paradise Lost into a center circle and then contextualize it within a religious, political, and social framework. I would like to make a graphic organizer using this visual with space for students to take notes about each context.

[Aja Koester]

I was fascinated by Prof. Yamashita's explanation of how structure and order began in Japan through the emphasis on Confucian propriety and a need to control desire. He described the Tokugawa order including:

1)    hierarchy

2)    fixity

3)    propriety

4)    desire (regulating uncontrollable desire: violent desires and sexual desires)

a.     vendetta registration system

b.     licensed quarters

While he described these orders to contextualize the ritual suicide of the forty-seven ronin, my mind wandered into thinking of modern Japan where order and structure is still highly visible in daily life. I have been amazed during my visits to Japan at the highly ritualized and regimented daily order. Even in the heart of Tokyo amongst dense populations waiting for the subway, the order is still there. While Prof. Yamashita explained his slight frustration with the over concern of rules and regulations where not even a misplaced coat thread goes unnoticed, I have been left in awe by the attention to detail that many people in Japan seem to take pride in. I believe the detail and precision is the foundation for why the country is so incredibly clean and orderly. Understanding this through a historical lens where natural desires for violence/vengeance and sex were a concern made my understanding of modern Japan even more interesting.

[Aja Koester]

 

During the second session of today's seminar (9/9), the visual of the 1930’s Korean women with cloche hats, bobs, finger waves, and big fur collars reminded me a lot of the 1920’s flappers in American culture. It looks like there were similarities in the women’s movements in Korea (i.e. clothing, literature, perspectives on marriage and gender norms). Last year I taught 11^th grade American Literature and this year I am teaching World Literature. I looped with my students, so many of them have looked at the flapper movement and literature from the American Modernist period with me last year. I would love to build on similar themes of women’s liberation and gender norm disruption through a world literature perspective this year. After this session, I realize I could do this through a Korean literature lens especially since Professor Jung-Kim mentioned how literature and writing became a means of expression and even rebellion at this time. Perhaps, I could show some pictures of American flappers alongside pictures of 1920’s Korean women and see what the students notice just through visuals before getting into comparing literature. If anyone has any suggestions of Korean female authors or literature from this movement, feel free to share.

 

 

[Aja Koester]

During the first session of today's seminar (9/9), I really appreciated the maps of places superimposed upon other places to give perspective of size/population (i.e. China superimposed upon US to show similar size, Japan superimposed on California to show similar size, and map of over 20 countries superimposed upon China to show population of each Chinese province). I thought this was a great way of bringing perspective/context and making geography more comprehensible. It was much easier to comprehend geographical and population size through these visuals rather than looking at numerical data. We always talk about using visuals in the classroom, but sometimes I run out of clever ways to do so.

I was thinking through how to use these in the classroom and thought these visuals could be an interesting hook into discussing the ideas of "personal space" or "individual versus communal space". After looking at the similar size of California and Japan and US and China, I would prompt students to recognize the much larger populations of Japan and China within similar amounts of space. Then ask them what kinds of shifts in society or perspective would have to take place if all of a sudden the population of Caifornia increased to the number of Japan. I think this could lead to an intersting discussion about rules, structures, etc. that may be important for things to run smoothly in a crowded space or perhaps the increase in community.

 

[Aja Koester]

Hey all,

My name is Aja Koester and I teach at Nava College Preparatory Academy. My name is pronounced as "Asia"...appropriate I know. I currently teach English 12 World literature and enjoy traveling to Japan and learning about their culture. 

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