[David Millians]

So many ideas and insights to consider this week. I apologie for my tardiness; I've had a couple of layers of tech issues here, and it's good to be back!

I am most fascainted by the layers of development we see occuring in Japanese material culture and ritual and how they emerged from earlier elements mixing with novel elements from the mainland, as Professor Pitelka says, selectively. I would enjoy learning more about how this took place and how it varied across the archipelago. I especially enjoyed learning about the process of support by the Heian elites of Buddhism as a unifying institution, which then took on a life of its own and confronted the central power of the imperial government. I wonder about the spread of Buddhist ritual and material culture into other parts of society.

As we go forward, I'm thinking often about how to adapt what we're learning for my students. With one of my school's art teachers, I'm exploring the possibility of dry-carving clay to bring to life the early pottery culture of Japan with the Jomon and making humanoid figures like the dogu and haniwa. Several of you wrote about geography and climate, and I would like to find ways to compare Japan's situation with that in the USA, especially Atlanta. It would also be interesting to compare the rituals of our lives, like singing Happy Birthday or weddings and funerals, with those in Heian high aristocratic culture. As well, there are many parallels between the specialized and refined practices around incense, poetry, and kemari and the kids' own interests in contemporary culture. I'm thinking about the ways compete for cred in everything from music to sports.

I look forward to our upcoming classes together!

[David Millians]

Paul and Thomas, I would enjoy hearing more about your ideas for science topics related to these historical eras and their changing environments.

[David Millians]

I really enjoyed class this week! Thank you, professors and classmatses! The development within the Japanese archipelago and with its neighbors in these eras continues to fascinate me. I would enjoy any resources anyone discovers regarding the variations across Japan during each of these periods, how local areas differered from other regions and how technologies and practices seemed to spread, at least based on current research. It seems odd to me, for example, that when many Jomon communities appeared in the uplands that fishing and use of other sea resources diminished as drastically as it sounds. I'd also like to know more about the prevalence of burial mounds in regions outside the nascent Yamato state. Relatedly, I'm curious to know more about the transitional periods. I'm looking forward to our next gathering in a week!

[David Millians]

My name is David Millians. I teach fifth and sixth graders at Paideia School in Atlanta, Georgia, and I am the Asian Resource Administrator for my K-12 school. I have enjoyed studying Asia since college in the eighties, and it's grown more fascinating with each passing year. I have traveled in China and Korea solo and with groups of high school students.

[David Millians]

Hello, everyone! I am David Millians from Atlanta, Georgia USA. I teach all subjects in a self-contained classroom of firth and sixth graders at Paideia School. Our theme every year is East Asia, and the content and often the form of our lessons derive from that. Also, my oldest daughter lives in Seoul now. I am excited to deepen my understanding of Korea!

[David Millians]

My name is David Millians. I teach fifth and sixth graders at Paideia School in Atlanta, Georgia, and I am the Asian Resource Administrator for my K-12 school. I have enjoyed studying Asia since college in the eighties, and it's grown more fascinating with each passing year. I have traveled in China and Korea solo and with groups of high school students.

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